Sunday in Itaewon

This is the view from our back balcony. That big tower on the hill is one of Seoul's most famous landmarks--called the North Seoul Tower. Our school is nestled up against that hill, but it's out of view in this picture. The Eiffel Tower looking structure to the left of the N. Seoul Tower has something to do with the Korean department of defence.

A family across the street enjoying the summer evening on their rooftop.

We awoke at 3:30 AM and started busying ourselves around the apartment. We learned to work our gas stove and oven and had a bagel and eggs.

A note on Korean coffee . . . We were told that we might have some trouble finding coffee in the same manifestation as what we enjoyed in the States. Actually, as far as grabbing a cup on the go goes, we discovered a pretty good coffee shop on our street. We've had a little more trouble finding stuff to make at home. Most coffee is instant and comes pre-mixed with a lot of sugar and creamer. It's convenient because we have a nice water dispensing unit (pictured above) which has a boiling hot water tap in addition to a cold one.

This afternoon, the Parrishes (Ryan's principal and family) showed us around our neighborhood and helped us identify items in the grocery store. It's been funny to read all the funny Engrish on t-shirts and notebooks. Remember, "punctuality is the most important virtue among the professionals. Don't hesitate to push yourself. The bitterness becomes your strong energy."

After walking around the neighborhood for a while, we were pretty hungry. We picked up a pizza from Pizza School. We were happy to learn that, in addition to academics, Koreans are very serious about their pizza. We ordered a cheese pizza, which also had a mandatory corn topping.

Later in the afternoon, we attended our first Korean church, which has 55,000 members and services all day long. We went to the English service on the 3rd floor. When the bus pulled up, we saw a giant sea of people leaving a previous service.

Safe in Seoul

We have arrived safely in Seoul and have been half awake and half asleep for our first few days. Our first night we woke up at 3 am (2 in the afternoon in Chattanooga) and were unable to go back to sleep. We were fortunate enough to have some Korean-Americans as our tour guides for our first two days in Seoul. Jewon, a fellow teacher at our school, and her husband showed us around. We have been learning some basic Korean, how to get around on public transportation and some places to do our shopping. We spent the first two nights in a hotel before moving into our apartment. We were very happy to see that it had two (small) balconies. This is a picture of our neighborhood as seen from our front balcony. Looking the other way, we can see the Han River, which runs right through the middle of Seoul.
The next picture is a street level shot from a block away from our apartment. Our building is the one in the distance with the green writing and brown stripe running down it. The apartments are called Shin Dong Ah. We learned the correct pronunciation of the apartments when we took a cab on our own for the first time and told the cab driver where we needed to go. He didn't understand our Korean so we showed him the address written down. He laughed at us and pronounced it correctly until we got the hang of it.

It's a bit overwhelming not knowing how to read Korean. Ryan is very zealous about learning and has already learned much of the alphabet. Early this morning, he tried to take a cab to our apartment. In his eagerness to learn the language he tried to give the cab driver directions. Instead of our building, the cab driver took him to the wrong place . . . another Shin Dong Ah apartment building in a different neighborhood. Fortunately he met some friendly Koreans who helped to point him in the right direction.

My method of orientation is more simple. I find any store or landmark that i can read in English and find my way from there. My landmark of choice is the Paris Baguette (right in front of our street.) Inside is all sorts of yummy pastries and bread. Our first purchase was a delicious green tea and cream cheese pastry.

Our apartment is very nice. We are very comfortable here and were surprised by how roomy it is. We have a livingroom/diningroom/kitchen, office, wardrobe room, bedroom, two bathrooms and two balconies. It is also pretty quiet, even though we are in the middle of the big city. But when the windows are open, the sounds and smells of Seoul come pouring in. Right now the neighbors below must be cooking dinner. The aroma of garlic and chilies waft in from time to time.

On our first full day here we went to a food court in a large shopping center. Our guides told us how to pronounce what we wanted and we were successfully able to order in Korean. This is sanje bibimbap (sounds like "beep and bop.") This is a very common Korean meal that is made with rice, vegetables, usually beef, an egg and some hot pepper sauce.

One thing that we have learned to know and love in our first two days here is this coffee vending machine. These things are everywhere--as common as coke machines in the States. You get a little cup of coffee (instant) for 30 cents. We have only tried black coffee but there are many varieties, including cafe mocha (50 cents.)

Memphis

We left our beloved cabin home on the first day of summer. The sadness of departure was somewhat diminished by our mad scramble to pack, clean, and destroy (we set fire to an old loveseat, mattress, and bookshelf). Though we are still excited about our upcoming move, we are somewhat jealous for the ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and greenbeans we left behind in our garden. Silas Jose and Bobby Kennedy seem to be adjusting well to their new home. They are busy exploring new territories and trying out new scratching posts.

We finished our two week "pre-field orientation" and have been spending a lot of time with various branches of the Ewing family. Adam visited for a few days with his girlfriend Cori, who prepared a tasty Thai dinner for us one night. Mr. Ewing used the opportunity to deck his family in ethnic garb.

Jessica and Will Stone are also in town for the week. We all braved the brunt of the hottest day of the year yesterday during a trip to the Memphis Zoo.