Wait...you speak English!

So last night I finally ran into another fellow native speaker.  I've never been so happy to run into another American in my life.  It was great to be able to unload all my experiences and hear someone else's in person.

After work, I hopped the train to Ansan to meet up with Patrick, Sarah and Ali who all live in different parts of Ansan.  We met at the Ansan City Hall.  Luckily I had an idea where it was from going to Ansan earlier, but it was still an adventure to locate it after getting out of the subway.  But eventually I got there.

We wanted around the area a bit and finally settled on a place to eat.  Luckily they had pictures outside, so we said what the hell we'll give it a whirl.  Well, none of us can order in Korean, so we just planned to each point to a think on the menu.  However, our waitress had other ideas (probably for our own benefit).  She couldn't get over the fact that we wanted to order one thing for just one person and then other things.  So we got one thing for four people.

It worked out just fine, as we had plenty of food (tasty strips of beef, grilled and cut right on our table, along with delicious Korean sides).  But we couldn't get through the meal without a little more drama.  About halfway through out meal the part of the grill that hangs from the ceiling slacked and seemed to be having issues, so we had to get up and move to another table mid-meal, not really knowing what was going on.

We survived the experience, had fun and got to share our first few days with each other.

The subway home was relatively uneventful, but it did start raining, and of course it was one of the few times this far I didn't bring my umbrella.  So I was pretty soaked by the time I arrived home.

I finished my chapter of The Catcher in the Rye and quickly passed out near 11, only to finally get up at 6 feeling like I had a bad hangover.  I guess I'm still not ready to the time change!

The 411 on my city

So perusing the blog of my predecessor I found this site about my city, Siheung.  Don't worry it's an English website.  They call it a rural city, even though it's home to 300,000 people.  I guess it is pretty spread out though.

Muk!

I knew the moment was coming, and honestly I didn't think it would take as long as it did. But this morning I had my first child point and yell at me.

Here I was walking to school about 8:20.  Suddenly there were elementary students everywhere on their way to school because they don't start until 9 a.m.

As I get closer to school there is a busier street where one of the shops sells treats popular with the kids.  So of coures there was a cluster of kids that I had to pass through.  Just as I get close one of the kids spots me and yells "muk," which I'm fairly certain means American.  I was soon deluged by twenty or so hellos at various times and in various tones.  It was really cute.  It definitely put a big grin on my face that was hard to rid myself of.

Then as I continued walking it reminded me of the Castle Anthrax from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  If that's my form of peril, I can stand some more!

Figuring out household appliances

I like to think I'm not a complete dope, but I've sure felt like one many times over the past few days.  Figuring out how to work some of the appliances around the house was definitely one of those occasions. The gas stove was pretty straight forward, the microwave I can figure out at least how to turn it on and the fan was simple. However, the rice cooker was impossible, in large part because I never used one.

And I forgot about the fact that I needed to turn the hot water on in order to have any.  So I went two days with cold showers, and when I finally remembered to turn it on I also turned on the floor heat (Korean homes are heated through hot water under the wooden floors), so my apartment got very warm.

I'm not saying I've gotten in all figured out, but I'm moving in the right direction.

I'm not afraid anymore...

I thought of this title because I watched Home Alone, yes, that Home Alone, on the plane over here.  I finally ventured outside of my little neighborhood yesterday when I hopped the train to Ansan.  I stopped a Lotte Mart, a large Korean department/grocery store, on my way, so I stopped on the way back, hoping to find an adaptor to plug American appliances in at home.

First, I explored the grocery area, picking up a knife to spread jam (works much better than the blade of a pocket knife) and a water bottle for work.

Then I went upstairs and ran into the foodcourt where I ate scarfed down an extremely greasy meal of Popeyes chicken and biscuits.  This was my first fast food meal here, and it hit my gut like a brick.  I'm not a huge fast food fan in the first place, but it was nice to have familiar food without having to make it. 

Ordering on the other hand, that was a challenge.  Like a half-brained idiot, I just pointed at the sign and put up one finger to indicate I wanted the No. 1 combo.  It worked, but I left the counter feeling pretty stupid.

After dinner, I went to explore the department store, finding a screwdriver, batteries, scotch tape and most importantly an adaptor!

Glorious!  As of 7:45 Monday night music was finally heard in my little abode!  Now I just need the internet and a phone and I'll be up and running!

My first day of school

Technically this wasn't my first day of school (that would be Wednesday), and it wasn't my first experience in the school (I was here on Friday and again on Saturday to get online), but today was my first school experience where all the kids were here.

Let's just say it was interesting!  To say I stick out with my light complexion, blonde hair and blue eyes would be a bit of an understatement.  The students are very excited to see me, especially the girls (I'm heard enough, ooo hansome for quite some time).

But for the most part it's been a good day.  I had my medical checkup, got my T-money transportation card and had my first school lunch (it was quite good).  I also met the principal and vice principal.  Those were interesting meetings because neither spoke more than a lick of English.  The meeting with the principal was rather uncomfortable because he spoke to my co-teacher and head teacher in Korean about who knows what, most of which was not directed to me.

The rest of the day was much more comfortable as I surfed the web, caught up on email and the like.

Ready to break out...

It's been challenging the first few days here in Korea as after my co-teacher and the head teacher dropped me off the first night I've been on my own.

So Saturday I went back to the store for a few things and generally explored the neighborhood (aka I got lost).  But I always eventually found my way home.

Sunday I planned to get out and try to do more, including figuring out the subway system, but it rained hard all morning and until about 1 p.m.  Finally I did get out and made the short walk to the subway, but I couldn't figure out how to purchase a card other than the temporary kind (it all made sense later when I got a card with my co-teacher).

But I did get out and take some pictures of the minor flooding around the city after the big storm and my school.  All in all, it was just good to get out of the house.  With no internet connection, no phone and no ability to plug in my computer (no adaptor yet) the silence was getting a little old.  Hopefully those issues get worked out soon.

I'm starting to connect with some other teachers from the UW program through facebook, but it will be really nice to have a phone and be able to easily meet up with them.  I can't wait to get out and do more, but it would be really nice to do that with others in the same boat.

A new adventure...

Here's my last column for the Tribune.

Annyong Haseo

That's hello if you speak Korean, or it's at least the closest equivalent.
If you're reading this you probably are well aware that I'm headed off to Korea to teach English for the next year.
I'm a novice blogger, but it's something I've wanted to do for some time, I just never had the inspiration to get started. Well, here we are.  I hope you enjoy.  I'll mostly be blogging about Korea and my experiences, but I might thrown in a few things stateside, too.