First of many stories to come

Hey there....this is the first post on the blog but definitely not the first thing to note on our trip.
I am currently sitting in Nick's small one bedroom apartment for the first time. Both Nick and I were dropped off at our respective schools yesterday by an airport pick-up caravan (taxi driver) that knew no english and was extremely anxious to get rid of us. This was of some concern to us considering we were soon going to be separated with no way to communicate but the internet (which happens to not work at my house). Regardless, we somehow made it through the rather strange introductory process (which I will explain in separate posts) and reunited at my apartment.
As of right now I would like to tell a story about my friend and traveling partner Nick, and his complete absent mindedness. This morning, the both of us had left off from my apartment in order for Nick to return to his new home and for me to see it for the first time. We set off in one direction (as designated by Nick) only to find a few Olympic stadiums, a very pleasant park, and a very long walk. Don't get me wrong, the sightseeing was fun but we had just walked nearly 45 minutes in the wrong direction. We soon returned to my apartment to rest and collect our thoughts. An hour or so later we set off again with some better luck. We had found the neighborhood that Nick's home was located in....but finding the apartment was a different story.

Now, it must be said that Nick's neighborhood is somewhat dingy compared to mine and anywhere else in Korea that I've seen for that matter. His apartment is amidst a large mess of congested small streets, open air markets, old Korean people, and cluttered alleyways. And Nick will be sure to note that he was only in his apartment the previous night for a small amount of time. However, I think that he has no excuse.

Anyways, by now we have located the neighborhood and the market that Nick's apartment resides in but not the apartment. After walking up and down each street and alleyway, we decided to ask someone whether they could decipher the address that was written (in Korean) to Nick on a sheet of paper by one of his co-teachers. We soon dipped into to a Baskin Robbins ice cream parlor (yeah I know) to look for someone to help. The counter clerk was very nice but she did not end up deciphering the address and rather just called a number that was listed on the paper. Within ten minutes, we had one of Nick's co-teachers there to help. She could not believe that we were not able to find the apartment considering it was only 100 yards away from where we were. Veronica (her western name) soon walked us over to Nick's apartment which was on a street that we had been on, in an alleway that we had been in, and no-joke an apartment building that Nick had earlier walked in and responded "nope, this isn't it." Regardless, to say Nick felt quite less than tip-top after learning that he been here before... twice.
Anyways, the point that I am trying to get accross here is that it is a very difficult for an english speaking person to get around in Suwon and.....Nick is a total airhead. Just Kidding