Korean Cultural Day!

Sunday was quite the adventure and a great experience as well. One of the women who hangs out with us foreigners is from Korea and speaks great English and she takes a lot of pride in showing us what her country has to offer and the heritage that lay here. She set up a day for us to experience the facets of Korean culture. 1) Making Kimchi, 2) Playing Korean style ceremonial drums, and 3) Making paper mishe trays. We went to an area of Jeonju that I've never been before and I can certaily say it will not be my last time there either. It was stunning and had so much to look at but because we were on a schedule I didn't have a chance to do the exploring I plan on doing in the near future.

Ok so the Kimchi making process was pretty cool. Kimchi is basically fermented cabbage that is seasoned with chili powder and other vegetables. It is THE MAIN ingredient in any Korean dish; they eat this with everything. My aunt warned me of the smell kimchi has to offer and she couldn't have been more right. It is not the most appetizing smell to say the least but the taste will surprise you with a mix of sweet and spicy.

The drums we were playing are traditional ceremonial drums and the guy who was teaching us is a student at the local university majoring in Korean ancient music. He was really funny and very patient with the gap in communication. I really liked this part but after hearing 30 drums all at the same time my head was certainly beginning to beat a bit harder and a headache was coming over very shortly.

After the drums we were escorted back into the main room where our paper mishe was set up for us. This was VERY relaxing and a great relief for the headache to wear off. Jeonju is well known for their paper making abilities and this is because the climate of Jeonju is perfect to grow the trees that are needed to make the paper mishe. When Korea was run by a king and the different provinces had to give the king a gift of some sort, Jeonju would always send their finest paper because it was the highest quality paper in the entire country. We made trays with butterflies on them to give the meaning of relationships. Butterflies in Korean culture stand for a happy relationship and we glued a statement in the middle which said something along the lines of "as long as we're together then we'll always be happy."

The entire day was a lot of fun and I'm certainly lucky to be where I am today!

I APOLOGIZE FOR THE VIDEO BEING SIDEWAYS, I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO TURN IT.

KCC Basketball!!!

Saturday was indeed an interesting day to say the least. The KBL or the Korean Basketball League has a team right here in Jeonju and it's playoff time! I was invited to attend the game with a few other foreigners and since sports runs through my blood there was no way I could pass it by! Our team here in Jeonju is called KCC Ebis and I was surprised to see we had a few foreign players on both the KCC team and the visiting team. Apparently the team KCC played beat them by nearly 15 the first time they met earlier in the season so I was expecting for our KCC to lose. Oh I was wrong indeed! KCC came out and won big, by 28 points big. They have a player on their team who is a REALLY tall Korean and he's like a Great Dane puppy. He's tall, uncoordinated, and full of piss and vinegar! He was certainly an entertainment to watch to say the least. It certainly isn't an NBA caliber of game but it was a lot of fun and I certainly look forward to going to another one.

The video attached is of the pre-game celebration. What you didn't hear is the 39 times they did this before I decided to record it. It was a bit annoying by this point but I wanted to share it with you all :)

Dinner time!

Here is an example of a traditional Korean dinner. It's pretty awesome because you literally grill your own meat at your table to your liking and you have a ton of sides accompany the main dish.

Here's the shower!!!

Many of you have been curious as to what this shower ordeal is all about so here you go :)

A better way of getting around!

So apparently the competition for Internet subscribers is pretty intense. They companies will give away all sorts of things to persuade people to use their company for Internet. Apparently Korea is one of the most widely connected places in all of the world in regards to the Internet. The company I decided to sign with was giving away anything from a lap top computer to a brand new vacuum. One of the biggest disadvantages I'm facing here is the lack of getting around besides walking everywhere. So with that, I decided to take advantage of the new bike I could get. It's one of the folding mountain bikes that I've heard a lot of horror stories about but so far the bike has been great. I've attached a couple of pictures for you to take a look at. The first picture is the bike in the box as it was delivered to my apartment. The second is obviously the assembled bike and honestly it works like a charm.

Secondly, I was dieing for some pizza and I decided to venture into one of the local pizzerias and ordered a pepperoni pizza. I gave them my address and it was delivered right away. Everyone here is extremely helpful as you can see by the note on the box, "Welcome to Korea, Thanks." The pizza was one of the best things I've had since arriving in Korea but if you compare it to American pizza, it holds no stance :)

And last are pictures from St. Patrick's Day. Just a good night out with some friends and green beer to thank St. Patrick for his Christian work and gratitude towards Scotland :)

This was my first time ever seeing snow! It was raining the night before and when I woke up I was wondering why it was still raining but when I opened my window I saw this!! I was very surprised and immediately put some clothes on and made my first snow ball!!

Some pictures

First you see my first adventure to the grocery store for the basics of a first day. Then you have my school from a distance. Following you have a brief tour of my "apartment." I tried to make them run one after another so you can get a picture of the size of the place.

And finally.....A CELL PHONE!!

I have no idea how much it would cost anyone to call me from the states but if you come across an international calling card and want to give me a ring my number is 010-8340-1212. Hope all is well with everyone!!

Grrrrrr...First disappointment of Korea

It's not that bad so don't worry :) I finally received my "green card" which makes me 100% a legal resident of Korea (not that I was in danger before having it). The day I received it, the owner of my school took me down to open a bank account which was very helpful and he deposited a good amount of money in it which was surprising because I wasn't expecting to be paid until next month. I suppose it was for the first week that I worked there. All in all they have been very helpful with things. OK so for the disappointment part....I went to get a cell phone set up here in Korea and after walking into about 15 different phone stores and asking "you speak English", I finally found one! The guy didn't speak much at all but he spoke enough to get the point across and help me with a phone. I spent an hour with him trying to figure out the payment plan, the cost of the phone, setting everything up, and how I would be charged. All in all we figured things out and I had my phone.....or so I thought. As they're bagging everything up for me to take on my way, the owner comes over and says something to him in Korean and the kid looks like he saw a ghost. He then had to turn to me and tell me "you have Korean credit card?" Obviously I said no, but I have a bank card with money on it. He then said "phone company no take your debit card, must have credit card." So with that wonderful information I headed to the closest bank to see if I can apply for a Korean credit card (which I really didn't want to do) and they told me that they do not give credit cards to foreigners...of course not, why would they!? So I then stroll "happily" back to the phone company and tell them that I can't get a credit card and they say sorry, we can't sell phone. They then told me to come back on Saturday because another phone carrier is lowering their prices and they could work with just a debit card in Korea. At that point I just needed to get back home and get ready for class.

SOOOOOO....I'm still waiting on a cell phone but I should have that covered here shortly and if that's the worst of my problems then I say I have things pretty well covered here :)

Until next time, hope you're all doing well!!

My Address here in Korea

Here is my address here in Korea. It looks odd but write it just as you see it!

Nathan Weatherholt
301 Sannaedle Villa
693-5, 2-ga,
Jungwhasan-dong,
Wansan-gu,
Jeonju-city.

If you're going to send something please let me know so I can keep an eye out for it as I have no idea how the mail is delivered outside of letters and what not.

Adjustments thus far...

Ok so here is a list of some of the things I've had to adjust to since arriving in Korea...

1) First it was the jet lag; knowing my body wanted to sleep at 4pm was weird but realizing it was 3am in Florida explained it all.
2) My "shower". I've adjusted quite well to it but just the process of going to the bathroom is a hassle because there's water all over the floor and a nice reminder at 3am when you have to go to the bathroom is stepping in a puddle that has yet to dry up.
3) The food. A lot of the food here is good but there are just some things that I have yet to adjust to. The whole "kimchi" thing is not something I look forward to smelling or tasting with every meal. They eat this stuff with EVERYTHING!!! I did have a chance to go to the grocery store and bought some eggs, bread, milk, cereal, and any other "American" type foods I could find. I did make some spaghetti last night which turned out pretty good but their pasta sauce is much sweeter than back home.
4) The taxi's!!!! People you thought traffic was bad in America, PLEASE! I seriously thought I was going to die twice already while riding in a taxi. These guys just do not care much for stop signs or stoplights; they'll just get you to your destination as quickly as possible. And talk about angry people haha, they are determined to get you to your spot no matter who they upset in the process. All in all it's really good and it's very cheap to get around the city.
5) the language barrier, obviously. Just the simple process of asking how much something is turns into a 5 minute game of charades. I first have to move my fingers in the sign of money, then I have to get out my won from my pocket and hold up random amounts until they realize that I have no idea how much anything is unless there's a price tag on it. Luckily the people here are very genuine and I doubt I've been ripped off yet but who knows.
6) The weather. It's pretty cold now and I saw snow here my 3rd day in Jeonju but it's a different kind of cold. It's a dry cold I guess and it's not like Tampa. 40 degrees here feels much different than 40 degrees in Tampa. Luckily I believe it's going to be warming up soon.
7)The time difference in regards to speaking to people back home. It's unfortunate that I don't have the opportunity to speak "live" with many people back home. A lot of it is via emails and what not but there are times where I do catch my mom or brother on in the morning (night time for them) and am amble to talk with them.
8) The night life....or night/morning life. These people can party! When one place closes, another place is opening or stays open later and the past 2 weekends I've found myself getting home with the sun greeting me as it rises.

These are just a few of the adjustments so far and I PROMISE pictures are to come soon.

Love you all!!!

Finally something to add!!!! I've made it safely :)

Sorry for the massive delay in updating this. I've made it safely to Korea and the trip here alone was an adventure that I'm not willing to try again. Let me explain; After the 23 hour flight and a numb ass I arrived into Seoul to board a bus for yet more time on the ole rear end. The bus ride was 3 hours to Jeonju but it gave me a lot of time to catch up on some much needed sleep as I wasn't able to sleep on the plane due to a pounding headache from the constant change in pressure. Anyways, through 3 airports and across the world, the airlines managed to make sure that all 5 of my checked bags were put onto each plane and made it safely to Korea. Leave it to good ole Nathan to mess that one up! I put all of my bags INCLUDING my carry on into the bottom of the bus for storage. When I was picked up at the bus stop, I was still thinking that I only had 5 bags to get, welllll that wasn't the case. I wound up leaving one of my most important bags sitting at the bus stop and only realized it when I arrived to my school for a visit. LUCKILY, the man who picked me up rushed back to the bus stop and it was still sitting there, unopened, Nintendo Wii and all still inside. That alone gave me a great feeling about the Korean people. That bag would have been stolen in 30 seconds in America.

Well, I spent that night unpacking and just relaxing a bit and getting my bearings together. The next morning I woke up and decided to see what this city has to offer. I walked all over the place looking at symbols that could mean absolutely anything yet I have no clue what they're saying. I was only able to get around due to a pad of paper and a pen in my pocket and insuring I was turning at locations, not street signs. They do in fact have a 7-11 on almost every corner here (mom you would be happy) but they certainly don't have a Slurpee on board!!

Anyways, come to find out one of the women I'm working with (I say women because she's my age yet I still feel like I'm a little kid) is living in the same place I am yet she's been here for 2 months now. She invited me out to a party of one of her other "foreign" (meaning non Korean) friends and I decided to go. It was a great choice on my part because I was able to meet a great group of people who were all very inviting and welcoming to new comers to the area. We didn't get home until 7am the next morning!!! I also had the pleasure of finding out exactly what Soju is.....which you may want to Google it to see the true definition but it's only $1 for a bottle and it will get you drunk pretty fast. Mix it with Sprite and you have no idea you're drinking it. Luckily everyone here takes taxi's to get around and they're dirt cheap so there's no worries of a DUI.

You're probably wondering how I'm adapting to the food, believe me, I was worried about that as well. It's actually really good and almost everywhere you go you can order food that is cooked right on a grill in front of you. They bring you hot coals and all the sides to go with your meal and it's really good. I was venturing to the local grocery store and walked by a guy who was getting my attention to try something he was cutting up. On closer review it was dried eel. I figured, "hey when in Rome right?" I picked up a piece of it, threw it in my mouth as if it were an every day thing, and started to chew. It was surprisingly really good and sweet as well. Not that I'll be eating it every day but if push came to shove then I wouldn't mind snacking on it again. I do in fact have a great backup plan of cereal and ham and cheese sandwiches in my fridge though.

My apartment is hmmmmmm, shall I say "roomy?" That's exactly what it is, a room. I can't complain though, it's cozy and the room is heated through the floor which is really nice on the toes! The sink/shower combination took some getting used to but it's really not that bad. I just have to turn a nozzle and it's either water running through the faucet or the shower head and the water pressure and temperature are just fine. The bed is like sleeping on the floor. There's absolutely no give in it and I had to purchase my own pillows but really, for not having to pay for the place, I can't complain and will no longer due so!

Now, for the reason I'm actually in Korea. I started teaching yesterday and had about 2.5 hours to prepare what I was going to do. I have lesson plans and books for each class and follow a syllabus but it's up to me to actually get on stage and perform. My first class was a mess, I ran out of material with about 25 minutes left in class and started to panic but I pulled it together and started to improvise. Luckily the second class went much smoother as I was able to throw together a word search in between to cover the time gap. Today's my second day and it should go relatively smooth but I'm prepared to fight the good fight and come out a winner in any case!!

I'm thinking of getting some fish for the apartment so you'll have to stay tuned to the next addition for that and pictures to come! I love you all and miss you!!!