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7月6日 Oh Korea! How I missed thee!After a fairly uneventful 22 hour journey half-way around the world, I’m finally back in the land of the morning calm. I say my journey was uneventful as I actually slept the entire way from St. John’s to Toronto, and then again from Toronto to Vancouver, with only a brief connection in between. I had about an hour in Vancouver to grab a quick bite, wash my face, brush my teeth, and check my e-mail. I slept the first few hours of the flight, watched a couple of movies, and read a few chapters in ‘The Pillars of the Earth’. This was my ninth time doing this flight and was probably the second most pleasant time I’ve done it; the most enjoyable time was when I flew executive class and got fed lobster, cheeses and port wine. There were no delays this time, no cancellation of flights, no excessive turbulence, no turning around of the plane for sicknesses or stormy weather, all of which I have experienced in the past.
I was greeted at the airport by one of the Korean admin staff at my school, Sean Han. Sean dropped me off at the hotel where I am staying until Monday when my apartment will be ready. Another teacher is staying in the room next to mine. She and I went out for supper that night; I ordered my favorite Korean dish, chamchi chigae (tuna stew). Oh, how I missed Korean food!
I started work on Friday. I’m currently the Interim Director, which means that I only teach one day a week and the rest of the time I’m managing the school. I had been told that I didn’t need to put in a full day on Friday as everyone figured I would be exhausted, but I was so content to be back doing what I love that I stayed the whole day. So far I really like the school. The classrooms are big and there are lots of teaching resources. The school provides all of the teachers with lunch, which will definitely help me to save on groceries. Another thing that I’m happy about is that I get to wear slippers all day long! In Korean culture, you must remove your shoes when you enter someone’s house, when you eat at a traditional Korean restaurant, etc. The school has adopted this practice as well and has provided everyone with slippers to wear while in the building. My feet are loving it!
Saturday I taught my first classes. I’m teaching the Moms & Tots program; the kids are 5 years old Korean age, which makes them approximately 3 years old Western age. In many Asian countries, you are one year old when you are born, and every Lunar New Year everyone adds another year. For example, I was born on October 19, 1979. I would have been one when I was born, and as Lunar New Year was on February 15th in 1980, I would have been 2 years old even before my first Western birthday. I don’t like that system very much because it makes me 30 Korean age right now.
Saturday evening I was reunited with my partner in crime, Sebastian. We had pho for dinner and then had a few cosmos at his apartment afterwards. Sebastian has a dog now, named Sheila. She’s a tiny French bulldog and has the funniest rabbit ears. I think I like Sheila much better than ‘Kitty the cat with no name’ that he used to have! Sunday I met my friend Christina for lunch in Itaewon. Christina worked at CLI with me back in 2005 and is in Korea for the summer. It was almost surreal to be walking through Itaewon with her as it was though no time had passed. After lunch I ran a few errands at Lotte Mart (similar to Walmart) and Shinsegae (an upscale department store). I splurged on some Clinique face cream in honor of my dear friend Sarah. For supper I met up with my very grounded drifter friend (oxymoron I know), Maria, whom I worked with at CLI back in 2006. Again, it was like no time had passed. It’s funny how I’m back here again and nothing has changed. Even the people are mostly the same, but they are people that I admire and have missed so much.
I have a busy week ahead of me. Tomorrow I’m moving into my apartment and then on Wednesday I’m flying out to Fukuoka, Japan to get my visa processed. I’ll return to Korea on Thursday, at which time I’m sure I will have lots to write about. 引用通告此日志的引用通告 URL 是： http://mtchurchill.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!C00BC30F2484CFBD!1643.trak 引用此项的网络日志
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