So, all was well so far. The apartment was comfortable and I loved the view. I woke up early my first day and took a walk. I felt like I was on another planet. I did not see a single other Westerner (I would later find out there are less than thirty Westerners in all of Seosan--population 150,000).
Everyone was staring at me; it was strange. I managed to buy some water and retreat back to my apartment.
I called my assistant director, Jay (we were suppose to get together that day and he was going to take me shopping etc.), and asked him if he wanted to grab some breakfast.
This is when I found out they don't exactly have Denny's in Korea. Breakfast isn't a big deal in Korea. If you don't have something at home, it's convenience story city for some odd-looking pastries or maybe some squid jerky or some hard-boiled quail eggs, but they're pretty tasty as it turns out, the little brown eggs, that is.
Finally, Jay came by and we went to Lotte Mart--a large modern grocery store where you can buy food, electronics, underwear and camping equipment; or you can get a haircut or have your eyes examined. I was particularly impressed with what I would later call the "sea monster section." It's unbelievable the creatures you see in those freezer cases. Looks exactly like someone slaughtered a bunch of sea monsters and cut them up---large tentacles and all kinds of just weird stuff abounds.
Korea is a 5000 year old culture and it's a peninsula, hence the abundance of seafood and they eat, as it seems, anything with flesh on it that comes from the water and have been for countless generations. It was not exactly the kind of seafood I was accustomed to back in South Florida.
I bought some familiar-looking food (sort-of) and it high-tailed it back to the apartment..where it was safe.
It was Saturday and so I had another day before I had to report to school on Monday morning.
