Finally, a blog from Luc

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged, but as Erin said before not much new has been happening. We’ve settled into more or less a routine. In the mornings we either laze around, or go somewhere like E-mart or downtown for some shopping. We do have time to do things in the morning, but it’s not enough time to undertake a major excursion like a city tour or a trip to the giant Buddha. After work we either grab a bite to eat, or head to E-mart because it’s open until 12:00. E-mart conveniently has a McDonalds, so if we want some cheap western food it comes in handy. After eating it’s usually like 11:30, but with our schedule that’s usually enough time to watch a movie before bed, and thanks to the speedy internet we download plenty of movies.

The McDonalds isn’t exactly like home, but pretty close, it’s Australian beef so it definitely has a different flavor. They don’t have exactly the same menu either. They don’t have a quarter pownder, instead they have a Bulgogi burger. Bulgogi is their standard beef meal, where they serve low grade beef with vegetables and rice (so basically it’s a stir fry). The beef isn’t that bad, it’s just not the best cut, but I like Bulgogi, it’s one of my favorite Korean dishes, though I haven’t tried everything yet. So a Bulgogi burger is a paddy with lettuce and some sauce that’s apparently supposed to mimic the taste of rice, so you are supposed to feel like you are having Bulgogi in a burger… I think… it’s not bad, but I prefer the Big Mac.

Because Erin and I haven’t been up to anything exciting for the past bit, I figure I’ll just blog about the differences I’ve noticed between Canada and Korea. In my first week here a friend asked me what the biggest difference was between Canada and Korea, and it got me thinking, I don’t know what the biggest difference is, but here’s a couple things I’ve noticed so far.

It’s cheaper to eat out. Well, maybe it’s not cheaper, but it’s definitely not worth your while to stay home. In the end it probably costs the same to go out as it does to make things yourself, but there’s not many dishwashers here… so then you end up having to do dishes. If you ask me, it’s far more practical to eat out. If you want Korean food, a meal will run you between 3000 and 8000 Won (about $3-$8). You don’t tip, and there’s no tax. Most traditional style restaurants will keep the side dishes coming until you stop eating them. These side dishes usually include Kimchi, pickled onions and a turnip type thing; other restaurants might have a beef thing that tastes like beef jerky, veggies or even some soup. With the cost of eating out, it’s no wonder that there are so many restaurants; people must not do a ton of cooking for themselves. Western food is a different story. It’s definitely a luxury. The prices aren’t that much different than prices at home, but when you can pay $3 for a meal it’s a shock to pay $20, and they add a 10% tax at western places, that counts as your tip. I guess you’re still tipping less than at home, but it seems like allot when you get the bill.

A big difference here is the heating of our apartment. I don’t know if we’ve mentioned this before, but our apartment is heated through the floors. We have central air at school, but in the homes I’ve been in heated floors is how it’s done. It’s a bit inconvenient for us because only the floors in our bedroom are heated, but it’s really nice in the bedroom when the floors are on. Also, we don’t run on hot water tanks. The hot water system is similar to the one we have at the cabin. It’s hot water on demand, when we turn on the hot water it turns on the gas and we get hot water on the spot. It seems to me like allot more efficient system than at home.

The disposal of garbage is allot more efficient here. We have three different garbage’s, Food Waste, Recyclables, and Other. Food Waste is like the compost, but all food goes in it. We keep our food waste in a bag in our freezer, and then it gets dumped in a big tub outside of our apartment building. Most pieces of garbage here have a symbol on them that tell you if the piece is recyclable. Glass (we think), bottles, paper and whatever has the recycle symbol on it goes in random bags that go into bins to be recycled, and the rest goes into special see through bags we have to buy. The fine for mixing up garbage is ~$500 and half of that fine goes to the person that told on you, so you have to think about every piece of garbage you throw out. Definitely a different mindset than at home, but Korea doesn’t have the space to waste on landfills like Canada does.

Well I don’t know how exciting this blog was, maybe next time I’ll talk about cultural differences. Those are endless; I learn cultural differences from my students every day. The other day I learned that they thought I was poor because I had longer hair and it’s not brushed perfectly. They don’t understand the concept of curly hair and they assume I had a perm. I learn so much just by observing them and by striking up conversations with them. The new curriculum is good for that, we can get into random conversations every day now.

Nanny: I just got Sherree’s e-mail yesterday. It had been directed to my junk mail as I’m getting more junk mail than usual lately, but I will write her back in the morning. Mom had told me about Carleigh, very sad to lose someone so young.

Amy: How’s my use of than/then? I feel like I’m screwing that up allot… I feel like my grammar and use of big words is worsening every day I teach because I have to make everything so simple…. Also, the Korean teachers teach the grammar, they know the rules allot better than us foreign teachers.

Mom: Erin wants Cover Girl, Volume Extract, Black.

Oh and I'm using Canadian change for an activity in class, so if anyone wants to send rolls of pennies they would come in handy. (Actually dimes work best, but that might be allot to ask)