busy day sep 1st

Hello from Seoul!
 Today (Wed.) has been an eventful day- it was my first day to teach my students in my classroom and run the show. It was so fun. I am feeling like a regular "Seoulite". I have no problem doing anything I need to. I am learning my neighborhood very well and love the area- everything is close and it has many great places to go to eat and drink. I am doing alot of things alone- Emily has moved in to her apartment and we have been meeting up here and there to do things- but I love walking down the street and  observing everything and everyone. My thoughts while observing people as I walk down the sidewalk- is just how cool it is to be on the other side of the world from what I consider to be "everyday normal" and finding it here too. Of course, it's different in a way- but there are underlying similarities that I notice and appreciate in the way Koreans interact, do business, and treat each other. People are so so so extremely hard working!!! They are diehard honest!!! They do things right and make things right if they're not no matter how LONG it takes- they dont leave anything until it's done- (I've already witnessed that at school) and also super gracious. Everyday I learn-live-love it more and more- and by it- i mean korea and the ppl. I feel all korean just by saying "kam sa mida"- thank you- to people, im so lame, i gotta lot to learn!!! :)

Today Emily and I had to meet Lily and go to the Doctor for a physical checkup and also to the Hana Bank to open up our Korean bank accounts.
The physical was an experience in itself. Each floor of the hospital was designated for a different part of the body. We first had X-rays done of our chests- I got to see mine- Ive never seen an X-ray of my lungs/chest- its was cool. Then we had an old school eye test-covering one eye and reading off a chart on the wall and GUESS WHAT- I had PERFECT eye sight! I was shocked- the nurse asked me "what do you eat" hahaha- I laughed and said carrots (not hardly) and she responded "ewww yuck" (like a little kid). We then had to go get our teeth checked, then pee in a DIXIE cup which was weird- and have blood drawn,ouch- lastly we sat down with a doctor who asked us general health questions- "do you have any pain anywhere"? things like that. It was super interesting- we had to go to a different flr for each thing we did. A huge group of female korean doctors exited an elevator right in front of us and all said "hello" to Emily and I.
At the bank we set up our bank accounts- debit cards just like in the states. We will get paid by direct deposit every month by our school- which is nice.

Before we met up with Lily- we were standing on the sidewalk waiting- and a grandmother walked up to us with her grandson in his stroller- she took him out and wanted us to talk to him and hold him- so we did- i guess also just wanted him to see us. She didnt speak just a bit of English but she was asking all kinds of questions and pushing her grandson to look at us- but he was just so scared- it was super cute.

After all that jazz we ran into one of the English teachers, Darrah from Ireland, that just finished teaching at our school and is leaving tomorrow to travel for a month- going to 5 countries then coming back to seoul- he recommended to us a FANTASTIC korean eatery and DANG it I didnt take a picture of my food but it was so pretty and so so so tasty. It was called Bi-Bim Bab and it had a fried egg on top and i put the famous korean pepper sauce or paste rather- and uhhhhhhhhhhhh so good. Korean food is under-rated- i just cant wait until my mom comes to visit so i can expose her to all this!!!!
ok ok this is getting long- to the first day- so school was frantic from 3 to 4 pm today!!! Emilys computer wasnt working and had all the male korean teachers running around like crazy- they had to fix my projector- last minute paperwork and copying of disks and just one thing after the other- it was so funny now in retrospect. All my classes are great- some more quiet than others- they all asked me 3 standard questions- where are you from? how old are you? are you married? hahaha. on my computer background is the CUTEST picture of my nephew Eli and at the beginning of every class i showed the picture of him and they were in awwwww of his blonde hair and blue eyes :) they like my blonde hair too and the fact that im from america- so many of them want to go there and study.
I have to be at school at 3 pm until 10 pm- i teach from 4 pm to 9 pm. I like the schedule. I have to alot of paperwork though each week, part of it.
I can barely stay awake for much longer- last night i was invited to a poker night with some of the other foreign teachers (thats what we're called here- obviously) but i could barely make it home after work- i was so exhausted. It is a 10 minute walk from my apt to my school which is nice. Tonight I met Andre (from ontario canada) as I walking home, he is also a eng. teacher and we got to talking- he lives right near me and has been here for 3 years! I think there are alot of foreign english teachers in the area. anyhooo- gotta get some sleep. good night from the heart of seoul korea 09-01-10 i hope for a wonderful september 2010.