The BIG Move!

Before the move, we didn't do anything interesting. We just wanted to rest and do nothing before our big move and first week of full time classes. So on Sunday we prepared to make our move two subway stops away.

We started moving around 2:00pm. We had our big suitcases and some bags. We proceeded to roll them to the subway and from the subway to the new apartment. I got us a bit lost on the first try and went a block too far and had to turn back. Oops! When we arrived, Rob and Carly were still packing and had just finished cleaning. We dropped off our stuff and went back to Sangmu to grab more stuff. After the second trip, Neil would do one last trip solo so I can start moving things around and prepping our place to sleep that night in one of the spare rooms.

Neil had to do one last sweep of the old place before coming back so I picked us up some snacks and drinks. We finished moving everything around 5:00pm. Rob and Carly took us to an Indian restaurant in downtown called The First Nepal. It was pretty yummy! We really enjoyed our meal and will definitely go back. After the meal, we looked for a dessert place. Ended up at A Twosome Place and had some cake before heading home. Neil and I were really tired so we fell asleep pretty quickly. After all tomorrow was our first day of full time work with new classes and books. We wanted to make sure we were in tip top shape.

Rob and Carly left that morning and thus began our weeklong task of moving in and reorganizing everything to our liking.

Neil's birthday and first time in Seoul Part Two

After a good night sleep on a slightly more comfortable bed (no springs!), we set out to have a bit of breakfast before meeting my friend Christy. Since we're meeting back in the Hongdae area, we decided to go to Dunkin Donuts for some breakfast sandwich and donuts. When we met up with Christy we went to EatYourKimchi's You Are Here Cafe. Christy with handy map got us there in one piece. The place is really nice. Very trendy looking and very clean.  I see the EYK touches. Since it's a collaboration with TalkToMeInKorean, we see some books and such as well.  The milkshake was really thick and it took a while before it melted enough to drink properly. Otherwise, it tasted pretty good.

Afterwards, we decided to head to the 63 Building. Neil and I wanted to check out their wax museum (we love wax museums!) and invited Christy along. I had to make a pit stop to pick up a charger for my ipad because the converter I was using (non-Apple product) was too slow. The legit Apple product made a difference in the charging speed. Then it was off to the wax museum we go! We took a cab and it was only about $10. Considering how far we went, it is really cheap. It was a busy place with lots of kids since there's an aquarium and other attractions there. We got our tickets and went down to the basement where the museum was located.

Poor Christy helped us take a bunch of pictures, but she got into some as well! I hope she had as much fun as we did. Next we headed to Gangnam area and went for some Ddeok Galbi. Basically there is a giant hot plate in the middle of the table. You order what type of meat you want and one of the servers will help you cook it. They also throw in a bunch of sauces, spices and veggies. And you can also choose what you want. We decided to have some noodles. There's a lot of red pepper sauce so even at its most mild, it was still very spicy. Neil is definitely learning to eat his spicy food. A cool thing about this is everyone has to wear this red apron to protect our clothes from the bouncing oil and such. At the end of the meal, you can also order a bowl of rice and they will cook it in the same mixture of meat for you so with what's left over, you have Ddeok Galbi fried rice. We were super full after that!

Christy left to meet her friend and see a soccer game. Neil and I tried to kill some time by walking around we were pretty tired so just found a coffee shop to sit in. Oh yeah before Christy left, she helped us take a picture using the media poles in Gangnam. Apparently these poles (looks like light lamp poles) allow you to take pictures and send it to yourself. It's pretty laggy. Good thing she was there to help us.

We stayed around Gangnam because we wanted to go to this comedy thing Neil found on facebook. But when we got to the hotel, people were confused what we were looking for. The events bulletin board had nothing as well. I decided to send an email to these people to ask about getting tickets but no response. Even today, no response. Is there a joke there somewhere?

We mad our way back to Hongdae area (again) and decided to have some chicken and beer to celebrate Neil's birthday. After getting dessert we headed back to our hostel to rest. The next day is another long trip back to Gwangju.

On Sunday, Seoul was a bit overcast and slight rain so we didn't think much of it. We kept our umbrellas out and made our way to the bus terminal. We used one of those short term lockers to put our bags and headed to Itaewon area for breakfast. It was such a long trip from our hostel to the bus terminal to Itaewon, we didn't have much time to explore. I found a market that sold lime leaves and that's pretty much all we did. Oh and have brunch.

When we got the terminal, it took us a bit of find the right terminal. The terminal we arrived at is the not the terminal we leave to go back to Gwangju. But they are just across from each other, so it wasn't that hard. We finally got our tickets and this time got the extra comfy one. While Neil waited with our bags, I went in search of his favourite drink: Fanta Pineapple. It was hard to find that flavour in Seoul. They had orange, grape and even cherry but no pineapple. I finally found one! When I got back, our coworkers Rob and Carly was also there. They got a bus just 15 minutes behind us so we said our goodbyes as we boarded. thus began our journey home on a 3.5 hour bus ride. It started to rain pretty the closer we got to Gwangju. This should have been a sign :( By the time we got back, it was torrential rain. My umbrella ended up having a hole so I had water dripped on me the entire time. We had to pick up some stuff from E-mart (to make Neil's bday soup) so we didn't take a cab. Also, the cab line up at the bus terminal was massive! We decided to walk. My shoes, bottom half of my clothes and most of my hair was soaked. So was Neil. We were a wet terrible mess. I was not happy. We were not happy. After lugging all our stuff back via the subway, we proceeded to dry ourselves and make dinner.

That night we also discovered something was wrong with our hot water tank and we did not have hot water for three days :( We ended up showering with boiled water from a pot. It reminded me of when I first went to China as a child. I didn't think I'd have to do that anymore. After three days, we got an unexpected knock/ring at 10am. Good thing we were already up and having breakfast (and dressed!). It was someone from school to help us with the hot water tank. He also got some plumbers to come by too. It was too early for me to put my makeup on so yeah...that was a bit of a gong show. But by the time everyone left, we had hot water again! Yay!

Neil's birthday and first time in Seoul Part One

In August we got a three day holiday, which coincided with Neil's birthday. (In Korea, he's a year older because Koreans are one year old once they are born.) So from August 15 - 17, we went to Seoul.

From the big bus terminal (U-Square) we were able to take a bus to Seoul. There are two types of buses, one that's super comfy with only about 20 people on the bus and takes 3.5 hours, the other is a bit more squishier but still roomy for me and takes about 4 hours. Both buses do make a pit-stop at these rest stop places that has washrooms, food court and vendors. They are quite interesting, I wish I had taken a picture of it, next time.

We arrived at about 10am and made our way to the bus terminal. It was quite busy, I get the feeling this place is always busy. With no knowledge of Korean, I got confused buyiing tickets and ended up having to change windows and got the cheaper tickets instead. Oops! It wasn't that bad for me because I don't need a lot of leg room but poor Neil could use that extra space. We waited only 15 minutes before our bus left for Seoul After two hours, we made the pit stop. Neil tried to nap while I listened to the Beattles and looked out the window. I find it hard to sleep anywhere...bus, planes...etc. 

As we neared the city, the traffic increased, and I'm convinced we would've arrived earlier but got caught in traffic jam due to an accident. The buses were in special lanes (HOV?) and was able to move a bit more than the normal car. It reminded me a bit of LA traffic. I'd hate to be driving in that. After arriving at the Seoul Express Bus Terminal, we had to navigate to our hostel. The subway system reminded me a bit like New York's except the trains are much further apart rather than one or two floors away. 

It took about 15 minutes to twalk to the train station we wanted to get on. Since we didn't have any internet/data, it was hard to check where we were. At one point we had to transfer to another train and had to take escalators to it. I swear the escalators were at least three stories high. I thought it would never end.

There is an inner circle line that brings you to most of Seoul's attractions. Our hostel (ShinChon) was along this line so it was very convenient. It was minimal and basic with just the things we need. The receptionist spoke perfect English and was able to tell us what we need to know about getting in and out. This hostel is pretty small so it was stairs only. We were on the third floor. Our room was double occupancy but it was two single beds instead of a double or queen. LOL. The A/C was good which was necessary since it was hotter in Seoul than Gwangju. We relaxed a bit and browsed through the TV (we didn't have cable). After relaxing, we made our way to Hongdae.

Hongdae is really a nickname of hte place. The name comes from the fact that area is near Hongshik University. There's tons of people walking aound. Mostly young teens and 20-somethings. The whole area is mostly pedestrian but some cars do try to make its way in. It's a bit ridiculous if you ask me. Neil was able to book a hair appointment so we went to the salon first. I wanted a wash but it's not as cheap as I hoped. In China, you can get a hair wash and blow dry for less than $5 but it's like almost $30 here :(. To bad. After the salon, we walked aroud the area. Some buskers around, again mostly young people. And we finally settled for some Korean BBQ for our first meal. You order the food by the plate and it actually came out pretty small. It was still very yummy! We walked around some more and called it a night. We were pretty tired from the long bus ride and journey to the hostel. The next day we were meeting my friend Christy.

Quick update from Gwangju!

We completed our first week of work last week and I'm just finally writing about it. We've been busy adjusting to life here and trying to get everything we need with our limited capital. We were able to pick up some second hand items last weekend from people who are leaving the country. We picked up a toaster oven (yay!!) and after cleaning it I made some peanut butter cookies (only 3 ingredients: peanut butter, sugar and egg). Can't wait to try baking and roasting more stuff :) We picked a tv and have finally been able to watch shows on a bigger than 13" screen. Can't wait to get internet and start streaming some dramafever. We were also able to take a look at our next apartment. We met up with with the C and R and they gave us a tour around their place and neighbourhood. After which we went to eat at an American chain buffet restaurant: Ashley's.

The new neighbourhood and place is very different to what we are living in right now. Forst the apartment is much bigger. There's more rooms and windows. It's too bad they don't have the keyless lock. The neighbourhood is much more residential and less shops and cars around. Neil likes the convenience of our current area but I kinda like the new residential area. It's more homey. The area is super hilly so I'm going to develop some pretty good leg muscles.

Apparently on the second and fourth Sunday of the month all the big box grocery/department stores are closed. This is to help the little mom and pop stores make a better living. We didn't know so we trekked all over the city only to discover Home Plus, E-Mart and Lotte Mart were closed. It was a hot day and Neil even got sunburned. 

Next weekend we're heading to Seoul because we have a 3-day weekend! I'll update about that next. 

First Apartment Tour

For the first month of our stay in Gwangju we are temporarily staying in an apartment that's 5 minutes from the school. It is a studio apartment near Sangmu subway station. There's lots of restaurants and shops nearby and we've spent most days walking around th neighbourhood.

We've created a video blog for the apartment tour. Below are some pictures and a a floor plan our first apartment.

If the video doesn't load use this link: http://youtu.be/hiWVZfV6D3Q

First Week in Gwangju

We arrived in Gwangju after travelling for over 24 hours. 

Our first stop was our new school - ECC. We met the director, vice directors, admin staff, Korean teachers and native (english-speaking) teachers. We also got a tour of the facilities. Afterwards, Mr. Kim took us (luggages in tow) to our first apartment. Let's just say after being three months vacant, the place left little to be desired. We don't think any cleaning had been done. After putting our things down (NOT unpacking), we went to Lotte Mart to grab some food and cleaning supplies. We spent about three hours that night cleaning the apartment from top to bottom. The bleach smell was very strong that night.

The next three days we did our observations from 2pm - 10pm (classes start at 3pm). The first few nights we continued cleaning the apartment until it was livable again. I wish I had taken some before pictures, but we were too tired and just wanted to clean the place up as soon as possible. In SK, you need to put your garbage in specially marked bags which you can purchase at most stores. It costs from $0.50 to $1.00 depending on the size. There are four sizes. For our apartment, we bring our garbage bags down through the backdoor and someone or something picks it up. I've never seen it picked up but after a few days the garbage does disappear. 

After our observations, the school was closed for holidays so we had six days to do as we please. Rather than going anywhere, we decided to stay in GJ and familiarize ourselves with our surroundings. We tried many wonderful food including food court Korean food, fast/take-out Korean food, poutine (from expat bar), pho, fried chicken (sooooo good!), pizza, popcorn at the movie theatre and pasta. The food here is very reasonably priced and so good! The portion size is also very good, even though I still sometimes struggle to finish my food. I also made some food at home as well: fried rice, stir fry, soup, sandwiches and congee :) 

We don't have an oven so Neil hasn't had a chance to test out his culinary skills. In our next apartment, that will be one of first purchases.

We watched two movies: Planet of the Apes and Guardians of the Galaxy. We just purchased our tickets and pre-selected our seats and food on a machine so we didn't need to use too much Korean. Truth is, we can't :( We will be signing up for Korean classes for September. In the mean time, one look at Neil and everyone does try to speak a bit of English so that helps. 

The subway in GJ is only one line but we live very close to it so it's convenient for us. The price is only about $1.20 ($1.10 if using a transit card) each way anywhere on the line. It's super cheap! We haven't tried the taxi yet, but I hear that's really cheap as well. 

Well, that's all for the update today. Neil is working on our apartment tour video so hopefully in our next post, we can show our place! (all nice and cleaned)