My First Few Days in Korea

Well I’m here. My flights on the 27^th (Vancouver to Seattle, Seattle to Incheon) went smoothly. I met the driver in the Incheon airport and shortly after the other two teachers who had come from California, Tina and Russell. They’re really nice. One thing that we noticed right away was the humidity. The air was so hot and heavy. It was cooler when we walked out of the airport, probably about the same temperature as it is at home. It was about 6:40 pm when we left the airport, and drove for about two hours to Daejeon. We discovered that Incheon was an island joined to the rest of South Korea by an 18 km long bridge. There wasn’t a lot to see because it was very foggy, but before we got on the bridge we noticed a lot of stadium lights that lit up a 72-hole golf course. The drive was long and I was only able to stay awake for about an hour before I had to shut my eyes. I wasn’t able to sleep on the 11 hour flight. We flew over the Pacific Ocean. Of what I could see of South Korea through the fog, it at different times and places, reminded me of both Canada and Mexico. We even went past what I assume was a hayfield, that seemed to have wrapped silage bales, like what we do at home.

 

When we arrived in Daejeon, the driver took us to our hotel, Hotel Sunshine. It was an incredibly nice hotel, very modern, almost like staying in a Sandman back home. There we found that I would be sharing my room with two other girls, Crystal from Virginia and Mashadi from Johannesburg, South Africa. We also met the last of the two new teachers, Gunnar from the U.K. and Paul from Ireland. Not long after that, the 7 of us went out to see the neighbourhood and to eat at a restaurant called Chicken and Beer. We shared two orders of fried chicken, beer of course, and I tried the South Korean vodka, Soju. After that the others continued on exploring, while Crystal, Shadi and I went back to the hotel. The girls went down to the lobby to use the wireless, and I stayed in the room promising to open the door for them when they got back. Unfortunately, I fell asleep and they ended up having to get another room card, after unsuccessfully trying to wake me up by knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell to the room. I woke up as soon as they walked in and I hear their voices. I felt really bad but they just laughed it off and said that it was okay. The next morning I had a shower in the hotel, and while the shower did have a glass door and wall, there was no rim along the floor around it. Needless to say, the drain on the floor of the shower couldn’t keep up and a lot of water ended up going under the shower door and drenched everything on the floor. Luckily, I had noticed the night before that the floor was fairly wet after Crystal’s shower so I had put my clothes on the sink counter. My pjs which I had thought would be safe on the floor by the bathtub were soaked.

After, we had a free American breakfast at the hotel of scrambled eggs, ham, bacon, fruit, yoghurt, and toast. The 3 of us girls wandered down a little before 9, only to discover that they were closing the breakfast to prepare for something else, we hurriedly ate, and then went back to our room to gather our things. At 10, we met Evan, the director of the school in the hotel lobby. We got into taxis and were driven to the International Communication Center.

Right away, we met some of the old teachers who were still here, from the U.K. and Ireland, and while we were waiting for our bags to arrive, we went for a short walk around our new neighbourhood. We found a Starbucks very close, and there is also a Homeplus, which is both expensive department stores and a cheaper store (set up something like Wal-Mart, Zellars and Target) with everything. After dinner and unpacking, Crystal, Shadi and I walked there to pick up a few things for our rooms. I got a small laundry basket, garbage can, towels (which I was told would be provided and weren’t), and we split a pack of toilet paper between the 3 of us.

 When our bags arrived we took them into the Fitness Room until our rooms where finished being cleaned, and then our orientation began. We were taken to lunch at the Yellow Granny, were most of us tried our first Korean food. Crystal and Gunnar had both taught in South Korea before, Crystal for 2 years and Gunnar for, if I remember correctly, 1. I found the food very good. We had Kimchi (pickled cabbage), pork, miso soup, and a bowl of sticky rice. While I enjoyed the food, my stomach did not, and set up a rebellion for the rest of the day. Nothing dramatic, it was just really sore. The Kimchi was the spiciest of the foods that I tried, and I didn’t find it to be too overwhelming. Hopefully, it doesn’t take my stomach and my taste buds too long to get used to the food. After lunch we had more orientation talks, and during the breaks in between we were able to explore the school and our rooms, which are attached to the school building. After our last orientation session, we had dinner, which were some sort of dumplings and other unknown foods. These were good as well, but my stomach was still upset. After, we were able to take our bags up to our rooms and settle in.

The rooms are quite big, I think, with a decent sized bed. Hopefully soon I can get some pictures up, but for now I’ll just write about it. The room has a large desk with a book case. We also have a t.v., a phone with a cord :o, a Samsung mini fridge with freezer, a full length mirror, a large wardrobe with drawers and an AC/Heater over the bed. The bed is kind of hard and the pillows small, but it’s comfortable and I slept well last night. There is only one blanket but the room stays fairly warm. The bathroom is a good size as well, I think. It has a nice sink, toilet and a shower. The drain for the shower is under the sink, and there are no walls around it. There’s a good sized mirror over the sink and a cabinet for my contact stuff, glasses, hairbrush, makeup, etc. There’s a sliding screen door with two sliding glass doors that open onto a small balcony. Shadi, Crystal and myself are on the second floor, while everyone else is on the third. My view is of the playground, some woods, buildings and a highway. It’s actually quite nice; again I’ll get some pictures up soon hopefully. I’m quite happy to have gotten my laptop plugged in, it was a bit of a concern for me. We’ll get internet via an ethercable sometime today. I tried plugging in a small alarm clock that I had brought from home, and it worked, but I unplugged it when it started to smell like burnt plastic. I’ll have to get one here I guess. For now I’m using my phone, with all of the connections turned off so that it’s not roaming.

Anyhow, it’s almost time to go down for breakfast. My stomach seems to be okay so hopefully it’ll stay that way. It’s 9:18 am, Thursday May 30^th here. According to my laptop, it’s 5:18 pm Wednesday May 29^th at home. I’m really looking forward to getting internet in my room. As I’m writing this, I don’t actually have it. I’m just typing into Microsoft Word and then copy and pasting into my blog. I’m also happy that I’m here. I was having regrets as the plane was leaving Vancouver, but now that I’m here and I’ve met my fellow teachers and co-workers I’m excited and glad I came. We’ve got a great group of people here and I’m sure it’s going to be a fun year. I’ll talk to you guys later, sending all my love xoxo.