Back on the grind

Ok, no more political rants.  In all fairness though, it is my blog so I'll write about whatever I want. I can't promise it will always be Korea related.

On Sunday Charlie and I went to Itaewon.  Itaewon is a neighborhood in Seoul with a reputation for being "Foreigner Town."  There is a huge concentration of English speakers as well as Nigerians and people from the Middle East.  It also is home to Seoul's Red Light District and many "Juicy Bars."  For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, a Juicy Bar is a bar where you go, get a table, and are instantly joined by a hot female who keeps you company.  You buy her drinks (no alcohol, only juice, hence the name) in hopes that she might sleep with you.  Now I've never been and I have no idea what sort of success rate you can expect in a place like this but the idea of buying her juice to get her to sleep with you seems pretty funny to me.  We were only there during the day (on Easter Sunday no less) so we didn't get to see the darker, shadier side of Itaewon.  To us, it was just like Songtang only in Seoul with more restaurants and shops.

Getting to Itaewon was our most complicated trip yet.  It invovled two subway transfers and three different subway lines.  At our first transfer we got on the wrong direction but quickly realized our mistake, got off, and turned around.  Other than that we successfully navigated the entire crazy subway map and arrived in just over an hour.  We were both really hungry so we went into the first restaurant we thought looked good which happened to be a Mexican place.  It was great to have some guac, salsa, and fajitas.  Also, the waitor was fluent in English so it was the first time in a long time that I've been able to really communicate with the person who is taking my order.  After that we just walked around and checked everything out.  It was really similar to Songtang in that it had lots of shops catering to Westerners.  It also has tons of different types of restaurants and bars.  Most the signs were in English and almost everyone spoke English which is always refreshing.

Just as we were about to leave we noticed a sign for golf.  It turned out to be an indoor golf simulator when you hit into this screen.  $11 for 9 holes and it was incredibly realistic.  The putting was tough but once we got the hang of it (along with the mulligan button) we did pretty well actually.  I never thought golfing inside could feel so real but it really did feel just like you were golfing without the hassle of looking for your ball in the rough and walking in between shots.  We plan on going back.

Hmmm, what else?  Oh!  We have a new teacher at Talkster now.  His name is Ben and he's from York, England.  Super nice guy and he fits in perfectly with Charlie and I.  We've been showing him around the limited parts of Suwon we know and it has been a great time.  It is so great to have guys like Ben and Charlie here to share this experience with.  Last night we went and played some pool after showing Ben our Turkish hole-in-the-wall restaurant.  I think the lady who owns it thinks we REALLY love Middle Eastern food but the truth is we just have a limited selection of restaurants at our dispposal and the food there happens to be great and cheap.

Today was my first attempt and making my own lesson plan.  My kids always talk about this Korean boy band called "Big Bang" so I got to asking them about American music.  Turns out they knew Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and the Beatles.  Fair enough.  So today I burned a CD and printed out the lyrics to some songs with words missing so they'd have to listen and fill them in.  I went with "Isn't She Lovely," "You've Got a Friend in Me," and "I Love You But You're Crazy."  The kids are constantly using the word "crazy" to describe everything so it felt great to introduce them to the The Jettisons.  It was hit and miss.  Some classes loved the idea, others sat there giving me nasty looks.  I really like encorporating music into the classroom so I'll probably continue to do this randomly with the classes that enjoyed it and just keep grinding away on the workbook with those who didn't.  I think my boss was impressed that I was in the office early doing work before class to get ready and he loved the idea of using American music.  Finding songs that have simple lyrics without curse words was more difficult that I would have thought but if you go with Oldies you really can't miss.

Finally, tonight we ventured into a really nice sushi restaurant and were not disappointed.  This was really our first attempt at finding new restaurants that Tom didn't introduce us to.  It was also the first true sushi I've had in Korea (the rest is sashimi or kimbap--Google if you're unsure the differences) Luckily there were limited pictures on the menu and we were able to communicate our order by pointing and some hand gestures.  The chef was super friendly despite his lack of English speaking ability and the food was all excellent.  Not sure what everything was but there was some tuna and squid for sure, the rest was sort of a giant, delicious mystery.  On the menu it was 15,000 won for 12 pieces but we're pretty sure it was all you can eat because after those 12 pieces he just kept making more and more until I finally had to cut him off.  I would guess he would still be making them if we were still sitting there eating.  I probably had around 15 pieces and I honestly don't think I could have squeezed one more in without bursting.  All of the fish was super fresh and for 15,000 won I don't think I could be more full.  We will definitely add this to our list of regular hotspots.

Take it easy, but take it.