Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Home away from apartment

So I still don't have internet because the other teacher (the one I am replacing) is still here so I have to wait until he's gone tomorrow to have it transferred to my apartment. That means I'm back in Cafe Bene. The people here are starting to know me - not that I blended the first day or anything, but this is the 3rd day in a row I've come in a sat at the same table. This is technically the second time today that I've been here :)

I had dinner last night with Josh and Dallas. We ate at a tiny shop very close to my apartment. I met Josh first and he and I both ordered bibim guksu - super thin noodles in a spicy red sauce with a hard boiled egg on top. That's Josh's usual order apparently and I think it might be the first time I've tried it. It was really good. Dallas met us a little later and didn't order anything because he had already eaten. We chatted for a bit, then they left and I went home.

This morning I woke up at 5:30, then did a combination of reading and sleeping until 9:30 when I got out of bed. I made my usual trek to the coffee shop and was the only one here for almost 2 hours (other than the staff). I met Keung He, a friend I made last time (duh) for lunch at noon and she took me to a soup place. We had Soondubujigae - soft tofu soup. It was very good - spicy, but not so much that my nose runs. They also had good side dishes. I didn't try all of them (including the pieces of white fish), but I did eat bean sprouts, spicy carrots, broccoli with something on it and some seaweed thing. I wore my Uggs today and they have button up sides. I need to remember to wear slip-on shoes when I go places with Keung He because she usually takes me to Korean places and you have to take your shoes off. I held up 3 old guys at the door. I tried to let them go past me, but she told me not to worry about it. It was so nice seeing her - she always makes me feel happy because she is such an upbeat person - even when she is sad! After soup we had coffee and talked about her new job - she is at a new school now.

After coffee with Keung He, I went to my school to look at some books and get some information from Seth. Woods had his old phone for me and we went to set it up. He had to leave early because he was interviewing a new student, so I waited at the phone store while they set it up, then walked back to the school. I am glad it was a sunny day because otherwise I would have been cold - I'm currently wearing a t-shirt and it's starting to get chilly here now. When I got back, Seth showed me a few more things, then I left before the students got there. I got a few essays to grade, then went back to Cafe Bene to update this blog, facebook and check email again.

I already have a busy schedule for the next few days. I'm meeting up with various friends to catch up, saying goodbye to Anna, starting work and then going to visit Liezle this weekend. It's odd though because even with all of the plans I have, I am feeling lonely. I'm not sure why. Possibly because I haven't lived alone in the last 6 months. Even when I was "alone", there was always a dog or cat around and then a person within a few hours, so I was never truly by myself. Here, on the other hand, I'm by myself for a majority of the time. Even when there are other people around, they aren't really interacting with me. I think this feeling will change when I start work for real because I will be busy for a large chunk of the day instead of wandering around.

Pictures etc. of my apartment and other general info is still in the works, don't worry, I haven't forgotten :)

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