Chopsticks and Spaghetti

Korea. It's all about doing something new.  Like eating spaghetti with chopsticks like I did today at lunch. Comparing my life from Germany to Korea, seems like night and day.  The city, the people, the job, everything feels different.   Here are some of the biggest differences I've seen so far.

1)  What I love, love love so far about Seoul -- the city is always alive! Those Saturday afternoon mental run-throughs to make sure I have everything I need for Sunday is no longer necessary.  Sunday--everything is open and all the shops are open late, 9pm, 10pm.  Some shops (more like massive block long malls) are open all night, from 10am to 5am the next day. I feel like I've been given an extra day on the weekend.  So awesome.

 2)  My job here still involves teaching English as a foreign language, but other than the language part, it's totally different from the freelance lifestyle I had in Germany.  My commute is, get this, only FIVE minutes from my house.  Five minutes!  Those long 1.5 hour commutes for 2 hour lessons are long gone.  Also, I'm co-teaching with two Korean teachers and that helps a lot, the pressure isn't all on me, all the time.  The material I'm teaching is a lot simpler too--which, can be dull at times, but my co-teachers are fantastic and I'm really happy with where I am work-wise.


3.  On another note, I stick out a lot here.  I'm white, and people see that I'm a foreigner immediately.  Gone are the days in Germany when I could walk down the street and people would just assume I was German (at least until speaking to me).  I haven't had too many strange encounters, as Seoul is a city, so a bit more international and people are more used to seeing foreigners.  Although did have a man try conversing with me from across the street while waiting for a stoplight.  He then proceeded to cross the street and walk with me on my way to school to practice English with me.

4.  I feel like a whale here.  The women are so tiny.  All the clothes I have to buy here have to be large or XL. :(


5.  Fruits and veg are out of this world expensive.  Expect a post about this soon.

To be honest, I've been holding back on posts, not because I don't want to write, there's just too much to say.  I'll try to be better with it in April.

Until next post.