An extension

So there will be no favorite things post this week for the simple reason that I have officially discovered the price at which my soul can be bought.

No, in all seriousness, I have been convinced by my boss to extend my contract an additional three weeks to give him time to find a better replacement for the awesomeness that is Erin-teacher. This comes right after Teacher's Day, which is a glorified popularity contest amongst the teachers to see which is the favorite of the students, judged by the number and quality of the presents they receive on said holiday. I'm pleased to say I trounced the competition this year, and apparently this did not escape the notice of the boss, who called me into his office last Wednesday offering me the moon and stars to stay just a little longer.

It was a tough decision, believe me. The logical reasoning part of my brain was telling me that it would be stupid not to stay--it was only three weeks after all, and I would more than make up for my time spent here. The emotional part of my brain, the part that was already homesick and looking forward to being home for certain celebrations that were to occur towards the beginning of the month, was fighting tooth and nail to remind me that there was a reason I was leaving after the end of June. In the end, it was the rational half that won out.

So this means we are moving the countdown back a little. I'm currently sitting at about 8 1/2 weeks, so when I get a little closer to being on track I will start the countdown again with #6. Until then, I just want to let everyone know that I love you and miss you and will definitely be seeing you soon. Just not as soon as I originally thought.

#7. Cheap Utilities

Weather is starting to heat up over here. The forecast has the temperature in the 70s all week, which means that soon we are going to have an onslaught of heat and humidity that will have me longing for the frigid days of winter. At least I'm moving to a place with dry, hot summers instead of wet hot ones....

#7. Cheap Utilities

I love how little it costs to have an apartment here. Now obviously my school pays for my rent each month, but the cost of utilities like water, power, internet and cable are all the responsibility of the teachers. I'm lucky to be employed by a school that takes my monthly bills and deducts them from my paycheck each month rather than relying on me to remember to pay these things on time. Even so, I know I'm even more lucky to be living in a country where these things cost so little that I don't even really have to worry about them .

This is an actual copy of my paystub--with certain sections omitted of course. I can tell you, these amounts are pretty much the same every month. The only one that changes is the power bill, which goes up in the summer because I absolutely cannot tolerate humidity. An easy way to convert these prices from Korean won to dollars is to just think that every 1000 won is roughly equivalent to $1--though in reality its less. If you want to do the real math, as of today, one USD equals about 1087 Korean won. So the 30,000 won gas and water bill you see there actually costs me $27.42 in the States. And how many of you want to tell me that your power bill for this month was anywhere near $10? Yeah, didn't think so...

The only thing not represented on my paystub is my cell phone bill, which is deducted directly from my checking account. It still only costs me $30 a month, which isn't bad at all considering that it comes with internet, TV, and email messaging (this is all non-smartphone, btw).

Yes, I am afraid that South Korea is kicking our buts when it comes to the cost of utilities. As sure as I am that I will not miss the impending humidity and misery that comes with summer on the peninsula, I am equally sure that I will miss being able to turn on my AC to the highest setting and not have to mentally calculate how much I have to earn that month to offset the cost.

#8. Exciting new holidays

This past weekend, a couple of friends and I took a short trip down south to Busan, a place you may remember me mentioning in September of last year. Even though this was my second time in Busan, I had an amazing time and got to see a lot of things that I didn't get to see on my last go around. This trip--and the subsequent days in Daegu--highlighted another of my top ten favorite things about Korea.

#8. Exciting new holidays

The reason why I was to l

eave work and head down south was because of a national holiday on May 5th known as Children's Day. Yes, in Korea children have an entire day devoted to taking off from school, playing outdoors with friends and family, getting presents from their relatives, and eating large quantities of sugar--and that's in addition to Christmas. Now of course, as a teacher I'm certainly not complaining. Kids not having to go to school means I don't have to go to school, which gave me the opportunity to go somewhere fun (even if that somewhere was packed with the same kids that I was at that moment NOT teaching).

It's nice to have little holidays that you don't expect when you first arrive, and there are many others like it. For instance, tomorrow, May 10th,

is also a national holiday for Buddha's birthday. Given that most Koreans are agnostic/apathetic toward religion, I'm not sure why this is still celebrated other than the fact that it puts the Buddhists on par with the Christians for nationally recognized holidays. All I know is that I get a random Tuesday off, there are pretty lanterns everywhere, and I am going to be using that time to sleep in and study Japanese like I should have been doing while I was on vacation last weekend. Koreans also celebrate both solar and lunar New Year, so teachers often get a few vacation days for each. There are several Independence Days, celebrating mostly all the different times Korea has managed to throw off Japanese rule, and also a holiday towards September commemorating the harvest.

National holidays aren't the only fun celebrations in Korea. November 11th is known as Pepero Day, an entirely commercialized day devoted to the selling and consuming of chocolate-covered biscuit sticks (in the shape of ones, so we celebrate on 11/11; get it?!). One month after Valentine's Day on March 14th, it's White Day, when women receive white chocolate from their admirers. Another month after that and its Black Day, when all those lonely souls who didn't get anything on either Valentine's Day or White Day go eat black noodles for health and prosperity. My favorite, however, has to be Teacher's Day (on May 15th), when the parents of kids buy pretty things for their teachers as a "thank you for dealing with my hyperactive child three times a week and not banging his head against the wall."

Yup, even though I do sometimes miss my American holidays--even less mainstream ones like Columbus Day and Veteran's Day--it's nice to experience the Korean way of doing things. I bet by the time 11/11 rolls around this year, I'll even miss Pepero a little bit.

#9. Public Transportation

I apologize that this post is a little late. It's been a really busy weekend for me and I didn't even have enough time to finish all the things I was supposed to do to prep for classes, let alone the things I wanted to do. Thank god its a short week--Children's Day is Thursday, which is a national holiday, and then my school has given us off Friday as well, just because they're so kind. A couple friends and I are taking advantage of this weekend to head down south to Busan for a few days. Should be a good (and relatively inexpensive) trip.

#9. Public Transportation

I can't sing praises high enough for the public transportation in Korea. Everywhere you could possibly want to go is accessible either by bus or metro or train--sometimes all three. In Seoul, of course, there are English announcements in all the subway cars and buses, but out here in Bundang it gets a little more tricky. Still, once you learn the basic sounds and how to pronounce the name of the place where you're going, its pretty much a breeze to get anywhere.

Take, for example, my weekly tutoring sessions which require me to go to northern Seoul. There are three different buses I can take to get to Seoul itself depending on how long I feel like waiting for the bus and whether or not I care if I get a seat. All three buses will drop me off at the same place in Seoul, where I can either transfer to the subway (if I'm running late) or take my choice of another three buses that will take me the rest of the way. And I know that on my way home, I'm better off going to Seoul station and transferring from subway to because because of afternoon traffic and an the increase in afternoon fares. I can get easily from my house to three different grocery stores, I know the best way to get from Sunae station to my house depending on the time of day, and I have only been lost once since coming to Korea (and since on that occasion I was following someone else, I don't think it even counts).

Personally, I couldn't even imagine driving here, and part of that is because the public transportation is just so convenient that it makes driving seem impractical. When I compare the buses and subways in Korea to what I have experienced in the US, it almost makes me want to cry. Sure, Washington D.C. isn't too bad, and some places are getting better all the time, but when I'm back in Texas sitting on the 35 and wishing for death, it will be the Korean bus lane that I'm thinking of.