Getting to know Jecheon

As I mentioned in my last post, Jecheon is considered to be one of the three main cities in the Chungbuk province and I'm very grateful to have been placed here instead of somewhere smaller and more rural. Most of the people I've met (English) really like living here as whilst it's a city, it's small enough that there is a community feel and most of the 'waygooks' (Korean term for foreigners) live nearby. There is a Lotte Supercenter (supermarket) 5 minutes from my apartment. Very useful if, like me, you're one of those people who does not write lists and therefore ends up forgetting to buy things! There are also convenience stores galore that generally open to the late hours (many are 24 hrs apparently). Very convenient as they ALWAYS sell 'pot noodles' and have hot water on a dispenser. I do kind of miss grabbing a western style kebab/chips (or fries - too much time spent around North Americans!) after a night out though. We did find some very yummy southern style fried chicken when we went out in Seoul but it was surprising expensive for what it was!

There's one on EVERY corner!

Main intersection

Pun or spelling error?

Downtown

It doesn't take long to explore the area around the city center as everything is quite linear and built up. Wendy, my co-teacher, did advise me that in general clothing, shoes, etc is very expensive in Jecheon and the best places to shop is either in Cheonju (the main city in Chungbuk) or Seoul. Either way it's a 2 hour bus journey so I think we'll be regular visitors to Seoul!

We went shopping yesterday and happened across our first pet store where the unbelievebly tiny dogs caught our eyes. They were all so adorable! Upon entering the store though we were struck by how much it smelt (foul) and how excited the dogs became. They were all in display boxes with glass walls with seemingly no separation from their litter and  newspaper for bedding. Being it was such as small store I'm hazarding a guess they don't have a different area for them when the store is closed. Communicating in extremely limited Hangul we understood that to buy one it would be anything from 200,000 to 300,000 won which is roughly £100-150. Having never really had a pet beyond a goldfish (the poor thing) I wanted to rescue them all so much. However, it's too cruel and unimaginable for it to be left alone in my apartment whilst I'm at school. Also, as I'm planning on travelling after, what on earth would I do? Needless to say we had to tear ourselves away!

Apparently there are two extremes of a 'dog's life' in Korea. On one hand it's follwed the western trend of people, mainly young women, parayding the cute and small dogs in handbags and carrying them around like babies. On the other hand, there is of course the widely debated consumption of dog meat in Korea, among the other East Asian countries. Whilst I would never dream of consuming dog meat (knowingly) myself, I recognise now how this cuisine came about and respect that each nation has their controversial issues.

Last night was also the first time we went out properly in Jecheon (for the night scene as opposed to just eating!). I'd done some research and read that 'Rock & Roll' was apparently the place to be for the foreign community and we decided to check it out. I did discover early that day though it was the next street from mine! Unfortunately, there weren't any waygooks around and the bar itself wasn't busy. Upon leaving however, we finally met our first waygook, Aaron, who informed us that Rock & Roll was no longer the 'it' scene and everyone had moved onto either Bottleneck or Western Bar, again both very close. We hit the jackpot with Western Bar where a bunch of waygooks were playing darts! They were mainly North Americans but sadly no British, but apparently there are some (I do quite miss the accent as I'm slowly but surely picking up the dreaded 'twang'). Everyone was very nice and merry though. Was too busy talking so forgot to take pictures but I'm assuming we'll be meeting up again very soon!