I'm Here!!!

I've made the journey to S.Korea safely! It was a bit delayed and turned into about 30 hours of airports and planes... but the important thing is that I'm here and safe! I arrived in S. Korea at about 1:30pm, (about 10:30 est) and was taken to my apartment by a driver arranged by the recruting company. Once at my apartment, I was met by my co-teacher, Ethel (her Christian name). She showed me my apt, how things work, and then took me to get some lunch and to the local E-Mart for a few things. We finished up about 6pm and I spent the rest of the evening exploring what English channels I had and un-packing. 


This morning, I met my co-teacher and she took me to the hospital for my heath check, then off to my school! I got to meet my principle, some of the admin office, and about 4 teachers. I set up my desk in the teachers lounge, had a tour of my classroom, and picked a book to teach from. I went to lunch with the people who were at the school today, we had Korean food, it was rice, sides (3 different kim-chi's, squid, Korean lettuce aka sprouts), and soup. It was very tasty! Once we finished the day at school, my co-teacher took me to E-mart again to pick out a dinning room table since there is not one at my apartment and the school is meant to supply it. I also got some more food to cook with! 


My schedule was explained to me, and starting on Monday I will teach children from 8:10-8:50am Mon-Fri. and I will have an afternoon class of teachers who wish to learn English. The first week or so, I will be teaching on my own without a co-teacher. At the end of January, I will have another class to teach, soccer players! There is a team of players who are about 12-14 years old, who live away from their families in order to play soccer and attend school all year round. Currently the children are in the south of the country. Anseong has a few natural grass soccer fields, one being at my school. This is rare for S. Korea, therefore when the weather is a bit better, we will have a soccer team move to the city to practice and learn. Even though I will only have a few classes to teach, I will still have to be at the school for a full day, so I will have plenty of time to create some good, creative lesson plans. The children are on vacation right now, they got this week off for Christmas break. They start back on Monday, Jan 3. In March their school year ends and a new one begins, with that, they get a 3 week break. During this time, I do have to report to the school, if my principle asks me to. I could still have camps and touring to do. If I choose to, I could use some of my 25 vacation days to not work while the children are on vacation. :)


At about 4pm today the guy came over to set up my internet! I am very happy about that. I can finally communicate with people at home!! I have also managed to meet some people in my city via facebook, can't wait to meet them and make some good friends! 


So far the first 32ish hours in South Korea have been great! I am looking forward to my weekend of learning the city, running, and relaxing!