OMG I LIVE IN KOREA NOW!!!! Part 2: It's wonderful!

The training has begun. Chungdahm is doing everything it can to emphasize how freaking sweet they are compared to the other Hagwons in Korea. So far, I’m buying it. I like the methodology and the basic principles we’ve addressed so far. My Master’s seems to be helping. I passed the grammar test!! I also feel like most of the stuff we’ve covered so far is either review or a concept that is closely related to something I already know. One thing that’s crazy to consider is the business aspect of the company. It’s different to look at student retention as a business issue, but it’s definitely the case here.

The best part about training is meeting the other teachers that are here doing the same thing. The variety of backgrounds is really impressive. There are about 17 of us; we are mostly Americans, with a South African, an Irishman, and my Kiwi roommate. We had our first few hours of training, followed by our medical exam. It was insane. We all went into the Korean Medical Institute. We were handed keys to lockers, told to put on these crazy Asian style scrubs and ushered around by women with clipboards. I got a chest xray, a blood draw, a blood pressure test, a hearing test, an ekg and a bunch of other tests. It was so confusing and insane. I never really knew what was happening or what was about to happen, just that another woman with a clipboard was calling my name. It was hilarious and awesome.

After the medical test, a bunch of us went and had Korean BBQ. I had soju for the first time. It was great to bond with a bunch of others, as well as check out Korean BBQ. There are several Korean Americans in our group and few that have been here for a while learning Korean. It's great to have people who know what they are doing. Everyone is really cool and interesting, so I'm excited to continue to hang out. 

Moral of the story, I am so happy to be here. I love Korea so far, I think work is going to be great and the people are awesome. It's so great to feel like I made the right decision by coming here. You all have to come visit. It's great. Unfortunately, I'm not at the top of my game. I promise to be way more clever and interesting in the near future. And I'll post pictures.

OMG I LIVE IN KOREA NOW!!!!

After saying a sad goodbye to my family and Kate at the airport (and eating my final American pizza), I made it safely to Korea. My flight was uneventful. I had my own screen for the first time ever!!! Brian was right, the 777 is pretty sweet. I watched 4 films: True Grit (Western, made me wish I’d actually watched all 6 hours of Lonesome Dove), The Romantics (sad white people, mostly sad white Katie Holmes), Love and Other Drugs (Jake Gyllenhal and Anne Hathaway have a lot of sex and she has Parkinson’s) and Beauty and the Beast (which I unfortunately slept through). I also played a little Tetris. I suck at it. Mostly I tried to keep to myself and not be too fidgety.

Upon arrival, everything went great. I rode the bus and stared out the window. I saw a lot of amazing things and took a few pictures. I shared a cab with a guy from San Francisco who is teaching for the same company as I am. During training, we are staying in a hotel in the Gangnam neighborhood of Seoul. We have a sweet suite!! I have three roommates; one from Gig Harbor who went to UW (oddly enough), one from Utah and another from Auckland, New Zealand. Lauren, from Gig Harbor, and I spent the Sunday exploring the city. I bought a new purse and a few other necessary items. We figured out the subway system and ate delicious Korean food. Don’t worry, Kev, I’ll be an expert by the time I come home.

I’m happy to report that I’ve already had a mishap! My first attempt at a shower was foiled by freezing water. It was early in the morning on Sunday, so I thought, “Oh, it’s a popular shower time, I’ll wait ‘til later in the day.” I waited until the afternoon and took the coldest and least satisfying shower OF ALL TIME. Literally the second I got out, I remembered the youtube video of someone’s apartment I watched with Kate and Erin. YOU HAVE TO TURN THE HOT WATER ON. It was a life-changing realization. I took the hottest and longest shower to make up for the horrible first one. I’ll tell you one thing, I will never make that mistake again.

So anyway, I’ve arrived. In order to keep this post of modest length, I’ll detail my first day of training in a second post. Stay tuned!

I got a visa!!

Just one more quick little meeting with the Korean Consul tomorrow morning and then I should be all set. I am so happy to know that I will be leaving in a couple of weeks for sure, and that I won't have to wait until the last minute to find out. I'm sure that the next couple of weeks will go way too fast. I'm buying a plane ticket this week. It looks like I'll be in the air on Friday, March 25th.

In the meantime, I'm back at SGA. It's nice to see everyone and nice to have a paycheck. I fully taken over the Command Center at Nadine and Brendan's. I miss them, but it's really nice to have a place to stay and not feel like I'm in their way all the time.

I'm sorry I don't have more fun, cool, interesting things to blog about yet. Just you wait! This should keep you entertained for now. Or, perhaps for the intellectual reader, check out North Korea's Official Website. Despite not having the internet, they do have a website. It's great to learn about North Korea from North Korea's perspective.They have tours!!!! I'll do my best to get on that. I would love to see the Mass Games.

Finally, if you click FOLLOW at the bottom of the page, then you'll get sweet updates when I post something!! Hooray!