Recap Week One

I was able to see a bit of the nightlife scene here in Seoul. I keep having to remind myself that I'm living in one of the largest cities in the world.

I've been able to try lots of authentic Korean food and it's all been amazing. Most of the meals aren't over 5,000 won like $3.00 US.

The kids are much more enjoyable and easier to communicate with than I expected. I have a class that has turned my name into "Christmas Teacher" which is hilarious. I'll post another blog about teaching another time.

There's a bar across the street from my apartment called Beatles which plays Oldies from the 60's and 70's. If you want to drink wine or liquor, you have to buy a full bottle. It's a nice relaxing place to unwind.

We also went to a place called the Log Cabin something or other. They serve pitchers of beer in a log cabin shaped pitcher with dry ice in the bottom to keep it cold and it constantly bubbles while it's sitting on the table. It's pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen! There's a picture at the top of my co-worker Jay pouring from it.

I also went to a place in Itaewon which is like the America and Canada thrown into one. There's hardly any Koreans there. We went to a bar called the Rocky Mountain Tavern which I was excited about but it's a Canadian bar. It had an awesome live band that played oldies and even let one of my fellow teachers jump on stage and play guitar with them. I almost felt like I was at home in Denver. I don't think I'll go to this area too often unless I'm missing home. It's not authentic.

We then went on to Hundae which has a nice mix of Koreans and Westerners. When we got out of the cab a group of high school girls screamed at us, "Hello, welcome to Korea!" The first bar we hit up was Vinyl. They literally serve mixed drinks out of ziplock bags! We went on to another bar and had drinks and danced. Time sure gets away from you here since the bars never close. We didn't get home until 5:00 a.m!

On a side note, cabs are extremely cheap here compared to anywhere else I've been. We took a thirty minute cab ride in the early morning before the subway opened so we were paying the "premium rate" and it was 18,000 won which is around $12.00 US dollars.

Sunday a fellow teacher and I ventured to Nandaemun Market and to an upscale shopping district. One of the places we went was basically like placing Harrod's from London in the middle of Seoul.

It was a great first week. I hope they are all this great!