*Highlights of the Week*

We figured out the Bus system! Now this was quite the task. It's so funny living the life of having no idea what you are doing. Cory and I showed up at the bus station and we bought our ticket successfully. But, the whole not being able to read anything else is a whole other story! The best way to figure things out is to keep asking people until someone gives you an answer in English. Cory says I am pretty brave for talking to all these strangers. Well...I guess I am my Father's daughter :) So, we knew we had the right ticket but we did NOT know:

1. Where the bus terminal was

2. What time the bus would be leaving

3. When the last bus came back to our town.

At this point, we needed to figure out 1 and 2 so that's when the questioning began! To our wonderful surprise I recognized a teacher that works at our school AND she speaks English. We just stuck with her and she explained the whole process. We knew how to get to Gwangju... but understanding how to come back home... I guess that was something for Future Cory and Future Michelle to figure out... 

With that being said, I am happy to say that we did make it back! It was not easy and we ended up looking for hotels in case we couldn't understand, but we got on the right bus and were back home shortly! 

Figuring out public transportation in a foreign city- Definitely a highlight!

McDonalds! It's so funny how we crave McDonalds as soon as we know we can not get it. However, we found it in Gwangju! Just a 40 minute bus ride away- haha. For the record, this happened to be the best McDonalds we've ever had. All the wrappers said "made from 100% beef"... not sure if that's true or not but it was mighty tasty!

^ T.V.s as you are riding down the escalators of Homeplus ^

HOMEPLUS!!! We finally found "Walmart"!!!!  

Homeplus- my my my what a breath of fresh air! Imagine living in a town where the closest Walmart or Target is 40 minutes away.... that's our life right now. I know it sounds bad, but you get used to it. It gives us the opportunity to take weekend trips to the city which is a nice break from the routine!

Seriously though- Homeplus... HUGE highlight of the week!

One of the first things the teachers noticed when arriving to the airport in Korea was all the couples matching outfits! Seriously, you will see couples DECKED out in matching EVERYTHING! You will see guys wearing teddy bears and hearts because their girlfriend is wearing it. The new thing now...couples Underwear! hmmm might have to buy some ;) 

Had my first Peppermint Mocha of the year! It was divine!!! Unfortunately, the lady taking my order did not understand the size I wanted and gave me a baby cup. Still it was sooooo good and reminded me of home :)

We visited the department stores which was an adventure in it of itself! Everything was tooo expensive but we had fun taking pictures of course :)

 FOOD!!!! Other than fish :) Yep, we definitely purchased these. In Gwangju, we went on a huge grocery shopping spree. Even though we had to carry 2 heavy boxes on the bus and back home with us...totally worth it!

 Fun in E-Mart. In the cereal aisle they had girls dressed up like "Post cheerleaders??" Well she helped me find the cereal I was looking for :)

Curtains! Yay, our curtains were put in today! I wanted something basic and I think they look great! Our school purchased them for us which is a BONUS! I am happy our apartment is turning into a home :)

.Funny Signs.

This weekend Cory and I ventured to Gwangju City! It was about a 40min bus ride, so not that bad! We only have small shops in our little town of Gokseong so when we saw these stores/brands we were very amused! Enjoy :)

We have read it over and over...and still have no idea what it means.

In case you were looking for the bathroom.

???

Soup - a brand for lingerie. haha

NOTHING funny about this one. SO happy we found one :)

My favorite. The men here are tiny...what a perfect name :)

what's up with the islands??

this just sounds disgusting.

Dunk me baby one more time. Brittany Spears meets Nike outlet store.

Another favorite.

I am sure we will have more to come! 

Dinner with the Mayor!

So today is finally Saturday :) We tried to sleep in but ended up waking up at 8am. We decided to have a lazy morning, and Skype with family. We showed them around our new apartment :) After Skyping, we decided to explore a little bit more. We walked around our small town. We went inside a few shops, bought a few groceries, and bought Pringles!! :) That made me happy. After we decided to see how far the road took us- it's a very small town. So we headed toward a sign that said Gokseong Train Station. We know our town in known for the train station so we thought we'd check it out! As we got closer and closer, we heard music and saw a LOT of people. It looked like some kind of festival going on. We weren't exactly sure but decided to go in! To our lovely surprise it was a Rose festival. There were roses everywhere! A lot of people were snapping photos and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Also, there was a concert going one so we decided to go check it out. After strolling around for a little while, and definitely being stared at, a man came running up to us! "You need to meet some people! You need to meet the Mayor!" We agreed and soon cameras were all around us, many people were asking us questions, they asked us to dance...it was just like WHAT IS GONG ON?!? People came up with cell phones bowing to us and asking if they could take our picture. It was crazy! Then, the Mayor asks if we want to have dinner with him. SUREEEEE!!!! haha he was soooo nice! So we headed to dinner with the Mayor, Vice Mayor, and about 20 other men. In Korea it's not like you order for yourself... so meals here are always a surprise. To our WONDERFUL surprise it ended up being our favorite meal! Beef, lettuce, garlic, sauce...all wrapped up. It was Divine! The men just wanted to talk to us, ask us questions and welcome us to Gokseong. It is amazing how hospitable they are here. It ended up being an amazing day! Plus we left with 4 melons which was a gift from the Mayor! haha. So much fun today! Now the Mayor considers Cory his new son and me his only daughter :) So sweet.

Our first work week!

Tuesday we started teaching. We are so happy to be teaching at the same school- JungAng Elementary! Cory is in a place called English Town (one floor above my classroom). English Town is a little different compared to regular school. Monday through Wednesday Cory helps teach students from different schools, that come to our school. It's basically a classroom that only speaks English which gives the students a chance to be immersed in the language. Then on Thursday and Friday he teaches the students in JungAng Elementary all in English. He sees a LOT of students which is hard for him because you can't really build a relationship with them. The PLUS side is everyone that works with him speaks English! That is honestly like a breath a fresh air to be able to communicate with someone in the work place.

I on the other hand, am in a regular classroom. I am the co-teacher for 5th and 6th grade. My co teacher thus far has been preparing all the lessons. She just tells me to do "small talk" in the beginning of class. Which is like, "Hello. How are you? What day is it today? What month? How are you feeling?" Anything else, they don't really understand-yet :). Other than that, she has me read the power points so the students learn how to speak English with the correct accent. It's CRAZY though. Koreans can read and write English very well... but when they hear me speak it, because of my "accent" they don't get it. AND sometimes, my co-teacher doesn't understand so she can not translate. It's quite the challenge to figure it out, but fun and rewarding when they finally understand what you are saying. The good thing is I teach the same lesson 4-5 times a day. I know it can get boring but the day goes by so fast. PLUS, I have my own private office so my teacher lets me go in there a lot to just to hang out, go on facebook, make coffee, eat crackers, and of course plan lessons...haha. It's quite nice. The office has NO heat though so it is very cold. Soon we will  buy me a space heater!

The first week went very well! We love the teachers we work with! It has been a lot of adjusting but always a good experience. We are so ready for the weekend though :)

Walking across The Bridge in the Sky

The teacher picnic we went on our first week! This was their way of welcoming us to Gokseong :)

Our crazy first day in Gokseong

My oh My...again where do I begin!?? This is where the true CULTURAL experience sets in. On Monday it was our last day with all of the teachers we met. It was time to meet the Korean co-teachers, visit the schools, and move into the apartment we will be staying in for a year!

Monday ended up being one of the CRAZIEST days of my life. All I can say is at least Cory and I were together! The day was spent meeting our teachers which to our relief, Cory's spoke English really well so we had a lot to talk about. My teacher on the other hand can speak English but I can't really understand her accent, so it's a little more challenging. The great thing though is that she is the sweetest thing and tries so hard! We are blessed to have the co-teachers that we do because they either make or break the experience for you. So, our day was spent with them. They introduced us to all the teachers and principal (which is like a KING in Korea). They took us shopping for a comforter which was an experience as well. When we arrived at this little shop the women were showing us neon pink, purple, green, flowers, mushroom printed comforters. We didn't like any of them! We felt so bad we so we ended up buying the most relaxed pattern we could find. Finally, it was time to see our apartment for the first time! The moment we have been waiting for!!!!

We found out we were on the 3rd floor with no elevator. I was used to that with going to North Central ;) They warned us that our apartment was very old. But when we walked in we were very happy. Our apartment has 3 bedrooms, a FULL size fridge, an oven (which is unheard of here) A huge and extremely comfortable bed, 2 verandas (porches), heated floors, and an ENORMOUS closet! They must have known we would be living here :) We love it. Of course it has it's little quirks. After rearranging a little bit though and unpacking, it's definitely starting to feel like home. I will put pictures and a video on facebook soon!

So....after seeing our apartment for the first time they asked us to go somewhere with them.We locked our apartment and went to take care of a few more things. Finally, 8:00pm rolled around it was FINALLY time to go to our apartment and settle in. Oh did I not mention that they wanted us to teach the next day?!?! We were REALLY hoping for at least one day off...

So our teachers dropped us off and said "Goodbye, see you tomorrow!" As we drag our feet up the stairs and pull out the keys to finally enter into our apartment... the key does not work!!! We are completely locked out of our apartment, we have no cell phones, and no one in our town speaks English! Luckily, Cory's Korean teacher ordered us food that was being sent to our apartment. The delivery boy was our only hope! When the 16 year old finally arrived we asked him to help us, but he didn't know English! Therefore, I had to act out what our problem was! "Key not work." Horrible English but he understood! He knew to call the Korean teacher that ordered our food and she came to our rescue!!! Thank God. We were locked out for about 2 hours and thought we were going to have to sleep in the hallway..since we had our comforter with us! She called a locksmith and they fixed our lock! So THAT was our first night in Gokseong. Absolutely insane but a story to tell for the future :)

Our first week in Korea!

Wow! Where do I even begin??? We knew it would be an adventure and that is EXACTLY what it has been so far! Our first week in Korea was spent with 40 English speaking teachers at orientation. That week was filled with meeting people from all over the world. There were English teachers from America, Canada, Scotland, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK! It was so wonderful to all be in one place and talk about the differences between our own cultures. Also, that week we woke up every morning to a very "Americanized" breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, cereal...etc. NOT bad so far...basically it felt like being in a Hilton :) Not much of a cultural experience so far. Therefore, we were all itching to get outside and actually feel like we were living in Asia. Our nights were spent checking out the "hot spots" downtown Gwangju! Gwangju is a lot of fun... it's a very young city and a lot of foreigners are around checking out all the shops. PLUS it's like shoe heaven, so I love it there. We visited some Noraebang (karaoke- my personal favorite!) night clubs, bars, and restaurants with the teachers. I was nervous because a lot of people in Korea like to drink but Cory and I prefer not to, but everyone seems to respect that about us :) phew! I was a little worried.

Also, that week we went on our first hike which was practically straight up the mountain that was right outside our hotel. It was about a 40 minute hike and being someone that hardly breaks a sweat... I was soaked. It felt good though to make it to the top and enjoy the AMAZING view! Later on in the week we visited Beosong which had the MIRACULOUS green tea fields. I have never seen anything like that in my life. Plus the green tea was amazing! After visiting the fields we headed to an authentic Korean restaurant where you sit on the floor. The meal was amazing. Our favorite meal so far has been a lettuce wrap with meat or pork, rice, onions, garlic, and sauce. You wrap in all up in the lettuce and put the whole thing in your mouth (or at least try to)..It's DIVINE! All of the other meals have been... okay. Lots of fish soup which just freaks the heck out of me. I am trying to get used to it though. That has been by FAR the number one thing we miss...FOOD. Hamburgers, french fries, sweet tea from McDonalds, but we'll survive :)

With all of our adventures we have met a lot of great people so far! I am a little sad that we will be living about an hour if not more from all the teachers we met. We all became like a little family, relying on each other... but now we are separated. The good thing about it is it gives us a GREAT chance to tour the country and visit everyone :)

I think that about wraps it up! The first week was AWESOME! We are so excited to see where we are headed next!