N Seoul Tower

I checked out N Seoul Tower today. It's a communication tower located in the center of Namsan Park. The park seems like a great place to hang out in the Spring or Summer. There are even areas with workout equipment (bench presses, chin up bars, and very basic elliptical machines). You can take a cable car to the top or hike up. I was ambitious so I hiked (I will probably be wishing that I took the cable car tomorrow). The views of Seoul from the observatory deck are amazing. I definitely wish I had gone on a clearer day though. They also had an exhibit for children with a bunch of art and sculptures made from cookies. It was pretty funny.

This is part of Seoul from about half way up to the tower:

I'd like to go again at night because they light it up and the city probably looks really cool. Whoever comes to visit me first gets to go to dinner there with me (they have a revolving restaurant at the top). :)

Tower's reflection from the Observatory

Itaewon

Yesterday I went to Itaewon with some of the other teachers from orientation. It's where the military base in Seoul is located. In the neighborhood that my hotel is in, I've never seen another foreigner, but in Itaewon it's pretty common. There are a lot of foreign restaurants (Thai, French, Mexican) a lot of foreign chains (Quiznos, Coldstone, Pizza Hut, Outback, etc) and a bunch of fake designer clothes, shoes and accessories. At one point while we were walking through the market, this van pulls up to the curb and starts unloading massive amounts of fake Chanel and Burberry clothes. The people just went crazy. They all flocked to it and began picking through the piles. Apparently it's really important to have the latest fakes. It's definitely a bit sketchy and overwhelming at first but there are some great bargains if you have the patience and willingness to haggle. If you want a custom made suit, a nice leather purse, or silk ties/scarves- it's a good place to go.

We couldn't see much of the military base, just the tall stone walls with barbed wire on top, but I hear they have an awesome foreign goods market and a golf course. My goal is to find a way in.

Toilets

I haven't had much experience so far with Korean toilets so I don't know if this is representative of most toilets in the country, but the one at our school is definitely the fanciest toilet I've ever seen. It has a control pad next to it with a bunch of buttons. I don't know what all the buttons do because only a couple of them have pictures on them. One has a picture of a person's bum with water from the toilet splashing on it, I think this turns the toilet into a bidet. Another button is for heating the toilet seat.

Class Observation

Yesterday I got to observe the classes that I will be taking over next Wednesday. My kindergarten students are the cutest little things ever. They thought my name was Mickey, so they called me Mickey Mouse. They, of course, thought this was hilarious. I think they were a little disappointed when I told them it was Nikki.


For February I will have two kindergarten classes in the morning from 10:40-12:00, and then 4 elementary classes from 3-6. At the end of February, the school year is over and I will get my new schedule which will be the same for the rest of the year.

The school has 7 foreign teachers right now, 5 are Canadian and 2 are from the states. Everyone seems pretty laid back and was very helpful and nice my first day. It seems like a fun environment to work in.

Spitting

I had to make a post about this cause I just don't get it.

Korean men spit everywhere, all the time. If you don't see it, you hear it. Is it really necessary? I guess I'll get used to it eventually, as long as no one ever accidently spits on me.

Flight

After having a terrible flying experience, to and from Europe this past summer, with Delta (cramped, 9 hour delays, and broken down planes) Korean Air was a pleasant surprise.

Each seat had an individual touch screen with over 30 movies to choose from (mostly recent hollywood movies and a small selection of American classics, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and European films) three news channels, and games (tetris being one of them, awesome).

The seats were big and there was a lot of aisle space and leg room. Oh, and I didn't even hit my head on the overhead luggage bin every time I stood up. And to top it off, they served Bibimbap, it was probably the best plane food I've ever had.

All the movie watching, bibimbap eating, tetris playing and sleeping made the flight go by pretty fast. I didn't even need my iPod for entertainment.

I give Korean Air an A+, or 5 stars, or whatever. It was nice.