Yeah! I got my ARC card or better known as the Alien Registration Card. I have been waiting for this card for a month. Now I can get an actual internet service for my apartment. Up until now I have been stealing internet from cafes and from someone in my building. Unfortunately the person I am stealing it from blocks skype and it is not always the best signal.
The card is super pretty. It has my name and that I am a E-2 Visa holder. E-2 is for people who are teaching English in South Korea:)
Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I had a great end to the week with my classes and then went out to have fun with some people from work and others from training.
Friday night Racheal, Brandon, and I went to hunt down a pizza place. There are a bunch of places, but they are usually extremely expensive for a whole pizza or just for a slice. The other thing is we didn't want to go to a pizza hut or somewhere where we have at home. We went to this place a couple of doors down from my apartment and the pizza was actually delicious. I had a slice of spinach with a couple different kinds of cheese. I probably should have gone light on the cheese because I have a feeling I am a little lactose intolerant. I have been staying away from cheese and milk for the most part. Sometimes I completely forget and my stomach hurts, therefore reminding me of why I shouldn't be having as much lactose.
Later that night, I went out with about five co-workers at my school. I hopped on the subway to the next stop called Sinchon. It is pronounced like "Shin-Chon. Along with the five of them, we had a couple of people they invited out who were not from my school. The eight of us headed out to find a bar which was not too loud and a place we could play darts. We found a couple of ridiculously loud bars and decided against them. They looked fun, but I wanted to be able to talk to people and not have to shout.
We walked a bit further down a brightly lit ally way where we found a place with cheap drinks and a place to sit. We talked, drank some beers, and played darts. I am completely awful at darts. I don't think I have ever played, but I realized how terrible I am at them. After the bars we went out to Mcdonalds and everyone grabbed something to eat. I think Mcdonalds is open 24/7, but a lot of the menu is different than back home. The Big Mac and chicken nuggets look the same, but you have a shrimp burger, shanghai chicken, and a couple of different wrap selections. I am not really the Mcdonalds type, so I didn't get anything. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it though:)
Saturday I slept in late because I was exhausted and didn't get home until late. I went to a few shops and purchased some more things for my apartment. Different hooks, cleaning stuff, and some fruits and veggies.
Later in the day I got a call from Racheal saying a few people from our training group were in Seoul for the weekend. After training (week one) about half of the people left to go to a different part of the country for their jobs with Chungdahm. A couple of the people that were in training were hilarious and I was sad they were leaving Seoul.
Racheal, Brandon, and I met up with four people from training. We went to this one place where they were selling turkish chicken wraps and sat down. It was great to hear different stories of their experience so far with teaching and more about the schools they taught in. A couple didn't like being in the "country-side" and wished they were back in Seoul. However the other two loved being out of Seoul because they don't like big cities or subways.
After the chicken place, we were engulfed by a couple of students wanting to take our picture for a project at the university nearby. This one guy took like ten pictures of us with our umbrellas and of course posing with the western "peace sign" hand gesture. He kept saying "one more, one-more picture." That was the first time someone has come up wanting a picture. It must have been because there were so many of us.
Later that night we went out to the bars and such around Hongdae. A couple of places were fun such as Zen Bar and GoGos. At Zen bar all they played was western music. I looked around to the other people in the bar and there was actually a fair amount of western people. I couldn't believe I was half way around the world and listening to the same music. I thought I came over to escape the madness of that kind of music. Don't get me wrong, the beats are fun and I do like any music, but I wanted something different. All in all it was a great night with plenty of dancing and laughing.
Yesterday I went to a huge electronic market at a place called Yongsan. I believe it is the biggest electronic market South Korea. They sold EVERY kind of electronic you might need. I didn't need anything but wanted to go because I heard it was huge. Maybe when I have money to spend I can go back and purchase something. This market was probably around eight or nine floors with electronic after electronic. There were also like a million people working there and asking "Can I help you, Can I help you." I just wanted to look but had to walk fast because I didn't want to be stopped by anyone asking if they could help me.
The weekend was filled with music, laughs, and good times. Now I have prepped for my week and have to look over the topics I am teaching about. Tomorrow I will probably go search for an internet service. I might ask my friend Tony to help because he speaks Korean and my Korean is not really up to par.
Miss you all!
Kristen
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