finally

we are finally singing, "now our house is a home". jared and i have been in changwon for 2 weeks now, and we are finally feeling settled into our new lives. we completed our first week of teaching on friday. korean kids are so cute! my students are from kindergarten through 6th grade. the school is pretty organized so the curriculum is all laid out for us, which is good, because otherwise, i wouldn't know what i was doing. they work us pretty hard, but they have been decent employers so far. speak to me again about this in a few months.
jared and i went to incheon yesterday to pick up our kitties from the quarantine office. our family is complete again! life wasn't the same for us without our two little friends by our sides, and we are relieved to report that they do not seem crazy or traumatized from the trip. reiko's limp has even healed from his "bed rest" in quarantine.
so, how has life in korea been for us so far? i think i've felt every emotion possible since i've been here. i was very sad to leave my peeps at home, and i questioned our decision to come here for the first two nights. i was also frustrated by the fact that i couldn't communicate with people. i felt as though i should be able to. well, i'm getting over that. i'm channeling my 5 year old self that was able to talk to my korean speaking grandmother. the words are s-l-o-w-l-y coming back, but they're coming. i realize that being self conscious about my korean speaking abilities is a waste of time. i can't help that i don't really know korean. i'll try my best, but that's all i can do.
changwon seems like a pretty cool town. it's a small city surrounded by mountains. we live downtown, so we are close to most things that we need. at night the city reminds me of times square because there are neon lights stacked on top of more neon lights. every building has a bunch of businesses stacked on top of each other. there are tons of restaurants, bars, 7-11 type stores, coffee shops, and other random electronic stores. our apartment is across from what may be the dirtiest building in changwon. BUT behind this are pretty mountains, so i can't complain too much. so far, what i have seen of korea is a lot of beauty and nature, but it's often marred by neon lights or some type of man made obstruction. i'll take it though. we have a farmer's market that comes on everyday that there is a 4 or a 9 in the date that makes me want to cry tears of joy. i bought 3 pounds of homegrown strawberries for $3. this is probably my favorite part of our town.
top five korean experiences so far:
5. every single meal - i love korean food! except for our "traditional korean meal" of a bunch of baby octopus in pepper sauce
4. seeing two men waiting for their perms to set in a hair salon
3. walking into a pharmacy, pulling out my korean phrasebook, and saying "i have diarrhea" in broken korean
2. watching a movie through an intense water fountain show at our local lake, Yongii Lake
1. seeing our serious director get drunk and jump up and down with excitement