Sept 2, 2007

So we finally made it to Korea.
The trip was rediculously long: a one hour flight to New York, a 5.5 hour stopover, and a 14.5 hour flight to Korea. The New York airport was really boring, at least in the secure area, and Justin made us go through as soon as possible. I managed to sleep about 10 hours of the flight. Justin probably slept less than 4. It seemed that every few minutes, the flight attendants were coming around with drinks or meals or snacks, but it was only because I was sleeping between all of them. Our flight went over the North Pole, and we were able to look atsatelite photos and our flight progress on our little tv screens (although I think that mine was the only one on the entire 747 that wasn't working - I had to share with Justin). It was really cool. We are pretty jet-lagged though. Apparently you can't just trick your body into a completely opposite timezone just by staying up all night the night before you leave and then sleeping through the entire flight.

Anyway, our baggage made it through, we got some money at the airport (at a really good rate!) and our co-teachers were waiting for us just outside the secure area- exactly as planned. They took us out for dinner and brought us to our hotel. Mike and Spring, the folks who set us up with our positions here had informed us that our apartment would not be ready for us until the next day, and that we'd have to seek other accomodations. Actually, our apartments (yes, two) were ready for us, but our teachers had booked us a hotel anyway. I'd written them an e-mail asking which hotel they would recommend, bearing in mind that we are not made of money, but that as it was our one year wedding anniversary, we'd like to stay somewhere nice. So although they knew our place(s) were ready, they'd booked us a hotel because they'd understood from my e-mail that this is what we'd prefer. Anyway, to take the path of least resistance, we stayed at the hotel where we fell asleep almost instantly on a very hard bed. I think that all the information just had to go through so many people and offices between Mike and Spring and our teachers, that a lot was missing or mixed up by the time it got to the fringes of the line again.

(Yeah, we're so rich!)

The next morning, my co-teacher, Myoung Sook picked us up at 9:30 and brought us to our schools to meet our principals and supervisors. Everyone was really nice, and we were superstars to the kids - they all said "hello" and giggled like crazy (there's school every second Saturday at my school -- there are no classes, but everyone is at school anyway...). After that, they showed us our apartments. It turns out they thought we were brother and sister, and set one up for each of us. Mine was only one tiny room with a single bed, but Justin's is very large with a living room, a bedroom (with a double bed, a dresser a closet, and a desk), a washroom (in which the shower is the whole room), and a laundry room. We decided to stay there.

We went out for dinner without any help that night at a restaurant without any English menus. I'd written out a few phrases from our book, and we got along without too much trouble. It was a tiny restaurant just around the corner from our house and the lady was really patient and really nice. She didn't really know any English, but it was fun to talk to her anyway. She brought us more of anything we finished too soon (or something), and gave us coffee at the end. We had no idea how much any of this was going to cost -- we were totally at her mercy. All together it came to 10000 won, which is about $11 cdn. Then we bought some bread and jam for tomorrow's breakfast at a bakery called Paris Baguette, and some water, and $2 bottle of sparkling wine at a7-eleven (which is a Japanese chain, I've heard). Near the end of the meal, a man came in who spoke some English, and we were able to ask him how to get to a grocery store.

Justin loves Korea. It seems that every building around our place is a litte restaurant. Every building that isn't, is an internet cafe (I'm not even going to try to attempt an "e accent egu" on this Korean keyboard). I'll let him write about Korean television.

We managed to make some farther jaunts without getting lost, and we went grocery shopping yesterday, bought an alarm clock, and found both of our schools. We're both about a six minute walk from work. We also saw a pet store, and two of the CUTEST PUPPIES IN THE WORLD!!! I begged so much for them that Justin was really sad that we couldn't get them, although I was definately teasing (mostly), and knew that we couldn't have them. I took some pictures (of the puppies - not sad Justin).

Puppies!

Our teachers told us we were starting on Monday, and there isn't any curriculum to follow, so we're a little nervous about that. We are absolutely teaching the class, and the other teachers are only there for discipline. Some don't even stay for the whole class. Both of our predecessors left us notes though, and both saved some lesson plans on our computers at school for us. I guess they were both thrown in unprepared like we were, and it seems like everyone loved them, so I'm not as nervous as I would be otherwise. They both said to be creative and fun, and they played a lot of games. Both of our co-teachers are very nice. They're both women, probably in their 40s. Justin's seems much more open than mine. Mine doesn't always say much, but her face is very expressive when she thinks I've answered something strangely.

I guess that's it from me for now.
Kristi