Adventures in the city

On Sunday I walked from the hotel and ended up at the Royal Tombs.  Admission was $1 so I went in and walked around for awhile.  There is a king and a queen buried in very interesting burial mounds.  Here are some pictures.

Also I went to the COEX, which is the largest mall in the country. There is an aquarium there and many stores, restaurants, and people.

Here is the building my school is in as viewed from Olympic Park.  To the right is a driving range, the green net keeps the golf balls in. 

First Weekend.

Here are a few pictures of driving from 

the airport to the hotel. 

Steven my brother gave me the 1000 won on the top for my going away party, the one on the bottom is a 1000 won that I got here.

Here is a picture of the building my school is in. 

Here is are pictures of the hotel room. 

Here's the bathroom in the hotel.  When I get my apartment the toilet will not be in the shower.  

This bathroom reminds me of the bathroom in the hotel I was in when my family traveled to the Netherlands for my brother Adam's wedding.

Walking around Gangnam

Eating Gangnam Style in Gangnam. We got pork and steak that was grilled on the griddle in the middle of the table.  Also, the meal came with a hot cabbage soup with tofu, an egg quiche thing, garlic, onions, hot sauce, and lettuce to roll everything in and eat.  

Some of the new teachers I will be working with.

We were going to eat at another restaurant and were walking in the door and a woman ran over to us.  

She was an American woman who said "Don't eat at that restaurant because you will get very sick eating there."  

She was a teacher at an English institute, she directed us to this restaurant which was very good. 

Enjoying my food.

 On Saturday evening we ate fried chicken.  On Sunday we were searching for a department store to get electric converters.  On our adventure we found some great street food to enjoy.  

 Look Mom, they have corn dogs.

We ate two plates of food that looked like this.  

How much did it all cost in American dollars? 

 The total cost was $5.00 American.  

 Deep fried hard-boiled eggs, potato things, and seaweed stuffed with rice noodles.

After lunch we took a cab to the department store, the fare was very cheap, $5. 

Then some people went back to the hotel while one of the teachers and I explore Olympic Park.  The park is very interesting with the 1988 Olympic buildings.  Also, there is a very nice park where families bring tents and enjoy their time in the park.  There were many interesting things in the park, but my phone was dead so I do not have pics of the park at this time. 

Until Next Time

The Bags are Packed

I will be leaving tomorrow to head to Seoul, South Korea.

I will be leaving around 1PM and will arrive on Friday at 4:00PM Seoul time (it will actually be around 3AM eastern time.  Traveling to Korea you gain a day.   
I just found out there will be another teacher from my school on the same plane with me.  
When I arrive in Seoul there will be five new teachers from the school at the airport all arriving on various flights.  Then we will all get driven by a driver to our housing.  
 I hope I can provide more photos and details about the trip once I arrive.

See you all later,
Domenic

Going Away Party and final Preparations

Going Away Party.

On Saturday many of my family came over for my going away party at my parents house.  We did make your own tacos and taco salads.  I know sort of weird to do Mexican food for going away to Korea, but I figure I will have plenty of Korean food when I am in Korea.  

Aunt Kathy and Pap got me some toothpaste, mouthwash and a cell phone charger.

Uncle Dave gave me a gift card, that will come in handy with any last minute purchases.  

Uncle Rick and Aunt Stacey gave me all types of handy things like Q-tips, bandaids, and most importantly body wash and soap so I don't stink in Korea.  

My brother Steven gave me 2,000 Korean Won which is about two US dollars.

Thanks to everyone for their gifts and/or being at my party. 

I have been seeing other people to say goodbye to for the past few weeks and still have a few more people to see.  In the past few weeks I said goodbye to Sheri and Kristen from Tenth and Green, my other friends in Reading(June, Phet, Tina, Craig), Heather Dutt, Joe Shosh and there are more.

My mom has been telling me to post this video on my blog, so here you go mom..

Seoul, My Happiness

Also, I have been making plans with the expat group in Seoul so I have things to do when I arrive.  

On September 7th they are going to Changdeokgung Palace, the Secret Garden, and Bukchon 

 Palace website

In five weeks I will be in Korea!

So in five weeks on Friday August 23rd I will be in Korea. 

 Before I talk about that here are some fun videos you can learn more about.

There is a neat web-site on www.ibuzzkorea.com 

PSY presents Wiki Korean Dictionary.  

PSY is the Korean who sings Gangnam Style.

I downloaded one, but there are tons on the web-site.

http://www.ibuzzkorea.com/eng/wikikorea/

The reality is starting to hit in as I am packing, getting rid of stuff and trying to consolidate my life.  I talked to the travel agent today and have my itinerary for my one-way ticket.  I can bring two large suitcases that weigh 50lbs each and one carry on.   I was checking the prices to bring another large suitcase it was around $135.  

That is way cheaper than Fed-Ex!

I have nothing against Fed-Ex, they are a great company, but $447.01 is a lot of money.

This is the quote for a 50 lb box.  Now I checked with the United States Postal Service and a box up to 20lbs was around $78, not too bad. 

Still I think paying $135 for one more 50lb suitcase

 is a good deal.

I found out when I am going to South Korea!

Ok I found out when my flight is. I will be leaving on August 22nd at 1PM.  I will arrive in Seoul on Friday, August 23rd at 4:10PM, that will actually be 3:10AM time here.  My contract starts Monday August 26th, so I will have the weekend to get ready.

 I think Diva heard me talking on the phone and got into my luggage. 

Hey Diva you can't come to South Korea!  Sorry kitty cat

Diva, they eat dogs in Korea, they might eat cats too. 

Sorry you can't go. 

I went to The Korean Consulate in New York City on Wednesday July 10th to get my E2 visa to enter the Republic of Korea.  My mother and I arrived at the consulate around 10:30AM and were at lunch around 11:30AM.    I was told to return on July 11th at 3PM to pick up my passport.

My mother and I ate at Burger Heaven, I think the location on 53rd street.  The food was good and we had a nice time.
From there we started walking and went into Saint Patrick's Cathedral.  the Cathedral is undergoing a lot of reconstruction so scaffolding is inside and outside the church.  From the signs I read the stone is crumbling and it's probably cheaper to fix all the stonework than be sued by someone that gets hit in the head by a falling stone.   We toured the church as mass was going on, that was sort of interesting.  Also, there were a number of homeless people sitting in the side pews sleeping.  The one woman had about 5 Macy's bags and they said reuse on them, go recycling!

From there we wondered to the subway station.  After some discussion we decided to go to Coney Island. It took about an hour to get there because we were on a local train, not an express.  It was a neat ride and when we arrived we only had 10-15 minutes to walk around on the boardwalk until we had to return to see....

David Letterman!

It is quite easy to get tickets for TV shows in New York City.  Basically Google "TV shows in New York City" There are a few shows in Conneticut Like Maury and Martha Stewart, but most are in Manhattan and all of them are free!

The show had Kevin James who was on the TV show "King of Queens" and is in the new movie, "Grown-Ups 2"   The show is set to air Thursday night July 11th even though we we were at the July 10th taping.
 I can be seen in a few shots of an audience member behind me.  The guy behind me asked Letterman if he was thinking of retiring considering all the new "Jimmy's" on Late Night TV.  I personally think the guy was planted to give Letterman something to talk about in the show.  I think Letterman should move on and give someone else a chance.

 Also, there was that red-haired snowboarder guy that does the Olympics, his stylist was working overtime because he had a great suit on, his hair was darkened and styled and he looked nice..
Darius Rucker then sang and that was the show.
There was of course a lot of waiting in line before the show, but who cares.


After a dinner at a run-down TGI Fridays in Time Square my mother and I headed home.  It really is time for the TGI Fridays to be updated, the Times Square Applebees looked way better.

On July 11th I then headed back to NYC and got my passport back with my visa in it.

You can only see some of it in the page, as I say "I love you" to South Korea.

I had actually gone into the Korean Cultural Awareness office to have my picture taken and the nice Korean girl took my picture and then gave me some free tour books.