The Other Side of the World: Update!

We're here! We've been here for almost a week, but we've had a very limited time with the internet. We won't have a stable connection to the world until the end of January. We have to wait to get our Alien Registration Cards before we can get internet, cell phones, or bank accounts. It takes 15 business days to get the ARCs, and they haven't sent off for them yet. We're able to get internet tonight by opening our window and holding our computer outside. It's freezing outside, so it's not really an ideal way to get the internet. We miss everyone though! And are so excited to get to tell you that we're here, and we're okay!

This week has been a bit of a whirlwind! We left Dallas at 9am on Saturday morning and followed the sun all the way to Seoul, arriving at 3pm on Sunday afternoon. From there, we flew to Daegu, where we were picked up by Tae Won who took us to our temporary apartment. He left us there with a sack of breakfast foods: pancake newtons (which we vowed never to eat again), bananas, almond cereal, orange juice, water, and milk (that was soured when we opened it). The apartment wasn't really equipt for guests. No toiletpaper(luckily I had thrown a roll in my bag before we boarded the plane), no dishes or silverware (which would have really made it interesting to eat our cereal, had the milk not been soured), and no address or map or any way to tell where the heck we were.

The next afternoon, Tae Won picked us up to take us to our first day of training. It was fun. We met several people who were very nice. The company that we are working for is going to be great. Many of the teachers who work for MoonKkang have been with them for several years (which is unusual in a job like this). After training, we were starving because the only meal we had had was breakfast, so we asked Tae Won where we should go to eat. He pointed out a place that was close to our apartment and told us what we should order -- Wang-Galbi (Korean barbecued pork). As soon as he dropped us off, we walked there, not really thinking about what it would be like...not really thinkng about how monumental this experience would be to our trip. Our first Korean restaurant experience...

We walked up to the entrance and saw a shoe rack just outside the door with about 6 or 7 pairs of shoes on it. So, we removed our shoes and added them to the collection. Once we did this we realized it was a traditional Korean restaurant with the short tables and no chairs. Very neat. A waitress approached us and spoke to us something in Korean. We didn't know whether she was telling us to leave or asking us where we wanted to sit. Luckily, she was only asking us where we wanted to sit. I think. We sat, and she brought us a large bottle of water and two cups. Then she started speaking to us again in Korean, asking us what we wanted to eat. Cordia and I looked at each other, confused, and kind of mumbled "Wang-Galbi?" It seemed like she knew what we wanted without even having to tell her. Apparently this is a popular meal with the foreigners. Soon she brought out some raw pork and threw it on the grill in the middle of the table. She also sat about 13 or 14 side dishes down in front of us. Once the meat was cooked she tried to show us how to properly eat it by wrapping it in a leaf of lettuce along with some rice and gimchi (pickled cabbage, a traditional Korean food) with little success. So she just grabbed Cordia's hand, placed a piece of lettuce in it, then the galbi and some gimchi. She even wrapped it in the lettuce and then motioned "eat it!" We did, and it was delicious. Since that night we've had galbi twice more.