Where does the time go?

I have been feeling like I have had no time at all... at least no time for this blogging business. Before I came out here I thought for sure I would have tons of time, I thought I would spend my days writing emails and snail mail to all of you. I made an effort to collect everyone's mailing address and have yet to send out any mail... sorry :P

I think that the dates on this blog are not accurate and I am not sure how to change them, I think the last time I posted something was actually Wednesday the 17th, not Saturday the 13th... unless that is when I started the post, I'm not sure. I guess it does not matter. It's been about a week then since my last post, let me try to remember the exciting things that have happened.

Last Thursday night I decided to venture out to Sangmu (a place I had never been before) and meet another teacher who is from New Zealand. I invited Michelle along, after work we met up and hoped in a cab and I tried to give the cab driver the best directions I could while showing him an English map of where we wanted to go. It didn't work out that well and like almost every other time that I have taken a cab anywhere we ended up phoning our Korean friend Ally and having her translate - she saved the day. Sangmu was a lot further than we had expected but we made it there ok. I realized that I had in fact been there before for that fun lunch with my directors! We wandered around, went to WaBar (since we like the one downtown), then ended up buying beer at 7-11 and sitting outside drinking it. Our new friend went home and Michelle and I stopped in for a couple more Obek at a place called Red Rock, we figured we may as well make the most of our long trip to Sangmu - this had been the most expensive cab ride that we had taken, 7500won (for about 25 minutes).

The next morning Michelle and I woke up and met Jool at the bank so they could open a bank account for Michelle. It was so hot out! We went to the Lotte Department store and Jool and I got manicures, we had lunch and then went to work. That night I had planned to go out with Cloudia again to her friend's resto-hof (the same one I had been at the Friday before). Before I left work that day she gave me directions, and taught me what to say to the cab driver - I was so impressed when I told him the directions and it actually worked. I was let out at an intersection that I remembered had been close to where I was going. I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to find it because I can't read any of the signs, all I remembered was that it was on the second floor of a building - so I looked up and right away I noticed a bulletin board with pictures tacked to it and remembered that my picture had been put on that board, I made it! Cloudia was impressed but said she was worried about me and hadn't called because she was testing me. Most of the same people were there but this time Cloudia had brought her baby girl Sol-Mul (any ideas on what I should name her?), she is too cute! Cloudia had also invited an old co-worker of hers, Jasmine. It was another great night, after Sol-Mul had been taken to her grandmothers house we made our way down the street to a noreabang - a guaranteed good time.

I woke up a little bit late the next day (Saturday), Mr. Kim was waiting for me downstairs to take me to the bookstore. Woohoo! Mrs. Kim met us at the bookstore and I finally got some materials for my classes, I got a whole whack of story books, some activity and journal writing books and a set of DVD's to show to some of my classes and then hold discussions. I was so happy! I went for a Korean lunch of Shabbu-Shabbu (it was so good!) with Mrs. Kim and Wendy before rushing home to open my apartment so that "men could work on it", do what work? I wasn't sure but I got home and four men were waiting for me. This was also the first Saturday that I had agreed to work and had not had time to prepare anything and I did not know what to expect at all - winged it again!

Saturday afternoon Michelle had planned a party because she had received Taco Seasoning from home and wanted to make everyone Taco Dip, her party started at 3:00 but I wasn't off work until 3:30 and when I got home the men were still working on my apartment. They fixed my bathroom sink and I think something to do with my heat - not sure. One of the men spoke some English so I asked him to show me how to use my washing maching, he was happy to help and I was sooo happy that he knew how to use it, three hot weeks without being able to wash my clothes it was getting questionable. I offered him and the other man some soju, they laughed at me and accepted water instead. I didn't get to Michelle's house until just after 6:00 and everyone was already ready to move, we never stay in one place the entire night - this particular Saturday we ended up at a noreabang before 7:30 which was a first, usually we end up there way later but it was still super fun! We ended up going to about four or five other restaurants/bars after that. I agreed to go ice skating the next morning at 10:00am but it didn't happen since I didn't get home until about 5 or 6am. Madness!

Sunday I slept pretty much all day I was exhausted! I wanted to go ice skating with Harry and join Jool's Salsa class in the afternoon but neither one happened. I did however end up going for dinner with Michelle and Ally who were both just as tired so we all agreed on an early night - next thing we knew we had the bright idea of just the three of us going to a noreabang to "practice" for the following weekend. Soooo much fun but probably not the best idea for a Sunday evening.

I spent Monday night at home - I needed to recouperate.

I met Jool downtown for lunch and shopping on Tuesday. She helped me buy this device that I plug in to kill mosquitos, I guess because I am so close to the mountain I have them very bad here. I mean you think Winnipeg is bad - this is way worse. I was eaten alive this week, so much that my students thought it was fun to try and count the number of bites I had, while another one came up to me, mid-lecture, and applied afterbite to the bites on my arms. I later realized that someone had left the screen in my back porch open, so the combination of closing my screen and my new bug plug things are much better.

I stayed in that night but have been having so much trouble sleeping, I am not sure what it is but I wake up almost every hour, sometimes I have the weirdest dreams. Other times strange noices from outside wake me up. Oh I was woken up by weird foot steps on the roof of my porch again. I got a way better look - turns out it was a pigeon, not so scary.

Last night when I got off work I went to meet, Seung Chul, Dongmin, Ally at Michelle at a restaurant. I, again, could not give directions to the cab driver so Ally did for me. We ended up getting lost, the cab driver must have spoken to Ally and Seung Chul about 6 times and driven around in circles for about 15 minutes until finally finding the place - this was probably my most frustrating experience so far, I have not yet so badly wanted to be able to speak Korean. Now I will practice even more. We had dinner, went to a bar and then ended up at Wow & Joy. I declined (almost) all offers of Soju last night, it had hurt me too much on Sunday night.

Today Mrs. Kim took me to open up my bank account, I am hoping this means that I will get paid soon because we are planning a trip to Seoul on the 2nd of October to watch Jool's Salsa competition, and I don't want to have to miss it. I was offered a credit card but decided to be responsible and decline, I told Mrs. Kim I wanted to know how much I was spending. She told me I was so smart and then told me hilarious stories of all the irresponsible things that some English teachers have done. Before classes started we walked to the bakery together to buy some sandwiches. Street vendors were just setting up, women lay out fruits and vegetable to sell on the street, I watched one older woman bend over to open a cardboard box of potatoes and the biggest rat I have ever seen (except for maybe the one Jen and I saw in Peurto Plata.... Oh no no no, the one we saw in Southdale was the biggest) scurried up the street, it ran past a woman who flipped out. I laughed and was grossed out.

This evening Ally came over with an extra gas burner that she is lending me, she is so sweet! She also brought a small vacuum and did my floors.

This weekend should be fun, tomorrow is Grace's birthday and a Salsa performance and Saturday after work we are going to a baseball game, should be a good time! I will let you know how it goes...