First Day

Today was my first Day in South Korea. I worked out with Sungjoo and I now have a membership to one of the local gyms. It is call the Sports Villa Complex. It is really nice, and guess what they provide you with? Clothes. Yeah, with clothes. You wear what you want to the gym, suit and tie, jeans, whatever. You do not have to bring anything. Then they give you a towel, gym shorts, and t-shirt. The shorts are lined like a swim suit so no underwear needed. You then get dressed and hit the gym. They have some really cool equipment. The first piece of equipment I used was one of those shakers from the 80s. You wrap a band around your body and it shakes you. I love it. It gets your back really loose.
They have a ton of tread mills, weights, and even a room where Sungjoo and I are going to train. We both ran, bench pressed, did biceps, and abs. We then stretched out and got cleaned up. The funniest thing ever is what some Korean men do to dry off after a shower. After showers men in Korea blow dry their bushes. Yes, their pubic hair. Just imagine 6 individual 30-50 year old men standing in front of the mirror blow drying their pubes. It is a very funny sight. After we left the gym we walked around and I learned the neighborhood. We are very close to the city hall. We went shopping at E mart. It was very cool and different experience than anything in America. They have to build structures up because land is scarce. There are conveyor belts everywhere that lock your cart into place taking you to the next floor.
The place was crowded but the customer service was excellent. Another thing I have noticed about Korea is they are huge into recycling. There are no bags at the stores. If you want a plastic bag you have to purchase one. For bigger items you have to place them into a cardboard box. Imagine this 6 foot blond kid carrying a huge box over his head down the street so I do not hit anyone with it. All the kids were at perfect height to knock out with my elbows if I carried it normally. I stand out a little bit here. It is not as bad as you think. I have only seen two other Americans. I know there are tons because of all the English institutions around here. I am going to have to just find the best norde bang (Karaoke club) to hang out at to find them. After shopping Sungjoo and I went downstairs to the little coffee shop in our building.
They are really really good. I had a green tea latte and it was amazing. They have great air conditioning. Our place has AC but the shop is frigid. I will be doing everything in here from now on. They also have Internet as you can obviously tell. That has been my day so far. I have had no problem with jet lag. I feel great. I am a little tired but nothing like the horror stories I have heard ppl tell. Tonight I have to stop eating and drinking by 10pm for my drug and aids test tomorrow at the hospital. It is really stupid but necessary to get my social security number over here for my teaching permit. I am now off to print out a passport picture to give to the hospital.