Korean Subways, Sonic Happy Hours, Sandwich Shop and Rainy Day

To start off with the week of training is almost over, so that’s exciting within itself.  Tomorrow we have our final presentations of our mock lessons, but the nice thing about it is we’re actually mocking the material that we’ll be encharged with instructing on Monday when we get to are actual school location.  My location will be the Suncheon branch and I hop on a 5 and a half hour bus ride after training tomorrow to get there.  I’m the only one from my training going to this branch, however there are two other individuals going to a smaller town that is just a scooch further so we figure as much that we’re all going to be on the bus ride adventure together. 

I don’t know if the town that I’m going to has a subway, but I can tell you that Seoul’s is definitely fascinating.  I’m certainly amazed at how far it extends into the ‘burbs.  For central Texas reference it would be like the circular subway stopping in Marble Falls, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Manor and Kyle then having a few individual branches of the subway system that extend even further to Llano, Bastrop, Belton, and San Marcos.  I think that would definitely change the way that we traveled back home.  I’ve tried to arrange where I ride it NOT during rush hour.  That would be obvious to most, but when you’re having to be somewhere at 9:30 and it takes an hour to get there via subway, it is very tempting to just leave with maybe a fifteen minute cushion.  Instead I’ve been trying to leave at 7ish and just use the extra time to chat with family and friends and also rehearse my mock teaching.  There are so many Koreans packed into the subway it’s awesome.  To think that if it was Austin the potential of all of these people needing a car is epically bad.  Then again another epically bad thought is a terrorist threat and they’ve prepped for that with gas masks in bags and demo videos on the subway car video monitors, the only problem with the concept lies within the fact that there is probably on average 1 mask for every 50 people.  Not great odds.  I definitely salute the Korean subway system because they have figured out a solution to the littering problem that plagues most subway systems that utilize paper transit cards.  Instead in Seoul if you’re buying a single use card you have to produce a 50 cent deposit and then you can get that back if you return the card.  I love these 50 cent pieces because for two I can get one of the noodle bowls here and still get change back.  YES!!!

The only other point of mention with the Korean subway is the awesomeness of Koreans with their phones.  A good percentage of the Koreans young and middle-aged that I encounter on the subway are doing something with their smartphones.  There’s people reading, people reading and listening to music, lots of people watching movies, some people playing games.  This one girl that was within eyeshot yesterday was playing a game like Diner Dash, watching a sitcom whenever her food was cooking and then also texting her friends.  It was so back and forth so incredibly fast that you couldn’t keep track of what she was doing if you tried.  If people complain that people using their phones and texting while walking in America are unobservant then 10 minutes in a Seoul subway station trying to change trains will change their opinion.  In America if someone is using a phone they generally hug the right and people just walk past them and laugh whenever they hit mailboxes, light poles or just are surprised whenever they walk off a curb all of a sudden.  Here in Korea they don’t care.  There were probably two dozen Koreans this morning in the subway station that were holding their phone in front of them, playing a movie, and walking up stairs taking the whole staircase.  I watched to see if the other Koreans coming the opposite direction were going to adapt or adjust, but they just plowed into each other and rolled off of one another like a skilled running back.  CRAZINESS!!!

There’s this drink here made by Sunkist that is called Sweetieade.  I consider it to be a bottled version of the Sonic limeade, just probably with a little less Sprite taste to it.  I enjoy it because of the name and because it’s delicious.  The added bonus is the Family Mart (like a 7 eleven) below my training room had a special of buy 2 get one free and so I made my own little Sonic Happy Hour during the afternoon training. 

Speaking of afternoon training, it is always nice to go into the afternoon with a good taste in your mouth and something in your belly.  There’s a little coffee & sandwich shop around the block from training that I’ve hit up for three days of training (no lunch on Monday because of the physical, see former post :-)  ).  The proprietor here is a larger Korean man that is awesomely inviting and has a vast array of sandwiches and breads.  I decided to try the tuna on a hoagie the first day and was super surprised.  I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but it was delicious.  I’ve never been a cucumber fan, but on the sandwich it really adds to the depth of flavor.  The hoagie left some to be desired so the next day I opted for white bread.  Finally today I snagged the croissant sandwich, which didn’t really go into detail what came on it.  All the veggies that came on the earlier sandwiches that added to the flavor plus breakfast ham and cheese.  It was once again a delicious sandwich.  The cucumber, tomato, lettuce, onions and dill pickles really made the sandwiches an enjoyable experience regardless of what topping there was.  The egg salad has been intriguing so that might be tomorrows.  Anyways, after all the Americans come in on our training lunch break (there’s been 5 of about 25-30 of us that have been regulars for him and he remembers what we had the day before) and he’s done with all of our orders it seems it is his cue for a smoke break.  Which just makes me laugh, because it almost seems so routine now by day three that as soon as the last person in our group gets their sandwich, BOOM he’s out the door lighting one up.

Finally encountered my first rainy day here in Korea and I didn’t melt.  I also didn’t flip out going WHAT IS THIS WET STUFF FALLING FROM THE SKY!?!?!?!  When I was talking with Scott on Sunday I had inquired as to the rain in Korea, and his reply was “Well, during monsoon season it’s everyday.”  Is it wrong that I got excited by that?  Has it been so long since we’ve seen decent rain in central Texas that monsoon season really makes me happy?  Fifty posts from now there might be a different point of view as I beg for the clouds to dry up, but as it stands now I am super excited for this new experience called monsoon season.  :-)

***Just as a final note I was taking a break from my studies last night and was flipping through the tube and James Garner was on in Hour of the Gun and while I only watched about 30 minutes of it, this is definitely something that I was enjoying and will have to seek out in the future.***

ARRIVING, MEDICAL EXAM, PARIS BAGUETTE & GROCERY SHOPPING

So arriving in Korea was a lot like arriving in Italy, and anywhere else probably except coming back to the US.  Here customs was a matter or minutes rather than hours.  The best would probably be preflight the Singapore Air people asked if I'd flown there from another airline which I replied I had.  The attendant the proceeded to pick up my carryon and told me it was to heavy for "their" airlines.  He then asked me if I wanted to check it.  I still to this moment haven't figured out what that man saw as another option.  During the flight though, despite a minor migraine and a couple of minutes of here and there baby crying the flight was awesome.  There's a reason Singapore Air has apparently won a lot of awards.  They're super nice to the point of being annoying at points of the flight.  Watched Green Lantern which I enjoyed, Bad Teacher which was take it or leave it (had some laughs) and Horrible Bosses which I didn't get to finish because I fell asleep, but what I did see I enjoyed.

After touching down I found my bus, bought a ticket, and rode the bus to the terminal where I took a cab to the hotel.  Easy cheesy and threw in a couple half bows.  Arriving at the hotel I check in and the lady behind the desk calls someone and hands me the phone.  The lady on the phone works with my recruiter and apparently she thought my flight was later and was waiting at the airport now for me.  There was a whole two minutes of going around in circles trying to explain to this women I wasn't about to get back in the taxi then on the bus just to make her happy.  I handed the phone back to the concierge shrugged my shoulders and went to my room.

The next day Heana, Scott and I went to the mall.  The food was filling, but not very great.  Scott said it was good last time so I'll trust him on that.  I needed some additional passport photos and Heana talked to one of the ladies at the Kodak place and Heana was apologizing that I couldn't get fewer than 18.  I was like at the rate I've been needing them 15 extras won't be bad, especially since for 18 I paid just as much as I did at Walgreens for 4.  Also to be noted Korean GPS things put all American ones to shame.  They're talking to you, telling you where the red light cameras are, where the speed cameras and speed traps are, they can get tv stations for when you're stuck in traffic.  I'm like mine back home tells me to go left or right haha.

Monday at training after a brief introduction we had to go to the medical institute for physicals.  There was a fasting blood test involved, yet we're not starting the physicals til 1 and you don't want us to eat 6-8 hours before = Byron already isn't a happy camper.  They don't start on time, but then again I'm used to doctors in America so that wasn't the surprise of the century.  When they call out your name they give you a locker key and you go into your sex's locker room and we leave your shirt and shoes in there and there are slippers and a kimono looking scrubs top with a tie that was just awesome.  So I'm the first from our group and we're just laughing about everything at this point, probably because we're so delirious from not eating.  There were apparently two different sizes, normal and giant, and the locker numbers corresponded, so we knew before they even went into the locker room what color they were coming out wearing.  There is a giant in our group and the poor nurse who was handing out keys had the biggest eyes when she handed them to him and we were all laughing.  She had already handed out a few of the larger sized lockers but nobody compared to this guy's stature compared to this little doll.

First room I get taken into the girl tells me to lay down and take off my shirt.  Easy.  She then proceeds to place these clamps (almost like woodworking clamps) with wires to my ankles and my wrists.  At this point I don't have a freaking clue what's being tested, but it certainly is funny as hell to me so I'm laughing.  She then attaches 7 little octopus suction things with more wires to my chest.  Then tells me to close my eyes and don't move.  Of course I'm almost to the point of peeing myself I think it's so funny.  She comes back over and tells me "no laugh".  Yeah, because that'll get it done.  Haha.  Anyways I finally get out of there and we were joking about it outside later and the girls were referring to it as the "boob room" so I can only imagine how crazier it must've seemed for them with the octopus suction things. 

I also got blood drawn which in my short time here I haven't mastered the Korean wording for "Whoah whoah whoah hold up" so needless to say she didn't give a shit and it was much more efficient than any blood draw I've had in the states.  As I'm sitting there holding my arm with cotton I do make some of my fellow trainees aware that I am borderline hypoglycemic and one of them was like haha really?  I'm like yeah really.  If I pass out find someone with a Coke and that speaks English.  Apparently we hadn't had enough laughs because they were all hoping I hit the ground.  Bastards.

Paris Baguette is this little bakery type of place that there are two on every block here in Seoul.  Maybe not that many because that would be the 7Elevens, but there are a lot of the Paris Baguette venues and they're a nice, affordable, place that I've definitely enjoyed having for a breakfast type meal or just a substantial snack.

Went grocery shopping today and got some Korean toothpaste which I've already used and not bad at all, some Korean soap which I'll report on next time, some noodle bowls (a staple here for them as a culture which makes me happy) a large bottle of  water to periodically refill and finally a Dr. Pepper.  I was very excited about the Dr. Pepper at the grocery store because I had gotten one with a sandwich at lunch and it was 2.70 for a can.  :-O  I thinking that this was now going to make Dr. Pepper a luxury item, but alas at the grocery store its 78 cents so it'll probably be a once a week thing so no longer as big of a deal. 

That's all for now. Taking a break from preparing my teaching demos to write this so I'll definitely be informing how that all went tomorrow.