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!