I'm alive!

Greetings from South Korea!

That's right, I've made it. The plane landed late afternoon on Tuesday (Korean time). When I was still in the airport this random Korean guy came up to me and took my picture! It was really weird. Welcome to Korea! Here I am exotic when back home I am so normal! I was driven from the airport to the motel I'd be staying at. I was pretty dazed and tired at this time but it was so amazing just looking at the window at South Korea on the drive. I saw mountains, cities with skyscrapers, towns, the sea. Strange trees and vegetation. Everything was so beautiful and strange, like I had stumbled into a dream. The grass was so green compared to back home where there was a drought. No lack of moisture here. It has been hot and humid. 

I met the school manager at the hotel. Motel? The room is impressively small. I will post a picture next time. I will get my studio apartment on Tuesday when I get back from Jeju so that will be good. The manager showed me around the area and got me dinner. In the morning I met two people from the school in front of the subway station. This was really nice because they showed me how to get to work! We took the subway a couple stops. I was talking excitedly with another foreign teacher when a Korean man told us (in Korean) to be quiet. Huh?! Apparently this happens a lot. The subway is so nice here compared to Philly. Much smoother, quieter (in Philly the subway screeches loudly when it stops which hurts your ears), cleaner, and overall more pleasant. It has signs and announcements in English.

The school is very nice. I am in training right now. Yesterday, I was pretty dazed all day because I was running on such little sleep thanks to extreme jetlag. Thankfully last night I slept really well so today I feel much better. It's good that I have mainly just been observing lots of classes and getting a feel for the school. There has been a lot to process. 

I will have a homeroom class called Mickey. All homerooms are based on Disney characters so I'll be in Mickey Mouse. There's 12 kids and they are six. We go to a morning meeting with the whole school, learn the date and sing a few songs. Then I will be teaching three Phonics classes in a row to three different classes. After that there is a class called Theme. There are special classes such as science or cooking. And after 2:30 I switch to teaching elementary kids who have come after their other school. I will be teaching social studies I think. I have another training day and then a week off before I start teaching. 

The food has been pretty good so far. I am just trying lots of new things. I get lunch for free at the school which is good. Kimchi is very tasty but so spicy it burns my mouth! I'll get used to the spiciness with time though. 

Overall I'm having a great time and I'm really excited. Everyone has been helpful and nice. I am going to a restaurant with some coworkers today because we are having a goodbye party for the teacher that I am replacing. It's also sort of going to be a welcome party for me! I'll tell you about it next time. 

안녕히 계세요. (Goodbye).