The Journey to Korea and First Day Adventures

So, as some of you know, I was pretty worried about flying by myself...3 separate flights with stops in Chicago and Japan...my stomach was in knots waiting to board the first flight, but once we got in the air and an episode of The Office was the in-flight entertainment, I felt much better.

The second flight was a 12 hour flight. Wow, I did not think it would be anything like it was. I was hoping to sleep through most of it, but I was way too uncomfortable, even after 2 Benadryl. I was also worried about the landing in Japan because I wasn't sure how easy it would be to understand what was going on. Luckily, I was sitting next to a guy who has traveled to Thailand multiple times and various other places, who was willing to answer my many questions and put me more at ease. The food on this flight was kind of good...they fed us like 3 times.

So, the layover in Japan was uneventful, lucky again, Trey(said traveler from 12 hour flight) also had 3 hours before his flight so the time passed quickly. The flight into Seoul was also uneventful because I did fall asleep and this time, it was a better sleep that I did NOT want to wake up from. Immigration and customs and baggage claim were easy, so that leaves the bus ride.

I had a paper to show the lady selling tickets where I was going because there are 2 bus terminals apparently and I wanted to get the right one. So I got on the bus and the driver didn't speak any English. He made a stop, I'm assuming so everyone could go to the bathroom and get snacks, but I didn't know what he said or how long he said he would have, so I stayed safely on the bus. There was some miscommunication about picking me up at the bus station so I nervously waited longer than I should have, but finally I found the 2 guys who were sent to pick me up.

So they took me to the school and introduced me to another co-worker and showed me how to get to my apt. Then they talked to me about what I was doing that day and where other teachers live in the building. Oh, by the way, this is about 2am...

So today I woke up and unpacked and got ready to be at the school by 1:15, but it turns out it was supposed to be 1:50...oh well...I knocked on 3 doors until finally a coworker answered who came to pick me up when it got closer and showed me the way to school and showed me around the 2 schools. Oh, and also showed me how to turn on the hot water after my cold shower experience. Oh yeah, and he bought me my first Kimbap...yummy :-) Then I took a bus to main campus to meet with my director and observe a class. She told me about the high standards they set for their students and teachers...then I came back to Langcon and observed some more classes and another co-worker showed me around the area where we live and took me to get toilet paper because there was only a little bit when I got here. So pretty much uneventful, but I learned a lot.

So tomorrow I will be going to the hospital and observing more classes.

I bought some pizza looking stuff on my way home...it looked like a pastry with pizza toppings on it...beneath all the pizza toppings was a hot dog...haha...surprise! This food is going to be interesting.

I'm still scared but in a really good way because I think this is going to be a very interesting year.

I promise to hopefully not make all my posts so long...I'll keep it simple from now on.

I'll probably think of more I want to say and maybe post later.

Until then...