The weather wasn’t great today, but Dave gave me a tour of the industrial side of Ulsan. It was nice to see where he works. During the tour there was a shift change at the Hyundai ship yard and there were fleets of scooters at every gate. It was so funny seeing the scooter gangs driving down the street.
Happy Friday, everyone! I’m quite happy that it’s the weekend. Work was a bit draining today. I had no classes so I did a lot of sitting around. I couldn’t even prepare for next week’s classes because my schedule hasn’t been finalized. I got a tentative schedule at the end of the day. The bad news is that it only has 15 teaching hours (out of 22) which means I’ll more than likely have a hefty load of after school classes. Those are my least favorite!
Today’s photo was taken on my walk home. I saw these three adorable girls sharing an umbrella and couldn’t help but take their picture.
I’m currently on the train to Ulsan to see Dave. We are meeting up with some of his work friends for dinner. I’m quite excited about it because it’s a great little Indian place Dave and I order delivery from every time I’m in Ulsan. Also, lunch was awful. We had the usual rice and kimchi along with fish cake soup, another side of fish cakes, and crispy French fried sweet potato sticks.
I’ve been a bit overwhelmed since getting on the train. The tickets are quite cheap so I decided I’d try my luck at getting two seats together so I could have more room and avoid awkward encounters with chatty Koreans. This backfired when the seats I bought weren’t together. When I got to the seats, I could choose between sitting next to a sleeping girl whose arm was across my seat or sitting next to an ajumma (old woman). I chose the ajumma. I picked wrong. She immediately lit up and started chatting me away in Korean. The only bit I understood was something about America. She also started touching my hair with a huge smile on her face. She kept going on for about 5 minutes and periodically played with my hair. As I pulled my headphones out she started putting my hair behind my ears. I’m not sure if she was trying to be helpful or suggesting I change the way I wear my hair. I wish I could have put her picture as today’s photo, but she’s stopped talking to me and I’d prefer to keep it that way.
March 1st is Korea’s Independence Day. It also marks my last day of freedom. Unfortunately, I have to go back to work tomorrow… On a Friday! Boo.
I had a really good day though. Dave was here from Ulsan. We went out to get some dinner and noticed that the streets were lined with Korean flags, including this giant flag hanging from a building in an area of Busan called Seomyeon.
When you’re away from home, getting mail means so much! Today I came home to this card from my dear friend, Joni. It made my day.
All good things must come to an end, including vacations. While I still have 2 days left until I have to go back to work, Dave has to go back tomorrow morning. We just landed safe and sound in Busan.
We are having a lovely time in Jeju. The food at the hotel is really great and the dessert is even better. Our favorite so far has been the chocolate crème brûlée. It’s amazing!
Year one is over and as of today I have begun my second year in Korea. If the upcoming year is anything like today, it is sure to be the best year of my life so far.
Dave and I are on Jeju Island for a long weekend and we are having an amazing time. I can’t imagine a better way to spend a weekend away. I’ll post more about it soon.
During this contract year, I’m going to do my best to take a photo every day and post it to my blog. Today’s photo is just Dave and I after dinner. It was really good (especially dessert!) and now we are just sitting around listening to the sounds of the ocean. More about that later though…
Life Outside of Texas 