So, today is our first real day here in Korea. We were wide awake at 4 am so now that it's 10 am, we feel like we've been up a long time, but lunch still won't be served for two hours.
We ate breakfast with some other NSETs (Native Speaker English Teachers, as our employers refer to us) and decided that we should explore the area today, since we don't have any scheduled activities other than meals until 2 pm.
Breakfast itself was rice, some unidentified and kinda icky leftover rice soup, some tasty and spicy kimchi (two different varieties), some seasoned pork, seaweed soup (miso-like), a light quiche-like egg dish, and dried seasoned seaweed packets. There was also some tea and toast available. It was actually pretty good, leaves you feeling much lighter and prepared for a hot, muggy Korean summer day than the traditional American breakfast fare.
After breakfast our friend Pat (who I happen to know from a class at Evergreen a few years ago) and Kara (from Minneapolis) walked down the steep hill that our training center is perched upon. We knew from the 3+ hour bus ride over last night that there was a small town area at the bottom of the hill so we were hoping to find something interesting or entertaining. It became clear very soon that the day was heating up and that we would end up sweaty and uncomfortable.
Early on, we found a convenience store and the friendly couple who seemed to own the place helped Kara pick out some breakfast items since she arrived for breakfast just as the cafeteria was closing. Kara then left us to go enjoy her breakfast in the comfort of her air conditioning back in her room. Richy, Pat and I moved on.
One of the things that I am amazed about in Korea so far is just the way that any available empty land is being farmed. Even small little lots on street corners are full of pepper plants, squash, taro, beans and lettuce plants. It really makes me hope that our neighborhood in Seoul will have a community garden or something. Vegetables seem to grow like weeds in this climate. Also, right now is obviously pepper harvesting time. Near the little garden plots you can see tarps covered in drying chili peppers. It's really cool to see real agriculture going on in this way: it's sustainable, aesthetically pleasing, and obviously contributes to the comfortable standard of living that the people in this community seem to enjoy.
We looked for an ATM, but it's a Saturday so all the banks are closed. We'll have to wait to get some Korean cash, but fortunately we were able to buy drinks at the convenience store with our visa debit cards.
After we wandered around the town, realizing everything was closed for the weekend (or for the time of day), we trudged back up the hill in the thick, slimy air. Now we're back at the dorm/hotel place with all the NSETs, covered in sweat, enjoying the air conditioning and waiting for something interesting to do.
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