Getting lost in Seoul

Wednesday 2/25:

We were told to be ready at 2:45 to be picked up by 'Jane' so naturally my body decided that waking at 6:00am was absolutely necessary. Unlike Taylor's, who thought 9:00 (or was it 10:00?) sounded more reasonable. The good that came from this was that I took Grimm for a two hour walk (which ended with a cab ride back to our apartment complex since I was utterly lost & 35 minutes late for my breakfast date with Taylor). I did learn that the streets of Seoul DO NOT flow normally & are certainly not compromised of right angles. I also learned that acting like a confused foreigner will get you immediate help no matter who you ask, what language they speak or how busy they seem, the Korean people are very friendly (or at least give pity easily). 

Our first day of training ended up actually being two classes we had to teach due to our fellow teachers manning a talent show for the kindie kids. Basically Taylor & I got by with more gestures, more smiling & more nodding. That evening we enjoyed a lovely 'Italian' (or a Korean person's take on Italian) meal with all of our coworkers as a goodbye to those leaving & a welcome to Taylor, myself & Caroline, the third new foreign teacher from London. We got to meet many of our fellow teachers & it is truly delightful to be around so many people from different countries with different accents! Basically we are just a big group of silly-sounding foreingers bickering about who says what correctly.

Thursday 2/26:

Thursday I went on yet another two (or was it three?) hour walk with Grimm, got lost again, but this time managed to find my own way home without the aid of a taxi (did I mention my first taxi driver asked if I was Russian, which apparently means 'are you a prostitute?' in Korea, though I know not why).

My second beastly long walk did end up uncovering this little gem, which I assume is a traditional or religious school or building or something of the sort 😅

Our second day of training was true training where we shadowed current teachers. It was very nice, but not very eventful & frankly I didn't take any other pictures that day so I don't remember what we did in the slightest. My mind is a steel trap.

Friday 2/27:

Our third day of Seoul began with a bang, as my hairdryer exploded, sparks & all, & yes, I DID use a converter, but apparently it didn't convert enough 😩

So I went to work with wet hair in a rather nice (if I may say so myself) Elsa braid. On our way to work, Taylor & I tried 'bubble tea' which we quickly realized isn't so much tea, as much as milk, which neither of our delicate stomachs can handle. But the 'bubble' part, which seemed to be gelatinous orbs at the bottom, were very entertaining to say the least, & I drank a fair amount of my 'tea' despite the discomfort it brought me later 😖

Oh & lastly for Friday (because we slept early & there really isn't terribly much more to say), here is our lunch (with just Tay & I) & our dinner with Caroline (new teacher from London). As you will quickly learn, I find pictures of differing cultures' foods to be worth a thousand words 😋

The first picture was a restaurant where we basically just smiled & nodded (& I made soup motions) at the woman who tried to take our meal order until she decided for us, very graciously. In that particular restaurant we sat on the floor (a heated floor which I greatly enjoyed) however, Taylor has the flexibility of The Thinker & found the floor-seat to be very difficult. We will not return to that restaurant. The second picture is from a place called 'Crazy __' (the blank word is in Korean) where I managed to get fries🍟 (though no ketchup😭)