They don't know his name, though they're calling him Anyang because that's Korean for "hello"

Referring to the title of this post: Thank god for Arrested Development.

Ok so something that I am currently obsessed with: when boys and girls here walk together in the street, the boy holds the girl's purse.  It gets me laughing EVERY time.. and I'm not sure it'll ever get old. 

Anyway... Korea is awesome so far!  I've been here almost a week and boy is it humid.  I got here last Saturday and it has been a whirlwind ever since.  Getting used to the 13 hour time difference actually didn't suck as much as I thought it would.  I get tired really early but wake up naturally at 6 or 7.  Since we have to be at training at 9, it's given us plenty of time in the mornings to take brisk walks (okay, we only did that once), prep for the day's lessons, or watch Korean soap operas.  ChungDahm (the  language institute I'm working for) has been putting us up in the "Hotel Coatel" (it's funny cus it rhymes) but wasn't interested in splurging on an appropriate number of rooms... so I'm squished into a tiny room with 3 people.. and all of us have at least 2 huge suit cases. You do the math.  There is NO floor space.  It looks (and feels) like camp, had I ever gone.  The thing is, it has been SO much fun.  We've been having a blast- the people in my training group are awesome.  We haven't had too much time to explore the city because training has been so intense, but have been able to hang out in the area around our hotel quite a bit.  The area is called Gangnam, and it's the ritzy business district.  If not for the Asian signage all over the place, I would have NO idea that I was in South Korea.  It's busy like New York but clean like DC.  This spot has a lot of the chains from home- Dunkin Donuts, TGIFridays, you name it.  Speaking of food, I'm loving the Korean stuff.  Kim Bap is amazing.  Korean BBQ is out of this world.  

Also, boys and girls wear "couple shirts."  I'm obsessed.  I guess dating here means you need to match, which I'm very cool with, because it provides a lot of good laughs.  Another thing I've noticed while walking down the street is that I keep seeing the Asian versions of my friends from home. 


As for my job (that thing I apparently came here to do), I think I'm going to really like it.  I've NEVER wanted to be a teacher, and I came in not knowing how to be a teacher AT ALL but I am leaving training fairly competent (I hope).  I'll be teaching the little kiddies... something that I was disappointed to hear at first, but now am SO excited about.  They're gonna be adorable and our lessons look really fun.  The school really encourages creativity so the kids are always writing stories or putting on plays that we can film and put online for them to watch.  Every classroom has a green screen so we can add different backgrounds and stuff! It's gonna be fun and super cute.  Maybe I can sneak one on here.

Training ends tomorrow, so sadly I will have to say goodbye to all my new friends- They'll be sent to branches all over the country.  Fortunately, SK isn't too big, so it'll be fun to visit.  I'm also sad to be leaving Gangnam, because I will miss seeing the Korean men walking around in their business suits.  They look good all dressed up!

On the plus side, I'll be moving into my apartment tomorrow afternoon, so I'm really excited !! I'm in Northern Seoul (in an area called Eunpyeong. Yeah, try pronouncing that) and apparently there's a mountain within the district.  I'm interested to see what that'll be like.  It's about 20 minutes from Hangdae (spelling unknown) which is supposed to be a fun brooklynish area.  The school looks as if it's close to the subway station, which I am thankful for because it's annoying being far from the subway.  Speaking of the subway, they need to get hopstop up in here!  The subway map looks like a white piece of paper that a child scribbled on with 15 different colored crayons.  One thing I do love is that people here are VERY into queuing.  They line up for everything.. even getting onto the subway.  It's opposite of new york where everyone is pushing to get through the bottle neck that is the train door.  Getting on the subway is actually not an unpleasant experience.

I'm hoping once I get into the swing of things, I'll be able to sign up for some Korean classes.  As for the short-term, I'm psyched for the weekend!! MJ, my friend from Thailand who is also teaching here, will be coming into Seoul from her home on the DMZ and I am SO excited to see her.  After a long week of training, I'm ready to go out and do some dancing!