Allie's Adventures: Late nights, jet lag and street food...

The last few days have been... epic (definitely pun intended, and get used to it, it will be used multiple times)... My first few days here in Seoul have been spent getting to know the ninjas (the small group of EPIK teachers that decided to make our own Facebook page, get to know each other, serve as a support team for one another and come to Seoul early to hang out)... I tell you what, we have some awesome people that are here... And extremely diverse... I realized on the first few nights that I can't tell the difference between Irish, English and South African accents (I've gotten Irish established by this point, but still struggling with English and South Africans)... Then there are those of us from The States that all talk differently too, which is interesting to try to figure out where everyone is from...

We have people that have lived in SK before, either through the EPIK program, or its sister program TaLK... We have people that have traveled to SK before, people that have traveled to other places before, just not SK, and people who this is their first real adventure...

We have people who can speak Korean fluently (who actually haven't been to SK before), some that can speak it pretty darn well (either lived here or have traveled here), people who can get along with the help of a phrase book (because they did their homework before they came and put quite a bit into learning something before arriving), and people (like me) who know nothing but "hello" and "thank you"...

It is so hard to keep up with everyone (there is quite a large group of us by this point)... some people showed up before me (probably about 5), there were 9 of us that showed up the day I did, and there were probably 15 that have shown up since then... It was helpful to know people from the Facebook group, it slightly helped with learning names and such, but there are still some that I get confused or forget... but that's OK, everyone is still getting confused... there is another blonde girl named Abby here, so people call her Allie and people call me Abby all the time (we decided last night it would be easier for both of us to go by Alby... just as people have started getting it right)... there are so many different personalities here right now... some laid back, some a little louder, some that are quite crazy (but a fun, good crazy)...

We have had such a good time going out and getting to know the city... going to shady military bars (and promptly leaving), finding bars with good draft beers and darts, Susie Q (a bar with vinyls), GoGos (a fun dance club that we met other EPIK teachers at and sang songs at the top of our lungs- DON'T STOP BELIEVING), finding awesome street food (chicken kebab with garlic sauce, roasted potatoes, hoddeok- cinnamon yummines and silk worm larvae), lots of shopping, playing Apples to Apples, trying to find food that fulfills our cravings, getting separated from the rest of the group in the subway (and successfully finding my way back by myself), walking around the many many stalls in the Dongdemun markets (soooo many buttons and yards of fabric and lace), trying to learn the proper way to eat Korean BBQ (to use chopsticks or a spoon, that is the question), booze in a bag, hangover and jet lag pain, lack of sleeping and realizing that one pair of socks is DEFINITELY not enough. I claim that I know what cold is because I lived in Kentucky. NO. Not even close. This place is COLD. COLD I TELL YOU. But definitely worth coming early. It has been a great time.