My first full week of teaching went well, so we decided to go for a couple of beers at Millertime after I finished work on Friday.This led to a few more beers, some soju, and then our first visit to a Noraebang.This is a karaoke room which you can hire with your friends, and they are very popular in Korea.There were a group of us, including a Korean guy who knew the owner of a Noraebang, so we got a great room really cheap.There was a huge table with a curved sofa around it, lots of TV screens, our own bathroom, and some tambourines.There was a great choice of songs in Korean and English, and the microphones really enhanced your voice, which I was very pleased about! We were in there for a few hours and they brought us lots of beer, soju, mixers and water.They also brought us a fruit platter, dried squid and a couple of really great pork dishes to share.We had a fantastic night/morning (another very late one) and another hang over on Saturday!So we decided to take it easy on Saturday night and get pizza and watch movies.

On Sunday we took the bus to downtown, as I had still not been down there during the day to explore.It was a beautiful sunny day, so we spent a few hours walking through the alleyways of shops and street vendors.There are signs and neon everywhere, and most of the shops have music playing really loud inside and out.There seem to be hundreds of trainer stores, all selling the same trainers.I don't think Koreans really like to go for individuality!Graham bought a 'Twist Potato' l on a stick from one of the vendors, which is basically like a long spiral chip, and you can choose what spice to dip it in.You could also buy a stick with strawberries on from the same stall, and these were coated in sugar or a glycerine type dressing (all at 55p per stick).We picked up a few more things for our apartment, to try and make it a bit more homely, and then headed down to the river.It was such a gorgeous day that we spent a long time walking along the river, crossing over on the stepping stones and stopping to sit in the sun a few times.We also stopped to watch a guy fishing, but all he caught was lots of tiny fish which he threw back, as he seemed to be fishing with no bait.Further down the river there were some huge fish swimming, but we presume the signs there must have said no fishing, as he never went that far down river.We then walked to Yangdong Market and spent time walking through the clothes stalls and then to the meat and fish stalls.We also looked at the furniture stalls, but the only things with prices on seemed to be expensive, so we decided we could make do for the moment with what we had.

Something I forgot to say in the last blog, and I noticed again down by the river, is that not only are people good at picking up their dogs poop (as they should be) but before they pick it up, they actually wipe their dogs bottom!We also found that there were a few large groups of men sat underneath the arches by the river, playing games.We presume they were probably gambling, as this is illegal in Korea.We did not feel threatened at all when we walked past them, or even noticed, so it was very different to the groups of men we saw in India, who would all stare at me.Another cultural difference that we have noticed is that because everyone lives in apartments, they have their furniture, shopping, etc delivered through the window by a truck with a huge crane!This is such a great idea and crazy to watch.The apartment block next to ours had a delivery this morning so Graham took some pictures out of the window (see photos).

Last night we walked to a local Korean Restaurant to meet a friend for dinner. We ordered 3 different dishes between us, so we could try a few things.One was a spicy fish soup, another was tuna fried rice, and the final one was like a breaded pork steak.It was all good, and pretty cheap, so we feel more confident to go and try more Korean food now.We just need to learn the names of what we had, or always find a restaurant with pictures on the wall!On the way home we decided to take a detour and go searching for furniture people were throwing away.We had heard many stories of people finding things to furnish their apartments with, so we thought we would try our luck, as people just leave things out on the streets!We found a chair, and bedside cabinet and lots of coat hangers, so it was successful trip.Graham spent time last night cleaning up the chair and cabinet and modifying it.Today he's going to get some Formica and cover it for me, while I'm at work. Hopefully we'll have our apartment fully furnished and homely in a couple of weeks!

Maggie x