i’ll preface this post by saying that i’m going to write a lot of my posts in a sort of a stream of consciousness style, so don’t judge me on the writing nor my photography skills! i’ve almost always been pressed for time so far while trying to take pics and use the web. there’s access to the internet everywhere, but so far, i haven’t really had a block of time to myself to gather my thoughts, much less write anything down.  this is also hard to do when i don’t have my own computer, and i’m constantly borrowing someone else’s things..

SO. this is going to be a short update. i have a ton of thoughts going through my head – about the city, about the people, about the culture, about the place i’m working at, the list goes on… suffice to say, a lot is different. but strangely, a lot is also the same…

here are some pictures i’ve taken so far: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28819999@N08/sets/72157606264635108/

you’ll notice i took a lot of pics of american franchises.. i didn’t know there would be so many! pizza hut, domino’s, 7 eleven, subway, outback steakhouse, tgi friday’s, starbucks (given), cold stone, smoothie king. there are wayyy too many..

i even saw the picture of an amherst girl, that tall skinny chick, at an american apparel store!

i have to go prep for class tomorrow, but i’ll try to write something substantial sometime later in the week…

for now, a couple of quick thoughts:

- Seoul is huge, and it’s a lot cleaner than I thought. Much cleaner than New York.

- This place is not cheap. I’ve already spent a couple hundred bucks here in a couple of days, and that’s factoring in the fact that I’ve had several meals paid for me, haven’t pay for housing (yet), haven’t gone out, and have been extremely budget-conscious.

- The women are ridicufuckinglously fashionable here. I look really shabby compared to them in my flip flops and t-shirt. Most almost always wear make-up, heels and really fancy, trendy clothing. I’ve even been told by my aunt that I don’t look “American” (which I presume means that I’m not as trendy as I should be??).

- I go back and forth between thinking the people here are friendly and warm and unfriendly and angry. Kind of like NYC in some ways, I guess…

- Some things seem SO American and Western, and yet others don’t. Elaborations to come later.

- I haven’t gone out yet, and am really curious to experience the night life.

- I haven’t decided if the young people here are sexually repressed or not. I’ve seen a lot of young couples here holding hands and seeming very touchy feely, but I have no idea what else that means as it’s still taboo to talk (much less ask) about sex out in the open.

- There is a very strange dichotomy between the good, studious, respectable young people and the ones who are less so and more progressive and/or rebellious in their social views.. I’m not sure that I understand it, and am curious to learn more.

- There are a lot more white people here than I thought there would be. A lot are here to teach and party. There are even TV shows (variety shows, reality shows, game shows and the like) with only foreigners as the contestants.

- Technology is so far ahead of the States and so ubiquitous, it’s kind of ridiculous.. For instance, my grandmother has a fairly old cell phone by Korean standards (about a year old), and yet, it has live TV on it and it’s totally free. Cell phones also have subway maps and dictionaries as free features. These are only a few of the many hi-tech aspects… (These are also, of course, the iphone-like cells.. Many many varieties that are touch-screen and I do not know or understand what features they have on them – no doubt everything imaginable and more.)

- The consumer culture here is also ridic. Materialism is abundant and almost openly encouraged.

- It hurts my head to try to talk in Korean so much already. I’m not very fond of speaking it as it feels rough and foreign to my tongue (mostly because I’m not at all good at it), and having to speak it nearly all the time is really painful. Hopefully, once the tutoring classes start, I won’t have to speak it as much, since I’ll be in class with students who are technically required to speak to me only in English (although the kids are pretty poorly behaved so this could easily backfire).

- People use the honorific here for even people who are only a year older than them. If you know French or Japanese, this might be familiar (for instance, in French, using the vous instead of the tu). I find this really bizarre. Even friends often use this kind of language. Kids start using the honorific with their peers of a grade or year older at around middle school (SO strange). It goes without saying that they use the honorific with almost all adults.

- I want to elaborate on how Koreans perceive America and its people in a later post.. It’ll also be interesting to contrast it to what people in SE Asia think about the States, too..

- This is my first day alone and I’ve spent most of it just prepping for class tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll get to explore the city by myself or with other foreigners soon.