Today was one of the most frustrating days since I've been here. I've had my fair share of not being able to communicate well in other countries, but it was never as bad as this. We finally received our alien registration cards and were able to open our bank accounts. We had already talked to Scarlet about going to the bank during lunch time to set up our accounts and transfer money back home to pay some bills.

So...... after I finished teaching Ocean class (my kinders), I went to the front desk to put their attendance folder up. There was a man standing behind the desk that I had never seen. He spoke some English and informed me he was Cinderella's little brother. We chatted a bit and then I left to get lunch with Anna. We came back at 12:30 to meet Scarlet, as we had planned. Well all of a sudden, this guy was taking us to the bank. We tried to find out about Scarlet, but weren't getting any answers. I guess that should have been a sign that things were going to be bad.

This guy could speak some English. He would have been helpful to travel around the city with, but this was too important for him to be helping us with. First of all he didn't seem to know how to do the whole bank thing to begin with. We went in and he was just walking around asking what to do. Even Anna and I knew we needed to take a number from the machine when you walk in the door. It took forever for him to understand that we needed to send money home. And he just seemed to make everything more confusing than it should have been. When we were supposed to create a pin number (same 4 digits like in the US) he was telling us to put in our passport numbers. It was just absolutely a nightmare. I could tell you all of the things, but you don't want to read it all.

So I kept asking him how much money was going into the account. We needed to know because we didn't know what our pay was after taxes and utilities. He had no idea. Later we found out that the secretary at the school was going to put the money in later after she had our account numbers. Finally, Cinderella came looking for us because we were late showing up to teach. She told us that in one hour our money would be in there. Later we found out that wasn't true and we aren't going to get the money put in until tomorrow. This is after we asked them to transfer the money of course.... but by the end of this thing, Anna and I are almost in tears.

Who knows if we have a bank account, or money, or anything at this point....it was just ridiculous. I think we do because we got bank cards and stuff. But we'll see what happens tomorrow I guess.

The night did get a little better though. We went to our favorite Korean restaurant where the menu is completely in Korean and there are no pictures on the menu for us to point at. But we know how to order our favorite dish, so we can do it easily. We really wanted this Korean miso soup that we love, but we weren't sure what it was called. I was thinking about calling the waiter over to ask, but before that could happen- this guy just brought a bowl over to our table! For free! It was awesome! There's no way they heard us talking about it or anything because no one was around us. But it definitely made our night better!


Last Friday night we went to the hospital to visit the driver that just had surgery. We never figured out exactly what kind of cancer he has, but his surgery was successful. He won't be back at the school for a while because the recovery time is about six months. He's the nicest guy! I really hope he can come back to the school!

I was trying to post a video, but it's not working. So I'll try again later and also post some more pictures from school!

Everyday I'm feeling more and more settled. Today, as I was walking to school after my lunch break, I just had this good feeling about everything...this realization that this is my home for the next year. Sometimes on my lunch breaks I have lots of work to do (like making tests and stuff), so I'll stay at school during my 2 hour break and work. But today I didn't have any work to do so I took my book and wen to the coffee shop. It was nice to just sit and read while enjoying my americano (even though it's a coffee shop, they don't have real coffee!). I loved it though! The people that work there are really nice too. One of the ladies speaks some English and she asked me if I had had lunch. She asked me in this friendly concerned way too, as if she was going to get me some lunch if I hadn't. Thanks to my mom sending me some peanut butter that doesn't cost $5 for a tiny jar, I had a pbj for lunch.

I think fall is finally approaching Seoul too! Which just makes me even more happy! Although it is rainy today, which kind of sucks...but I'm very excited about the cool weather. I'm sure I'll change my mind about this soon and complain about the winter. They're supposed to be pretty brutal here...well at least compared to the Georgia "winters" I'm used to.

On Sunday Cinderella and her boyfriend, Mr. Lee, took Anna and I to a palace in the middle of Seoul. It was pretty cool. They're so nice too. She wants to be like our mom and I think he wants to be our dad. After the palace they took us to get some lunch (which was the first meal that I really didn't enjoy) and then Mr. Lee took us to a bakery and told us we could pick out anything we wanted. I felt like a little kid in a candy shop. We each picked out one thing and they continued to pile more things on our tray. So we came home that day exhausted and with a bag full of baked goods.

Here are some pictures from the palace...




I love you guys and I'd love to hear from you! So please email me and tell me how you're doing!!!

ps. we got wireless set up in our apartment so let me know if you have ichat/aim or skype!

prayer request

When Anna and I went to the local hospital to get our health checks done, we ran into the driver from our school. It was a complete coincidence that he was there. He ended up helping Cinderella with our paperwork and waited with us. Then we all went out to lunch. But then we found out he was there to have some tests done and evidently he has cancer. His family is very upset about it and he wasn't at work today. I'm not really sure what is going on. I think it is in his intestines and that he is going to have surgery. I also don't really know anything about him or his family, but if you could please remember them in your prayers... that would be great! I'll let you guys know if I find out anything else.

California Kids

Well I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of teaching...or I'm at least a little more comfortable now than I was before! Yesterday we had a birthday party to celebrate the October birthdays- Scarlet's, mine, and one of my kinders, Lucky. It was fun and some of my students gave me presents! It was really sweet! And before we ate they sang some of the Christmas songs they're learning and it was just so cute. I really do love them already!

Here are some pictures from the picnic and from the playground at school...

Nothing really big has happened in the past week. We were really busy all last week with work stuff so we didn't get to do much. On Saturday we did go on a picnic with the school to Seoul National University. It was a beautiful campus! And we live pretty close to it. I'll post some pictures soon.

I did upload some of my photos to my flickr account, so I'll try and get back to using that again. So check those out...I'll try my best to keep it updated.

http://flickr.com/photos/heatherperrin/

I promise I'll update again soon! But for now, I'm tired and am going to bed. Goodnight!

We're definitely starting to get more settled in now and get used to the flow of things. Everyday it feels a little more like my new home and not just some place I'm visiting. I think it will still take me a little longer to get used to teaching kids...but maybe one day that will be easier.

Anna and I went out a lot this weekend to just explore. We have found some good stuff nearby. I think one of my favorite places is Boramae Park which is about 5 minutes away. It's a pretty big park with lots of stuff. Here's a picture of it:


The buildings you see in the background are about ten minutes from our apartment and has lots of stuff. There's a movie theatre, bookstore, Starbucks, KFC, Dunkin' Doughnuts, loads of Korean restaurants, etc. I'm sure we haven't found everything there yet anyways because a lot of it you have to take the elevators to get to and all of the directories are in Korean.

On my birthday we went over there and ate at a Korean restaurant and then went to a coffee shop. We had lattes and waffles with gelato. It reminds me of the waffle place in Peru a little bit!


Scarlet's birthday was the 6th, so Cinderella took us out for a birthday dinner last night. It was yummy! She keeps taking us to these restaurants that are really hidden. So I know everyday we're passing some amazing places and we have no clue. I guess I better get to work on my Korean! Anyways, here's a picture of that dinner:


Tomorrow we're going to get our own Korean style carnes (or residency cards). Then we have a full day of teaching. We have lots of little side projects this week, including a picnic on Saturday morning! So I guess I need to go and get to work! I miss you guys!

We finally have our laptops plugged up and everything working in our apartment! We got a converter but it wouldn't work with our laptop plugs because they both have 3 prongs. So Scarlet took us to this little hardware store because she thought she could find something to fix it- no problem! Well these guys were all sitting there drinking beer and talking about my laptop cord. I have absolutely no idea what is going on. Then, Scarlet says, "They're going to cut it." I laughed....and then I realized she was serious. I looked over to see the guy had wire cutters to my laptop cord! And before I could say anything, he had cut it! I almost died! He handed me the other end and said he'd put it back on for me before I go back to the States. Luckily it worked, otherwise I really don't know what I would have done!

Things are going really well though. Today was a holiday so we didn't have school. The school is about a four minute walk from our apartment. In the morning I teach a class of 7 year olds for an hour and twenty minutes. They're super cute but can be quite a handful! Then we have about a two hour lunch break. In the afternoon I usually teach four fifty minute classes of older elementary students. We have some extra stuff every once in a while too, but considering everything...it's not too bad!

The apartment is tiny but I like it a lot. We are pretty settled in now and getting to know the area. We walked around a lot today. We just started walking to see what we'd find. We walked for a long time and then managed to find our way home! We were pretty excited because we even took a completely different way home. We had no idea where we were and we had no maps.

Well there's lots I could share, but I don't want to keep going on forever. So instead I'll share some pictures...

This is the view from my bedroom window.


Here are some pictures of the apartment.




This was our first meal with Scarlet and the director of the school. It was delicious!


And here are my kinders!!!