Day 2 I suppose

Its really tough to tell how long I've been here with the time zone changes and everything, but I think this is my second day. In any case I've had a good day, got to see a lot more of the city and figured out how to get to my work and home by foot.
Last night when I got home one of my fellow teachers that happens to live in the apartment next to me took me out downtown for some barbequed pork, squid pizza and couple of drinks. He took me downtown on his motorcycle which was a bit of a trip in itself. Whatever few traffic laws the average Korean driver follows a motorcyclist does his best to break. So after quite a few red lights and sharp turns we ended up downtown. Downtown Busan is quite a sight, on a tuesday night it was as busy as a toronto friday night and much better lit. Patrick took me to a korean barbeque house for dinner as I had mentioned that generally what I like to eat is meat veggies and fruit. This place did satisfy two of those menu items although I suppose I'm giong to have to get used to fatty cuts of pork when people say 'meat'. Not the broiled chicken breast or extra lena beef I'm used to. i had some kimchee and can say that I wil probably get used to it but as of now it doesn't agree with me too much. I also had a shot of the infamous korean liqour soju. I don't do the straight liquor so much anymore but it tasted to me like a really light whiskey. It would be fairly easy to get completely wasted on it. We grabbed some squid pizza on the street afterwards, and then after walking around found a bar (there are lots) and stopped in for a pint each. It was a slightly 'western bar' which basically means that it looks alot like a bar back home. I had hoegarden while the bartenders asked patrick and I all sorts of questoins. Patrick has been in Korea about six months but has already picked up a lot of the language so he was acting as translator/ guide for the night. the most common questions the bartenders were asking were my age, my name, where I'm from and whether i have a girlfriend. Funny thing about ages here, since they start counting it at conception and with the different new year everyone basically adds a year to thier age. So I introduce myself as 27, and doing so makes me feel ever so old. I'm really going to have to pick up a lot more of the language to even have any semblance of getting by here. in any case Patrick went a long way to making me feel settled here. Getting to know some people here has helped me
Oh and before anyone rags on my spelling in this thing just keep in mind that these computers present everywebpage in korean so spellchecks are impossible buttons to find. Add to this that these computers also have extra keys on them in the strangest places and you've got a recipe for typos.
Well I had another day shadowing Jarod at the school, which will be my last day of training before tkaingover his classes on Monday. I'll be spending the next two days making a trip to Japan to get my work visa and coming back. It should be a long boring boatride followed by getting lost in a small japanese city. I do get a free night in a hotel and free breakfast though. I might get a few hours to look around but from what I've heard there isn't really much chance to enjoy yourself too much. Not being at the school on friday means that I'll miss thier halloween party, whcih is too bad. Korea doesn't really celebrate halloween but places like the english school I'm at try to push western culture on the kids. There should be some halloween stuff going on downtown at the western bars, which I might check out.
Its a little strange with my apartment right now, I could do a bit to make it more liveable but I sdon;t want to bother too much if I'll be moving next week. I won;t find anything definite out until monday when I meet the school director, but I've seen Jarod's apartment now and I know that it would be a step up.
I want to start making my own food and start up at a gym real soon. Things like that will just help normalize things a lot for me. I've located two gyms that I'll check out after I get back from Japan andI'll probably try to do some real shopping over the weekend to get all the little things I know I'll need.

Well I have to get up really early for my visa run so I think I'll sign off. Internet cafes are super cheap here but I would still like my own computer going.