Advertisement
Published: September 18th 2009
Well, its been almost a month since I've left Edmonton to make a new "home sweet home" here in Daejeon. Its taken a month for me to get that "You know what? I think I'm gonna be alrite." feeling...which, to me, sounds like a perfect time to start up this travel blog of mine! Heads up, I'm not the greatest writer but I will try to do my best.
It definitely was a rocky start for me in the very beginning...being unbelievably homesick, I just wanted to jump on the next flight home. Staying in "redlight luv motels" was quite the interesting experience for me, what with the heart headboards and ACTUAL red fluorescent lights...However I soon came to realize that these types of motels are part of the norm that is Korea, as I ended up staying in another one when I travelled to Seoul for training.
Seoul training....good times. It was a cozy group of 3 teachers and 1 trainer. My fellow colleagues, Janna and Lisa, are from Texas and South Africa, respectively. My trainer? Well...just think of Stephen Merchant and you'll get the perfect image of what he looked and acted like. Just a great guy.
Training was interesting, giving me an opportunity to see the inner workings of the HQ of YBM (name of my school, fyi). We got a chance to conduct some peer teaching, which just made me more nervous for the first day! However, the great thing about training was getting to explore parts of Seoul with my two new girlfriends. We had great fun walking around the tourist hot spots such as Insadong and Myeondong. Great thanks to Lisa for being someone I could confide my fears of failure as a teacher as well as feelings of homesickness. She was a great shoulder to lean on during that time in Seoul.
Seoul....what a crazy place. Endless miles and miles of people and cars...a neverending parade of traffic, be it day or nite. Don't these people have to sleep? Or work? Its a freakin weeknite for goodness sakes! But no....Koreans of all ages are out and about in the streets, filling up the multitudes of bar alleys. However, I'm not surprised at all the craziness. Seoul is just another metropolitan capital city....think of Tokyo and you will think of Seoul. Like my wise father says, its all the same shiet....just a
Rain
For my goo po.different pile, rite? 😱
Coming back to Daejeon after spending a week in Seoul, one could definitely notice the difference in population density. In Daejeon, I had my personal space back. In Daejeon, I could breathe fresh air once again. My boss was clearly correct when he said that I'd be glad to be back in Daejeon after spending a week in Seoul. Being a Canadian, I think I took all that space in Edmonton for granted....all those beautiful box stores that I loved to slowly walk through every weekend. The Canadian Tires, Walmarts, grocery stores, and Costcos. Oh Costco.....my luv for this store has never seen anything stronger! But, that's for another entry. 😊
After Seoul, I came back to Daejeon in preparation of moving into my "officetel" (apartment). I ended up moving in the day before school started...which turned out to be quite overwhelming as I spent the rest of the day cleaning, scrubbing, and basically trying to turn a "guy clean" apartment into a "Jessica clean" apartment. Thanks mum.
The first day of school started on September 2 and honestly? It was a total blur. Classes went by so fast and I couldn't quite
Rain
Once again, for my goo po. Luv u!! remember all the 60+ faces. However, the day ended with a good feeling so I left it at that. The session is now over halfway complete and everyday just gets better and better...as a teacher and as a lone foreigner here in South Korea.
Its only appropriate that I end this with:
You know what? I think I'm gonna be alrite.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.096s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 9; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0601s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
uncle choong
non-member comment
Hi, it is great
Hi Jessica, I read you travel blog with great interest....and hope got chance to visit there (Seoul) again, although my wife and I did join a tour many years ago, it might have changed a lot. Things are costly also, to us at least but not to you. Would you mind to include my daughters' ID in your loop, so that they have a climps of your endeavours... Their email addresses are arynchoong@hotmail.com, daphnecys@gmail.com Thanks and take care, uncle choong