Suwon

Wow, there is quite the demand for blog updates!! ha I am going as fast as I can people :)
I have to keep on these things or else I am gonna forget everything! 


So last Thursday I went to Suwon with Mr. Jung to get an alien registration card. You need one in order to get a cell phone, bank account etc... I don't think Mr. J drives so we had to take the bus an hour and 20 mins away. Luckily we got a drive to Yeoju by someone that works at the school. It was sketchy however, because I was in a car with 4 men that work at the school (including the principal) and little old me, cramped in a tiny car. That was not the sketchy part. The men were headed to the hospital to see one of the bus drivers that had been admitted. He came into work a day earlier with a bandage on one of his cheeks and a thing around his ribs. The admin office people were talking to him asking what happened and he said he just slipped. I personally think something else happened like maybe a fight or something, it is pretty bad, looks like he was punched in the face so hard. It just seems a little off to me. Anyway, they went to see him and I saw him too it was just awkward. 


After this, we left the hospital and Mr. Jung and I were on our way. The bus ride was spent chatting. Learned that Mr. J has lived in Vancouver and recently Australia. When we arrived we had to go to the department of justice. The process was straight forward, I had come prepared minus one document, which was an issue. There are new rules in Korea regarding your diploma...in the past you had to send your original OR a notarized and apostilled copy of it. But now you can only do that latter. Notarized means you have to go to a lawyer and have them state that it is a true document whose information is correct and apostilled means getting a stamp from the Korean consulate for $5.The checklist I had didn't have that document on it so my school had to mail it once we got back. They end up keeping your passport and mail it with the card in under 2 weeks. I was not happy about that and Mr. Jung sensed it. He told me not to worry, that it will come back safe. 


We then went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. He knew that I liked black bean sauce from a previous conversation so he ordered me noodles and beef in a black bean sauce and he ordered a spicy seafood noodle soup. DELISH! I have noticed that the sauces here can be a little thick, but they are still delightful. 


After that we went to look at cellphones, even though I have to wait until I get my card, he wanted to take a look. I hear cell phones here are super cheap which is awesome! I asked just for fun and an iphone 4 here is $800 without a contract, yikes! I really don't care what my cell looks like, as long as it is in English and I can make phone calls...maybe even text if I am lucky!

Some pictures I took in Suwon:

Toll

BeerHolic tonight anyone?

Department Store

I found what will be my favourite store here in SoKo, it is called Paris Baguette and it is a bakery chain, with locations as frequent as Starbucks! I didn't think Korea was going to have much bread for some reason so it was HEAVEN! I bought a croissant, croissant with cheese on it, and a jar of strawberry jam, oh and a sugar twist type donut :) They were all delightful (only ate the donut that day, me and Mr. J shared it). SO good. Oh and I bought some cookies for my co-workers, Mr. Jung was getting kinda angry that I was buying $20 cookies for everyone, but they have been so nice to me so I wanted to do something special, even if they were WAY overpriced!

YES please!

We went to a department store to take a look, basically a Korean Sears, nothing too exciting. But I did see my first Korean McDonald's...ew a Big Mac meal costs $3 CND, gross. I needed some margarine so we went to E Mart and I bought some, it cost me $7 CND...geeze! It is weird how some things can be so cheap but other things so expensive. Like buses and cabs are super cheap but margarine costs a fortune. I guess margarine is a luxury item. :)

Mickey D's

Staple in my books!

Suwon was a good day trip, I may go back there some day, any city really is fun to me so...


That is all, talk soon!