First Impressions

Greetings from Happy Suwon!! (that's actually the town motto)

 In the 24 hours I've been here my senses have been overloaded with an array of new sights, smells, sounds and tastes (yes, I've tried Kimchi and I think I like it!! This is a good sign for my survival here).

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 First of all here are a few pics from around town...

Downtown Yongtong

Etiquette bells - just what every toilet needs

More Youngtong ...

 After a great send off on Friday I slept through most of the 11 hour flight to Korea (hangover was present but not oppressive - I think the exhaustion of the last week finally kicked in though...) 

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 After arriving at the airport in Seoul I boarded a mobile disco to Suwon.  Ok, well maybe it was a bus and not a mobile disco, but the flashy green and orange lights that lined the inside of the bus, coupled with the cheesy Korean pop music blaring from a fellow passengers headphones sure made it feel like a mobile disco. 

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 Anyway, so while I'm trying to suppress my desire to dance I see patches of snow dotting the roadside and what seemed like a million apartment buildings. Seriously, for about 10 solid minutes all I could see were high-rise apartment complexes.  These buildings ran at least 10 deep and each would've been at least 10 - 20 stories high... obviously privacy and/or space aren't high on the Korean agenda!!

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 Like in Vietnam, Korea seems to enjoy the marriage of religion and neon lighting... Dozens of flashing red neon crucifixes adorned the tops of buildings - some church looking, others not so much.  Really neon seems to ben all the rage here - EVERY building seems to be covered in it!

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 Although the driving here is not nearly as hair-raising as in some other parts of the world, it would still appear that road rules are a mere suggestion rather than lawful obligation... but what this lacks in safety it sure makes up in funny! At one point, the bus cut off another car causing the driver to retaliate with a blast of his horn... a normal road scenario right? Not when the car horn was an electric guitar sounding version of Mary Had A Little Lamb! Nothing says "Screw you" like a nursery rhyme.

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 I was met at the bus stop by the Director of the school and another Aussie teacher, Ellen, and shown to my apartment (Ellen is a Godsend who has taken me under her wing and is showing me the ins and outs of life in Youngtong). 

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 The apartment is tiny, but all I need for just me really. It's just one room with a bed, desk, TV, wardrobe, fridge and kitchenette.  There's a little detached laundry that doubles as an enclosed balcony and there's also a bathroom complete with a squishy foam toilet seat (!) and a shower (which is just a nozzle on the wall without a shower recess/screen/curtain)... I discovered today that putting the toilet paper in a cupboard before having a shower will be a good idea in future. 

 There are so many strange strange things going on here... for example, today in my wonderings I saw;

• Possums and Hedgehogs for sale at the supermarket (pets not food, thank you)
  
• Dogs dressed in full outfits with their fur dyed pink and orange
  
• Men getting perms. Not just one man, but several
  
• A lot of spitting taking place by the Korean men (national pass-time or dirty habit I'm not sure)
  
• Tom & Jerry toilet brushes (because cartoons make toilet scrubbing much cuter)
  
• Pucca butter (cartoons make butter more appealing to children?)
  
• Paprika flavoured cordial (yes dad, I'll try to remember to bring you some)
  

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Well that's all for now, I should get to bed - I'm starting my new job tomorrow and I'm stuffed full from of Korean BBQ (veeery tasty... will be high on the dinner rotation I think!) Watch this space...