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The Apartment
Looking from the back Well, the apartment is huge. Modestly furnished, but furnished. Ya know, not even that modestly come to think of it. The bed is firm but comfortable. The refrigerator is cold, the stove works and I have a leather couch and matching chair. Heating and air conditioning, a TV with like 70 channels I can't understand, even an out of tune guitar. That should be fun to fiddle with. The only draw back is the shower. It is not a shower. It is a bath tub with a shower attachment drilled to the wall on the right flank of the tub with about a six inch gap between tub and wall. When I turn it to hot water the pressure in the shower hose drops to nothing. So it's baths for me, which I experimented with yesterday morning. Quite relaxing, I think I can deal. I've been in Geochang, South Korea for three days now, yesterday was my birthday, 24 years old. The trip out was good, nothing too exciting aside from thinking my seat number was my gate number going from Denver to San Francisco. But aside from a heart skip I made the plane fine, and despite only forty minutes
Apartment
Looking from the entrance to catch an international flight in San Fran I made my connection with time to spare. I sat next to a nice girl going to see her husband stationed in South Korea, she'll be there for a month. Depressing and intense movie options so I tried to read most of the time. This round of travels I remembered my inflatable neck pillow so sleep was not hard to come by on the 11+ hour flight. We caught a tail wind and arrived almost an hour early. We were supposed to keep our windows shut, but I snuck a few peeks over the Siberian coast, jaw dropping to say the least. Anna, my liaison from the placement agency found me after I cleared customs in Incheon, and we caught a bus into the main train station in Seoul, about an hour away (she didn't even need the sign she said she would have, must not be hard to pick out a six foot two inch curly haired bearded American). We hit traffic in the big city, and I found it depressing that halfway across the world people are still trapped in their cars. I landed in Incheon at 5 pm Korean
My bed
Tucked in the left of the last photo time, we got to the bus station in Seoul around seven, and the next bus to Geochang didn't leave until 10. Anna was nice enough to stay with me till it left, and bought some dinner. She wanted to buy me a Burger King hamburger but I got her to get some more traditional Korean food; a sushi type roll and some good soup, and spicy rice cakes in a chili sauce (dauk bouki phonetically) which I had known from a project from elementary school and knew I liked. After a couple cups of coffee, many questions, and some anxiety about the swine flu it was finally 10 and I got on the bus, leaving Anna. A four hour bus ride gave me some sleep and I was met when the bus finally stopped by the director of my hagwon (language school). She drove me to my accommodations and I felt like I had officially arrived. The next day it was right to the school to get a feel for how things go, as the director, one of the teachers and most of the students were leaving on a trip to Japan. Next week it will be just me and
The bathroom
Baths are relaxing two other teachers in charge of the place. The kids were enamored with me, Abel (they all pick english names) a kindergärtner kept feeling the hair on my arms. They call me English Teacher (director, other teachers and students) as my name, and when I enter the hagwon I am required to take off my shoes and wear slippers all day. Life is tough. The kids can get loud but are well behaved, and most seem to really want to put effort into learning the language. The second day was similar, but on Fridays we play games or have activities. We played basketball in the afternoon with two of the classes. Normally I am no good at hoops, but when the rims are 8 feet tall and you can dunk you instantly become the best player on the court. The director (Mama Teacher) took me and the other teachers out for my birthday dinner last night, complete with a cake bought by another male teacher (Tobama Teacher). They took us to an American style restaurant (it's funny how everyone wants to accommodate me by finding American food, and all I want to do is try Korean food) and tried to get me to order spaghetti. Instead I ordered octopus cheese (no its not like octopus's give milk and they make cheese, they just didn't put the and in there). It was very spicy, very good. At least for lunch every day I get to eat traditional food with all the other kids and staff; the hagwon has its own cook. So far I like Korean food, very spicy, always a soup, small portions of five to seven dishes, and least one spicy fermented vegetable, and rice. As I type this it is Saturday, it is a national holiday for Buddhas birthday (so close to mine, awesome), the weather has been nice, and I am filled with contentment and optimism, like I am where I am supposed to be. The town is the perfect size (everything is easily within walking distance but its big enough to have a dunkin donuts, 'sigh'), the culture is interesting, the kids are fun and my apartment is huge. If only that shower was actually a shower...
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