Holiday time!

Before I left for Korea, I had a cough that I'd had for about one month.  When I got to Korea, it got way worse.  The head teacher at school convinced me that I needed to see a doctor.  I was warned that if I went to a Korean doctor, I would get a shot in the butt....  Luckily that didn't happen.  The head teacher took me to her doctor and helped me with the language barrier.  I sat down and watch a very young boy throw up all over the floor.  I felt so bad him; he looked white as a ghost and very sick.  However, I had to turn my head unless I wanted to get sick.  The doctor called me into his office within minutes (we didn't have an appointment--they don't do that here, I guess).  The doctor spoke just enough English to tell me not to take a shower for 7 whole days!!!  Well, obviously I didn't follow doctor's orders.  He also prescribed me some medicine and that was that!  I only had to pay about $3.50 (U.S. dollars) for the office visit.  I then went to the pharmacy and got three day's worth (about 4 pills, 3 times a day) of medicine.  That only cost $5.00 (U.S. dollars).  The mask was $1.50 (U.S. dollars).  My doctor visit and medicine was a total of $10.00 (U.S. dollars)!!!!!  My cough is basically gone!!

Here is me wearing the mask.  I wore it while walking outside and in cabs.  I should have worn it anytime I was in public, but I had a hard time breathing in it!

Merry Christmas (late)
So, this was our first Christmas in Korea and our first away from our families.  It was a little sad for us, but then again, it didn't really feel like Christmas.  Koreans don't really celebrate Christmas.  It is more of a holiday for young children and young couples - not a holiday for families.  So, everything was open.  In fact, we went grocery shopping on Christmas.  Kind of sad, I know, but there really wasn't anything else to do.  However, we did have to pick up a few things because a new friend invited us over to her apartment for a Christmas dinner.  She had turkey (rare in Korea), mashed potatos, noodles, celery and cheese (which are both rare in Korea) and a couple pies and cookies!!!  About 2 hours before we went to her house, it started SNOWING!!!!  That's when it really started to feel like Christmas!!!

 View from our porch.

 Another view from our porch.

 Waiting on a taxi.

 Slow moving!

Our Christmas turkey!

The day after Christmas, we explored downtown Iksan even though it had continued to snow.

 Downtown Iksan

 Downtown Iksan

Again.

We were hungry after doing so much walking so we decided to "splurge" a little and stopped at a "higher end" restaurant.  We didn't even know if we would be able to order - not knowing if there would be pictures or anything in English.  We lucked out!!!  The titles of the dishes were in English.  However, we didn't know what came with the main dish.  Oh well!!!!  We were pleasantly surprised!!!

 My meal - Korean chopsteak - a little spicy!!!

Zach's meal - Boston garlic butt steak - spicy!!!!!!!

The best part was that our splurge only cost us about $21.00 (U.S. dollars) and Koreans don't tip--anywhere

Well, my next post will be about teaching.  Hope you enjoyed!!

Our apartment in South Korea

I tried and tried to upload this video, but it never worked.  Here is the link to my Facebook account which has the video on it.  If you don't have Facebook you might not be able to view this.  Sorry!!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=508575200793

We made it to Korea!!

Well, we finally made it to Korea!  Actually, we have been here for about six days but I haven't had the chance until now to write.  Before I get started, I would just like to say that we are fine, we love Korea (so far), and we miss you all!

Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning.  On Sunday morning around 2:30am, Rachel and Chris drove us to the Indy airport for our 5:50am flight.  It had started snowing so we left earlier then we had originally anticipated.  Our first flight took us to Chicago - it was only an hour flight.  We then had about six hours to kill until our 14-hour flight.  We exchanged our money to Korean Won and grabbed a bite to eat.  Then....we waited.  Finally our plane came.

Since neither of us have flown internationally before, we don't really have anything to compare it to, but Korean Air is pretty amazing!  I recommend it to anyone flying this direction!  The food was really good!  :)

                                          First meal - we even got an instruction card!!!  hehe

After we got off the plane in Korea, we had to find a bus that would take us to Iksan (the city we are living in).  It really wasn't that hard - I stayed with the luggage and Zach got the tickets!  lol!  The bus ride took about 2 1/2 hours.  Two hours into the bus ride, the driver stopped at a "rest stop" for 15 minutes.  People got out and ordered food.  Zach and I searched for the pay phones.  We had to call our recruiter/helper at work/boss's daughter (a really nice and helpful woman).  It is definitely interesting trying to figure out the pay phones in another country when you don't understand the language!  But, after being cut off twice (because we didn't insert enough money) we finally got across to her that we were on our way.

Our boss picked us up at the bus station and took us directly to a motel.  The couple we replaced needed to stay in their apartment for about one more week.  I will show you pictures of motel.  See if you can catch the differences...

                                                    No shower curtain.  This is actually the
                                                    norm.  I will explain more in my next
                                                    (video) blog in a couple days.

                                          A care package we were given when we arrived at
                                           the motel.  Yes, that is a condom.  We found out a
                                          couple days later that we were actually staying at a
                                          "love hotel".  This is a place where people go to have
                                          affairs and young people to sneak away from their
                                          parents....lol!

                                                    Koreans like small towels....  Not my
                                                    favorite part!  However, since we've
                                                    moved into our apartment, we have been
                                                    able to buy big towels!!!!!


Since we were staying in a motel, we ate out for basically every meal.  However, things are prettey cheap here compared to the US.  Everyday for lunch we walked to E-MART (the Korean version of Walmart).

                                          Snacks from E-MART for the motel room.

                                          A meal from the E-MART food court.  About $5.00
                                          US dollars.

                                          Another meal.  About $5.50 US dollars.

                                          Budweiser at E-MART.  About $1.00 US dollars
                                          for a six-pack.

                                          About $2.00 US dollars for a six-pack of Beck's.

At E-MART, you don't order drinks.  There is a water cooler and you fill up teeny, tiny cups of water.  I make several trips back and forth!!!

We did go to the school where we will be teaching and basically shadowed the people we are replacing.  I am so thankful for that!!!  I am Sam Teacher and Zach is Zach Teacher!  Next week, the students will have "midterms" so we will be reviewing and testing all next week.

Well, I figure this is long enough.  It is 12:00am, Sunday my time - about 10:00am, Saturday Indiana time.  I must get ready for bed.  Zach and I have another adventure planned for tomorrow.  We are going to try to navigate Home Plus ( a place similar to E-MART) and get a couple of things for the apartment.  Then, we want to create a video for this blog to show you our apartment.  Then finally, we will need to prepare for our first week of teaching!!!!

Talk to you soon!

Love,
Sam

Let's try this out!

This is my very first time writing a blog.  It's exciting but I'm kind of nervous about it!  I want to write something that people will want to read.  I want to write often enough to keep you all updated.  It might be easier said than done.  I guess time will tell!  :)

Zach and I will officially the States on December 12th at 5am-ish via Korean Air.  We will arrive in Seoul, South Korea about 4:20pm on December 13th.  We then have to travel a couple of hours to Iksan, South Korea.  The International School, where we will be teaching, will set us up in a hotel for about one week until the couple we are replacing leaves.  We will then move into their apartment (on or about December 20th).

Well, that's about all for now.  I wanted to keep this first post short just to make sure I'm doing this right!  ;)

Let me know if you have any questions.