Haseyo!

So Danny and I have arrived safely in Seoul! We've only been here 4 days and it feels like so much longer. The 14+ hour direct flight from New York to Seoul took alot out of us. We were exhausted and jetlagged for about a day, but we actually haven't felt tired the past few days. Our employer, Chungdahm, put us up in the Yeoksam Artnouveau City hotel until next Saturday. The hotel is really fancy and our room has a mini kitchen and a loft. Not as many people speak English as we anticipated, but most speak a few words. Basically we've been pointing to things and using gestures to try to communicate. Sadly, I only know how to say 3 things: hello is "haseyo", thank you is "gansa haminda", and I'm sorry is "mien haminda". Danny has been more proactive than me in trying to learn and speak Korean though. As usual, I am fascinated with the new foods. Even though some things I would probably never try and might not like, I still everything so interesting because it's so different from what we eat. Korean food is pretty decent, but I don't like it as much as I had hoped. It's very spicy, which I don't mind. They eat lots of rice, seafood, and vegetables. It's all very healthy though, and lots of stuff here seems pretty natural and organic. So I should have updated this blog daily, because now I'm drawing a blank on what we did so far. Yesterday we discovered this amazing mall about a mile from our hotel. It's called COEX Mall and spans 30 acres on just one level. The entire mall is underground and there are hundreds of stores, restaurants/food court, aquarium, casino, movie theater, and a museum. I can't even describe this mall...it's like a dream world. Danny says he feels like he's in a video game when we are in COEX. Yesterday we went to the Kimchi Museum in the mall. Kimchi is Korea's most popular food....it's basically pickled, fermented cabbage with chili pepper and it tastes like spicy pickles. I like it, but don't love it. It just fascinates me because it's so healthy and the way they make it is really cool. At the mall we also ate at a Japanese restaurant, but it was really just a Korean-Japanese fusion. What's weird is that in Korea most restaurants put plastic replicas of their menu items in the windows with the prices. It's good for us, because we can't read the menu, so we can see what the food looks like and guess what it might be. We also went to the Hyundai Department Store, which is connected to the mall. It's the same Hyundai that makes cars, and they own and make like everything in South Korea (along with Samsung and LG). This department store puts Bloomingdales/Nordstrom/Saks to shame. It's sooo fancy and everything is super expensive. It's at least 10 floors, and I really couldn't care about the clothing floors, but the basement is my FAVORITE. Can you guess what that floor is? It's a food heaven...tons of stands with fresh, gourmet, exotic food and the fanciest grocery store I've ever seen. Danny and I bought stuff there yesterday and today. Yes that's right, we went back to the mall today to walk around again and ate lunch and dinner at Hyundai. So as far as Chungdahm goes, we had training orientation this morning for about 2 hours. They split us into small groups of about 4-6 people and told us about the training schedule and the company. We officially start training on Monday and it lasts until Friday. So I guess we won't move into our apartment until Friday or Saturday. Ok I'm getting tired, and Danny and I are going to try to visit a palace tomorrow. Goodnight (or good morning for everyone at home!)

Danny's two cents (or should I say 200 won?)....

One little female youngling appeared to have adhd as she frolicked to and fro through the Coex mall pulling an inflatable dog on wheels. Also, men carry the pocketbooks of their ladies, why? As a side note, don't buy dried fermented fish from grocery stores for dinner, you won't eat it.