It's about time, I think

Let's see. I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks. I've done a few things since I last posted but not all that much.

My water thing is all solved now. It has a slow drip if I leave the faucet open. Not too bad but I keep it closed. Not that interesting though. I saw my neighbour when I came home from work a few days ago. He came up to me and shook my hand.

I've been out twice now and within the span of 3 days. I need to meet some more local people. On Wednesday, the first week in May whatever day it was, I went out with Matt and Renee. We went to a hamburger place that actually made pretty good hamburgers. I managed to work out no onions but it still came with a bunch of other stuff but luckily it was pretty easy to scrape off. We wondered around to find a place to drink. I don't think Matt and Renee go out all that much. I think they go downtown maybe once or twice a month. They've only been to Seoul once since they came about 5 months ago. Mind you I've been here once month and haven't left Daegu at all. I should go somewhere this weekend. Seoul or maybe Busan. Eunice said Busan is the San Francisco of Korea. That's probably true but I'm not sure what it really means. I just have to figure out how to find the bus or train station. Maybe I should look in my Lonely Planet. Novel idea.

Anyways, we found a place. We got off on the wrong floor and ended up at a place called Club M2. It was a little strange. They told us Koreans only. We didn't mind because we didn't want to go there but it was just weird because they were certainly weren't acting like it was a Korean only club, meaning that all of the signs were in English and I didn't see any Hangul anywhere. All the businesses in that building were in Hangul except the 4th floor where it just said Club. We got back in the elevator and got off at the right floor. We had quite a bit of soju (korean vodka, which is made from yams I think instead of potatoes or maybe it's the other way around, I don't know much about how alcohol is made). Korea has these little drinking places that aren't really like bars at all. They are more like restaurants that just specialise in side dishes that go well with alcohol. A really respectable way to get drunk. Classier at least. I should probably mention that the Thursday was a holiday. I really like to sleep in the next day. We were there for a couple hours. We came out around 12:30 or 1 I think. It felt pretty dead when we left. We managed to find a happening street and another place to drink. More to drink and more pleasant conversation. By the time we left I was so gone. Renee's mother is French-Canadian (not Quebec though) so we ended up speaking French on the taxi ride back. We were going to make it our secret language at work but have yet to speak French at work. Matt doesn't speak much French but he was more gone than I was.

I meant to do something the next day but pretty much just spent it home. I did go downstairs though to replenish my drinking water. Have a mentionned that you can't drink the water here. Instant noodles really aren't all that instant when you have to boil the water 20 minutes before hand. It was pretty much a wasted day. It was rainy out so it was a good day to stay home with a small hangover. We really should've just stuck to either soju or beer.

I went back for work on Friday and then it was the weekend. Too bad Friday hadn't been a holiday. I think I have about one holiday a month but not many are on a Friday or Monday. Oh well. It's probably better for my bank account. As of now, I only have a single entry visa so I have to upgrade before I can go anywhere. I can pay a single reentry fee at the airport but I'd rather have it in my passport.

Next was Saturday. I slept in later than planned and went to some get together downtown with people I'd never met before. It was from some online forum for ESL teachers in Korea. I needed to meet some new people though. It's hard hanging out with couples. I met a few interesting people. I felt so young. There were a few people in their mid twenties and about 2/3 of the group was over 30. Not a bad thing but not was I expecting. We all went to some Japanese restaurant. I had some pork wrapped in cheese and fried. It was good but I really thought I'd be eating healthier food here. I'm really not though. A lot of fried foods and pizzas. There were a lot of Canadians there. Only 3 Americans I think in a group of 14 I think. One Aussie and a Brit. Everyone else was Canadian. Even another from Edmonton. He must've been at least 40. It was an okay evening I guess. A lot of them had been in Korea for quite awhile. There was a lot of gossip about different people who posted on the forum. I was pretty lost during those conversations. We headed to a bar afterwards. It was a western bar and it was so weird seeing all those white faces. I gotten used to seeing only Asian faces I guess. I stayed there for a couple hours and then caught a cab home with someone else who kind of lives in the same area. I don't think it's that close though.

I got the lowdown on some Korean classes though. I'll probably end up going tomorrow. They start at 11 though and I live 30 minutes away so that's a bit earlier than I would like but they are the only Korean classes that I know of and that's the only downside. I've also decided to work on my Korean during my lunch breaks. I figure an hour everyday just put Korean above Danish or Spanish before I leave. Not that it would be hard to top those ones. I've hardly spoken Danish since I left Denmark and my Spanish is still pretty beginner. I can manage to scrape a poorly worded sentence together though. I should definitely go tomorrow. The only problem is they are right in the middle of a session. It would be pro-rated but my parents are coming down in 2 weeks or so so I'd probably miss two of the remaining 8 classes. I get one free class to observe. It's probably worth it though. I don't know how Matt and Renee have managed so long without learning Korean. It really bothers me that I can communicate. Plus I think languages are fun. They aren't too expensive either. They're at the YMCA.

Aside from that there's not much to say. I didn't do much last weekend either. When your days are so packed it's nice to spend the weekend at home doing absolutely nothing. I'm definitely much busier than I thought I would be. I have about 3 hours free during the day but it isn't all together so it's really not worth doing anything. I did come home twice this week to take a nap during the day. It was nice. I need to start going to bed earlier though. 5 minutes later every night really adds up. I can't even tell you what I'm doing. I just end up watching Korean commercials. It's the same as Denmark. The program is pretty much uninterrupted with a huge block of commercials before and after. Actually they introduce the show and then it's about 10-15 minutes of commercials until it starts. For some unexplained reason Oprah comes on here at 1 in the morning and I end up watching the intro and then the commercials and decide to go to bed. I never have much of an intention to watch Oprah so who knows why I wait for the intro and then the program to start. Really kind of pathetic. That's such a waste of 25 minutes. I'm only half watching because I don't even understand the commercials so I don't actually know what I'm even doing during that time. I know I do complex math problems relating to the current time and the time I plan to wake up. Maybe not all that complex. I'm beginning to not like the snooze feature. I woke up before my alarm today but decided to sleep the 15 minutes until my alarm went off. My alarm goes off and I feel more tired. The next time it goes off I'm fine and could get up but I decide I can push once more. Then I wake up more tired than all the other times. More pathos.

Here's a strange story I haven't shared on here yet. A few weeks ago I went to E-Mart like I always do. I saw some man pointing at me and at first I thought maybe the little girls he was with were my students or something but then I realised he was just pointing me out as a curiosity. "Look girls, a Caucasian!" The girls didn't really care. They were maybe 2 and 4 or something. I don't think I've ever felt like such a freak. I didn't feel humiliated or anything just really strange. It makes me appreciate what it would be like for an Indian-Australian travelling in South America though I never felt odd travelling with one. Everything felt perfectly normal to me. Sometimes I like that I look different and then there are times when I wish I looked like everyone else. I'm sure I'll feel a lot less self-conscious when I go back. If I go back. I'm sure I won't stay here but you never know. Some come for a 6 months and stay 15 years. As of this moment, I can't imagine staying another year. It has crossed my mind though. It would have to be a lot better schedule though.

I got back on Tuesday. I haven't checked my account but this slip I signed said I made over 1.1 million won. Lots of deductions for insurance, taxes, and other deposits. Plus I didn't work a full month. For some reason if you want something for the year, like internet, you make a huge initial deposit and then the monthly fee is much smaller. Strange system but I suppose it all averages out the same. I think the first payment is equal to one half of the total. Something like that. I'm glad I don't have to take more money from my Canadian bank account. I somehow need to deposit $1000 CDN into my account by the end of June to avoid a monthly fee. I think it's $8.95 a month. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I had the minimum balance a few months ago. Then there's my Wells Fargo account that I can't access at the moment. I lost my card and will have to call and ask for a new one. I don't know my card number either so that might be a problem. Everything is so much harder when 1-800 numbers are technically no longer free. I called my parents a week after I got here and a 45 minute conversation managed to end up costing $85. It's a good thing I didn't manage to get a hold of anyone on my drunken night in Korea. I'm still amazed at how I manage to do difficult things like dialing maybe 20 numbers in the right sequence while barely being able to stand.

There are a few things about school I could tell you about. My bad classes are getting a little bit better and my good classes are getting a bit worse. Then some of my bad classes are getting worse too. That's all I really care to say about that.

I suppose I should be heading to bed now. Hopefully I'll make it to Korean class tomorrow for my free sit-in.