Beach

Today we went the immigration office to get our alien cards. The immigration office is right on the beach. Heck yes. Explore we did. 

 We were debating about taking a ride. Too cold. aka Brendan wanted to steal one.

 This one is for Dad. Posco steel mill across the water. 

 Beach by our house. This photo does not do it justice. So pretty.

 Parking entrance to a love motel. Notice the long cloth cover for discreetness. More on love motels later..

 Building by the beach Brendan liked.

Least favorite meal so far. Bland "sausage soup." Gotta try, you win some you lose some.

Vimeo

It is faster and easier for us to upload our videos to Vimeo. We've just added some there. 

Check them out...

http://www.vimeo.com/user5582809

Video

Here are a couple videos..kind of shaky but you can get an idea of downtown.

Long Nose

Now you're probably wondering why we named this post "long nose." Koreans can be very funny people. Their reactions to us have been comical as well as puzzling. Some just stare at us and look away when we make eye contact, others smile and wave and get rather excited when they see us. Yesterday when we ventured to downtown Pohang by ourselves for the first time, we were waved at by teenage boys and when they asked us and we told them we were from America, a boy proceeded to tell me I LOVE YOU! Then, when were were on our bus ride home, two younger girls were giggling at me and then I said hello. They said "you have long nose."  Uhhh....Thanks?? Apparently that was a compliment. Koreans usually have shorter flatter noses than Americans, so they were trying to be nice. After they said that, they said "beautiful girl." Ok Ok, way to redeem yourselves ladies. 

Last night was Christmas here, as its Sunday morning at 10am right now. We went to a bar that a Korean American owns and the patrons are mostly all American English teachers. They did a nice American Christmas spread for dinner with turkey, mashed tatoes, mac n cheese, green beans and rolls. Yesss please. We've only been here for 3 days so this was much more of a treat to the people who have been here for months and years, but we surely appreciated it. 

To all of our family and friends we hope you had a great and delicious Christmas. We missed being with you and love you. 

Our mailing address:

Kids college, 1378-8, Jangsung-dong, Buk-gu, Pohang, Kyung-buk, South Korea

zip code : 791-851

This is our apartment building. We live on the third floor on the left. 

Downtown Pohang.

This is a street vendor about 50 yard fro our house. Brendan was eating a fish shaped fried thing in the last post, this is where he got it from. 

 This is "river road" in downtown Pohang where this river runs through. I'll post another in the summer when there is actually water in it. 

Downtown Pohang.

Our first Korean meal ordered on our own. We actually did very well, it was all tasty. (We pointed at pictures on the menu)

 I have no clue what this is called. But it was tasty.

 Name? Delicious.

View form bus ride home from downtown Pohang.

More Apt Photos

Korean food. Some fried thing shaped like a fish with bean kurd inside. Name?

Spare bedroom.

Master bedroom.

Laundry room.

Awesome drying rack.

Apartment Photos

Bathroom/Shower

Kitchen

Our door

When you walk in front door

(Koreans take their shoes off and put slippers on before entering homes and many other places, this is where you take your shoes off and out on slippers in our apt)

Kitchen

well hello korea

We have officially made it! After traveling for over 24 hours straight we are in our new home for a year. I'm not sure if I've ever been so tired in my life. Korea is so different from home but also pretty awesome. It is Christmas Eve here, at 5:45pm. It totally doesn't feel like Christmas is tomorrow, but thats ok, we'll make due and spend it with brand new friends.

To give you a quick blow by blow, our town is awesome. It is a mid size place, not as big as a big city like Seoul, but not as small as many rural areas. Our apartment is AWESOME (will post pictures) and apparently VERY large compared to our co-teachers. Oh and..it is brand spanking new. Also, we have an electronic keypad to get into our building as well as our apartment door. We know, we know we can hear your jealous thoughts.

"Downtown" Pohang is 15 minutes by taxi and 30 minutes by bus. The bus costs $1 and a taxi around $7. Bus it is. The city is full of Christmas lights, stores, restaurants, bars, a movie theatre, even a Starbucks.

There are some things we will definitely need to get used to, like not having a stationary shower head. Koreans use "wet room" for showers, the whole bathroom gets wet and you have to hold a handheld wand while showering. Microwaves are uncommon, we also do not have an oven, just a stove top type thing.

When we arrived yesterday, we went to our apartment, then to a doctors appointment so we can obtain our alien card, then Jenn and Heather - who are our American co-teachers) took us out to dinner and to show us around town. They have been so awesome and helpful. They also took us to Home Plus (which is like Costco at home) so we could get some apartment essentials.

The school we are at is pretty small, we'll only have about 6-12 kids in each class, which is great. I will also have my last class of the day with only one kid who is a 13 year old girl and is very advanced in English. Score.

We went to the school today for lunch and to do a bit of shadowing, but because it is Christmas Eve, it was pretty much a fun day.

Little Korean kids are soooo cute and fun, they listen pretty well too. They were really really excited to meet us and made us Christmas cards.

I have some photos I'll post now, but will add more soon of our specific area and our school and the kids. I also want to add some of downtown Pohang. The ones We are posting today we took yesterday on our bus ride from the airport to our city.

Some fun things we've learned so far:

1. You know how we say "cheeeeese" in our photos? Well, the Korean kids at school throw up peace signs and say "Kimchiiiii" (Kimchi is cold fermented cabbage served with every meal here)

2. Squatting toilets are very common here, but they also have traditional western toilets

3.When in doubt, bow to say hello, goodbye, or thank you

4. Tipping is unheard of here

5. When you are drinking alcohol, it is considered rude to fill up your own glass

Really funny Korean fact of the day: If you tell a taxi driver to go to "Home Plus," he will not understand what the hell you are talking about . However, if you tell him to go to "Home Plus-UH" he's got it. I know, I know. Jenn told us about this yesterday and we thought she was trying to josh us. Until we got in the cab to go to Home Plus-UH. Same goes for cheese (chees-UH) and many other words. Now I tell Brendan I'm hungry-UH and cold-UH or call him Brendan-UH.

p.s. - to our moms- Jenn and Heather's mom's send them packages through USPS, never UPS. It is way cheaper, Heather got 4 shirts from her mom today and it only cost like $20 to send. So you may be receiving a care package wishlist soon, which will include a brita filter :)

We love you and hope you have a great Christmas. Skype us from Christmas!! We are on break until Jan 3.

Skype: liapoltorak

b_mckernan

Google voice phone # we can call from (248) 906-8189 or you can text to (we'll get it when we are home) or leave us voicemails

Part of Pohang

Bus ride to Pohang from airport

Brendan on bus to Pohang from airport

Pohang

More pictures in next post.

THANK YOU

We would like to start this post by thanking everyone who came out this weekend from the bottom of our hearts. Your love, support and presence means so much to us right now and we are so grateful. The past few days were full of the two big "P's" - Partying and Packing and having family and friends around has made this process much smoother and easier. Thanks especially to our Momma's who have been over helping us pack and both our parents for throwing parties so we could celebrate our departure and say our goodbyes. 

Our flight is Tuesday at 5:40pm and we will arrive in Korea the 23rd around 7am. Don't forget the 14 hour time difference...we will be in the future!! :) We will post as soon as we can and tell you all about our trip over and our new home. 

We really can not thank you enough for everything and we love you. So much. 

L&B

Lia Skype: liapoltorak

Brendan Skype: b_mckernan

Plans Change

Well, if we've learned one thing during this whole process it's that plans change. A lot. Our leave date was pushed from Dec 27 to Dec 21... for reasons and plenty of details not worth explaining. We found this out as we were driving to Chicago at 11:30pm through the worst weather conditions we've ever been in. We were headed for our interview at the Korean Consulate...the closest being in Chicago. When you go to the consulate, you bring your passport and are interviewed for entry to the country with an E-2 visa. After you pass your interview, you leave your passport with the consulate and they stamp it with your official visa. We were expecting to have them FedEx our passports to us on Friday and receive them Monday.

Well, this whole plan allows for no shipping delays or errors and we just found out we are leaving Tuesday, possibly Monday. This leaves us in Chicago. Our interview was Tuesday morning and we are staying in Chicago until Thursday now so we can pick up our passports from the consulate and take them  home with us. This now leaves us with 3 days to pack up our home and entire lives and move to a new country. We are a bit..is overwhelmed the best word? Thank goodness for Uncle Chris and Aunt Dawn, as they live about 15 minutes from the city and have been gracious enough to let us crash at their place until Thursday.

You can also imagine our further disappointment realizing we would no longer be home for Christmas, our last chance to spend some quality time with family and say goodbyes. These past few weeks have been quite a journey and sometimes struggle, but it will surely be worth it.

Whoever is reading, we love you a whole lot and will really miss you.



"Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean."

Here.We.Come.

I think it is becoming real enough to post now. 25 days away..yes ok, real enough to post. 

Though it seems almost impossible to grasp right now, in 25 days Brendan and I will be leaving for Pohang Korea, where we will teach english to 5 year olds, eat tons of new food, hike mountains, visit temples, meet new people and oh, live 5 minutes from the beach. Everything else is TBD. Our journey getting here began months ago, years for me. Just thinking of going, reading tons online, talking to people who've done it, filling out applications, interviewing, interviewing, interviewing, getting docs notarized and apostilled, and graduating has taken months and months..and here we are. 

There is so so so much to do in the next couple of weeks...organization is key. But don't worry, you know I've got that down. (Thanks Mom) Besides all the planning, packing and preparing we are doing, I'm thinking of the goodbyes more than ever. Before now, leaving was always so abstract, I could brush away the goodbye scenes playing in my head more easily, now they're just creeping on up me. I know, it's just a year and it'll be so awesome and go by so fast. We'll come back and it will be like we were never gone, but I can't help to think of the things I'll miss..especially two very special births and the growth of both babies. I'm not worried, I plan to skype enough for them to recognize me when I get back! :) This blog will keep us connected with our family and friends, we'll post photos and tell you about our new life here. Also, don't forget about e-mail and skype!!!! We will be taking turns posting. Also, feel free to comment on our posts, it will make us smile :)

Love. 

p.s here's where we'll be