43 Days

Well we have officially been in Korea for 43 days now! We are starting to feel more comfortable with our surroundings and the apartment is begining to feel a little like home. Even though I don't think we will ever get used to the tiny kitchen or the shower with no curtain, it certainly feels good to come back to after a long, sweaty day of walking around Seoul. Some exciting news, at least for us, is that we finally bought a kitchen table and chairs. While this may seem rather boring to most of you, we suggest eating on the ground for over a month! It definately gets a little tiresome after a while. However, making sure that we were getting the table we paid for and that it would be delivered to the correct apartment was quite the experience. Buying items that need to be delievered from someone who knows basically no English is very difficult. But after several hand gestures and head nods, our table and chairs were successfully delivered and definately worth the hassel!

Some more exciting news is that we bought a gym membership. A few other instructors, who also belong to the gym, suggested it. Fortunately, it is literally a 2 minute walk from the apartment. While it's not the best gym in the world, it gets the job done. For those of you familiar with UP's gym it's kind of on par with that. Unfortunately, the incline button for the treadmills don't work. But one thing we have learned while living in Korea is that you shouldn't sweat over the small things (like the incline option not working on the treadmill). Or else you would go crazy!

This past weekend Ian and I spent some time getting to know the other staff members. Ian and few guys decided to try out a virtual golf game. You basically pay for the number of holes you complete and can bring in as much beer and food that you want. While they had a good time, it took them three hours to complete just nine holes! That same night I went out with another Instructor whose name is Laura. We had dinner and drinks in an area called Hungdai, which appears to be where the majority of young Koreans go for a night out on the town. It is ridiculously busy and gives you the realization of how many people live in Seoul . During our night out we decided to try out an "ice bar." This is literally a room or a bar that is completely made of ice. Before going into the bar, they give you a jacket, booties, and gloves. It was kind of weird but definately worth the experience!

Tonight we have a staff dinner. The boss is paying for everyone to have dinner at a local Korean BBQ restaurant. Ian and I have been told that while these staff dinners are usually enjoyable, the newbies ( us and a few others ) have to give a speech as to what we are enjoying about Korea and CDI. So that will certainly be interesting!

We put up a few more pictures on the blog, but will put more up soon. Hope all is well with everyone and thanks for reading and supporting the blog. We love writing about our experiences in Korea and we hope everyone enjoys reading about them too!