I Live for the Weekends

The weekends here are so much fun, and so busy. I’ve met a really cool core group of people, and we usually meet downtown Fridays and Saturdays to eat, drink, dance, unwind and talk about how fun/strange/annoying Korea can be. We always find other people we know too, since most of us foreigners tend to hang out at a lot of the same places. The downtown area in Daegu is awesome because 1: It’s a ten-minute walk from my studio and 2: It’s very concentrated. Hundreds of bars, clubs, shops, restaurants, karaoke places and department stores are crammed into a few square blocks, and it’s busy every day and night of the week. This makes it very easy to move around but very difficult to find anything specific – it’s like a maze in there, and all the streets still look the same to me. I have to constantly keep in mind which direction I came from, and which way is out, so I can find my way home! There are a lot of expats in Daegu, so there’s always something happening like beer pong tournaments or a bar crawl or a band playing somewhere; it’s like going to college in a small town, where everyone has the same social life as everyone else and you can be sure of running into people you know. I also sometimes see my co-teacher Carrie on the weekends – she invited me to lunch with her husband, son, and in-laws on my first Sunday in Daegu, and last Sunday while they were all out hiking, we went to lunch again.

This past weekend I actually had Friday off, and during the day I was wandering around in the subway (sounds weird, but the subways here are like underground malls – they have multiple floors with food courts and every imaginable kind of store; people here also cross the main streets underground, because the traffic is so heavy) and I actually met a Korean girl that is close to my age and lives in my building. Her name is Hyun Joo, and she just graduated from university and is studying English full time. I was so happy to get to know her – weekdays I’m busy at school, and weekend nights I’m with my Western friends, but anytime I’m in my studio I feel really isolated and even lonely – my landlords don’t even live here, so I didn’t have anyone. It’s so nice to know now that if anything were to happen, there’s someone living down the hall that I can run to. Hyun Joo and I went out Friday and I introduced her to some of my friends. Hopefully I’ll see a lot more of her!

Last Saturday several of the EPIK teachers headed to Duryu Park for the International Bodypainting Festival. It was really cool. We arrived in the late afternoon, paid 10,000 won ($8-9) entrance fee, and wandered around for several hours, watching the models get painted in their tents and enjoying the freebies (a tee shirt, face-painting, henna, manicures, and makeup). We watched the show (each of the models just walked around to music for about a minute), got some supper, and headed downtown again.

Just wanted to throw something in here about my landlords. They’re a very nice older couple, and they’ve been very apologetic about all the mess with my hot water. They speak a few words of English and have brought in their son, Thomas, a few times because he's fluent. Thomas even gave me his cell phone number and told me to call or text if I have any problems so he can tell his parents. Thomas told me that his parents are very happy to have me, because the wife actually taught at Jeil Middle School for four years and also because they’re Catholic. The first day my landlords met me they asked my religion and were really happy to hear that I’m Catholic too. They immediately asked me my Catholic name, and now they call me Victoria! Last Monday they came over and brought me a gift-wrapped crucifix, and on Tuesday they brought tools over and nailed it to the wall! Thomas told me that they want me to come over to dinner sometime and also go to church with them.

I have Internet in my apartment now, so add me to Skype if you have it! Looking forward to hearing from everyone, so keep in touch and thanks for reading!