Annyonghaseyo! (Hello!)

Annyonghaseyo from Seoul! I have arrived after 23 hours of traveling. I flew 12 hours on Asiana airlines from California. The service was great and there were movies and games to play. I tried to sleep as much as possible, but I didn't find the seats to be comfortable. Here are some pictures from the flight:

I got Kimchi and beer :)

After getting my bags at Incheon International Airport, I walked outside and saw a woman and a man holding a sign that said my name and Lex Kim. We drove to Seoul and Shoomee, the Associate Director, brought me up to my studio. She showed me how to use the TV, internet and air conditioner and told me that tomorrow she would come back and show me around Gangnam-gu. I woke up a few times due to jet lag and gave up at 6am. I decided to go outside and find some breakfast. I walked up and down the street a few times before deciding on a cute little bakery, Tous Le Jour, directly across the street from my studio. I love the way the bakeries are set up here. The food is out in the open and they have plates and tongs for you to pick what you want before going up to pay. I got half a ham and cheese sandwich, this bread cheese ball thing and a strawberry smoothie. I mustered up the courage to ask the girl at the cash register if she would heat it up for me. She didn't understand, but she understood when I said microwave. Here are some pictures from breakfast:

These trucks deliver fresh groceries to the businesses on the street.

I walked around some more, went back and took a nap, woke up and walked around some more. Now, instead of 7am, it was around 1pm and there were street stands set up selling food. I spotted something I thought I knew. If it looks like a corndog, it's probably a corndog people.

Not exactly sure what is inside but willing to take a chance.

Success!

Here are some more pictures I took walking around:

I wanted them all!!!

This is on the ground level of my complex.

I bought these. They have an Asian taste (how ironic), and they are not that spicy.

A huge crab trying to escape at E-mart.

I went home and a little later Shoomee came back and introduced me to one of my coworkers. She is really nice, 33, and has been traveling/teaching for 7 years. She has been to Korea before, China, Czech Republic, Poland and Israel. Pretty wild. We went to E-mart (Korean Wal-mart. It actually used to be Wal-mart, but Wal-mart didn't do well so  the Koreans took it over and renamed it. This place had incredible staff, unlike Wal-mart. They gave out free samples of food (you know I love that) and it was 2 stories. They have a flat, inclined escalator for people with carts. The carts suction to the escalator so they don't roll down which was pretty cool. Shoomee was super nice and bought me and my coworker different items. My coworker later told me that this is a really good job and we got a really good deal. It was the only reason she came back to South Korea. She said that normally no one spends this much time taking care of you and that we would usually already be at work. She also said we lucked out on our apartments. This was a relief. I had been searching for information on this school for months. We then went back to our places, unloaded our things and went out to dinner. Shoomee wanted to take us for authentic Korean. We were going to get Bulgogi, but the Realtor in our building recommended another restaurant, so we went there and got Samgyeopsal instead. It is a fatty pork kind of like bacon but thicker. There were tons of sides including Kimchi, rice, two soups, bean paste, garlic, onions, other veggies and different lettuces to wrap it all in. Suprisingly the hardest thing to get used to (for me) was the lettuces. The two different ones I tried were mustard leaf and sesame leaf. I wasn't used to the "lettuce wrap" having so much flavor. It was insane. Also, people can smoke in restaurants here. There were a bunch of men in suits, no shoes (Koreans don't where shoes in restaurants) sitting on the floor at low tables, drinking Soju and beer, smoking cigarettes and eating. After that I went to a Korean dollar store and got some hangers to finish putting away my stuff. Finally my apartment is together. :) Here are some pics:

 My complex.

 Window View

Looking right.

Looking left.

One row of the closets opens up into a fridge and freezer. 

The beday I don't know how to use.

My shower has a door and it is a step down from the rest of the bathroom. You are probably thinking "So what?" In Korea, a lot of the showers are just shower heads in the bathroom with no doors. There is a big drain in the middle and you just squeegee everything afterwards.

Tomorrow is the opening of the Seocho branch of Lex Kim, so my coworker and I are going there at 2. I am excited to see the new branch and meet some more people I will be working with. Annyonghekaseo (Bye).