A day in Seoul

I'm such a bum!

I've been meaning to type here for a few days now, and I missed it really. It's sort of comforting to let a quiet laptop know what I've been doing and to watch this piece of metal hooked up to the Internet pass the word.

I'm doing great!

Before I tell you what happened this weekend, I want to tell you what happened tonight.

Samantha, a gal from Sacramento, had a super rough day with her kids in the "New York" classroom, so her and I headed to find karaoke and a beer immediately after work. We did, and with it, we found a true gem in these parts: pizza! I can't tell you how nice it was to each a crusty wonder topped with random vegetables and cheese. It's heaven right now.

We didn't find karaoke. We did find the pizza and the beer, and she was just a doll to hang out with. Her stories of touring Europe in the last 3 months are too much, but they make me want to visit. I know, I know, I'm in Asia and that's what I'm doing right now. Yes I am. The other teachers here are amazing and each one of them has an interesting story to tell. With this being a one month position, we have a mixture of nomadic types: Jackie (from the UK) who's heading to Cambodia in March, and with whom I'll be going to Japan with; Kim (from Scotland) who also holds a ticket for Tokyo, and who surprises me daily with her wit; Andrew, an eager, funny guy (from the UK) who's got a diarming crush on my fellow American teacher from California; Claire, who literally tried to stop talking for 3 minutes on a dare and failed (from Wales); Bryony (from UK) who is sick with a kidney infection but who manages to bring over apples and conversation to my room at the perfect times; Chris, who's got a heart as bigger than the piles of rice I seem to eat every day; Nicole, who despite having a young class of kiddies manages to smile and enjoy every moment of it.

I think I missed a few. But they aren't reading. You are. I guess it's just been fabulous to get to know and share a bond with a few random people which has really given me warm thoughts towards strange people in a strange land. (But no, not that kind)

The teachers here literally save me sometimes. I'll miss it when I leave. :)

Right, I was going to tell you about this weekend.

All 11 of us headed to Seoul on a subway (an hour ride) to the Palace. It was breathtaking of course. However, the piece of the day (Sunday) that brought me that surreal feeling that you get when you're in a completely different country and nothing seems familiar... was in the market. The downtown Seoul market was a mixture of people, products, pastries, and urban paradise.

So far in Korea, I've seen literally hundreds of deep fat fryers on the sidewalk frying up everything you can imagine. Were you thinking sushi? Nope. I mean there's plenty of it here, but even more plenty is the variety of vegetables and meats you can order ala cart for a small price while walking the streets. I haven't yet had any, but I guess they fascinate me.

Okay, anyway Seoul market was surreal. We sampled fermented honey wrapped in 2000 strands of corn flour (not too sweet, not sweeter than a nice miso)

I also tried out my camera the entire day and into the night, if you'd have a look. The photos can be reached on the sidebar of this blog. Some of them really brought out the culture, and the ones that didn't you won't see with utmost respect to the art of editing bad work. It's a lovely camera. Enjoy!