The List

The title of this post is simple and straightforward. Basically, I was up at 3 am on Saturday (cause I wake up at 3 every morning, while still getting used to the time change) and I wrote up a list of things which I found interesting, or just discoveries over the past few days since I've been here. There is no certain order to it, I just wrote them as I thought of them. Enjoy!

1) All Koreans ask a lot of questions about you and you life when they first meet you.
2)No one gets up from the meal table until everyone is finished.
3)Don't start eating until the eldest person at the table has begun to eat.

4)Touch is a big part of their culture. It's common to walk down the road, arm-in-arm with someone you have just met.
5)Everyone is afraid of the 'new influenza' (swine flu)
6)Kids are very anxious to learn. I saw one girl have a temper tantrum because she couldn't study with her tutor. Seriously. American kids would never do that.
7)Never wear your shoes in someone's home.
8) Traffic signals and signs are merely suggestions. I've seen so many people blow through red lights, without even pausing.
9)Everyone is worried about how I'll react to things.
10) I am only the 2nd foreigner to teach at my school. (the 1st female foreigner)
11)Students serve lunch to their classmates and help to clean the rooms.
12)Koreans eat more food in one sitting than Americans usually do for a meal
     -Their diet is mostly vegteables though, which is why they are still smaller than Americans
13)E-Mart is the Korean version of Wal-Mart
14)The heating system comes from the FLOOR in all the homes. (not vents,the floor literally heats up)
15)Design style determines the price of an item more than the qualifications of the items actually do.
16)Slightly bow when greeting, always.
17)Korean kids like to take on American names.

That's about it for now. I had a great weekend at my aunt and uncle's place (about 30 minutes from me). Tomorrow I'm going to Suwon to get my ARC, so that I can get a bank account (and get paid!) and a cell phone. Ohhh...and there are no classes this week. They were cancelled to try and curb the spread of the swine flu. So instead, we have a week to do lesson plans and such...and I'm still betting that I'll be teaching English to some teachers before the week is up.

<3