Trip Downtown and Health Check

I have been lazy the past few days and not updated anything. It gets to be a pain to walk down to the internet cafe to do email, blog, etc.. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have internet in my apartment which will make things easier.

So Sunday I decided I would go downtown to check it out. I set out looking for a restaurant that NET (I have learned this means Native English Teachers) hang out at. It's called the Holy Grill and many claim they have good Tex/Mex, even if it is run by Canucks. I didn't get to judge the food because I never found it. I made it downtown okay and was wondering around looking at all the shops and whatnot when it started to rain. After it started coming down a little too hard to walk in with no umbrella, I ducked into McDonalds for some lunch. I was curious how similar it was to what you get in the US, and found out it was very similar. I got a Big Mac and noticed no difference than that from the US. As I sat eating my lunch two guys sit down next to me and start talking to me. They are Korean and one knows a little English. He asks me the normal questions of where are you from, how long have you been here, etc... I can barely eat my lunch he is so inquizitive. After a short time it gets a little annoying and I move to make my escape.

The downtown area I went to was very nice. There were many shops of brands I reconize from the US as well as places like the golden arches, Burger King, and Bennigans. I didn't get time to look at too many of the shops with the rain but over all it was a good day.

Monday came and I awaited to see if I would do my medical check up that day. They told me Monday or Tuesday so I was unsure. Sure enough they come knocking on my door Monday to take me. I was taken to two seperate places. At one I did a blood and urine test. They check for things like AIDS and whatnot. At the other place they did a swab of my throat looking for the flu virus. They are very cautious of the swine flu here. Walking a few blocks you will see many people wearing the surgical masks out of fear of catching the flu. They seem to have done a good job controlling it however, but it is almost to panic levels it seems.

So I passed the health check and today is the end of my week long quarantine. I finally get to start work tonight which is exciting. I have only met 1 person I will be working with and that was very briefly on the street the other day. I still have not met any of the other foreign teachers, but that will come once I start work.

Well that is all for now. Till next time,
E