Arriving / Adjusting

Hi everyone, I'm just finishing my second full day here in Korea. The flight was long but fairly uneventful, the only snags I had were having to pay $150 to check my overweight bag, and having to sprint through the Tokyo airport to make it onto my connecting flight to Seoul.

Once I got through customs and got my bags I got to an area where I saw a bunch of people holding up signs waiting for people. I started looking for my name, and eventually saw a guy holding a sign the says "Welcome to Korea Michael!". So I walk up to him, and say, "Michael Fitzgerald?" Then he said something in Korean, and at that point I realized we were not going to be able to communicate. I just happened to look at the sign again, and I realize there's a picture on there of a person that is not me. So I just walked away, assuming that he was welcoming a different Michael to Korea. About 10 minutes later I see him walking towards me again, and this time he's with a girl who has another sign that says, "Welcome to Korea Lima!". And it has a picture of me on it. Apparently they had the names and pictures switched of me and the other guy who was starting with me. So we found "Lima", whose name is actually Hollis Lima (he is still having trouble with people from the school calling him by his last name despite numerous corrections) and we hopped in a van and started heading off.

During the ride back I started talking with Hollis, and found out that he had taught in Korea last year too, so he was able to give me some good introductory information. Unfortunately, I didn't really know much about where I was going or what I was doing. I thought I was going to Bupyeong which is west of Seoul, but we found out we were both going to be living in the same apartment in Suji, which is southeast of Seoul. I think I have finally determined that that I am going to be training/observing here in Suji and then moving to Bupyeong at the end of January. The situation isn't ideal, because I'd like to just settle in here, get to know the neighborhood, and start adjusting. It's hard to get settled when you know you are moving in a month though.

When we arrived at my apartment I was really pleasantly surprised. I have a bedroom! And a full size bed! It's definitely small, but more than I was expecting. It was well furnished and stocked with stuff too. I knew there would be dishes and a tv, and a few other "essential" type things, but I was surprised at all the things that were already here. There were hangers, an iron and ironing board, a floor cleaning device, a rice cooker, a knife set, a water cooler (like an office one), a dvd player, a drying rack and a few other things that I didn't bring that are going to come in handy.

Probably the most interesting room is the bathroom. The whole bathroom is your shower. It's pretty strange, and I'm having a little trouble getting used to it. I've gotten over the fact that everytime you take a shower the toilet and washing machine are going to get all wet. But it's other little things that get on my nerves. There is no bathroom sink, so you have to brush your teeth and shave while showering. If you forget, your options are starting up the shower again or doing in the kitchen sink. And i have forgot, and neither of those options are really appealing to me. Another thing is that everything in the bathroom is always wet, and I don't have sandals yet. Right now it is 8:32pm, I took a shower at about 7:15am, and the floor is still wet. And I just had to go to the bathroom, so now my socks are wet.

Oh yeah, that reminds me, wearing shoes in doors is apparently a major no-no here. When we first arrived at the apartment there were about 4 Korean people from the school all milling around my place playing with the heat or something. I went in to join them and as I started to step in Hollis says to me "No shoes in the apartment!" I'm thinking to myself, "What? This is my aparment!" But then I look down and see that all the ladies had taken their shoes off. Then today at school, we all took our shoes off when we got there. And everyone - students, teachers, staff - all walk around in socks (or maybe slippers because it's cold) all day. It's kind of fun actually.

Ok, I haven't covered nearly everything I wanted to, but this is getting long and I'm tired. I will try to write a couple times a week. But it might be more at first since everything seems really "blog-worthy" right now. I'd love to hear your comments, because I miss you all dearly and am craving anything coming from America.

Coming next time: Korean tv, trip to Seoul, the amazing school, my first class, and the adorable kids.