End of Week 1

Well my first full week is over here in Korea & it went very well. I spent the week mostly observing other teachers to get a feel for it, and started doing practical teachings Thursday and Friday. Also on Friday, I had to fill in for a Korean teacher who was out for the day, and took two of her classes. It gave me an appreciation for doing this for 7-8 hours day after day! I hope that I can make it for a year!

I'm really glad I came a few days early. It was great to get partially aquainted with Korea, get over jet lag, see Seoul, meet new friends, etc. I first stayed over in Incheon near the airport (the Incheon Int'l Airport) for 2 nights. Here's 2 pictures of the place where I stayed in Incheon. Then I stayed in northern Seoul for 3 nights, at a Guest House near the Anguk substation. This is said to be one of the best places in Seoul for a first-time visitor. Anguk station is just next to several historical palaces. Here's also a picture of a palace nearby.

My school is a hagwon, which is a private English academy, where the students come in addition to their usual public school. There are many companies and branches throughout the country that support this demand. And there is quite the need for English teachers here in Korea. Our company is the Sogang Learning Program Institute, part of Sogang University. SLP has been operating here in Korea for several years now. Our location is in the province of Gyeonggi, city of Yongin, and the area of Dongbaek. We're about an hour busride south of Seoul. Our school is referred to as 'Dongbaek SLP'. The school is really nice & is very well managed and supported. Any mail for me should be sent to my name and the school's address, which is:

SLP Yongin Dongbaek

Wooham Bldg 7FL 2505-3

Dongbaek-dong, Kiheung-ku

Yongin, Gyeonggi-Do

South Korea 446-911

- This is not a solicitation to send things, because I really have no idea how $$ it would be to send mail here..

The director (principal) of our school is Mr. Yoon, who has been a great boss. The manager of the school is another great guy named Eddie. I found out this week that Eddie (Yoon) is the nephew of director Yoon.. Eddie picked me up in Seoul on Monday morning. Here's a picture from the pickup:

As for our school's demographics, there are 3 men here: Eddie, Mr. Yoon, and now myself! I've never been in quite a female-centered workplace. Everyone seemed excited to know that a male teacher was coming, since apparently they haven't had one in quite a while.

Here I am on the first day in the lobby of SLP:


I'll have a pretty nice schedule - teaching the elementary and middle school ages in the afternoon/evening shift from 1-8.

Before coming over here, I was warned about the Korean winters - and rightfully so! The winds come directly down from Siberia & are fierce! Seoul was definitely colder than Yongin though, so it's a bit better here. But it's also still rarely above 10C.. I have no desire to go outside when it's dark here & gets below 0 degrees!

I've really liked the Korean food. But I've also yet to find any food that I don't like, so that may not be saying much. Their barbeque (Galbi) is great, and they always have lots of really good veggies and extra sides with everything (and yes, which always includes some form of kimchi!). During my time here I've also had some really good Italian food, and even some Indian this past weekend.

It hasn't been all fun & games though - certain aspects of living in a foreign country have been a bit daunting. Not speaking the local language is of course a huge problem sometimes. Luckily, my phone has a Korean/English dictionary function that comes in rather handy at times. The first week I was here I didn't have a cell phone, which showed me how much I rely on one of those! My new number is: 010-5062-7672, and the country code for Korea is +82. I wouldn't say any of the culture shock has prevented me from doing or attempting to do anything though - I've just had mild confidence issues I guess you'd say. The little bit of Korean I have learned, I feel too timid at times to use it for fear of mis-pronouncing things. I've also had to build up some considerable courage before going into new places when by myself (mainly restaurants).. :P They say these things are just a normal part of the process.

I've been in several areas of Seoul now & it's huge! I've walked the streets, visited palaces and museums, and seen a bit of the nightlife. I've gotten pretty comfortable with the subway system. It's still difficult when I don't know exactly where I'm going, and still can't read Hangul either.. The overall transit system with the subways, trains, and buses is excellent. Here are a few pics from the streets of Seoul:

I had one really cool encounter while on the streets of Seoul, which was a nice welcoming experience. I was just walking around taking pictures, and was standing on a busy street corner. A large group of kids walked by & all said 'hello' and 'how are you' (in English), I replied, and they kept walking. They came back over & wanted to do a little interview - they were a high school class & wanted to ask me some questions. One girl was the spokesperson, while several of the other kids were taking pictures of me & recording videos. It was a little intimidating at first, but quite the experience to feel like a pseudo-celebrity :)

Before leaving GA, I found some good souvenirs to bring for people at the school. Stuff like Georgia pecans, Georgia Aquarium bookmarks & pencils, and a UGA Bulldog beanie. I also found some trinkets for American holidays (not really knowing what they do/don't celebrate - it turns out they do celebrate upcoming Valentine's Day). I brought stuff for St. Patty's Day, Mardi Gras, Easter bunnies, and some American flags & decorations for July.

That's all for now & I'll keep you updated.

Take care!

Matt

Second Day in a New Land

- Originally posted via Facebook on 1/21/2010

Hello from the Land of the Morning Calm!

Well the sun has set on my second day here, and things have gone well so far. And I only expect things to improve.. :)

I got here yesterday at 530PM, after leaving from Atlanta at 530AM (on the previous day!). So it was looong, to say the least. I haven't traveled internationally much, but have taken a few transatlantic flights. Flying across the Pacific from the eastern US is a totally different ballgame! So on the 15+ hour leg from California to here, I got stuck with a window seat in a row of 3 (obviously it was a bit cramped). Although they did serve excellent food on the plane, and much better than I expected. We had some great Korean bibimbap, probably even better than the same type meal I had today for lunch!

I spoke to my new boss last night after getting settled. My apartment won't be ready for me until Monday, so I'll be staying in a hotel for another week or so until then. These first two nights have been in a place near the airport, and is run by a friendly man named Kwon. He speaks English pretty well, and has been a big help for me while I get acquainted. Tomorrow I'll be moving to a different place in Seoul, and staying there for another portion of my 'homeless phase'. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with a few friends here before our first work meeting on Mon morning. It may also take that long to get over this jet lag - it's an odd feeling as I write this at 9 o'clock at night, and feel both exhausted and wide awake at the same time. Kind of recalls those 0400 mornings in college while writing papers.. Although this could also be partly due to the espresso I drank to keep from falling asleep :)

I watched my first authentic Korean TV last night. They do have several English channels, but one can only watch 'Two and a Half Men' so many times, and I'm pretty sure I already reached my limit years ago (and actually only saw it a couple times). So I passed on the Fox channel and the Australian channel, and flipped to some sort of game show network. No idea what they were saying or what it was about, but it did give a sense of amusement/belonging/confusion to my first night in a new country.

Not much else yet to update. I'm planning to post these notes periodically, which should get more interesting as I get better material, and also have a place to actually use my computer to upload some pictures.

Until then,