Ohh Myyy Goodddd

PAYDAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY has arrived! Normally pay day is great back home, who doesn't love it? Now, multiply that by 100 and that's how lovely pay day is here. Why? BECAUSE I HAVEN'T BEEN PAID SINCE DECEMBER 7th. I swear it's a miracle I'm still alive! I can't wait to buy ANYTHING. I've been as frugal as I can with everything besides food and booze (cmon, you can't cut out necessities like that). So I haven't been able to buy fun stuff yet. I wired 1,000,000 Won to the U.S. during lunch today which, after the exchange rate, turned out to be only $880. It seems weird because 1,000,000 seems to be a pretty substantial amount of money over here. Either way, that $880 will cover all of my minimum payments for student loans and a substantial chunk on whatever credit card I choose. I'll still have almost 1,300,000 Won left for the entire month for pure fun purposes (hey maybe I'll save some too). I will be living the dream!

Okay, so anyways, I actually wrote that above paragraph a few days ago but didn't post it because I was waiting for interesting stuff, like videos! I've got a few, but I'm already losing the tourist touch. I went to Seoul for like 4 days and didn't take a single photo. However, I had a good reason, it was fucking COLD. You Minnesota people are going to laugh when I say it was like 20 degrees Fahrenheit but I've already become used to the milder winters here. Plus, in my opinion, Seoul is nothing to write home about. But I will anyways, here's my opinion: Cluster fuck. It's weird because I definitely consider Gwangju super laid back, and comparing it to Mpls it's super busy... But Gwangju is like the Mpls of the Korea and Seoul is obviously more like the New York, or some other busy place (I've never been to NY so I don't know). But, as a first timer coming to Korea I'm glad I picked Gwangju for a number of reasons, and I will list them below:

1) Good foreigner community. All I hear about is this "Itaewon" place in Seoul and how its full of shit head foreigners making fools of themselves and Military people being rude punks and a general "LETS JUST GET DRUNK AND PARTY IN KOREA". Granted, we Gwangju folks have our share of drinks, but I feel we're more about seeing and being in the REAL Korea. Additionally, they're not all that friendly cuz foreigners are everywhere. Here, if you see a foreigner in your neighborhood that you don't know, you stop and talk. If you are at a foreigner bar downtown you get to know EVERYONE and FAST, and everyone is nice.

2) As I mentioned before, Gwangju just feels more like Korea. Yes, we have our share of English named cafe's and restaurants, but they definitely aren't as abundant. Shit, in a town of almost 2 million I've yet to see an actual Sandwich shop. However, this can also be a downfall, damn I miss sandwiches (don't tell anyone, I actually spent 12 dollars on ONE sandwich at the Quiznos in Seoul..... and it was worth it)

3) Everything is just closer... yes it can take a while to get from one end to the other, but Seoul is huge!

4) I live here, therefore it is better. This is my home. That is weird to say, but who can blame someone for having pride in where they live or come from? I LOVE MINNEAPOLIS and I LOVE GWANGJU!

Okay, so my time in Seoul was mediocre. Probably mostly because I was doing boring teacher training. My next trip will be full of lovely adventures and good pictures of sight seeing. I promise.

So yeah, things have been going fine. Updates have been sparse because I'm busy living and not so much observing like I first was here. I've been studying Korean a lot more, in fact I spent 3 hours last night, so that's good. I've found MANY similarities to the Japanese language so that definitely is helping. Anyways, I'm off to go to dinner (as usual) and play cards and enjoy the evening. I will leave you with some photos and videos of the last few weeks.

I'm not gonna lie (nor could I try) I was drunk here. But this hat/mitten combo is not a rare occurrence on this side of the world.

Below are pictures of my two favorite students, Lisa and Reid. Reid frequently makes strange faces and dances, which can also be illustrated by the following videos of us doing some hardcore bowling.

You gotta love those dixie cups taped together to form bowling pins...

In addition to our hardcore Physical Education (bowling) regimen, we also paint. Here is the prep time when I'm trying to get them to say Hi. I swear, sometimes they won't stop blabbering and sometimes they're completely silent. Pay attention to Reids final Good-bye, so cute!

Oh, and the best Art project was today. We had to learn about the word Stomp. So my school figures that the best way to emphasize the meaning of Stomp is to take your shoes off, roll up your pants, cover your feet in paint, and start stomping on paper. Yes, this is no joke. I have proof.

Okay, I have to go, but I do have more to write and show, so stay tuned!