Having realised that I was supposed to be cooking for my two co-teachers on Thursday night, since they were coming to give me a Korean lesson, I made the mission to GSmart on Wednesday evening to go and buy ingredients (I still haven't found anything closer.) With my trusty camera in hand, I documented my journey through the city.
This is GSmart - the mega, super department store where you can buy absolutely anything that you can think of. When I say anything, I mean from cameras and electronics, to groceries and household items, to clothes and accessories, to hedgehogs and baby turtles (live ones, to be kept as pets.) The shop has about 5 levels, and takes up a whole block.
This is a typical Korean building. You see all those signs? Those are telling you what is in the building. Some of them will be for companies, some for restaurants and some for internet cafe's. The internet cafe's are the easiest to spot because they all say "PC" in big letters. The restaurants and other things, not so much. I went to an amazing restaurant in one of these kinds of buildings with Kim, but I don't think that I will ever find it again.
This pet store nearly broke my heart. The puppies were so cute and were vying for my attention as soon as they saw me. The maltese poodle started rolling around as soon as it saw me and the poodle jumped up with its paws over the side of the box and stared at me with its puppydog eyes. It took all my strength not to buy one of them, and I think that I am going to have to chain my wallet to the bottom of my bag for the next time that I walk past. This isn't in GSmart, interestingly enough, but just another shop on the way there.
This is a typical apartment building in Korea. These are the kinds of buildings that most english teachers are given. Apparently EPIK owns a couple of these buildings in the big cities and will place all english teachers together in one building. That wasn't the case with me, but I find the buildings so interesting. I'm rather glad that I don't stay in one though, because the only distinguishing features on these buildings are the sign and the number, so I feel I would end up getting horribly lost and confused.
This is the street at night with all the neon signs lit. It really is quite pretty to walk through at night. I still remember Jodie's desciption of walking through the more populated areas as being "like walking through Las Vegas".
That night it actually snowed in Cheongju. By the time I woke up, the world was covered in white once more. So I took my camera with me to school, snapping a couple of shots on the way, intending to take more when school finished in the afternoon. But, when Ginny (one of my co-teachers) saw the camera, she insisted on taking photos then and there, saying that the snow would have melted by the afternoon (she was right.) So Ginny, Cindy and I all headed to the park across from the school and had a mini-photo shoot instead of going to class (which thankfully I wasn't teaching anyway, though it was the only class yesterday that I didn't have.) Here is the evidence.
This was taken on the way to school and this is the park that we had the photoshoot in.
This is the playground of the school. I won't lie and say that I took it to show you more of the school. I just couldn't resist taking a photo of the beautiful tree. But you CAN also see the basketball hoop in the background.
The entrance to the school, this time covered in snow. You tell me which you think is prettier. I know that my mind has been made up.
Ginny and I at the start of the photoshoot, just outside the entrance to the school.
Cindy and I with the park in the background, about to start our winter wonderland adventure.
All of us being the photographers that we were meant to be. This was not the only time that we were all taking photos of the beautiful scenery.
An example of the beautiful scenery.
Some handcrafted benches that Ginny and Cindy walked past. They must have been so used to them by now, but I thought they were hilarious and, having never been into the park before, they were entirely new to me.
Some normal benches covered in snow. Scenery.
Me holding my first snowball, which I never got to throw at anyone. Apparently some of my friends at other schools had their lessons cancelled so that the kids could have a snowfight. I was incredibly jealous!
Cindy capturing some more of the scenery, and me capturing Cindy
This is GSmart - the mega, super department store where you can buy absolutely anything that you can think of. When I say anything, I mean from cameras and electronics, to groceries and household items, to clothes and accessories, to hedgehogs and baby turtles (live ones, to be kept as pets.) The shop has about 5 levels, and takes up a whole block.
This is a typical Korean building. You see all those signs? Those are telling you what is in the building. Some of them will be for companies, some for restaurants and some for internet cafe's. The internet cafe's are the easiest to spot because they all say "PC" in big letters. The restaurants and other things, not so much. I went to an amazing restaurant in one of these kinds of buildings with Kim, but I don't think that I will ever find it again.
This pet store nearly broke my heart. The puppies were so cute and were vying for my attention as soon as they saw me. The maltese poodle started rolling around as soon as it saw me and the poodle jumped up with its paws over the side of the box and stared at me with its puppydog eyes. It took all my strength not to buy one of them, and I think that I am going to have to chain my wallet to the bottom of my bag for the next time that I walk past. This isn't in GSmart, interestingly enough, but just another shop on the way there.
This is a typical apartment building in Korea. These are the kinds of buildings that most english teachers are given. Apparently EPIK owns a couple of these buildings in the big cities and will place all english teachers together in one building. That wasn't the case with me, but I find the buildings so interesting. I'm rather glad that I don't stay in one though, because the only distinguishing features on these buildings are the sign and the number, so I feel I would end up getting horribly lost and confused.
This is the street at night with all the neon signs lit. It really is quite pretty to walk through at night. I still remember Jodie's desciption of walking through the more populated areas as being "like walking through Las Vegas".That night it actually snowed in Cheongju. By the time I woke up, the world was covered in white once more. So I took my camera with me to school, snapping a couple of shots on the way, intending to take more when school finished in the afternoon. But, when Ginny (one of my co-teachers) saw the camera, she insisted on taking photos then and there, saying that the snow would have melted by the afternoon (she was right.) So Ginny, Cindy and I all headed to the park across from the school and had a mini-photo shoot instead of going to class (which thankfully I wasn't teaching anyway, though it was the only class yesterday that I didn't have.) Here is the evidence.
This was taken on the way to school and this is the park that we had the photoshoot in.
This is the playground of the school. I won't lie and say that I took it to show you more of the school. I just couldn't resist taking a photo of the beautiful tree. But you CAN also see the basketball hoop in the background.
The entrance to the school, this time covered in snow. You tell me which you think is prettier. I know that my mind has been made up.
Ginny and I at the start of the photoshoot, just outside the entrance to the school.
Cindy and I with the park in the background, about to start our winter wonderland adventure.
All of us being the photographers that we were meant to be. This was not the only time that we were all taking photos of the beautiful scenery.
An example of the beautiful scenery.
Some handcrafted benches that Ginny and Cindy walked past. They must have been so used to them by now, but I thought they were hilarious and, having never been into the park before, they were entirely new to me.
Some normal benches covered in snow. Scenery.
Me holding my first snowball, which I never got to throw at anyone. Apparently some of my friends at other schools had their lessons cancelled so that the kids could have a snowfight. I was incredibly jealous!
Cindy capturing some more of the scenery, and me capturing Cindy
wow, the snow is stunning! I assume this is the same as the 6mb email! will send you an email when I am caught up. Enjoy your weekend, it is a long one for us. T
There are more photos in this one, and I added some different ones to the e-mail (if I remember correctly).