getting my bearings

Just thought I'd write an update for everyone who was worried about me the other day. Things are going MUCH better.

It's been a whirlwind of a few days. It's hard to believe that it's only my third full day here. Friday was a little difficult, mainly because of the jet lag, but other than that, it was good. Matthew, the head English teacher, walked me to the school that morning, and as soon as we walked into the teachers' room and he introduced me to Kelly, the director, she hugged me and I instantly liked her and knew it was all going to be okay. I met the rest of the teachers: Istelle and Tania from South Africa, Daniel from Mississippi, Helen and Pierre from England, and many Korean teachers, all of whom were friendly. It's nice because the foreign and Korean teachers really seem to get along and work well together, which wasn't the case at my old school (although I'm going to try really hard not to compare the two all the time, at least not publicly). My co-teacher's name is Sarah as well, and she was very nice and helpful.

They feed us free lunch at the school, which is really nice, and the building that houses the school also contains our bank, a gym, a swimming pool, a deli, and there are other shops, a fruit stand and some other things on the same corner. The schedule seems good too. The classes are 40 minutes, and we each teach many classes but have several breaks throughout the day. That's really all I know at this point. Tomorrow, I begin teaching and I have to go get my health check to get the process of getting my alien card started. Once I have the card, I can get a bank account and a cell phone.

So anyway, so far, so good at work.

Friday night, Daniel and Helen showed me around the neighborhood a bit: grocery stores, restaurants, etc. We ate kimbap at a place a couple of blocks from the apartment building. $3 for a giant roll of kimbap (sort of like sushi), a bowl of soup and kimchi. I see myself eating there a lot. After that, we had a couple of drinks and played cards, and then Daniel and Helen went out, but the jet lag was beating me by that time so I just went to bed. I'm happy to say that I slept 7 hours straight, a vast improvement from the night before.

Saturday, I woke up, showered, and headed out to the grocery store. I took a little detour on the way to explore the neighborhood a little more. There are coffee shops, bars, restaurants, and few shops. I picked up some essentials at the store and then went home and SCRUBBED this apartment, particularly the kitchen, from top to bottom. The guy who had it before me was pretty nasty (which is funny because I met him Thursday night, and he told me he had cleaned the place for me...right).

So then a little bit later, Helen came upstairs (she lives right below me) and asked if I wanted to join her and some people she knew from a different part of town at the Yuseong foot spa (this is part of the famous hot springs in Daejeon). I said sure, of course, and we headed across town. Taxis are so cheap here. Anyway, the spa was this large rock hot tub type thing where you rinse your feet, get in and sit on the ledge with your feet in the water for as long as you want. And it's free. So I met a few other foreigners. After the spa, we went to eat dak galbi (a sort of spicy chicken stew) and Korean man in the restaurant bought us all Cokes. Korean people are generally very friendly and often fascinated by us waygooks (foreigners).

By this time, my new friends had learned that I have a CostCo card and wanted to accompany me there, where I was headed, to buy sheets. So we got on the subway (my first subway adventure in Daejeon) and made our way there. We weren't exactly sure where it was from the subway stop, so a Korean man led us there, which was really nice of him. I got some desperately needed bedding (last night was MUCH more comfortable), a giant block of cheese and some Hormel ham. Then, since Helen and I were pretty much back in our neighborhood, we headed home.

A little while later, Daniel, Helen, their friend Mark and I went to dinner at an all you can eat Korean barbecue place. So delicious. I had missed it. The boys probably ate an entire pig. I got full after a few rounds.

After dinner, I called it a night. I think I was asleep before 10 p.m., and despite waking up for just a little while around 3 a.m., I was able to go back to sleep and stay asleep until about 8:15. Progress! Today, I plan on walking around a bit more to continue getting my bearings. Anyway, that's all for now. I'm just pretty relieved things have gone so well so far.