Just an update...

I've been a little slack in updating this regularly mainly because I'm not doing quite so much sightseeing as I did when I first arrived in Korea and have checked off a good number of touristy things around Seoul and Bucheon. I am very excited as I will be having my first visitor from back home soon as the lovely Lisa is coming to stay for a fortnight at the end of July. We're going to travel down to Busan to spend a few days by the beach, hopefully venture over to one of the islands near Incheon and spend some time in Seoul.

I was off work for 4 days with tonsillitis, but luckily the antibiotics cleared it up. Being ill in a country where the most people don't speak English was an experience I'd rather not go through again, but I was lucky that there is an information desk for foreigners and the nurse there helped me through the process. I had a belated birthday night out on Saturday. I met Robyn, Dara, Janice and Keith for pizza, then we went to WB Bar for cocktails before going to Double, a club near Bucheon station where we saw a Korean hip hop band called Supreme Team and watched bemused as the Koreans went mad for them!

I'm trying to get in a routine of keeping fit. I walk round the park near me a few times a week and have joined a softball team which meets up for the first time on Saturday. Let's hope it doesn't get too hot for a little while! We've had some glorious weather recently which has been a good excuse to stock up on some summer clothes. Most of the summer stuff I bought with me was holiday clothes, so I needed some skirts and sandals for work. I haven't had too much trouble finding shoes and clothes here, although a UK size 6 is the largest standard shoe size here! There aren't many decent clothes shops in Bucheon, although I've discovered a large Uniqlo concession in the GS Square Department Store! Apparently July and August are very hot and humid. I had a little taster at the weekend as it rained all day on Saturday and then got very warm and humid on Sunday. Thankfully it has been much fresher today. I have air con in my apartment and at school - I think its my favourite ever invention!

I'm still enjoying teaching and the majority of my students are great. The preschool students are continuing to pick up English at a quick rate. It amazes me how well some of them are able to communicate in English when 4 months ago, they could barely speak a word of English! Today, I had an open class when the parents sat in on a lesson. It was pretty stressful as some of the parents complain about anything. One girl's mother complained that her daughter wasn't getting as many stickers as her friend (the students are given sticker sheets which they can exchange for a gift when completed). This is the same mother who complained about art class a couple of months ago, so I'm sure she will have something to say about the open class! I think I had my revenge though as the students made flower trumpets in art class today which I allowed them to take home with them and they were very noisy!

I've not taken many photos recently, but I was walking around the Jongno area in Seoul the other week and thinking to myself that often Korea doesn't feel very Asian when I came across some little alleyways which felt much more Asian than all the towerblocks and shopping malls.

Sadly it seems that these little alleys nestled in amongst Seoul's high rises are becoming increasingly rare. Not far from here, the area of Pimatgol, a tangle of small streets, has recently been demolished as part of the 'urban renewal' process. It seems a shame that these little characterful areas are disappearing to be presumably replaced by more homogenous office blocks.

Post Office

The last time I went to the Post Office in Cardiff I stood in a queue for over an hour waiting to post a couple of parcels. On Tuesday I went to the Post Office in Bucheon for the first time to post a letter and some presents to my mum. When you go into the post office, you take a numbered ticket from a machine by the entrance and sit down until your number flashes up on the screen. Very civilised. They also provide free tape and parcel paper for you.

It cost 2,000 won (£1.00) to post the packet by airmail to the UK and it arrived 4 days later. When I had to send my degree certificate, transcripts and criminal record check to Korea from the UK, it cost me over £50 to send via International Datapost (the quickest service according to Royal Mail). It also took 4 days to arrive.

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about the relative merits of the postal service in the UK and in Korea.

Shopping heaven

Today after work, I headed into Seoul to check out Myeongdong, one of the main shopping districts in Seoul. I fell in love with Forever 21, a huge clothes shop, to me it seemed like a cross between New Look, Dorothy Perkins, H&M and Top Shop (all good!). There is also a Zara, Uniqlo and a Mango which was either about to open or in the process of closing down (hopefully the former). I heard a rumour that H&M will open a shop there next year!

I committed a slight faux pas in Uniqlo - I took a couple of t-shirts to the changing room to try on and walked into the cubicle with my shoes on. Apparently you have to take your shoes off and leave them, along with your bag, in a little basket outside the cubicle. Will have to remember that one for the future...

I also stumbled upon a Grand Opening for a new cosmetics store called Nature Republic. Bought a lipstick and a nail varnish and was given several free gifts including a make up bag, moisturiser, shower puff and cotton wool pads. Result!

Afterwards, I went to Cafe Pascucci for a reviving cup of coffee. Here, when you pay for your drink, they give you a little black coaster. When your drink is ready, the coaster flashes and vibrates (hmm, that sounds rude!) and you take it to the counter to exchange for your drink.

Marmite

There are lots of things people tell you to bring to Korea - deodorant, make up, bedding, towels, coffee, tea, chocolate and so on either because you can't buy them here or that they are hard to find or that you will almost certainly pay over the odds for them. With just a 30kg luggage allowance, there was no way I was going to load up my suitcase with towels and bedding. After all, Koreans must use some of this stuff themselves.

• Deodorant - they sell Rexel, which judging by the tick on the can is Sure under another name, in Watsons (sort of like Superdrug) in the Mall.
• Bedding - I bought sheets, pillow, duvet etc in Emart when I moved into my apartment. Reasonable prices and the sizes seemed roughly equivalent to UK sizes. I've also found a whole shop selling nothing but bedding near Homeplus.
• Towels - again, I found them pretty easily in Emart.
• Make up - some well known European brands are sold in Korea, for instance, I've seen my shade of L'oreal Minerals stocked in a cosmetics shop. I even bought a Korean brand foundation and it suits my skin tone (and I am pale!)
• Clothes - I'm a UK size 12, so no problems so far. I've seen people of all shapes and sizes here, so presumably there are clothes available to fit all?
• Bras - likely to be a problem as all the ones I've seen so far only going up to a B Cup! However, I've seen a Triumph concession in one of the department stores (I think it was GS Square?), I'm fairly sure they will have bigger sizes. Plus, there are a few branches of good old M&S in Seoul which I will have to hunt out.
• Coffee - most of the instant coffee seems to be sold in sticks with sugar (and sometimes milk) already added. They sell fresh coffee in Emart. They have lots of different types of tea here, but not the type that we Brits call a cuppa. The world food shop in Hyundai sells English Breakfast and Earl Grey etc, a bit pricey, but if you need a decent cuppa, you've got to have it!
• Coffee shops - are everywhere. There's even a Starbucks in Hyundai.
• Chocolate - I have a craving for a Twirl! In the aforementioned World Food Shop they sell Cadbury Dairy Milk and Picnic bars (I haven't seen Picnic bars for years!). Apparently, Cadburys use different recipes for anywhere outside Britain. I don't care, chocolate is chocolate!
• Alcohol - Korea is not called the Ireland of Asia for nothing. Sadly, they don't seem to sell much in the way of decent beer (the best lager is OB, I'm never drinking Cass again as it tastes like soap) and definitely no cider (sorry Lisa!)

Turns out, the only things I regretted not bringing with me were Marmite and tea bags. Luckily for me, a parcel arrived today containing a big tub of Marmite, a big box of PG Tips and a selection of Cadbury's finest. Yum!

Gangnam

Today, I met Annie at Guro station and then we headed into Gangnam in Seoul. I had a bit of a culture shock seeing so many "foreigners" (there are a lot of EFL teachers living in Gangnam) and British/American shops (Lush, Body Shop, Accessorise, Starbucks, Maccy D's). We browsed around the shops - I love all the cosmetics shops and can spend hours looking at eyeshadows and lipsticks! I thought I would have real trouble finding foundation and powder to suit my skintone, but no problems so far as many Korean women have pale skin anyway (just a different tone, ie yellow toned as opposed to pink toned like me). L'oreal stock the shade I usually use anyway.

After we were shopped out, we headed off the main street to find somewhere to eat and ended up at a steamed chicken restaurant. We had the Korean version of a Sunday roast - chicken with postatoes and other veg in a spicy gravy. It was delicious!

It seems you can find an Irish pub wherever you are in the world....

Beyond City Hall

Today I decided to explore some more of Bucheon. I walked past City Hall towards GS Square where there is a large department store, also called GS Square. GS Square is around the same size as Hyundai, but is a little less snootier. If they were both in the UK, Hyundai would be House of Fraser and GS Square would be Debenhams. When I was travelling up the escalator, I could smell something which will be familiar to anyone who has walked down a UK high street - yes, there was a branch of Lush on the 8th floor!

GS Square Department Store

South of GS Square is another pedestrianised area with lots of bars, shops and restaurants. Apparently there is a British/European style cafe/bistro called Cafe Nicolia run by a British guy and his Korean wife around here somewhere, but I couldn't find it....

The skyline is dominated by the huge We've the State apartment complex. Apparently THE place to live in Bucheon if you truly want to keep up with the Kims.

Reflections

Looking back towards my side of town

Bin Bags

OK, so I've been really confused since I got here. I'd searched high and low, but could not find bin bags anywhere. Every morning, there is a pile of green Bucheon City binbags outside my apartment building, so they must sell them somewhere?! I noticed Bridget had one of the elusive green binbags in her apartment, so asked her and apparently you have to ask for them at convenience stores (or in my case, mime for them), so I am now the proud owner of several green bin bags, phew! They're really small and are quite expensive as Korea promotes recycling heavily - there are numerous bins outside my block for recycling - which I commend heartily. The expensive binbags are meant to encourage you to recycle as much as possible.

Tesco in Korea?!

If you live in Bucheon like me (and probably any other Korean city as far as I know), you will have the choice of two major supermarkets - Emart and Homeplus. Up to now, I've been doing my shopping at Emart because its nearer. The other day, I decided to explore in another direction and found Homeplus, right next to Sopoong cinema/mall. As I got closer, I saw a familiar logo underneath the Homeplus sign.

That's right - Tesco! And its huge, plus everything is on the ground floor (in Emart, you have to go down to the 2nd basement to do your grocery shopping). It makes me feel a little less homesick to see a familiar brand everywhere and they even do Value stuff

...although you can't buy Value kimchi in the UK!

The other major difference is that they have an advertisement video playing constantly on repeat all day throughout the store. Its fun and catchy, but I can well imagine that if you worked there, you would want to take a baseball bat to every tv screen in the store.