Hello from Seoul

Hello all, I am writing this from the rooftop of my apartment as I do not have internet yet. Luckily, there is a strong signal if I sit in the far corner of the roof. So far everything has been great, where do I begin?

The Trip: The trip went great, I left NYC on Sunday morning (thanks to Holly for braving the subway with me at 530 am) and traveled to San Francisco where I had to connect to Seoul. I was not thrilled about the 13 hr trip to Korea but I ended up getting a great seat in an exit row and as soon as I sat down, the man who was next was just getting up and told me he had just been bumped up to Business class and that I had two seats to myself. So, the flight was pretty easy compared to what it could have been.

Customs were easy and fast in Seoul and as soon as I got my bags there was a man standing at the door with a sign with my name on it. He spoke no English but handed me a phone and I spoke to my contact in Seoul and he told me that the driver was going to bring me to my apartment where he would meet me. The trip into the city was about 30 min but went pretty fast because you can watch TV on all the GPS systems here. Yes, it can be dangerous, but it definitely made the time go fast-we watched the Olympics and a channel dedicated to this online game that is apparently huge here and very similar to World of Warcraft. I knew nothing about it but my driver was very into it and I found out there are 24hr internet cafes dedicated to this game and players have been known to have heart attacks from drinking energy drinks and staying up for days playing. Check out the videos if you want to see the GPS in action.

My Apartment: My apartment is not bad and also not what I expected. Most apartments here are designed like lofts with no divisions for the bedroom and living room. Also, most are square in shape. Mine is more of an long rectangle that opens to a square bedroom divided by sliding glass doors. I realize this may not be the best way to describe it and its probably pretty hard to picture so just check out my pictures if you are curious. The bathroom is separated by a door but the weird thing in South Korea is that almost no bathrooms have tubs or showers, most are cased in tile and have a drain on the floor for the water that comes from a shower head that extends from the sink. So, what you do is turn the sink on, push a knob, and pick up the shower and use it while standing in the middle of the bathroom. Your towel is raised at an angle to it is hard to get wet and the toilet paper has a metal cover on it so it doesnt get soaked with water. Also, there are enclosed shelves for your toiletries. On a side note, I went the first two days taking cold showers because I thought my hot water was broken but it turns out there is a box on the wall outside the bathroom that allows you to "direct" the hot water to where you want it to go (bathroom, kitchen, floor for heating). Needless to say my shower this morning was a lot more enjoyable.

My Neighborhood: My neighborhood isnt that interesting, pretty much everyone in Seoul has an apartment so its like walking down tiny streets or alleys with nothing to look at but buildings. Seoul is divided into provinces and then into neighborhoods and Im lucky to be about a 5-10 min walk from the nightlife area of my province. This area is nothing but lights, lights, and more lights. When I first saw it I immediately thought of Tokyo for some reason because every picture I have seen of Tokyo seems to have millions of neon lights. Here is no exception, there are neon lights on every sign and in every window. The teachers that I work with live on surrounding streets and with the exception of them, I have not seen any other white people, although I am told the exist.

My School: Where I work, Kids College, is really cool and is located in the business distict of my province. The school is about a 30 min walk from my apartment but I get picked up every morning with the rest of the teachers in this yellow bus/van and have about a 10 min drive to school. However, unless I want to stay until 630 every evening I have to find my own way home. I actually took the subway and bus today which was easier than I thought but took about 45 min total. Ill prob end up taking a cab most times because they are rediculously cheap and I can split one with some other teachers.

The school occupies the 4th and 5th floor of a building and has about 10 classrooms, a library, gym/auditorium, two offices, and a teachers lounge that houses my desk. My desk was by no means bare when I arrived, the teacher who I replaced left EVERYTHING, including needed things like lesson plans and teaching materials along with more useless things like year old homework and open deoderant.

Teaching has been pretty confusing so far, I have never been put into a situation that I felt to untrained and unprepared for. Dont get me wrong, the teachers have been great in helping me in every way and I actually shadowed them on Tues and Wed, but the class rotation is complicated and finding the right book, locating the right lesson, and the overall teaching is going to take a bit of getting used to. Kids College is a pretty big company by Seoul standards and has 3 campuses in the area. They are well established and because of this they have developed their own teaching materials to go along with their classes. What this means to me is that in order to teach a class that rotates every day, I have to dig through my desk for a book that has a generic cover with a simple title on it and is also mixed in with the books needed for my other classes, including ones from years past. My predecessor was not organized. I think I have finally gotten every book I need located but it still takes a bit to find the one I need since they all look the same. Hopefully I can take them all home with me this weekend and establish a tentative lesson plan, apparently that makes the day go faster.

The teachers I work with are nothing short of awesome, they are all cool and willing to help me with everything from teaching, Korean traditions, and directions. Two of them even met me at my apartment when I arrived. The group is a mix between Canadians and Americans with the majority being Canadian. However, between departures and arrivals of teachers in the next two weeks Americans will be back on top like we deserve.

Anyway, thats it for now, Im sure I will post a lot more when I get the chance but I know this has gotten pretty long by now. AND, before I go, please disregard the comments about pictures, while I was writing this my pictures were supposed to be uploading but I just realized something got messed up and they havent. So, I will try and remedy the situation and will make sure to let everyone know when they are available.

Adios,

Quincy