Entry #1

Hello American Friends,

I arrived in Korea September 4th at 4:30PM. I took Korea Air - which is like Jet Blue except all the stewardesses are Korean and their outfits are straight out of the 1950's. I sat next to a guy from Senegal who told me about the plight of his country. Now he paints buses in America.

Arriving in Korea I was met with a picket reading "Daniel Foley" followed by a bunch of Korean characters. Why Korean characters? I have no idea. Rachel, the picket holder, took me to the bus, and then I was off to Gwang-ju.

First impressions:

• Everyone speaks Korean but loves the English language. Case in point, many shops have English words tossed in like "Super" and "Hello." But then again, some of them don't make any sense, like "Pizza School" and "Happy Auto Lounge."
• Nothing tastes like it looks. Trust me, when you bite into what looks like a short cake with green frosting and you find out it's asparagus paste, or when you try something that looks like past in a spicy red sauce and it's sweet, it throws you off a bit.
• Very mountainous country. 70% is actually mountains. We visited a Buddhist Monastery my second day there, up in the hills. Then we hiked alongside the largest Korean nature preservation. Pictures will be up soon, but they will not do either justice.
• Koreans hate wearing shoes indoors. Several times I've been yelled at for walking into buildings, or, in some cases, Buddhist Temples, because I was wearing shoes. Old habits die hard.
• People love talking to the American dude. Before writing this I was stopped on the street for 20 minutes to hear a total stranger businessnman rant on his ideas for why the American economic system is in the gutter. At least, I think that's what he was talking about.

Starting teaching soon, just observing now. Moving into my apartment and all that jazz happening now too. Next update, I will discuss the complexity of Korean television and the joys of teaching the Starcraft Nation.

I miss and love you all.
-Dan