Preparing for a Visit from Mom

Well, in 24 hours my mom will be in Seoul!!!!!! I didn't realize I would be so desperate for a touch of home only 3 months into my year, but her visit couldn't have come at a better time. It is beginning to be holiday season and seeing my favorite mom is just what I need!

Halloween

Well, it's Halloween time in Korea! While this holiday is not exactly celebrated by most Koreans, the English academies take advantage of the day to throw a party and give candy to already hyper kids. Oh Joy! We celebrate on two days - Thursday and Friday - since we have different kids on those days. I was told on Wednesday around 8:30pm that I would need to be in costume for the next two days. Thanks for the heads up... *rolls eyes*

Dongan Presbyterian Church

Today was so lovely to sleep in. I actually slept until 9:30, which doesn't happen often. I am usually up around 7, due to the light coming in my room. But, I suppose the Advil PM last night was probably a factor...

I had committed to going to church with Sean and Casey, my coworkers. But, I also needed to write last night's blog. So, I decided that I would meet them there. They go to Korean class before church, so they leave an hour earlier than necessary. That gave me some extra time to get ready.

Apartment Update and Mail

Well, today was a good day. Just a Tuesday... nothing special really. Except 2 awesome things! My apartment has a slightly new look, and I got MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Manic Monday

Today wasn't really manic, actually. More like monotonous. I mean, it wasn't bad. It's just typical Monday! That horrible day when you're the farthest away from a weekend you will ever be in a week. Thankfully, Monday is almost over.

I wasn't going to write a blog tonight. I didn't think anything of any interest happened today. But, as I was about to get in bed to go to sleep, I realized that I felt significantly under-accomplished without spending the time to write a blog. Granted, it takes me around 1-2 hours to write each blog (not exaggerating), but today wasn't a grand adventure; I am thinking this post will be shorter...

Anyway, back to how I hate Mondays. Monday mornings suck in particular, because we have to be at work by noon, rather than 1pm. So, less time to myself in the mornings. When I got to school today, we had a teacher's meeting with the other foreign teachers and Jackie Teacher. I found out two things - one was almost bad, and the other was bad.

First, one of the classes I teach was announced to be changing some curriculum around, and I would now teach an additional book, which had no Powerpoints or resource material prepared. All needed to be made from scratch... But, then I found out it was not my class after all! It was the other class with the same name as my class that Sean Teacher teaches. Dodged a bullet; I feel for Sean :(

The other piece of news was that the only Saturday in my entire contract that I will be required to work is ... *drum roll* ... the weekend my mom will be in town. That's right. The only Saturday my mom will be here in Seoul with me, I have to go to work. I even kind of mentioned to Jackie Teacher that my mom will be in town, but she definitely did not get the hint to let me off work. Double :(

I really tried not to be too upset about this. Really, really hard. But, I couldn't help it. I'll have waited 4 months to see my mom, will not be able to see her again for another 8 months, and I will get 1 single day off work to spend with her (Sunday), out of the week she will be here. One day. I'm actually extremely depressed about it. I am considering being "sick" the Monday after that weekend... or maybe, I'll just tell Jackie, "Sorry, I can either miss Saturday when we have no classes, or Monday when you will have to find someone to replace me. Your choice." (Ha! Yeah right! I could never say that to an authority figure.)

After the meeting, I worked through Office Hours and got extra prepared; not only for today, but tomorrow as well. Classes were decent. I am definitely feeling the "growing pains" of my patience. During times when I want to sit down, cry, pull my hair out, and yell, I think of my Dad and the other really good teachers I had. They didn't do that. They just got things done. They chose their battles, not yelling at every single child every time one of them talked when they weren't supposed to, or did something stupid. It helps a little...

During my first class, the heathen children, Jackie Teacher observed my class. Thank goodness I thought she was just in there to help me keep the crazy kids under control rather than "observe" or I might have done worse. I actually think I did a fairly good job. I wasn't stuck to the computer as a script, could walk around and ask questions, got the kids talking and answering questions. I felt good about it.

In my second class, my problem child, Belle, decided she didn't want to be awake during class. I tried talking to her, touching her, even shaking her a bit; she did not budge. I finally had to ask Jackie Teacher to come in. She took Belle out of class, and returned her about 15 minutes later. Jackie Teacher told me later that Belle told her "a bad thing happened, and she does not want to study." Well, alright then... This girl absolutely baffles me.

Next class was okay, but Jackie came in and rather than observing, starting yelling at the kids to do something I had not told them to. Listen, lady, I know what I'm doing! I actually had it under control. I told her what we were doing and she said okay and left. I was actually a little confused by her random interruption and abrupt departure...

My 2SAP girls were okay. Sometimes they can be quite frustrating - these are the 3 sweet girls who just can't seem to get it together for school. We read their textbook and did some workbook pages. Nothing exciting there. My last two 1-hour classes were also uneventful. Well, in my first one, I had a student make a 0 on her vocabulary quiz. She has to come retake it tomorrow. I felt bad for her, but a 0?! Come on... My last class the boys just whipped through their work. I decided to make extra work for them when they do that.

During my last hour of planning, I made little essay packets for that last class, with prompts based on their Student Book lessons and using their vocabulary words. This is just something for them to do when they finish all their work early like they've been doing recently. It is creative writing type stuff. They need to work on their writing anyway... I am pretty proud of my little creations (the essay books, not the children....)

As far as the "social" aspect of my life (I say that with a great deal of irony), I had a heart-to-heart with Michelle at work. She had some personal things going on, and confided in me. Of course, I wouldn't break that confidence just to have something to talk about on a blog! :P So, suffice it to say that I was there for her in a time of need. I don't think I can say it enough - I love this girl! She's such a great person and friend :)

After giving her my best counsel, she headed home and so did I. My feet were absolutely killing me and my stomach hurt as well. I had Cheerios for dinner and watched TV on my computer. Then Tab and I talked about our Chusoc plans. That is Korean Thanksgiving, and we get 5 days off (including weekends, but who cares!?). It is from the end of September to the beginning of October.

We thought about going to China, but there was too much to think about for such short notice. The price wasn't bad, especially for an international trip. But, it was still more than I have to throw around before my first paycheck. I found a website called Adventure Korea - a Korean travel club. They host trips around Korea. The Chusoc trip looked perfect - it's in Korea, but still out of Seoul. It looks like an adventure with volcano climbing and beach time and cliff diving! I want to go so bad! It's a little pricey, but it would be worth it to take advantage of one of our only vacation times! I am waiting for Tab to give us the "go" and we will book it.

That's about all I have for today, and thank goodness because it's already taken 30 minutes to write all that! Time for sleep and hopefully I won't be so tired tomorrow. I need all the energy I can muster for the rest of the week.

Health Check & More

1:11am Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - Seoul

Today has been a really weird day. Ultimately, I guess, it was good.

Last night I decided to set my alarm for 10am and force myself to sleep until it went off. I wanted to have a lot of sleep to be prepared for my long day at work. Getting used to 1pm-9pm work days is difficult. I have to stay up later to get anything done, and therefore need to sleep a little later to have my full nights sleep.

Well, I woke up around 7:30am, and made myself go back to sleep. Suddenly, I open my eyes and click my iPad and it's already 10:20. Now, this would be okay any other day of the week. But Mondays, teachers have to be in the office at noon, rather than 1pm, to make up for the hour we take off on Friday evenings leaving at 8pm. So, I have 1 hr 20 min before the other teachers come to collect me for our mile trek to school.

I get a shower, but my blow dryer in my motel room is the worst thing known to man. I attempt to dry my hair, but for whatever reason, my hair isn't havin' it. It dries, with absolutely no style or body whatsoever. This can be fixed, with a pony tail... which, I cannot find. I even open my giant suitcase and sift through the tons of clothes and items in there, to no avail. I barely have time to slap on some foundation before I hear a knock on my door. On top of bad hair and no makeup, my attire felt wrong. I think the females reading this know what I mean when you just feel like you look bad. It affects your entire outlook on life.

We start the walk to school and I quickly realize this is going to be bad. It is in the mid-90s with about 90% humidity, and I'm in jeans, sperrys, and a shirt which requires an undershirt. What was I thinking? 20 minutes later I trudge into school looking like I just attempted to try out for the Olympics; sweat drenched and nasty. I find a rubber band (a la 3rd grade) and use it as a pony tail holder. At least it's off my neck...

After a quick meeting with Jackie Teacher (a Monday morning ritual), Maggie Teacher starts prep for the day. We look at the tests we have to give this week and start making copies. Around 1:15pm, Jackie Teacher calls Sean & I over, and explains that originally we were going to get our health checks tomorrow afternoon, but the impending typhoon might interfere. Therefore, we needed to go back to the motel to get our passports so we can go to the hospital today. Great, another mile back to get the bloody passport, and another mile back.

Sean, Jamie, & I all walk back, retrieve our passports (and I change into shorts and a single shirt) and head back. I also take my ginormous bottle of water from my fridge. I'm thankful for the refreshment, but quickly realize carrying the damn bottle back to the school will be a hassle. I need a bag. Something cross-body but large enough for my iPad, a bottle of water, and other things I want to take to work like maybe a lunch one day. (Mental note to add this to my growing list of things I need).

Now, before I go on, is it clear that today is just not going my way? I look gross, I feel gross; you reap what you sew and I was definitely watering the budding negative thoughts. I felt alone and miserable. Every little thing annoyed the hell out of me, and I'm sure I had a look about me that said "Don't even think about speaking to me if you value your life." Is the picture in your mind clear? Okay, great...

One of the Korean "desk teachers" aka admin assistants takes us in a taxi to the Dongdaemun Hospital. On the way, Sean & Jamie are talking about this and that, everything under the sun. I was at a loss; I wanted to jump out of the cab and into oncoming traffic. (Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but still).

I couldn't think of anything else to do so I started praying. I told God about my horrible start to my day, and I forced myself to say one positive thing for every negative one. My hair keeps coming out poorly - well, it can be fixed with better shampoo and a nice blow dryer. I'm hot and sweaty - at least I got the chance to change clothes. I was tired from too much sleep - at least I get out of the classroom for a few hours to get the health check. I have to get a flippin' health check - at least I get to sit in an air conditioned building for a few hours. Etc, etc.

This only lasted about 2 minutes, then my mind wandered off and we were at the hospital. We followed the desk teacher in, and sat waiting for them to process our paperwork for about 15 minutes. I noticed that the school actually paid for the health check. I had read online that we needed to fork over the cash for this, but they covered it. Sweet! Another bonus!

The health check went like this: blood pressure machine (76/86... is this bad?), then colorblind test (passed with flying colors, heh heh!), eyesight check (my contacts helped but I still didn't get 20/20...), height/weight measurements (I'm not listing my weight, but when I converted kg to lb, I knew I would be thankful for those mile walks to school when I drop some lbs or kgs or whatever). After this, a lady asked us some questions in moderately decent English. The usual - ever had any XYZ problems? (liver, brain, kidney, etc) No, no, no. Promise I'm healthy!

**T.M.I. WARNING!!!**
The next part of the exam, I wish I hadn't taken out my camera to make room in my purse for a brush! We had to give a urine sample, and I came into proximity (not contact) with my first real Korean toilet. This amounts to a hole in the ground. I could see how it was supposed to work, but getting my drawers down and aiming correctly seemed to be mutually exclusive. I am ashamed to say that, instead of figuring out the physics of peeing in a hole while squatting and keeping my pants on, I just took my pants off. Somehow I got them off while keeping my shoes on (thank goodness I got out of the jeans and into shorts at my room earlier), and proceeded to make efficient use of the toilet.

That was a somewhat traumatizing experience; I wish I'd had a camera to show you how odd this looked in a modern hospital! I'm posting another blogger's photo of a Korean toilet that is pretty much exactly what this one looked like...

Anyway! Moving on... next was the blood! I was nervous for this part; everyone had told me that they take a lot. Not as much as donating, but a fair amount. I've had blood drawn plenty in my life, but never an obscene amount, and never as a donation. Therefore, I had no idea what to expect from what I was told would be "a lot!" I gave up my arm (surprisingly my right arm, not my left like usual) and averted my eyes. Before I got my head turned around, I saw the viles he would be filling. There was only 3! And one was smaller than the other two. I felt much better about this. He was done in a minute, and I was totally fine. :)

Last part was a chest x-ray and dental exam that were less than 15 seconds each. That is not an exaggeration. All in all, the health exam was basic and quick. Nothing painful or terribly time consuming. Literally, I didn't even sit down for the dental exam; the lady just told me to open my mouth and looked in. She said they looked good and booted me out. Hey, I'm not complaining!

By the time the health exam was done, I realized that I was in a better mood! I could attribute it to the air conditioned building, but I think it was a God thing. ;)

When we got back to the school, I had a bowl of rice with egg drop soup on top. I think the soup had tofu in it, but I didn't even care. I was so hungry by that point. Hunger is a feeling I'm becoming much more accustomed to...

I went with Maggie Teacher to the last 3.5 classes and took rigorous notes. In the first full class I was in with her, she had to step into the hall at one point. We were 5 minutes behind, so she asked me to do the next exercise with the kids on the board. The sudden pressure was on! I got up and just "winged it" ("wung it?"). Maggie Teacher came back in halfway through, but I continued the exercise with the kids.

After I was done with the page, she resumed control of the class, but told me I did good. In fact, after introducing the next topic and doing the first exercise, she invited me to lead another exercise. I think I did okay! The kids giggled a little, but at least they understood and got the questions right. :) It was a bit scary, but I know I'll be okay once I get the hang of things.

Before our last class of the day, we had a 10 minute break and I got to meet the new Korean teacher, Michelle. She will sit right behind me in our offices. She learned her English in Australia where she lived and studied for 9 years. She was so incredibly sweet. It was really cool to meet another newbie, but one on the "other" side of things (Korean side). She shadowed the last class with me, I was so excited! I really want to try to become friends with her outside of work. I need a Korean! And she seems absolutely awesome! That definitely lifted my spirits! I was already feeling better, but that was a great pick-me-up. And the best part, our conversation all started when I complimented her Louis Vuitton handbag. Looks like my time in sorority recruitment practice paid off ;)

During the break when I met Michelle I also found out that our school decided to follow the lead of every single public school in Korea: closing on Tuesday for Typhoon Bolaven. The school is more of a business, and close very rarely. I think this storm is supposed to be pretty bad, if they made the decision to close! But, that gave me another thing to smile about - a day to recuperate from my terrible hair day!

I decided that if I was going to be stuck indoors all day tomorrow, and if I didn't want to end up with the same hair on Wednesday morning as this morning, I should head to a store and get some Dove Shampoo and check out the hair dryers. One of the other English teachers took Sean & I to HomePlus, which is basically Korean Target (win!!!). I got my favorite shampoo and conditioner, some crackers and other nibbles for the day tomorrow.

Taxi home and that's about it to my day. It was an extremely long and emotionally exhausting day. Typhoon day tomorrow!! I'm mixed excited and scared... Pray for everyone's safety, but I'm also thanking God for the day off! ;)

Chelsea Teacher

11:53pm Seoul

I can’t wait until I can post these as I write them. But, I know my mom and others want to know everything, and I’m happy to oblige. Writing as things happen definitely lets me remember more. And since I want to turn this into a book for myself after the year, I am happy to record everything.

It’s the end of Day 1. Thankfully I started work on a Friday, which means that I got out an hour early (8pm), not to mention I get 2 days off immediately following my first day. Sean and I went out to “explore” the neighborhood a little in the morning. We found a coffee shop and got wifi for about 15 minutes. The other afternoon teachers met up with us to take us to work around 12:30pm. We stopped at Paris Baguette and I got a bagel. I was a bit nervous to go until 8pm with only a bagel, but oh well. We got to school right on time (1pm), but classes don’t start until 2:50. 

My school! We are on the 4th Floor

A few basic things about the school and the style of teaching. For me, I have 4 classes that are 40 min each, (with a 10 minute break between every other one) followed by 2 classes that are 1 hour each, also separated by a break. After my last class ends at 8pm, I have 1 hour of time to prepare for the following day or work on report cards. The curriculum is basically set, the teacher just administers class. I’m happy about this and not having to make up my own material. Another thing is that teachers change classrooms, while students stay in the same room (at least for a few classes at a time, if not all). I have the same classes M-W-F, and a different set T-Th. They are all different, no two the same level or students. Each group of students has many levels depending on ability. The groups are “New Hi, Kids” “Reach Out” “Step High” “Leap High” “SAP” and one other that I forgot the name. Those are basically the order they go as far as age/ability. Within those groups, there are levels 1-6. Each level has a certain amount of units. Each unit takes 1 month (more or less). I started on Day 10 (out of 12) of the unit with most of the classes, so by the time we start the next unit, I will be their real teacher. Don’t worry if you are completely confused by the organization of students with these groups - I am still confused. The foreign teachers (including myself) are pretty much hired to do a lot of speaking with the kids. There is a Korean teacher who comes in before/after me in a class to teach Grammar, Phonics, etc.

Today, I followed Maggie Teacher around her classes and she introduced me. I will be taking over her classes so I got to meet my students. The first class is pretty young, they are New Hi, Kids! They are level 2 I think. There were 7 in class today, but we were missing 1, so 8 total. They were such cuties! There was 1 that was a little snot; I will be having a few stern chats with the lad, to be sure. He inspires rebellion in the other boys, but generally the class is pretty good. They do a LOT of speaking with me! The point is for them to be constantly talking. If I am checking papers, they should be reading something out of the book. That kind of thing. 

Second class, I honestly don’t remember much of. They were slightly older than the first class and did the same sort of lessons. We had a 10 minute break, then 3rd class was a slightly higher age group, but they were doing Presentations, so instead of shadowing that, Sean, Jamie, and I all had a meeting with Kellie Teacher who gave us the lay of the land. We also talked to the Director, Mr. Choi, for about 2 minutes. He is very nice, but doesn’t speak much English (ironic, being the head of an English Language School). 

Kellie Teacher is the most senior foreign teacher, but leaving in a week. She is in charge of helping us settle in, but she does Kindergarten, so doesn’t help as much with Sean and I. She basically went over the rules which went something like this “Don’t wear tops that show your boobs or you’ll be looked at like a slut. Don’t show your shoulders or you’ll be looked at like a slut. Don’t talk about your drunken escapades or you’ll be looked at like a slut. Don’t mention if you smoke or you’ll be looked at like a slut.” I kid you not. She was actually very funny in presenting this information, even doing an impression of an old Korean woman tsk-ing at us on the street. Another cool thing she told us is that there is NOT a “no touch” policy with the kids like there would be in the states. We can hug them, muss their hair, pat their shoulders, even give a little kiss on the head. I think this is more important for the Kindergarten teachers, as they are with their kids for much longer periods of time, and become attached. 

She also let us know that we will be getting our health checks on Tuesday afternoon, and to eat beforehand since they do take quite a bit of blood. The health check take around a week to process, after which we can apply for the Alien Resident Card. Those take another month to get in, after which we can set up our bank accounts. This being said, our first pay is Sept 14, but it will only be for this week and in cash, since it’s a month in hand. Our first proper paychecks will be Oct 14th and should go to our new Korean bank accounts we will hopefully have set up by then.

The rest of the classes for the day were basically the same, with each class having slightly higher ability and age. There is one class that we see every day; 4 girls in an intensive immersion-based program. They are the most advanced and talkative: proof that immersion is the best way to learn a language. They are cute as buttons but I think they will be a trick to handle since they are so chatty. 

In each class, I felt like there were 38 different nuances to learn about that class (ie: SAP2, the immersion class, have Book Club every Friday where they go to the library to get a new book. Another class, I forget which, has vocab quizzes every day. Etc). By 5th block I was exhausted and my brain was slowly shutting down from too much information (much the same I’m sure yours is right now reading all this). 

By the end of the day, all I could remember is my name is now Chelsea Teacher, and Monday I have to get to work at noon rather than 1pm since we got an hour off Friday afternoon. 

Quickly, to wrap up, we got a taxi home since it was then pouring, and had dinner around the corner at another Korean restaurant. It was family-style cook-on-the-table chicken in a spicy sauce with rice noodles, sweet potato, cabbage, and sesame leaves. I actually enjoyed the sauce and noodles, and the bites of chicken without tons of fat. I ate more than last night, so we’re making progress... Tomorrow, my mission is to get some rain boots and a rain jacket. I feel like there is so much more to tell, but I’m sure I’ll fit it in next time. Now, I’m exhausted and ready for bed... 

Our dinner being cooked: chicken with spicy sauce and rice noodles. 

Emmigrating Part II

Thursday, August 23 - 10:45PM in Seoul (brain too tired to calculate any other timezone...)

Well, I arrived!! My flight landed at approx. 5:20pm, which was 3:20am in Houston. The flight was long, but also kind of short. I only watched the one movie, and attempted to nap (only succeeded once or twice, very short amounts of time). I ate next to nothing; I don’t trust airplane food, and this was particularly questionable. I drank 2 cokes which ended up being a problem... later they handed out sandwiches which I believe were Ham&Cheese, but smelled like they had mayo, so I didn’t eat that either. The last meal (they fed us alot, huh?) was “lunch” and I had chicken with rice. The chicken was less than appetizing, but I ate the whole portion of rice... with another Coke. 

By that time we were like 2.5 hours from Seoul, and the lights in the cabin were back up. I gave up on sleeping. We passed over Japan, and I think I saw Mt Fuji! I could be wrong, but it was by far the biggest in the vicinity that the map said we were near to the volcano. Anyway, you can see some photos I excitedly snapped. 

First sight of Japan

I think this was Mt. Fuji

When we got over Korea, we were so high and the clouds so thick I couldn’t see anything. Finally we lowered enough so I could see. I saw the bay area that is to the west of Seoul & Incheon. 

As you can see, Korea is not as pretty as the Japanese waters!

When we exited the plane, I headed straight for the bathroom (there was ALWAYS a line on the plane!) After that was Immigration, which had zero line for us foreign passport holders! They were so nice and gave me a stamp, even though I already had a visa (or maybe that’s protocol, I have no idea). 

Then to baggage claim! As soon as I got to the carousel, I saw my bag that I gate checked, so ran that down. I got a cart and then almost immediately saw my small suitcase (the original carry-on). Then I waited for my big suitcase, the REALLY bright floral hardshell that no one in their right minds could mistake for their own. And I waited... some more, and finally the carousel stopped going around. 

I asked a guy that I was pulling off unclaimed luggage, and he pointed me in the direction of “Lost/Found” - I filled out a report, giving my Director’s name and phone number. I think it’s pretty funny that this happened since while sitting in SFO waiting on the flight, I read all these great things about Incheon Airport - one of them being their excellent baggage handling stats. It claimed that the likelihood of getting your luggage lost in Incheon was 0.0001%, and you had a greater chance of getting struck by lightening. And yet... no bag. I was surprisingly not mad or frustrated or distraut. 

I headed to customs, claimed nothing, and got some money changed. I headed out of the doors, and immediately saw my name on a sign. The guy looked right at me and nodded his head like “yes, I can totally tell this is you, American girl!” Then he explained to me, in Korean, that there is another girl we were waiting on, and to follow him (No, I did not understand a word he said, but managed somehow to figure it out). We walked down the terminal a few gates, then he taped her sign on the pole, and told me to wait, that he would be back in 1 hr. This “conversation” took a lot longer than I am describing because as I said, it was conducted exclusively in Korean (and some Sign Language). 

I waited for 45 minutes, until approx. 7pm. The girl, Jamie, finally came out the gate and saw her name. I explained to her that the guy would be back very soon, and mentioned my lost bag. I said it was funny because the bag is so OBVIOUS; she asked what it looked like and I explained to her. Her eyes lit up and she says “I’m pretty sure I just saw that bag on my baggage carousel!” Ahhhh! Her flight was also from San Francisco, only on Singapore Airlines. 

I trekked down to Asiana Customer Service, but they only understood “lost bag” and wanted my ticket stubs, which I had already given when filing my report. She didn’t understand that I wanted her to call back to the baggage claim guys and just have them check the other carousel. Oh well, they assured me they would call tomorrow, so I’ll just have to wait until then. 

Jamie and I found our cab driver, who took our bags out to his van. We had a long ride into Seoul; probably an hour and fifteen. Tons of traffic - by the time we got into Seoul it was around 8pm, and it looked like rush hour! When we finally got to our destination, he carried our bags in and we got our motel rooms. Sean, the other new hire, was also there. He took us to go meet Kellie, the girl who is leaving in a week and training us / helping us transition. She took us to dinner around the corner from the motel at a traditional Korean  BBQ place. 

At this point, I had a “moment”. And by that I mean, Jamie and Kellie are talking about work and food and where’s the closest this-and-that and I’m sitting there wanting to throw up at the thought of spending a whole year here. It didn’t hit me on the plane, or saying goodbye to mom, but sitting in that restaurant I wanted to cry. Kellie just thought I looked tired (I”m sure I did!) but it took everything in me not to cry. Somehow I managed. I was starving but I could only manage to eat 1 slice of BBQ - it had SO MUCH fat on it! The kimchi for the table was RIGHT in front of me, and while I didn’t mind the smell so much, the look and thought of eating it made the feeling of “what did I get myself into” even worse. 

About 10 minutes later, 3 other teachers walked in to join us. This did nothing to appease my fears. They were all chatty BFF-ish and I felt more alone and overwhelmed than ever. Kellie mentioned that Jamie would be taking over her classroom of Kindergartners in the morning, but Sean and I would be working with the slightly older kids, anywhere from 7-13, in the afternoon. When she told me that it was Sean, me, and another guy and girl that were not at the table, I felt better. I’m not sure why... everyone was so nice. But sitting there made me feel out of place, and knowing that there were only 4 of us to work afternoons together made it better. 

After that I tried something on the table to eat, a rice paper wonton wrapper thing, and while it was certainly not a meal, it was something and I was trying. I do have work tomorrow, but I won’t have to go in until 1pm, which is my usual start time. So, while I had my first moment of regret and fear, I overcame it, talked myself down, and did not have a mental breakdown in the middle of a family restaurant in Seoul. 

After dinner, Kellie showed us the local 7-Eleven only 2 minutes from our motel and our future apartments (which are next door to each other). We came back to our rooms, and I got a shower. I think that shower has been my favorite part of the day. Haha! Now I have gotten my iPad charging, my sound machine working with the converter, and have determined that I am a genius for bringing my airport express, since Kellie mentioned that you must hardwire ethernet into your computer in the apartments (no wifi available) - so, I’ll just create my own! I love being an Apple nerd ;) 

My alarm is set for 8am, so I have time to get a shower and look decent, find food, and maybe get some wifi to post this :)

What's there to be scared of?

In my Korean Countdown, I only have 8 days left. That's right, I leave 1 week from tomorrow...

I think I have been doing myself a disservice recently. Of course, anyone I talk to wants to know about my trip. When do I leave? Am I nervous? etc. etc. I answer their questions, and recently my stance on the "nervous or excited?" question has been "a lot of both!" I also use the word "scared"... but why is that? What do I have to be scared of?

I am leaving my friends and family - well, yea... but growing up means leaving them anyway. And I'm lucky enough to have both friends and family who support my decision and want me to live my dreams. My mom is willing to FaceTime at basically any point during the day, and Michael has not complained once, always telling me he's proud. I'm very lucky...

I won't have access to modern amenities - in fact, this is not true. South Korea is extremely advanced technologically, and considered a first world country. Yes, things will be different (hello, wet showers!) but, I'm not going back to the dark ages.

I won't be able to communicate with locals - most of Korea is pretty English-friendly. The subway system is marked in Korean and English, many Koreans want to practice their English on you, and the culture is extremely hospitable. Even if they can't say the words, I'm confidant that most people I meet on the street or in the shops will make an effort to be understood. Furthermore, I will be working with other foreigners, we will all speak English, so that will be a relief.

I won't know anyone when I arrive - technically untrue. I've been able to get in contact with Tab, a girl from my hometown who is teaching in Seoul as well. She got there last week-ish, and has already been a big help on my packing situation. Also, I was lucky enough to sign a contract at a school who only hires awesome people. I know this because my recruiter put me in touch with Sean, another American who signed a contract to start at the same time as me, at the same school. We've been emailing, and he is awesome.

I can only pack so much - well, this is very true. And I'm still not sure what that looks like as far as quantities of items... my spare bedroom is my drop off point for "ooh, I'll need this!" moments. And, so far, I don't really have that much. I was smart enough to mail myself a few of my essentials that are on the bulky or heavy side (aka: mattress topper and towels). Currently, my suitcase contains clothes (duh), a few pairs of shoes, medicine, hair products, school supplies, and a few other this-and-thats.

I will be lonely - damn, this is true. I get lonely when my parents go to Baytown on Sunday afternoons and leave me at the house! But, my coworkers will be living in the same apartment building as me (including my buddy Sean), Tab will only be 2 subway express stops away from me, and I've got a checklist of things to do. I will have to force myself out of my apartment sometimes, but I know I will be glad I did. Plus, looks like Tab has already started exploring the bar scene and has found it to be good. I know she will make me go out!

I am the pickiest 22-year-old I know - I honestly don't know how I will manage a diet of kimchi (fermented cabbage) and seafood, but I must find a way. That way probably includes Amazon Grocery shopping for super sized packages of Mac&Cheese, but we shall see...

I won't get paid for a month, at least - I've done a fairly good job of saving for this rainy day month. I will definitely have to make and stick to a budget, but I think that is possible. My problems will probably come from wanting to eat out all the time, but Sean is excited about the cuisine options, so maybe he will force me into going native. PLUS my mom found some good websites where I can find secondhand furniture or other things I might need. It looks like I can get a lot of things for pretty cheap! This is bueno; I like a deal!

I've never taught before, and I'll be responsible for lots of children each day - well, no, I've never taught. And no, I don't have any idea what I'm doing. But, something like 200,000 teachers come over to Korea to do this, each year! (Okay, I made that statistic up, but it is a large number...) so, if all those other people can do it, I sure can. I don't want to brag, but I'm pretty awesome ;) Plus, education is in my family... and, my dad lent me some books. Ha!

I'm a certified princess - Well, I never thought I was until the prospect of moving somewhere where Western comforts were at a premium came about. Like I mentioned before, I was diligent in researching the culture, and found a creative solution to my problem (IE: mailing myself the mattress topper and towels). If there are other things I need, mom can order and ship to me :) Plus, I just KNOW that my loyal fans and wonderful friends out there, reading this, will send me lovely care packages!! :P

It's a WHOLE YEAR - Actually, it's JUST a year. My parents have always told me that I can do anything, even things I don't like, if I can see an end in sight. A class I hated in college - "You can do anything for a semester", a position that gave me headaches and want to punch people I loved in the face (*cough, cough*) "You can do anything for a year"... you see what I mean. So, really, I CAN do anything for a year! (I just proved it in ZTA)

So, I guess my conclusion is, there's really nothing to be scared of. There's some initial things I am a bit nervous to get sorted (living in a motel for a week before getting my apartment, actually getting my apartment and figuring out how good or bad it is, etc), but all in all, I chose a great country, and a city that is particularly Westernized. I'm getting good money, and have a nice setup with my rent covered. I know I'll see my mom in November when she comes to visit, and Michael is looking at flights as we speak... so really, what's there to be scared about? My focus now is excitement...