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Wednesday 4 March 2015

First weekend in Korea FEAT...SOJU!

So my first weekend in Anyang has been an absolute joy. It went by reasonably quickly but this may have been due to the alcohol consumption. I woke up after 12 hours of sleep at around 1pm. The previous day I had arranged to go into the school to discuss the curriculum with the Director, and to find out what I would be doing come Monday. So I left my house about 5 minutes before I was due to be at the school...amazing. How did I ever travel for almost an hour in London? I just don’t know.

When I arrived the director had cooked me up some Kimchi and rice, which was delightful. I have eaten so much of this stuff over the past few days and I am already beginning to crave it. Why would you have a meal without it? Weird! She talked about the different age groups and which classes I would have at which times. Kindergarten and Elementary for anyone who doesn’t know. She also gave me some books on traditional Korean tales, which she would like me to edit into a script format. Once this is done she would like me to rehearse the script with the children and ultimately get the children to perform this to their mums and dads. This is great but also rather scary. After discussing this and many other topics, I retired back to my apartment for a few hours. 


 My street!

 
Just Outside my place!

Before I had arrived in Korea I had arranged to meet up with some other foreign teachers at a pizza joint in a little place called Beomgye (literally pronounced ‘bum gay’ - I'm such a child). I had no idea how to get there so I decided that a taxi would be the best option. After walking around aimlessly in a circle for about 20 minutes, I finally arrived back at my apartment block to find a taxi rank right outside. Hilarious. It was a freezing cold evening on Saturday as I arrived on the main strip of Beomgye, probably about -4, which I swear is not the same as the English -4...it is much much colder here. 

Beomgye

I finally arrived, threw some spicy pepperoni pizza and a couple of beers down my throat, and played some matching numbers game which I didn't really understand. I lost, obviously. The people were all lovely and after dinner we decided to move on to this 'cold beer bar' - I forget what these are actually called but they’re amazing. On one side of the bar you have a row of fridges filled to the brim with beers from all over the world, and on every table you have a bottle opener. So you literally just stroll up, take out your beers, and then pay for the empty bottles at the end of the night. Its genius! Also side note: my beer cost me around £1!! Brilliant! A beer in a really nice pub, that gave you free crisps for £1! Whaaat?! Bars in Korea (at least the ones I have been into so far) have a very different vibe to those back home. If you can't get a seat, then you can't drink. Its more of a restaurant environment where everyone sits down to drink, which I actually think is nicer.

Next we moved on to a expat bar called The Dugout, and I had my first Soju experience. Wow, it was just great! I’ve already decided to ship 10 bottles a week home so I can live on it for the rest of my days. Its basically a spirit that you can have either in shot form or with a mixer. Similar in taste to vodka I’d say, and sooooo cheap. I ordered a shot for 4000 won (which is about £2) and this is what they gave me...



That’s right the ENTIRE bottle was £2. Thats like a bottle of vodka for just £2! Amazing. Needless to say I bought another 2 bottles and had a lovely ole time. I spent most of Sunday asleep with a average to a pretty bad hangover (did I mention the Soju?), and then in the evening I went out for dinner with some people that I had met the night before, which was nice. The food over here is just a treat. I have already tasted so many different flavours and am starting to love a bit of heat in my food aswell. However don’t be fooled, when Korea says spicy...they mean spicy. 

Beomgye main strip (sorry about the quality)

All in all, I had a great first weekend here and am looking forward to many more adventures. This weekend...HIKING!!

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