The Start of my New Life in Korea

Since I last posted, quite a lot has happened. Let me quickly review what has happened, tell you where I am now, then fill you in with the in-between.  Ok, so, on Tuesday, we all got dressed up, dragged our heavy luggage downstairs, and prepared to meet our school staff, who would then drive us to our apartments and then our schools. That last hour where we were all waiting to go into the closing ceremony, we got a chance to finally say our goodbyes and realize that our orientation was completely over. We did have an amazing time the night before. Our coordinators got a Noraebang setup in our building and bought us cake, chicken, and pizza. It was a goodbye party and simaltaneously a welcome back party for our friend, Dan, who had to leave early the week prior due to an issue in the states. We sang, ate, and even watched the head of the provincial office of education (older lady) sing her heart out! It was a great time, really. So ya, we all walk into the closing ceremony, really nervous to be honest. Our name is called, we give a quick speach about ourselves, and then our school staff stands and we walk off stage to sit with them. Then, we ate a quick lunch, and headed off to our cities.

We were told a lot of things beforehand. Mostly things to make sure to do, and to be respectful and that sort of thing. Well, it all came in handy, sure. However, I wasn't prepared to be called, "handsome" so many times by male colleagues in one day. It was fine the first few times, but then you add detail and it gets a little strange. I got over it, though. My mentor teacher, So, is really nice. He is in his 20s and has only been teaching three years. His english is fairly good, and he tries really hard. On the way to our town, he was able to ask me some basic questions and tell me some of the things to expect. Our vice principal was driving, and he sure is a character. He didn't say much from the start, but there will be more on him later.

When we get to my apartment, I am given two options. We walk into the first apartment, and in that same step almost ran into the back wall. I looked around and was like, "Is the other one bigger?" He said no, but I wanted to see anyway. We went to the other building, and he was right. I still chose this building because it was cleaner. So, I am in a very small room. I mean, really small. My dorm at school was at least twice as big, and that is not an exaggeration. In that space I have a bathroom, a kitchen, and a washer. It has all the things you need, like AC, heat, a shower, a window, etc... All except a bed. I spent the first night flopped on the floor, but the second day they brought a matress in. It is about the same hardness as the floor, but it works for now. I'm getting a futon with my first paycheck, so that will definitely brighten my day. The shower is just an extension off of the faucet, and there is no curtain or anything. So, make sure everything is put away before showering because everything is getting soaked, not just you. The kitchen has a sink, a fridge, and a small stove. It does lack one thing, that is, a counter. I'm going to buy a table to actually put things on, which will come in handy. The washer is nice, but I have no dryer (most Koreans dont), so that means using my entire space to dry a load of clothes. These are mostly negative things, I know, but in reality it isn't that bad. I am DOWNTOWN. The city around me is pretty large, and just outside my door are bars, restaurants, and the bus stop to go to school. I figured the further downtown you are, the smaller the apartments. I've already done some major organizing and decorations, so it is feeling somewhat homely, but until I get some essentials, like a desk, table, couch, etc, it still feels like a box. I was planning on getting a kitten while I'm here, and take it home with me, but now i'm reconsidering thinking about how the cat would have no where to do anything.

My school is about half an hour from me by bus. The ride, once you get out of the city, is beautiful. We go around a lake with mountains in the background, and it looks like a scene from the Sound of Music. The school itself is small, very small. When I first arrived, I did what no man should do, I walked into the school with my shoes on. I was immediately stopped after maybe half a step, and I remember to take my shoes off. They gave me my own pair of slippers and I was on my way. I walked into the administration office, where many of the teachers were waiting to meet me. My mentor teacher is ok at english, which is great, but he cant translate a lot of conversation quickly.  So, I basically sat down and they talked about me, for a long time. Then, the awkward moment of the day, maybe month: First, know that the majority of the female teachers are young, maybe 20s, early 30s. My vice principal comes up to me and looks at all of the ladies in front of me and very loudly says, "Pick most pretty!". I look at him and say, "excuse me?" He repeats, "You pick most pretty". "Well, they are all beautiful." He says, "No, pick only one." The girls are looking at me like I could make or break their day. For the next minute or so I pretended I didn't understand his broken english, and he eventually gave up and laughed it off. I sat down, thanking God that I didn't have to answer that question. The extent of my conversation with anyone other than my mentor teacher on that first day was basically name, age, and "you are very handsome". Quick side note: That is totally common here. Today, I bought my cell phone, and the lady behind the desk told me at least three times that I am very handsome. Everyone says it, even same genders. Ok, so there was one moment where they got passed that, that was, when they realized I could read and write Korean. I wrote the correct pronunciation (or closest thing) of my name on the board in Korean, and they were really excited.

That night, my mentor teacher took me out to dinner, which was really great. We had some traditional korean food, and just talked about the school. Before leaving, he told me, "Tomorrow is the day before school. It is a sports day. We all play volleyball, dress for sports." So, I got really excited and said, "no problem!" Well, the next day, I catch the 10am bus to school. I arrive, take my shoes off, walk inside, and find everyone at their desks, dressed completely formal. Here I am, in shorts, tall socks, and a workout shirt. Then, the mentor teacher says, "Hey, Seth, today you meet the principal!". He walks me over to the next office, where the older principal is sitting at her desk. I bow, say my hellos, and we talk for a brief moment. I walk away, completely embarrassed that it happened that way. I feel like we had been training for a month on how to meet and greet the principal of our school, and then I walk in like I stopped by on my way back from the gym. It gets better...

So, he then says, "today, you make lesson plans". I was like, "wait, what about volleyball?". "Tonight", he says. So, I sit down, and for some reason have to write a lesson plan for the entire year, and then choose a subject for each month. Ya, one subject per month. We talked for a little while, and I explained, "I can choose a subject, but I'm going to be as vague as possible and probably change it up, a month is a long time to cover one topic." It ended up working out, as I selected topics such as, Identity, cultures, foods of the world, etc. We then all took off for a formal lunch at the parent of one of my student's restaurant. So, again, everyone sits down for the nice meal, completely dressed up, and I walk in, looking like I was just at the gym. It was a great meal, and I saw two things I've never seen before. First, my vice principal takes a wooden chopstick, james it under the cap of a beer bottle, and pops it open. Then, a fellow teacher takes two bottles, puts one upside down so that the two caps are wedged together, and quickly prys them downwards, popping the cap off of both. I must say, I was impressed. We finished out meal, and drove back to the school. Finally, at 3pm, we go to play volleyball.

Now, I knew that Koreans like volleyball, but I wasn't expecting this. I'm in the gym hitting the ball around, and everyone starts coming in. They all have sports bags, nice ones. Then, one by one, everyone, from my vice principal to the 1st grade teacher, men and women, start putting on knee pads, wrapping their fingers in athletic tape, and stretching. That's when I got nervous. Sure, i've played volleyball, but this wasn't playing, this was serious. We had a "pregame assessment of new teacher's skills", and luckily, they were impressed and were happy that I was there to play. Then, a really great thing happens. Now, in volleyball, you normally rotate position after each possession swap. Well, not here. So, mentor teacher looks at me and says, "you play front, always. You tall." That is when I laughed, for a solid ten seconds or so. I'm not really short, but never have I been called tall. The games went on, and I did pretty well. Everyone was very impressive, and the games were intense. But, there was one major flaw to this whole event... After the first game, we all come off to the side to get some drinks. I walk over, expecting a lot of water bottles. There were a couple, yes. But, no one went for the water. Instead, they broke open the 12 packs of beer, and filled their cups. I looked, confused as to why someone would ever drink beer while playing sports. They offered me some, and I did drink like two drops to be nice, then I went and got a watter bottle. We played for 3 hours straight, and the whole time, between games, this was the routine. That was definitely a first for me, and I even grew up in the south.

The next day, which was today, I went to school early to be introduced to the school during the opening ceremony. I got to give my short speech to all of the students (super cute students!) and then worked on lesson plans the whole day. At 2pm, my co-teacher, Sa Saan Mi, came over to meet me. She was really nice, and together we went to the cell phone store to get a phone. I ended up buying a nice little phone for $50 and I pay, ummm, $13 a month. It will probably come out to about $20 a month because the amount of texts I get isn't much, but the overage charge on texts is $1.50 per 100 texts, so even then it's quite a deal. After that, we stopped at a sports store and I looked at the prices on a set of weights. Well, they wanted about $400 for three sets of dumbbells. I quickly walked out, totally surprised by that. I have yet to find a gym here, but I'm sure there is one around here somewhere.

Tonight, I made pasta to feel a little bit at home. It wasn't bad, and it was nice to change it up. In Korea, other than alcohol, is isn't normal to have water at meals. Well, considering everything is really spicy, this makes meals painful for me. Today, at lunch, I couldn't wait to finish my food so I could get some water. It's just something i'll have to get used to.

The next post will be some pictures I have taken. I haven't taken many at school yet because I want to get to know everyone before I start just snapping photos everywhere. Don't worry, those are coming soon.

Thanks for reading!