First of all, I want to thank everyone who came to my going-away party this past weekend! It was great to see you before I left!!!
I'm finally in South Korea! I arrived Moday, May 21st and have been super busy since arriving! There is so much to tell so this article will be ridiculously long. So don't read unless you have a lot of time on your hands!
I apologize that I do not have any pictures posted yet. My hotel room does not have wireless internet but has a desktop computer for me to use. Once I move into my apartment, I will post my pictures!
First off, the trip over was pretty bad, to say the least. I flew out of Minneapolis to Chicago and then from Chicago to Seoul. In both Minneapolis AND Chicago, I was randomly selected to be searched. Maybe it was because I had a one-way ticket?? I almost missed my flight in Chicago because of this. The search took 15 minutes, the security line took about 15 minutes to get through, and the ticket kiosk took me another 10 minutes since I was on stand-by! Once I got on Korean Air, I sat in the wrong seat on the wrong side of the airline. Of course, this was after I put up my ginormous carry-ons in the overhead compartments which held up the line of people behind me. So I change my seat and realize in the first 30 minutes of my flight that my little personal tv/game/radio thing didn't work. And it didn't work for the entire 14 hour flight. This made the 14 hour flight seem like F-O-R-E-V-E-R. So how does Korean Air make-up for this inconvenience? I got a "First Class" fruit dish for dessert. Nice...
I finally arrive in Seoul and luckily, all my luggage arrives in one piece and I meet Mr. Kim, my new manager at my school. Here's how the conversation went:
Mr. Kim: Hello! How are you! You look just like your picture!
Me: Hello! I'm good.
Mr. Kim: How was the flight?
Me: It was very long but I'm glad to finally be here!
Mr. Kim: That's nice. Do you drink?
Me: Umm...yes?
Yep, that's right. One of the first questions he asks me is if I drink and if I smoke. I figure can get used to Korea!
After takin me to Hwajeong ECC to fill out some paperwork for my immigration card, he informs me that I will not be moving into my apartment until next Wednesday. So he takes me to a motel. Oh my god, this is the second weirdest hotel room I have ever stayed in. It's essentially a "Korean Love Motel". There is a heart-shaped ceiling light that has "Love" written on it, a free porno television station, and a box of condoms on the night stand. Oh. My. God. I later find out that most hotels are like this in Korea since people live with their parents until they're married. So if someone is dating someone and they want to get intimate, they can't go to their parents place and go to a hotel. Despite their sketchiness, they are surprisingly clean and comfortable! Apparently, a lot of the other Foreign teachers who arrived recently are staying in similar digs in Seoul, only theirs has color changing lights and massage beds!
After settling into my new awesome hotel room, I met up with Mr. Kim and his family for dinner. They took me to a barbecue restaurant where we had galbi cooked right in front of us in a built-in fire pit. It was delicious! Mr. Kim buys me a couple beers and we have a lovely evening talking about Korean culture, customs, and work.
On Tuesday, I go to the school to meet the other Foreign teachers and Korean teachers. I meet Stacy, the girl I am replacing, and she shows me around the school and sit in on her classes. The kids are so cute!!! They all have English names that we use in the classroom. Most are normal like Eric, James, Anna, Sue. But when they get older, they have the option to change their name if they'd like. Apparently, there's a kid who renamed himself as RoboCop and a girl who is Snow White.
After work, Stacy invites me to dinner with her friends in Ilsan. Her friends are also English teachers in different schools. They are from everywhere like Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. After dinner, we went to a bar for a few beers. After sitting down and chatting for a bit, an old drunk man in his business suit gets up from the table behind ours and falls face first into our table. Classy.
The bathrooms were a bit strange as well. They were western style toilets, thank goodness! But females and males shared a bathroom. So, while you're waiting to use the toilet, there's a man right next to you using the urinal. And since Korean women do not smoke in public, they will smoke in the toilet room...so you could be standing next to that man using the urinal for quite some time!
Today I started my training and orientation at the YBM headquarters in downtown Seoul. I was very proud of myself for not getting lost on the subway! The other Foreign teachers are from all over as well. Four are from Great Britain, one is from Canada, one is from New Zealand, and there's a couple from South Carolinal. Our orientation facilitator is Korean American from Denver, CO but went to college at St. Olaf! What a small world!
Well, this is my story so far. I have two more days of orientation and then there's Stacy's Going Away party with the office Friday evening (I hear Mr. Kim gets pretty crazy at these shin-digs!) and I've been invited to a beach party this weekend! Despite all the craziness, I'm having a blast and a half so far!
