One week in!

So, thats a lie! It's actually been 8 days... and a quick 8 days too might I add! I guess the first few days/weeks always fly by when you first get to a new country and have no idea whats goin' on! Since the last time I blogged alot has happened, and I have no idea where to begin...

Ok, lets start with my welcome party... WOW! It was last Friday, after work at around 9pm all of the staff at school piled onto some buses waiting out side and the night of madness began! Since i've been here I usually find myself goin' up to the other western teachers in the school and havin' a chat with them, and we usually all hang out together etc. which I guess is normal for anyone!?! Everyone finds "one of their own" to gain some comfort in the peculiararity of any situation... be it, goin' to the pub on a Friday night on your own, or flyin' across the world to a place that couldn't be more different from what you know as the norm! Anyways, (sorry I got side tracked) so I get on the bus with my fellow western teachers expecting to sit beside one of them, however, this was not to be the case! As I stepped onto the bus a hand blocked my path to the back of the bus... it was "Mike's" hand! "Mike" is a Korean teacher who LOVES European people... my first day he approached me and told me of his years spent in Europe and his many visits to Ireland and how he "speaks english with a british accent"!?! How he would love to go back there etc. So, I was told by "Mike" that I was to sit beside him for the duration of the bus journey, I didn't mind, he's a nice guy with a good heart, behind all the infatuation with Europe! So after 15mins of talking to "Mike" about the plus' of being from Europe and how much he misses his family(who are still in England) we eventually arrived at this traditional Korean restaurant somewhere in Cheonan. So, in we go to the restaurant... but not before we take off our shoes! So, shoes off and we head to our own private room that the boss had booked for us... there were no seats! Thats right, everyone was sitting on the floor around long tables about 1 foot off the ground... the pins and needles were awful! Then, like pretty much straight away we get plates and plates of vegetables and soup and some wierd spicy dip thing, within a minute of that, our meat arrives! Plates and plates or raw pork! The traditional Korean restaurants have built in barbeque's in each table in the restaurant so, you cook your own food then and there! These were long slabs of pork so I thought; "surely, we'll get a knife and fork with this"...no! We get chop sticks and... a sissors! You pick up the meat with the chopsticks and then cut the meat into managable pieces, it was hard but, I eventually got the hang of it! So, there we are, the meat is cooking, we're drinkin' our soup and then the Soju starts to arrive... OH GOD! Firstly, I didn't know what soju tasted like, secondly that didn't matter as I was to find out soon enough, thirdly the Korean's can't hold their booze WHATSOEVER!! "Mike" came over to me and insisted as I was new and his new "European Friend" that I must drink shots of Soju with him, so, me being me, I refused the booze....ya right! Haha, the shots just kept comin', me and "Mike", then me and some more of the Koreans, then me and the western teachers.... before long I was rat arsed! But I wasn't the only one on the flame train....the Koreans were all over the shop! "Mike" was stumbling around the place with no socks on, with a spoon in an empty Soju bottle (it's kinda seen as some kind of microphine here) calling on people to get up and sing/dance/talk... anything! So the time came where I had to get up and sing a song... I sang "The Galway Shawl" (all 1 verse and chorus that I know) but it seemed to go down well! Then another few of the westerners got up and started singin, then the koreans got up and started dancing and singin' and before long it was like I was at home at a weddin' or somethin'.... it was so out of control you just had to laugh! Oh, and all this in the space of about 2 hours! So at 11pm the Koreans started to head home (cause they were fairly well oiled at this stage) and the rest of us Westerners headed to a "Noerebang" (Kareoke room) they love Noerebangs in this country! You cant walk down a street without meetin' like 10 of them! Anyways we party it up there 'til the early hours and then head to another bar... this is where the story of my Welcome party ends as, the next thing i knew I woke up in my Love Motel the following afternoon! But i'll tell you this much... the Koreans can throw some party!

Oh, and by the way "Mike's" name has been changed for the purpose of this blog!

On Saturday I was fairly hungover, and a person I work with came to collect me and bring me to my new apt. I got there that afternoon at around 2/3!?! I tried to get settled in and just unpack but my hangover refused to let that happen! That night I was invited to a Halloween party in some bar in Cheonan. I was iffy about goin' at the start cause I was THAT hungover, but I went along anyways! What a night! We had some laugh... lot's of booze, a cocktail show that involved fire being sprayed onto the ceiling and out onto the ceiling of the dancefloor! It was unreal! Several "mekju's" (pints) later a lad I work with and myself get home at 7 in the mornin'! I'm glad I went, it was a great laugh, and I met loads and loads more western people! I even met 2 Irish people, one guy that has been here for 7 years!!!

Sunday I was hungover!

Monday was my first day of teaching! I start on M.T.W. & F. at 1:20, and on Thursday it's 4pm! I teach four kindergarden classes a week, which is just put on a movie, help them colour in pictures and let them pull the hair from your arms (their facinated with it, Koreans dont have any hair on their arms)! The rest of my classes range in age from 8-15! For the most part they are all well behaved kids! In a few posts I will get some photo's of them and throw them up here for you to see!

Tuesday... same as Monday really! taught some classes, planned some lessons, got dinner for €1... the usual!

This coming weekend, one of the lads I work with plays drums in a band, with some more westerners, and their first official gig is on Saturday night in the downtown area of Cheonan. Should be a good night! Other than that, i'm writing a list of things that are wierd in Korea and I will post them at a later date!

Also, please find below some photos of the neighbourhood I live in, my appartment and some traditional Korean food! There's also a video! Later...

This is Kimbab/Kimbap- traditional Korean food!







Random street near where i live!

Above is a picture of the building that my school is in! Its on the 5th floor!

This photo is one of my favourites! Am.... its so wierd to come to a place as far away as Korea and see a place called Bally! If you look through my Paris photos on Bebo, there is also a Bally there! Insane!



Traditional Korean restaurant near where I live!

Below is one half of my apt. and the view from my balcony in both directions! Also, at the very bottom of my page is the video.