Advertisement
Published: April 6th 2009
Edit Blog Post
So let's see if I can keep it updated this time around.
I guess I better get up to speed. I left Denver on Sunday (March 9) in the AM. I made the big mistake of going out to the Ogden with my dad for my last night. Our intentions were good, just grab some food and I'd pick up my last paycheck. Ended up pretty much closing the bar down and getting a bit too hammered. Instead of going back to my folks' house and finish packing, I passed out on their sofa only to be awakened by my mother about one hour before we had to leave for the airport. I frantically packed my shit, almost forgot my passport, and headed off to the airport. After dragging ass through DIA I was finally Korea bound.
With a brief layover in San Francisco, I got to Seoul in about 16 hours. I slept and watched free movies for most of the flight. This way I wasn't too jetlagged when I had to find my bus to travel the four hours south to Gwangju. I met the principal of my school at the Gwangju Bus Depot and he took me
to a hotel.
It was a pretty modest room, no fridge or microwave, but I did have a water cooler! Most business hotels are also used as love motels (where you could rent by the hour) so it was a bit weird to be welcomed into my room with a free condom on the nightstand. Yup, I did save it even though it's a bit smaller than the good ol' US ones. But who knows when my standards would drop?
Did the orientation thing at the school. All went well.
Now I'm almost at my one month mark at BMA Longman Academy in Gwangju. I moved into my apartment within the first week of arriving. It's a cute little pad. It's like a studio apartment. I'm used to small living quarters from Japan, so this was no big deal. I've got cable, internet, a washing machine, stove, and a toaster oven. I'm good to go!
The school is pretty good too. After hearing all the horror stories of bad ESL schools in S. Korea, I think I lucked out. It's an afterschool academy where I teach 3rd to 7th graders. I have an average of about five 45-minute classes
nights out in Gwangju
Yeah, mostly pics of people that you won't know each day, with an extra bit of planning time and a few sessions of telephone teaching where I have to call my students and talk to them or ask questions for a couple minutes. The kids are absolutely adorable, sometimes a bit rambunctious. But the swell part is that I have to be strict with them. I can't hit them or anything (as that's the Korean teachers' jobs). I shit you not, every teacher except us foreigners carries a small wooden stick wrapped in tape to strike the kids' open palms if they misbehave. I try not to be too scary with them and just joke around, but sometimes I have to be quite a bitch.
I've also met some really cool people here so far. I work with three other foreign teachers: two girls from Canada and then a British guy. All are very nice and accomodating. Through these people I grew my Gwangju social network. I've really bonded with one of the Canadian teachers, just a nice gal and we get along well. I've met a handful of others from Canada, Ireland, Englad, Australia, and of course Korea. I even met a dude from Ghana.
My
biggest worry upon arriving here would be that I would have a rough time meeting people, but it's been great. I made plans to go to this huge Mud Festival in Boryeoung, S. Korea in July. Everyone meets at this beach city and partakes in the healing effects of this special mud. I hear there's concerts, mud wrestling, and just loads of fun at this festival so I'm super stoked to go. I also have tentative plans to go to a massive DJ festival in Seoul in May and meetup with my old Osakan friends in Hong Kong. Needless to say I've gotten pretty comfortable here in such a short time.
My Korean language skills are pretty nonexistant, but I can read it! I just don't know what it says. My goal is to get a basic grasp of it by my 6-month mark. I also am looking into doing some volunteer work at a brand new foreigner radio station here in Gwangju. I should be finding out mroe about that in the next week or so.
Other than that, not much else to say at the moment. I'm happy and transitioning nicely, I think. I do indeed
apartment pics
Yeah, it was a bit messy at the time miss my family and friends back home though. As much as I bitched about it, I do miss the OSS as well. Hope you all Stateside are doing well.
-I haven't uploaded many pics mostly because I keep forgetting to take my camera out with me. I have a few pics and should have some more up soon.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 6; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0355s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb