getting here and the first few days

the trip here was quite the journey. from toronto i went to washington. the airport was insane!! ive never seen a check in line go as long as the united air one was. (this was because of Obamas inauguration) and the line ups for security afterwards were crazy aswell, i barely had time to grab a snack and water before my flight. from washington i went direct to korea. instead of going west we went north up towards the north pole, and then down again. it was not short. The flight was about 15 hours but one of the nicest airplanes ive ever been on. so much leg room and they were constantly trying to feed me. i was advised not to sleep too much on the plane because i was landing in the evening korean time so i watched tonnes of movies and read the magazines from court.
after landing and going through immigration i got to the luggage carousel and saw this bin with my name on it going around. turns out one of my bags had been left in washington. not the end of the world because its here with me now and made getting around the airport a little easier at the time. carol - the schools director - had a van arranged for me. i felt like a celebrity having my name on a board waiting for me, a little lame but still i enjoyed it.
the ride to the school from the airport was long, mostly due to rush hour traffic. it didnt feel like i was in a different country then, acutally it still hasnt sunk in yet, i felt like i was going through toronto or something. the only werid thing was my driver had a gps/tv in his car and was watching the news for most of the journey.
i got to the school and met the director, and many of the afternoon teachers. from there we went to the apartment building and i passed out for about 13 hours.
the next day, friday, one of the teachers who has been here for a while took the other new teacher to school so that we could get used to the bus's here. its about a 15-20 min bus ride whcih isnt bad at all. i was taken out for chinese after arriving and was given the biggest bowl of beef noodle soup ever. i got through less than a quarter, and it still only cost about 6 bucks!
from there i spent the day at the school shadowing the teachers im most likely going to replace. my school is an SLP school, basically a private english school. kids are here for only 2 classes a day (about 80mins) to practice their english. and the classes are small, i sat in on one with only 2 students and the biggest class had 8 or 9 students in it. its nice working in this kind of school because in some public schools there are usually only 1 or 2 foreign teachers where mine has about 20 or so...and we all live in the same building which makes it feel a little like frosh year.

that night it was one of the teachers birthdays so most of us went out to a korean barbeque resturant. it was a bit different. first you sit on the floor, and take off your shoes. and inthe middle of the table are hot coals and you cook giant slabs of meat on there, cut it up and take what you want. it was delicious although ours may have caught fire towards the end of the meal - shocking i know haha. after dinner we went to another bar within walking distance. i suppose it would be equivalent of a pub here. sit down at a table with friends etc. the only difference is that the table had these doorbell like things that you ring when you are ready to order or need something, and the servers come super fast once they hear that. also smoking is permitted everywhere here and koreans smoke alot! thats going to take some getting used to. that first night the other canadian teachers and i had some soju cocktails - when you order a cocktail here it doesnt come in a little plastic cup with a straw. its a large pitcher and how ever many small shot glass like cups you need. needless to say i got pretty wasted off of the soju. we also go some potatoes with cheese, which were basically mccain crinkle fries with cheese and vegtables, super tasty especially at 230am. from there we cabed it home and called it a night.

the next day the new teacher and i went walking around our part of town for 2 hours of so just trying to familarize ourselves with the area. most of the people you pass on the street just stare at you, and since i still dont know any korean i cant really say anything. i picked up a few things i needed and went to the market for some food. i came at a good time because this weekend is lunar new year here. so i had to work friday then get sat, sun, mon, and tues off which i need because the jet lag is starting to catch up fast. although this also means that most of the teachers have gone away on little trips.

thats it for now...ill add some pictures when i get unpacked and can find my cord.

korean culture tidbits
1. never write a name in red: this is like a death wish on someone or saying that they will die a tragic death in a few days, apparantly kids dont take this one lightly
2. saying someone or something is crazy is also a big no-no. it has something to do with the fact that they have no mental disorders here, or at least they will not diagnose them. so saying someone is crazy is the ultimate diss
3. never pour your own drink. and when someone is pouring your drink you hold it with both hands. something to do with respect.


random obama facts
he was elected as president the day before i moved home from halifax....he was sworn in as president the day before i left for korea.