Cheongju

today is our first day of orientation and we have a few "free" hours before that starts... so i thought i'd write a little about Cheongju - the city nearest to us - where we went on an excursion yesterday. christina, a girl from the states organized the whole thing for us - got us on the bus and into town - where we looked around, did a little shopping and started to acclimatize ourselves to being in a completely foreign place.

so we got on the number 514 bus. There are two kinds of buses here - standing and sitting - and they have different prices, but we took the sitting bus for our 30-40 minute ride into town. we filled the bus almost to capacity - there were only two seats left. even just being on the bus and looking out the window i was amazed at how diifferent Korea is. they seem to plant things wherever they can - on the side of the road, inbetween buildings, between the sidewalk and the buildings, in pots all over - there are plants and vegetables growing all over the place. i'll take some pics of it asap and get them up here.

finally we arrived in downtown Cheongju - and who'd have thought i'd have to come all the way to Korea to go to the "Carrefour"?? that's where we went - a big store where they sell everything from alarm clocks to clothes, to diamonds - not to mention the magic corn! which from what we could figure out is some kind of weird LEGO that is squishy and sticks together when wet... seems a little messy and a tad gross, but i was tempted to buy some just to see! maybe i'll bring some back to Canada with me...

so after buying what is the closest thing to a bathrobe that you can find in Korea - what i call a bathdress: a towel with snaps up the sides that you can wear around your body, it looks a little like the dresses that Marge and Lisa wear on the Simpsons only smaller - we headed out into the heat and humidity to find some lunch. So we headed into the streets - not sure of the names and probably couldn't write them if i could - to "feel" the atmosphere of dowtown. it was overcast for most of theday but cleared up later on - did i mention it's hotter than july in Montreal here? we have AC in our dorm rooms, but the second you step outside it feels like you're going to melt. currently, the AC in my room is on the fritz - has been since this morning, but hopefully it'll be back soon - that's what they tell me anyway. so, the pictures of dowtown are not great because it was so overcast, but you get the idea... streets lined with stores - some "american" style, some Korean, and lots of restaurants. it looks like it'll be easier for me to get pizza hut here than in Montreal!!! lol. here's a pic of "sexy cookie" i couldn't resist taking a photo of it - my first Korean lingerie store!

here are a couple more photos that i took, i'd love to post more - you should all know what a shutterbug i am... the first one is of the sidewalk - walking and biking; the second is a little "park" in the underground tunnel used to cross the street; lastly just a shot of a little side street that i thought looked nice.