We have arrived....now what?

I don’t remember much about our first day in Korea. It was all such a blur. Everything new and different and foreign. I do remember going on a little adventure out of our apartment in search of internet. Walking out of our apartment we took a left down our street, which looks more like a back ally than an actual road. After a short walk we arrived at the main street in our area and took another left. Liz had told us there was a McDonalds around and we went looking for breakfast there.

Walking down the street and peering into every store we passed we were amazed by the simple things you take for granted at home. Next time you walk down a street imagine you can’t read the signs, the food is unrecognizable, and the ambient conversation is a foreign tongue that sounds more like white noise than speech. That was our first day.

One thing I noticed pretty quick was a lack of stop signs. They have none. Seriously….none. If the road isn’t 4 lanes traffic runs on autopilot. Sure they have stoplights but only on major roads and they are strange because only one side goes at a time. Driving here seems to be a free-for-all….you always, always put your seatbelt on before giving directions to the taxi driver. I can’t stress this enough. The taxi driver you get is kinda like playing Russian Roulette…they may be a sane cautious driver or a crazy lunatic you never know till they start driving.

After a relatively short walk we spotted the McDonalds. It was a sight for sore eyes and I don’t even like McDonalds that much! We walked in to the newly built restaurant, it opened a couple weeks before we arrived and just for us I’m sure, and proceeded to stare at the menu. We were in luck! Yes the signage was mostly in Hangul (written Korean) but it also had the English names! Plus, who can’t recognize a Big Mac on sight? Now the fun part, figuring out how to order breakfast.

We walked up to the nice lady with a smile and proceeded to order two #1’s. When I say order, I mean mime. We do a lot of miming these days….thinking of becoming a professional when I get back home. This wasn’t terribly difficult but ordering our drink was. We wanted water….the lady just looked down and around hopelessly as we tried to explain that we didn’t want Coke, we wanted water. IN America this is an easy, cheap, and normal thing to ask. In Korea water is a luxury it seems. The lady walked over and brought her manager back. We then went through trying to explain what we wanted to him….eventually he just nodded, did something on the screen and left. We paid and went to sit down.

After we sat down I pulled out Catherine’s computer to try and get on the internet. We’d heard wifi was ubiquitous here so I didn’t think it would be hard. It wasn’t at first, there were plenty of unsecured networks around with plenty of signal so I tried to get on one. Nope…it connected but when I went to see the internet it sent me to some login site in Hangul. It did have a nice English button though so I used that. Turns out I would need to purchase a temporary day access to the internet, ok no problem. We really wanted to contact our folks so it would be worth it. Lo and behold…..our browser (safari) wasn’t supported. Nor was Chrome. I have come to find that Koreans almost exclusively use Internet Explorer….for such an advanced country they sure do live in the browser dark ages….

By now our food was ready and I went to go get it. It looked pretty normal at first: A wrapped Big Mac and a carton of fries. Then it got strange with both a cup of Coke and a bottle of water! Turns out that you can’t just get a cup of free water, you pay for a bottle and you still get the coke. How weird is that?! We shrugged it off as just a Korean thing to keep in mind for the future and started to eat. The fries and burger tasted exactly how you expect them too. But the burger does come with a hard paper circle thing around it, still don’t know why.

Next we went looking for wifi we could actually use.  I suggested we go to a PC room. Easier said than done! Finding them wasn’t hard per se as the sign for them always include the letters PC. The problem was knowing where inside the building they were. Eventually we found one that had 3f next to the sign so we went to the 3^rd floor and walked in. The place very dark, lit almost entirely by the computer monitors inside, and filled with 4 rows of 10 computers each with hunched over Koreans at each one. A group of 3 boys had entered just before us, spoke a little Korean to the boy behind the counter then turned to leave. Just as they did so one of the boys, who had just taken a sip from a carton of some sorts, spit it all on the floor. Then they left with no apology nor were they yelled at. I guess this is a common thing….

We walked up to the counter to ask about wifi or using the internet and the boy just looked at his feet. We tried talking again but all he would do is look at his feet, to the right where a coworker stood, and back at his feet again. His coworker came over, looked at us, looked around, and looked back at us without a word. Apparently our kind weren’t welcome there….or they were just full up. That’s my guess anyway.

We called our fellow teacher Liz who told us to try the coffee shops as they usually have wifi. We walked over to one, ordered coffee, sat down, and got on the internet. Success at last! We were able to talk to our folks and let them know how things were going and that we would try again tomorrow. Quick note about that: we did try the next day but it turns out Korea doesn’t open very early….most coffee shops open between 9 and 10am!

Later that night we went out for dinner with Liz and a couple of her friends Marsha, who we’d already met, and Ginny a nice British girl. We went to a nearby restaurant and got to know each other. We heard many stories about their adventures in Korea as we ate dinner. Dinner which we cooked. In many Korean restaurants there is a coal stove in the table and you are brought the raw meat to cook for yourselves. Also, you are brought a bunch of side dishes that come with every meal. Side dishes are a big thing here. I’d made myself a promise that I would be adventurous in Korea and not shy away from the local customs or food. The first night put that to the test.

One of the side dishes was presented to us by Ginny. She offered them to Catherine but wouldn’t say what they were. Catherine declined so Ginny offered them to me. I graciously accepted and ate one. It had an unusual taste, not bad, but not good either. Ginny then let me in on the secret: they were silkworm larva! A good thing to say I’ve tried? Sure, but I wouldn’t eat them again. We had a great dinner and then a leisurely walk home to end the night. We needed rest as tomorrow was the first day of work.

The first day of school. It doesn't change even when you're an adult....same nervous butterflies in your stomach, same worries running around in your head, and the same result: it's never what you think it will be. We met our fellow teacher Liz in the hallway and followed her on the walk to school. We'd never seen the building, met our boss, or seen our expected environment. It was going to be an interesting day!

To start we dressed in our best summer clothes. We'd been told that. The expected uniform was very casual but we wanted to make a good first Impression with our boss and students. You never get to second chance at a first impression! When Liz met us she made a quick comment about our dress and then let us know how the plan would go for the day. Instead of the teaching that we expected to be thrown into we would e watching her classes all day. Huge sigh of relief for us....at least that would give us a frame of reference for our actual first da!

When we arrived we were introduced to our boss Mr. Kim, his wife Mrs. Kim, and Mrs. Park (who we believe is Mrs. Kim's sister and more commonly referred to as Counter-teacher). They are very nice and speak English to varying degrees from Mr. Kim who is understandable to Counter-teacher who understands more than she speaks. We were shown our classrooms for the next year and told that we would het our schedules later in the day. We each inspected our rooms, inspected each other’s rooms, and then joined Liz in hers to start the day.

Without fail we made an impact on the students. One student who came in late even had a mini heart attack once he noticed us at the back! It was quite fun To watch! That was about the only exciting thing to happen though. For the first class or two it's very interesting and you're taking notes trying to absorb everything you can knowing that the next day you will be in front of your own class. By the third one the dull routine has set in and boredom takes over. Luckily there is a ten-minute break after the first two classes and Liz was kind enough to provide us each with a stick of instant coffee she, and now we, keep handy in our classrooms. I think that without Catherine's company and that coffee I would've fallen asleep!

During each class Liz would pass along little bits of wisdom to us. It's intriguing how this is done: you simply wait until the students are working and speak fast enough (native speed) that they can't understand except maybe one word in a sentence. The students know you are speaking but can't figure out what about. This comes in handy during breaks as well and is also refreshing....we spend a lot of time speaking in slow deliberate tones. Not ape speak (me Tarzan, you Jane) but slowly pronouncing every word in every sentence. Try speaking at quarter speed for 7 hours....it isn't easy or comfortable.

Soon enough it was time for our dinner break so we went upstairs to eat. The family runs two academies, one for English and one for math, on two separate floors. The 'teacher's lounge' is on the top floor (the English school is on the 2nd and math is on the 3rd) in an unused classroom. As is typical of Korean meals, side dishes are always provided and kimchi is always one of the side dishes. In addition there is always cooked white rice provided and a soup of the day. The soup always varies and is not always very edible. I like shrimp as much as anyone but when it still has the head attached it certainly gives me pause!

When it was time to return to class Mr. Kim took is aside and handed us our schedules. We would each have seven 50-minute classes a day starting at 3pm and finishing at 9:50pm. We were to arrive at 2:30pm everyday to prepare for the days classes. Unfortunately, we wouldn't be having dinner together except on Fridays :-( Catherine would have hers the hour before mine which I have at the same time as Liz. On Friday's though, Catherine has a free period during my dinner so we can eat together! We each got a mix of young and old students that aged during the evening. Catherine got the luck of the draw though.....all three of the boss's daughters! I don't know if I could’ve handled it but she is doing wonderfully!

We went back into class and observed the last two of the day. It wasn't long until it was time to go home and rest for tomorrow. We took a nice leisurely walk home and discussed our plans, observations, and apprehensions. The real first day was right around the corner...