Hello all -

Today is officially my first pay day and I can finally start to make some purchases. My internet is still out at home and I am sending entries to my parents so they can post them. For some reason, the computer here does not have certain buttons that I have in my password for the blog so it is frustrating but I guess this is the next best thing. I am still waiting on everything from my last entry, still no internet, no ID card and whatever else. It seems that they like to take their time with everything, but I guess I really have no choice but to accept it.

I had a fun weekend last week and this weekend should include more of the same. Last weekend I took a pizza home on Friday and ate pizza at home and watched TV. I have a pizza place right near school and I have been getting it quite often and taking it home after school. On Saturday I met up with the other foreign teachers and we sat on the roof of a high rise apartment building for quite a few hours and played card games, chatted, and had a good time. After the sun went down , we went out with a group of about 7 and went to a "foreigner bar" and I actually sat next to a guy who was from Michigan. I did not talk to him for long but it was interesting to run into someone from the same state.

On Sunday, my neighbor Jeff and I went to a city called Itaewon. It is in Seoul and everytime someone talks about it I think of Taiwan, the country. It was about an hour-ish away and 4 different trains. Once you get into Seoul, the subway/train routes are almost circular. They go straight until Seoul and then they start curving and it is quite crazy. I would not dare to try by myself but we actually made it there and back without a hitch. Jeff said that it was the first time he had ever made the trip without taking the wrong train or doing the wrong direction at least once. Back to Itaewon...it was the first time I did not feel like I was the only foreign face in the whole city. It almost seemed like the Korean people were the minorities. There is a military base there and there were many soldiers and also tons of middle-easterners and africans. We walked around for a couple of hours and looked at the many fake coach, louey vitan (sp?) purses and things and the many restaurants. There were restaurants from all over the world and it was all written in english so it was very interesting to see the many different kinds of food. We went to an english book store where I bought a book and so did my friend. He was an english major in college and reads a lot. I have actually started to read an incredible amount also. I am on my 5th or 6th book of the trip and I have been cruising through his collection. That was the trip for Sunday - we were both tired so it did not last long but it was nice to see another city. I am excited to venture into Seoul again, the city is absolutely huge. One of my teachers said that she went to Chicago and thought it was a small city compared to Seoul. I hope to take pictures and actually get into the heart of the city soon.

This week I also achieved a milestone. I was awake and out of the apartment before 10:30. I hadn't been able to so yet but I found that there are actually many things going on in the early hours of the day...I found a very nice coffee shop underground in the subway hallways. There is a "walk-thru" window and you can also sit inside. The furniture and things look like it could be a fine dining restaurant but it is just a little coffee shop. I bought 2 cups of coffee and spent the morning reading on a chair in the coffee shop. It was a great way to spend the morning, followed by a trip to Dunkin Donuts. I am getting used to the schedule and enjoying the people that I work with.

The next excursion is hopefully going to be bungee jumping this weekend. Jeff has done it before and he was talking about planning a trip. I have always wanted to do it. It should be quite scary but I am looking forward to it. We jump from a tower over water...I am not sure how far the jump is.

Thanks again for keeping an eye on me and I will continue to update as much as possible until my internet is fixed at the apartment, then I will continue the Sunday update schedule.

Kevin