First Gym Membership

So I guess this as good of a time as any for me to start turning new leaves. I just paid 120,000W for a 3 month gym membership. That's a bit cheaper than any gym membership I ever heard of in Chicago, so I figured what the hell? Well, at least I think I joined. I went up there and someone said "Can I help you?" (at least I think that's what he said). I said "3 month membership?" and he thought for a little bit and said "12?" Luckily I knew that it was going to cost 120,000W (my friend just joined last night) so I figured that he was struggling with telling me how much it cost. I got out the money and gave it to him and he seemed happy. Then he pulled out some paperwork, pointed to a few places, and said "Name, address, phone". Well I knew my name, so I guess 1 out of 3 is... well, 1 out of 3 is pretty bad. I wrote my name and pointed to the other spaces, shrugged, and said "Address, phone - tomorrow."

Then he started saying other stuff that was mostly Korean and gestures, and I had no idea what he was saying. Finally he said "Gym today? Gym tomorrow?" I think he was asking when I wanted my membership to start, so I said tomorrow. Then he took my picture with a webcam. So on my page on the computer they had my name and my picture. I thought for sure there had to be more. Don't I get a card? Something to prove I just paid you 120,000 in cash? I said "Card?" "No card," he says. So I say "Tomorrow. I just walk in?" I'm not sure he understood me because he just said, "You very handsome." Nothing like a compliment to ease my worries I guess, because I just bowed, said "Kam sa hamnida" and headed towards the exit. He smiled and bowed, so I guess I did everything I need to do. We'll see tomorrow. Maybe really handsome people don't need identification?

I had a great meal today with the principal and a brand new teacher from America. We knew we were having dinner with her, but didn't know where we were going. And the principal speaks pretty much no English at all. The car ride was weird because I felt bad talking to the other guy, I mean, I know what it's like when you are standing there while two other people are having a conversation in another language. So it was mostly silence. Every once in awhile she would ask a really simple question, or make a very simple statement about the school. Mostly it didn't make sense and we would just smile and say yes.

Once we parked she said "Hot dog? Chinese? Spaghetti?" We looked around and those three options were indeed all around us. It's kind of funny because I have noticed that Korean people seem to think that Americans hate Korean food. I mean, they are right for most part, but hey we're in Korea, you should be forcing it on us. So we asked for Korean food. She took us to a samgyeopsal place, which falls in the Korean bbq family. I just read the link I provided and it pretty much exactly describes our meal, except we didn't have soju. The picture is one I found on the internet, but it looks fairly similar to our meal. You just pick up a piece of lettuce, throw in pork, rice, kim chi, greens, onions, garlic, and whatever else is in front of you. It was really good! The table was filled with bowls of random stuff, which is how most Korean meals go down. Double dipping is not an issue. I have heard that sometimes people will use the opposite end of their chopsticks to pick up food, and then eat with the other end. However, I've never seen anyone do that. So it's pretty much chopsticks in the bowl, chopsticks in your mouth, chopsticks right back in the bowl. There was also hot and cold soup, some kind of egg soup/paste thing, and these really strange little rectangles that had the texture of cheese but tasted like something in gelatin family. Not really sure at all, but it's pretty good with pork inside of it. Oh and also when we were walking in she said "Samgyeopsal... pig!". Which is kind of funny because just yesterday one of the other teachers told me the cooks made fun of him for referring to our meal as mulgoki, a word which apparently is only used for fish swimming in water, not fish for eating. Ah... language.

I forgot my camera today, so no pictures of the enormous classes at the Suji Jayeon, but tomorrow I start my regular classes and I will try to remember to take pictures of some of them. I can probably get the Korean teacher to take a picture of us, so I can be in it too. My camera also takes videos, so maybe I'll get a video of them doing something too. I'm really glad to be out of that school. I had no training for how to teach classes that large. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for Starfall.com, because without it I would have been lost. Also, the boiler was broken there, so there was NO HEAT. The poor kids don't complain at all, they just plop down on the ice cold floor and go about their day. Meanwhile I'm wearing my coat, huddled in front of a space heater the whole time.

Anyone, please feel free to give me a recap of the UI/UM game which I guess is coming up tomorrow morning for me/tonight for you. I-L-L.