random observations...

1. koreans are terrible drivers. this might sound stereotypical to those of you not trying to navigate these streets but it's really true (although i'm sure there are one or two decent drivers out there...just to be fair). jersey girls drive well compared to them and those of you from JMU know that's saying something! the korean drivers will drive on the wrong side of the road, drive 80 mph through the middle of town (exhibit a - our taxi driver last night. it scared me to death), and run through a red light only to come to a dead halt in the middle of an interesection. and forget about the old 'pedestrians have the right of way' rule. it doesn't apply here. you have to wait for the walk signal to come up, look both ways, and run across the street (cars & busses don't stop for anyone). i've feared for my life a time or two...one of the american teachers at our school actually got hit by a car a while back!


2. you know how in the US we walk on the right side of the sidewalk? there's no such set rule here. when we first got to tongyeong we noticed signs telling people to stick to the left side of the sidewalk. so, we thought maybe we should be walking on the left side...which works out only about 50% of the time. later on, we saw even more signs directing people to stay on the right side! so now we've realized that walking on the sidewalk is really just people-dodging. it definitely makes walking down the street a whole lot more interesting!


3. there are really only 2 car brands people here drive : hyundais and kias. that's it. although we did see a bmw today which was a huge deal.


4. old people here are scrappy. most of them are in much better shape than we are and can run up and down mountains like it's nothing. i'm amazed!

5. pickles come with everything. if you don't get actual pickles, it's a sure bet you'll get something pickled...japanese pickles are pretty popular and they're actually really good.

6. apparently, because we're foreigners, stuff breaks down for us a lot (this is a theory proposed by joy, one of the americans we work with). in the week we've been here, we've had both our internet and our apartment heat break down : two somewhat important things! we finally got the internet fixed (after two tries) and we've already had one guy come fix our heat. it sort've works but now we have an extremely annoying high-pitched screeching-kettle noise coming from the heating unit everytime it's turned on. so now, it's either be warm and annoyed or cold and...cold. sigh.

7. there are no suburbs and no real houses here either. almost everyone lives in an apartment of some sort, which is really interesting. because of this, almost all of the city of tongyeong looks like the downtown of an american city. once the city ends, therefore, it ends really abruptly and there's basically nothing but empty countryside.

8. Lotte Mart (a bigger version of walmart) is awesome. you literally have to rent out your shopping cart: it's about 10 cents each time and you get the money back when you return the cart. you also have to buy the plastic bags you use (and have to bag your own groceries). it's sort've a good idea because it really cuts down on the amount of bags you take and makes you pack each bag to the brim. these bags also serve as garbage bags, since there aren't any large trash bags like there are in the US. Lotte Mart also has an amazing food court, with ice cream and everything. mmmm

9. there are lots of random signs in english that seem really helpful at first but don't really get you very far. for example - there are a bunch of 'information' signs scattered throughout tongyeong so we decided we'd check out some good ol' information. once we got to one of them, however, everything was in korean. we think maybe the koreans want us to know that we're missing out on stuff by not knowing their language. "information here... too bad you can't read any of it." "this is a menu. unfortunately for you, you won't know what you ordered until it's right in front of you. live baby squid, anyone?"

--- also, all of the tourist locations have english names or equivalents, but none of the cab drivers bothered to learn them... pictionary skills finally coming in handy :D

10. there are heated floors everywhere, which are particularly nice against our shoeless feet :) cold VA floors seem only a distant memory...

just some pictures

the main building at the Miraesa temple complex located on top of Mt. Mireuksan. inside were several large statues of buddha, lots of lighted candles, and mats for people to bow on.

these are sticks with carved faces on them. they're lined up in front of the temple entrance and are sort've a warning for outsiders to stay away.

these little buddha statues are all around the temple. you can put coins in their hands or put a rock on top of a pile (if you don't have money) to make a wish.

more ocean and islands

aerial view of Tongyeong

a view of some of the surrounding islands from the top of Mt. Mireuksan. we took a cable car to the top of the mountain, a very popular touristy thing to do in Tongyeong.

this is a memorial to Admiral Yi Sun-sin, a Korean commander famous for his victories against the Japanese navy in the late 16th century. apparently a lot of the naval battles were fought not far off the coast of Tongyeong...this memorial is just a few minutes away from our apt.

We're here!

hey guys! you're probably wondering why the author of this blog is katie and/or brian. well...from time to time one or both of us will be writing in this thing. right now, you've caught us at a good time - we're both here! lucky you. i guess we should start from the beginning and catch all you newbies up on what's been going on.


we caught a flight from dulles international airport on thursday (feb 19) at 8:28 in the morning. we still have no idea how brian got up that early...scientists are busy investigating as we speak (i was up before you, actually :P - brian). we switched planes in san francisco and proceeded to fly over the entire pacific ocean for about 11 hours. although we did get bumped up to business class which was awwwesome. those seats are so comfortable and the flight attendants cater to you like you're royalty. we got to incheon, south korea at about 8pm their time (about 6am VA time), took a van to seoul, then proceeded to take a bus to tongyeong. phew.

as of now we're living in a studio apartment right on the harbor...we have a teeny kitchen and a bathroom that doubles as a shower. that's right - there is no separate shower stall. ahh korea. it seems we got super lucky because apparently our apartment is 100 times better than the ones the other american teachers got. bwahaha. it is nice though...and it's only about 20 minutes walking distance from our school. i'll post some pictures as soon as i take them :)

we're actually almost done with our first week and only week of orientation at maple college, the school where we're both teaching. there are two other american teachers for now (they're both leaving in april) and two korean teachers. we're basically going to be teaching kindergarteners with some first graders thrown in once in a while. and we're also going to be teaching art...and science...and cooking. yes, cooking. for those of you who know me (katie) even just a little, go ahead and laugh. i got a good chuckle out of it myself.

we do stick out like sore thumbs here, of course. it's funny because after a few days of seeing nothing but asian faces, i look in the mirror and am surprised because my hair's not black. i know that sounds weird, but it's true. another funny thing - we get just as excited about seeing the rare "white person" as the tongyeong residents do. yesterday we were wandering around town looking for a place to eat when we spotted two obviously-not-korean folks...and we were like :0! we only followed them for a few blocks though. haha.

the food we've had here so far has honestly been amazing. granted, we haven't eaten anything too scary...nothing that is still waving its tentacles or anything. we found a place right around the corner from our school that serves a little something like this: a huge piece of breaded pork, rice, fruit, several kinds of kimchi (spicy pickled stuff, basically), eggs, egg drop soup, seaweed-ish dishes, and something rubbery that vaguely looks like squid (we don't have the guts to try that yet). all of this for the equivalent of $3.50 a person. it's so much food that one time we split the meal and paid a measly $1.75 a person. it's insane. i think the owner of the restaurant likes us, which always helps things :)

we're also mastering the art of eating with chopsticks. brian is hoping to secure a spot on the 2012 olympic team.