Daejon City...Sparkling!

Annyong from Daejon Korea!!!
I’ve been in Daejon for 4 days now following an intense EPIK training program. The material we are covering extends from what to expect as an EPIK teacher in Korean public schools to the rich and mostly beautiful history of this country. I am enjoying every aspect of my training and find this last to be entertaining as well as informative. I am definitely looking forward to meeting my co-teacher and the city where I’ll be living for a year: Gwangju.
So aside from training and eating eggs with a side of lettuce for breakfast, we (other EPIK teachers and I) have been planning outings in town.

Friday night, about 10 of us went “bar hopping”. That was fun! I must tell you that when I first arrived in Daejon I was taken aback by the city. We drove from Incheon International Airport and arrived at about 11:00pm. If you look towards Korea from your backyard and concentrate hard enough, you might be able to locate us! It’s the city with all the neon lights! They have strobe lights and neon lights illuminating the city…they are everywhere! They have bars, clubs and of course….karaoke!

Our first stop was a nice little bar located on the 4th or 5th floor of a building. I tasted Soju for the first time and discovered that I liked Bak Soju much better than regular Soju, which is pretty much dry alcohol. Bak Soju is made with ginseng root and therefore has a more colorful flavor. I also had Cass beer because the name of the beer starts with the first 3 letters of my last name. So you see…my hands were tied!

On Saturday night, we rode the subway out to downtown Daejon. To my astonishement, the subway station here was remarkably clean and so was the train itself. They have a great system in place as well: when you arrive at the station, you decide which direction you will be heading into and then purchase your ticket which is actually a little blue token (I'm not sure if the color changes). You scan the token and then enter the station. In order for you to leave the station, you must return the token into a little slot machine, if you will.


The rest of the night was pretty much a repeat of Friday night’s events except that we added a few more activities: street food and Karaoke! Although some of us were reluctant to go Karaoking accusing it of being too corny for their taste, after about 6 to 7 bottles of Soju, everyone in our group was pretty keen on the idea! We had a great time singing to favorites such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Mya and Pink…you get the point!

The street food!mmmmmm...Yum….it was delicious! We had fried dumplings and fried squid. Sea food here is really cheap, so I will have my fill…but not too much of the fried ones though since Koreans already think of me as being fat! =S

We returned to the hotel with just enough money for the ride back home in a taxi (or at least I did) since the subway in Daejon stops running at midnight. I should definitely find a bank to exchange my US Dollars for Korean Won if I want to continue going out into town like this. Either way, it’s not a big deal since we are fed breakfast, lunch and dinner. We also get snacks, coffee, tea, milk and a variety of juices during our lectures.

Ok…going back to class for some more interesting lessons (really, they are very informative)!