Legendary drinking party

I went out on Friday night to the 'legendary drinking party'; what a GONGSHOW!! Dang, man, these people know how to live the party life. It was so good to get out of the apartment and meet people though, for the most part they were really encouraging and supportive, telling us how easy the job is and how much we will get used to things, and identifying with their first day(s), and just giving us lots of tips and advice. I guess a lot of them have not even been here for half a year, so they are still in a bit of that transition too. The one thing that is kinda intimidating is that one girl is being fired this week. I guess she had a lot of complaints from parents and she didn't really change her mistakes, so they are letting her go. That kinda made Nash and I nervous, but people were telling us that they think she had some sort of social problem because she was very uncomfortable around people and in front of her class, they said "you girls have been more social in the last two days then she has been in all four months", so that at least put some of our fears to rest."

Anyways, back to this party...we went to this restaurant where you sit on the floor, and there was about 22 of us. Turns out the guy who picked us up from the airport, our boss Mr. You, is a multi-millionaire, and likes to show his teachers a good time. He is a very happy man and fairly easy-going. He bought more and more alcohol, and the table was literally covered in bottles by the end of the night. Crazy! Most people got quite tipsy, some wasted, and some not very affected. We then went to this club/bar called Mix and spent the rest of the evening there. It was kinda western in it's music and drinks, but no dancing like in our 'clubs', so kinda more like a bar, but really small and packed. We took a taxi from the restaurant and then wandered down random streets till we found Mix, That made me think of bars in Europe, small and down these small cramped streets. In some ways it felt like my first real party.

Then yesterday we went to the flat, which will be ours eventually, to meet up with the guys. It looks like the foreign teachers have quite a community thing going, so that will be cool to live in the building with most of them and get into that. There are six flats in that one building and then two in another further up the street, so it sounds great! The thing is that the group hangouts, seem to center quite a bit around drinking and 'partying' whatever that means, so Nash and I are thinking that we will just have to initiate some alternative 'Partying' and get people to join us for hiking, or a diner party, or Karaoke Bongs (small rooms to rent and sing Karaoke in).

Okay, well, this letter is getting long, and I know you won't want this much information all year long, but I just think it is good to write it out and process, so I guess you will just have to learn to speed read or something!

I do feel a lot better after being able to go out and see people and get out of the 'trapped-ness' of my apartment room. It is really just small and foreign and empty feeling. I really hope that they fix up our new flat though, because Mr. Yu said they would have people come in to clean and re-wall paper, but honestly, right now it looks like a rehabilitation house...Seriously! It is really dirty and dodgy, but it doesn't help that it has been three guys living there, they warned us that it looked "like a bachelor flat", so I guess with a bit of cleaning and 'homemaking touches', it should be a nice place. The building itself looks really nice though.

Okay, now for the'How am I?'...well, I still feel this suppressed sense of panic, but less often. It has been really good to get out. There are a few things which make me nervous still, but everyone makes it sound like this is the best school to be at in Korea, and Mr. Yu is a really good boss. I have been able to have some good talks with Nashly, processing things and doing some 'dreaming' for our new flat and things we will do this year.

There is a mountain only like a ten min. walk from our new flat!!!! I am so excited. They say it is like an hour or 45 min. to climb, so that will be a great weekend exercise activity. I wish you could see the area of our new flat. It is almost like the country, because it is on the outskirts of Uijeongbu, which is on the outskirts of Seoul. It is like we get the benefit of smaller town-ish, but with the convenience of transport to both mid-city convenience, and big-city entertainment options. whoo-hoo!. hehe.

I really don't know why I am taking this transition so hard. I really want to 'live life to the fullest', but it is like instead I feel tied to something really intimidating. It is work, and it is a whole year. I didn't think the 'unfamiliar-ness' of everything would affect me. I mean Jamaica and Ethiopia were really different in architecture and population, but I don't really remember feeling stressed at all. I have been kinda pondering if it is somehow a bit of anomie that I am feeling. I had my canopy constructed in Canada. Even apart from religion it was there, and now that that canopy is taken away, I am not left with the religious canopy that I had when I experienced other cultures previously. Also, there was an imediate sense of community in the commonality of religion with YWAM people, but here there requires much more attention to develop that connection point. I don't think I want to drink as much as I assume they do, and I am worried that they will isolate Nash and I for our religious background, as 'perceived' as it may be in my case. I feel the need to differentiate, but I guess they will figure that out, and I just need to be patient, but I worry that I am such an extreme differentiator that I will resort to speaking too strongly about my own thoughts, and views and getting ahead of myself. I don't want to be a really loud-spoken personality, but I do feel the need to speak up to counteract 'perceived' ideas and assumptions. I guess in the long run actions speak louder than words, and I will just have to trust that eventually they will either see me for who I am, or even give me the benefit of the doubt at the beginning.