My apartment with the view of the sewage traetment plant...sweet

Is That for real???
Sometimes in Asia you find a pot with seven orchids in the garbage closet. I am not really sure who thinks it is Ok to throw away beautiful blooming orchids, (I would value them at over $200 in the States) but there they were in the garbage closet. Is that for real??? Even though I don’t have the best track record with plants (I definitely killed the Bonsai plant my sister gave me and multiple others) I decided to take them to my apartment. There was no way I was going to watch them get thrown away, first I’ll torture them with my bad plant care skills. No I am really going to try and not murder them and keep them out of the garbage closet…I’ll keep you posted on how that goes. Meanwhile I am really hoping that there is no cultural misunderstanding occurring, such as Korean people sometimes store their orchids in the garbage closet, and I just stole them. I am betting that stealing someone’s orchids sends really bad karma your way…which is the last thing I need right now. So next time you see orchids in the plant nursery think to yourself: “In Korea people think it is OK to throw 7 of those away, is that for real?”

The "Is that for real?" column is born

So oftentimes in Asia I notice random things happening and think to myself "Is that for real?" So I have decided start a column on my blog entitled "Is that for real" to share these moments of confusion, bewilderment and/or awe with you.

Article 1: Korean men carry purses

For some reason men in Korea carry around purses. When I say purses I don't mean the cool looking sachels you see in other parts of Asia and Latin America, but regular women's purses. It is quite commom to see a full grown man with a stylish black leather purse with silver buckles slung around his arm. For awhile I just thought Korean men were real gentlemen, carrying their girlfriends purses. After awhile I began to notice that many of these purse carrying men are not accompanied by a woman and the ones that are, have a lady friend that is carrying her own purse. I guess a bag is a bag and we all have stuff to carry around the city, but seeeing so many men sporting stylish purses made me say "Is this for real?"

I have a job!!!
Wow, it has been a long time since I have written a blog. I have been in Korea about 3 weeks already which is pretty hard to believe. Everything has been a whirlwind since getting here. The job hunt was quite interesting, never thought it would be so easy to get a job. It was actually a hard process only because we had to choose from so many options. The first school we interviewed at was a posh prep school named Andy Prep and we really wanted to work there since it would have been teaching Literauture classes...but they only had one position available until 3 days after we signed a contract with a different school. I hated Andy Prep for about a week but am starting to get over it. I am now working in a really big franchise school (supposebly the 2nd best in Korea) which has its positives and negatives. We are making good money and there is a westerner on the board of "important people", which means we have a like-minded advocate. The curriculum is very structured and there is a huge emphasis on tests (my favorite). There is a huge difference between education here and in the States, it is going to be a very interesting change for me. The kids are awesome and REALLY smart. A lot of times I forget that English is their second language. I cannot believe the level at which 2nd graders are reading.
A couple of funny things that have happened here in Korea:
*I bought some gum whose label was all in Korean. I thought it tasted a little weird but just attributed it to weird Asian flavors. I was later informed that the reason it tasted a little off was because it was nicorrette.
*The other night rach decided to try and make cookies in her mini oven-like thing. It seemed like a great idea until we started smelling smoke and realized that they had gone up in flames. They were not just burned but completely on fire. we learned 2 things: the oven like thing cannot handle cookies and our apartments have no smoke alarms.

I HEART KOREA!!!!

I would just like to say that Korea is fabulous! I have only been here a week, but have had nothing but positive experiences and warm energy from the people. So to all those wankers out there who had only negative things to say about this place...Korea is wonderful! The other day Rach and I went on a run by the river and stopped at one of the public exercise areas and attempted to use the equipment. Mr. Kim (30% of people in Korea are Mr. Kim) saw us and must have thought we looked clueless because he came over and showed us lots of different exercisers on all the machines. He then let me ride his road bike (which of course made me love him) and took us out for a drink, and forced us to drink beer. This has been our experience with people here, always so helpful and friendly. If we are lost they will walk us out of their way to where we are going. I left my coffee cup in a restaurant, went back 3 days later and the woman had kept it for me and gave it back without me asking.
The past week I have spent most of my time in search of a job. It has been a little hard, but only because there are so many opportunities out there it is hard to choose which ones to pursue. I think we found the perfect one though. It is a really big school (supposedly somehwta prestigious) with a great group of directors. It was weird going to job interviews here, because it felt like we were interviewing the schools rather than visa versa. It came down to a really difficult decision but I think we made a good choice, and will be part of a really great community in our school. So that is the story morning glory. I am really happy that I am not unemployed anymore(because I am also broke)...even though that means everyday is no longer a Saturday!