APARTMENT

I moved into my apartment on Friday. Overall, I'm really happy with what I got. I'm in a low-income school district, so I think they were able to get more for their money.

My bed is the only real major downfall. It's only about 3 inches off the ground. I'm thinking about buying a new one. Like I said, everything here is fun sized!

The bathroom is also a little strange. There's no distinction between the shower and bathroom. They are the one in the same. So, it's difficult to keep anything in the bathroom dry.

Notice how it looks like Hello Kitty barfed all over the apartment? That's Korea. I kind of love it.

I'm pleased with my apartment. I didn't expect to have a separate bathroom, laundry room, kitchen/living area, and bedroom. I need to do some furniture shopping, but that's miniscule. I'm just so happy it's clean. I took these pictures before I did any unpacking, so I've since done t quite a bit of shopping and rearranging. I'll try to upload pictures of the finished project!

The best thing about my apartment is it's less than a 10 minute walk to the school I'll be teaching and the subway. You can't ask for much more than that.

Fan Death

I just found out about Fan Death. Koreans think that if a fan is on in a room and all the doors are closed, you will die. I'm not really sure why they think this, but I can't wait to try it on my students!

(just kidding)

Everything here is half sized.

I've accepted the fact that I'm going to have to double up on everything here; Pop, cups, clothes, beds, food, candy...and the list goes on. I guess since most Koreans are half my size, that is to be expected.

Orientation is getting to be kind of a drag. We have lectures all day everyday, only breaking for lunch and dinner. At night we have Korean class, and an optional Korean movie. I have yet to go watch a Korean film because they're shown outside and the weather here is absolutely outrageous. I've never been so hot in my life. Even better, is the promise that Daegu (where I'll be teaching) is the hottest place in Korea.

Yesterday, we had a field trip to a small (tourist) village and buddhist temple (pictures to come). We made authentic Korean fans in the village and watched a short performance in the park. Although both places were very interesting, it was very difficult to enjoy because of the intense heat and humidity.

They've really scared the crap out of us about our coteachers. Apparently, my entire experience depends on my relationship with my coteacher. He/she's essentially my boss, and also the one in charge of arranging my apartment, vacation time, paperwork etc. It's frightening how much control he/she will have over my life.

I find out where/what grade I'm going to be teaching on Wednesday, then we get bussed to our cities where our coteachers pick us up and take us to our apartments. Like I said before, I can't wait to get to my apartment and settled in.

I don't really like the food here so far. There are a select few dishes I like (bibimbap), so I managed to find a dunkin donuts, coldstone, and 7-11 not far from campus. I'm excited to cook for myself. I just found out that we don't have an oven, and we just have a stove. That's how all apartments here are. I guess I won't be making any casseroles or cookies...

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First Post!

As most of you probably know, I arrived in Korea on the 18th. I managed to sleep the entire 13 hour plane ride, thanks to Benedryl. When I got off the plane, I met 2 other Americans-one who is actually going to be teaching in the same city (Daegu), and the other a student who will in be studying in Seoul. We found the EPIK desk easy enough, and I got on the bus to Jeonju University immediately. Much to me surprise, Jeonju is about 4 hours south of the Incheon Airport, and sitting on the bus was the last thing I wanted to do after traveling 18 hours (especially since the handle on my suitcase broke, and has since been a task to bring it anywhere).

As soon as I arrived at the University, I fell asleep-but woke up at 5 am which has been a trend I'm hoping I can break tonight. The orientation has been pretty low-key so far, but will pick up this afternoon with lectures and classes. Last night we had a welcome ceremony where they performed drum dances, Tae-Kwon-do, and fan dances. We then had a hodgepodge-type dinner, which was interesting to say the least.

I've been meeting a ton of interesting and fun people from English speaking countries from all over the world. Daegu, where I'll be teaching, seems to have the most teachers out of all the cities at this orientation. I'm most excited for orientation to be over, so I can get settled in and into a routine.