Monday,
So I wasn’t entirely sure where I was heading off to this morning….as I had never actually been to my job before. Didn’t know quite who to call to catch the cab, where to go to catch the bus and or which direction if I were to walk.

Speaking of…
So, yesterday, I was fortunate enough to meet Mike who ionically will be working at the same location as I. we made plans the day before (Sunday while meeting at the Homeplus) that we would meet up first thing Monday morning and catch a cab together…come Monday morning I think I was a little too early for our meeting and we missed each other. I am sure as I left the meeting spot he was arriving.

Nevertheless,
I ended up coming back to my room changing my clothes ( I wanted to be super casual in the even I decide to catch the bus). I made a call to “Cathy” (by the way whom is my coordinator) and she explained to me how to hail a cab in suncheon, s korea.

And away I go…
I walked to the location, I was told to go to and sure enough I spotted a cab jumped in and about 3000 wons later (about 3 american dollars) I was at my location.

More stuff and a great lunch…
After, I arrived I immediately met with “Cathy” and others. As I was taking a tour of my new location I run into Mike again! And just as I had assumed yes we missed each other by a matter of minutes.

Korean BBQ…
Now after a few confusion conversations we agreed to go to lunch, “Cathy” (I bet you are wondering why do I keep putting her name in “”?? Here goes, “Cathy” is Korean and “Cathy” is her American name-got it?-good). Now back to this Korean BBQ thing. So, we go into this cute restaurant and of course there were super tiny tables on the floor and of course we had to take off our shoes. Now I was wearing my favorite pair of ratty jean shorts and a top and my jean shorts are what you would call um lets see…tight hella; tight…now as I squat on the floor to sit in front of this table I felt so super odd. I didn’t have on anything loose. Nothing with spandex or lycra in the material. Hell, I wasn’t even wearing anything cut on a bias (my fashion friends will know what I mean by this) and I just had no room to expand my extra fluff (fluff = muffin top) confused? Okay fluff and or muffin top is the fat that people have around the midsection, so that when you sit down it Is much more so pronounced than if you are standing. I was a hot mess sitting on that floor. But the food was delicious (by the way I did learn the Korean way to say delicious-I just cant spell it yet). So, we had dish after dish after dish. I was so super stuffed but the food was amazing and by far the best I have had since landing on Korean Soil…

Tuesday’s…
Okay so, this morning…I got up super early, as today was my first day ( I know some had concerns if I actually had a job here in s korea, because all of my photos have been of me hanging out and doing nothing remotely similar to job related-but part of my job is to have fun and learn in Korea-and yes I know I have already been here for a month but today was my first day so here goes…) and you know the crap they say about first impressions. Well, I wanted to be on point. I wanted my hair to be flat ironed just right. My mac face to be on point and my makeup to be flawless and I wanted to take my time. So did I snooze my alarm? You know I did. Did I actually wake up as early as the alarm went off? Actually I was up before my alarm went off. But did I actually get up and start getting ready? Heck no, as usually I fooled around on my internet until I couldn’t fool around anymore and then I proceeded to shower, flat iron my hair, paint my face, put on my clothes (not quite shoes because I am really trying to follow this Korean Custom /Manners thing) and after I checked my internet one more time and made sure I had my laptop cord (cause for some reason I cant seem to stay off of the internet-it is my only connection to America) and I had to be sure I had my “indoor shoes.” Yes, us Koreans (me too) wear indoor slippers when we go inside of a building you never wear your outdoor shoes inside of a building (unless it is a grocery store or something like that).

Meet and Greet…
So, like Mike and I had established the day before (remember with “Cathy”) I am to meet him in the front of his building and then we would head over to our job.

It works…
So, there was Mike and Milly (now who in the world is Milly? Milly is a black chick from Canada also here for the same purposes she also has only been here for a short amount of time). Now we meet and we’re off to catch our ride.

Out with the old in with the new…
Now before I proceed with my first impressions on my first day at work. I must tell you about Mr Lee ( he has requested I call him “Oppa” which is more like a term for endearment for an older male person. Flattering yes. But, coming from him a little scary. So, I failed to mention yesterday when I met Mr Lee he wanted to tell and my associate over and over again, that even though she is one year older than me, that my boobs (his exact words were “breasts”) were bigger than hers. And he said that about 5 times. Mind you he speaks like hardly no English but managed to say the word breasts and my age and her age in perfect English. (he also made very vivid hand gestures showing the difference in breast size) he then proceeded to tell me that my face was very good but I was a little too round. (how do I figure this, well, lets see he then draws a face and points to my face and gives me two thumbs up and says very good. Very very good. He then, draws another circle and puts his fingers together indicating a little) and then says big. Now I have been so flattered and insulted my whole life. Well, yes I have but not by someone who speaks no English…so I had to tell you this little bit so that I can proceed with the rest of today…

Like I was saying…
So Mike, Milly and I split the 3,000 won (a buck a piece) and get out of the cab. Milly goes to her location and Mike and I to ours.
Announcements and a TV show what?
So, I clearly did not get the memo that I would have to formally bow and introduce my self to the staff nor did I get the memo that we were being filmed (not sure if that was an internal thing or national thing) but thank god I was having a great hair day and I was on point! So, what did I say? “um, my name is shayla um aneyasayo (which is hello) and I am very happy to be here.” I usually do really good on the spot but I totally bombed. Atleast I thought. Until…

This is the Until part…
So, after about a hour or so, Mike and I went into Mr Lees office where he handed me a sheet of paper that went over the benefits of the job. Basically he highlighted and underlines the following words: pregnancy, abortion, tooth extractions, vaneral disease and gynecology. So from what I gather was: If I get knocked up I am out of gas, if I have an abortion they may cover it if it goes over 100,000 wons and if I get a bad tooth issues it must be pretty major before they cover it but they will take care of vaneral diseases. Whew, thank god for that! I’ll be sure to not get pregnant and not worry if get a std. I am covered!!!!

So then…
Mike and I separated he went off to his section of this enormous massive sized still under construction building. I had lunch, bowed and said “anyeahsayo” (hello) to everyone and “aneyeakayseo” (bye) to everybody.

So, then I’m out…
So, over all today was an awesome day I was shown a lot of love and it was good. Just as I was attempting to leave I got called into an office where several women and men were sitting amoung themselves (the lounge room) and they wanted to know about me. They proceeded to tell me that I was “cutesy” and one even said I was “universally beautiful.” Why of course I said “gamsahamnida” (thank you) and batted my perfectly mascara filled eyelash. It seems that the Koreans don’t mind if your Korean is not good. They in fact think it’s cute when you totally butcher their words.

Now, I gotta get going..
So, I quickly ran out of that room, as I wanted to get back home I was so super tired. Needless to say Mike wasn’t able to come with me. His hours are different than mine. I had a moment of panic-ism as I wondered how was I going to get home alone. But it was no big deal I walked to the corner spotted a cab and gave a perfect “manhattan girl thumbs up” and got into the cab.
Now if you know you can’t speak English….
So on the Cab ride back to my crib the Cab driver proceeded to stare at my boobs as he drove recklessless and insisted on telling me he was single but had 2 babies and that he made a lot of money. Mind you I had to piece together the conversation (again, he made a lot of gestures and screamed for joy when I actually said the word he was trying to think of. I have never played charades in a moving vehicle) .He even turned off the meter when he got a good look at me. My ride was free!!! Scary but free!

Gots to go…
I have been informed tomorrow we have a big dinner for all newcomers and a volleyball game. As if climbing about 5 flights of stairs and walking around a large building isn’t enough. Well, I guess I should stop complaining about all of the exercise. Like Mr Lee and several other Koreans have said I will “lose my quote on quote chubby body like all the Americans when they get here), but I be damn if I wanted a herniated disk going up and down mountains, hills, stairs and galore. I don’t think Mr Lee circled pain as being covred. Not unless I get an std and that becomes painful.

Rattling on…
Let me go, I am just chatting about nothing. By the way. On Sunday I sat and typed a long meaningful heartfelt email about the stress of moving to a new location and for some reason my wifi went out ( I won’t get internet unti l this week) and the entire god praising, mom thanking email was discarded). I will be sure to post much more often.

Until next time…
Smooches…