stolen water

we are all into our new apartment...our borrowed furniture was delivered thursday and our first shipment came in friday...

we bought a water cooler (like the one in office space) for our house...most people have them, including the koreans. well, i was bringing up groceries and saw the water cooler man pull up to our apt. building. i assumed it was our guy so i motioned for him to follow me. he did. he helped me bring in all the groceries and then i motioned to him that this was the right place. we just ordered water and the 2 jugs he was carrying were ours...we just needed him to bring the machine up too...he couldn't understand me...i couldn't understand him...so the friendly korean that he was, he left the 2 jugs at our place and left me, the pushy american, content. he made me write down my number for him... so i knew something wasn't right. well, some time passed and he still hadn't brought the machine up. so now i am utterly confused. did i persuade the wrong water guy into my apt.? the phone rings. brant answers and tries to decipher the korean/english water company on the phone. moments later an angry korean man from the 11th floor knocks...we give him the 2 jugs that we sniped from him. he leaves in a tizzy but bows saying it's all good. the doorbell chimes again. this time it is OUR water man.... "hellooooooooo!" mystery solved.

friday night we hit the town with kat and rags...they decided it was time we got introduced to soju...the korean alcohol made from rice...you ask for it and can get it in any flavor. i got grape. brant got watermelon. my mouth is watering just thinking about it. so tasty. we played darts for some time and then moved on... they wanted to make sure we got a sampling of everything that night... so we went to another place where we ordered a kettle. it is a silver kettle with soju, 7up, and some form of energy drink in it. you pour from it into shot glasses and share with your table. from here, we moved to another place, and ordered an ammo bowl. who knows what was in this, but it is similar to a fish bowl that everyone shares. after hopping around to all these places we found ourselves hungry and in the streets at 12:30. we wandered toward this really nice looking bulgogi restaurant. there were only a couple people left in it, but we had a seat and ordered pork bulgogi (where they cook everything for you in the center of the table and you mix the kimchi, meat, and other ingredients together and eat in a lettuce leaf)....we had a blast trying to speak to the owners. we taught them some english and they taught us some korean. we were catered to since it was so late...for dinner at least! fun, fun night.

saturday we worked on our apartment it is slowly coming together and will be great once we get the rest of our stuff. we went to a german dinner and out with kate and kevin for some soju and darts. the german restaurant, named "memories", was quite the experience. we ate upstairs and when we arrived we were overwhelmed by the number of babies (with their parents) at our table. we didn't know it was going to be such a big group, but it was, which makes it more fun, but babies just everywhere! kate, kevin, brant, and i were at the end of the table and were the only ones without children. everyone kept joking that if that wasn't birth control enough for us, than what is! :) but, we met a whole new group of people which was nice. anyway..........the restaurant is off the beaten path so you don't feel as though you are in korea. it felt like we were in the hofbrau haus. the owner/chef is 100% german and his wife is korean. it took some time to get our food, but the wait was well worth it. authentic cuisine, better than frankenmuth, yes, you heard me right, each meal was made by this guy...he is the sole cook in the kitchen. later on that night after soju, we got some street meat. delicious!

monday we borrowed rags' car and drove into pyongtaek city to get temporary plates for the jeep. a whole new area to explore. awesome shopping, restaurants, and culture...we'll have to go back. after this, we took the bus to seoul and got our car! the bus left from osan and went to the army post in seoul, yongsan. such a fast and easy trip and the bus does this about 6 times per day so when we go again, we will definitely do this rather than take the subway. seoul is absolutely crazy. high rise apartments EVERYWHERE...along the river, there is a park and trails and even some rice paddies. we saw the seoul tower. the army base is right in the city. you can see the seoul tower and all the high rises around it. we are excited to go back and see the city over brant's birthday, november 3rd. it is so great to have wheels again. we took an alternate route home and saw suwon... home to the world cup a few years back. the cities are interesting...very metropolitan yet small areas of farming mixed in between highways and skyscrapers.

job update: i have everything in to the school to sub and am placing my tutoring cards at the education building and at the school today. i spoke with a representative for central texas college, a college that operates primarily on military installations, and they encouraged me to turn in my application to be an online math instructor for students completing their associates and bachelors degrees. i am ecstatic about this opportunity so i can get a taste of what teaching at the junior college level would be like...and i could take this job home with me since most of their instructors are in the states anyway.

keep us updated on everything! our US phone number is up and running...