2 months in Korea!

Wow-where has the time gone?! I cannot believe I have been here for 2 months...I also cannot believe it is Easter and already April 20th. Time just continues to fly by-I am glad that I am taking advantage of this opportunity and living in the minute (hence why the blog lagged the last few weeks!).
As I was thinking back on the last month I realized that so much happened...

• Celebrated friends birthdays-Busan one weekend & a Samsung Lions baseball game another
• Went to the Jindo Sea Festival-small island on the Southwestern side of South Korea-and got to bring Flat Stanley with me (thanks Korb & Team Palmer!)
• Saw Phantom of the Opera (in English) and Swan Lake-both were amazing!!!
• Got sick and went to the doctor twice (she spoke English) & the school nurse twice!
• Started going to Korean class & made a new friend there (Marie rocks!)
• Had a few friends book their flights to visit me/meet up on vacays-woohoo
• Had a crazy wonderful surprise and had my first visitor last week-so fun!
• Booked my first trip out of the country-Tokyo in May
• Taught about dung (yes you read that correct) TWICE to my fifth grade classes
• Had a teacher outing where I got to bike on a 2 person bike with my co-teacher who doesn't know how to ride a bike-while I was sick with bronchitis (it was rough!)

So, where do I begin...I gave approximately 200 Korean kids (my 3rd and 4th graders) English names. That was STRESSFUL. Seriously, I have a whole new respect for parents giving their kids a name when they are born. I mean, this was just the English name I was giving these kids and I felt a ton of pressure LOL. I had this 'list of names' that I read to them and they selected what name they liked (or liked the way it looked). It was hilarious-my one young co-teacher (Soyoung) had asked me the week before 'Do you know a lot of English names' and I was like 'duh' and then...wow! I seriously just started writing down every name that came to me b/c you blank when the child is just staring at you...so yeah-it was quite funny! I went through my friends names, my niece and nephews names, you name it-you might be a part of that list :) There were some fun names too-like the kids wanted to be named Olaf (yes from Frozen!) and then I had a SpongeBob request. Super cute. So yeah, the teaching thing is going...every day is a new day and a new obstacle can come up, or a new adventure. Last week I had 2 crying kids. It was hilarious. The one girl, 3rd grade, was crying b/c we were playing Simon Says and some boy said something to her  (in Korean) and yep-niagra falls happened. And she was a LOUD crier. Then, the next day, when the kids come in to clean the rooms after their lunch this boy had to take out the trash. I mean, first off all 5 of the kids played rock, paper, scissors to figure out who was going to be 'stuck' with the job of taking out trash so he won/lost fair and square BUT for some reason he was soooo pissed about it. Obviously I can't understand anything that the kids are saying so I asked my one student (Anna) and she told me. I bit my tongue so I wouldn't laugh in front of them. 

I went to the beach town Busan for my friend Erin's birthday and went to Spaland (yes ladies-it is amazing!) and enjoyed the beach and warm weather. I cannot wait to spend many weekends in Busan. We took the KTX there (the high speed train) and it was close, fast & easy to get around! We found yummy sushi, drank sake from a wooden box-that was a first-and found a great hostel that was in the fabulous area of Haeundae Beach. I already have another trip planned in mid-May and will be cheering on the Lotte Giants baseball team (yes I find baseball wherever I go AND Giants to cheer on!).

The weekend after Busan I experienced a miracle...no really-the Jindo Sea Miracle. It was quite an adventure, let me tell you! One of my friends here had mentioned it to me-it sounded amazing. I mentioned it to my friend Andrew. Poor thing-he then got stuck planning it (well his co-teacher did a LOT of calling for us to figure out how to 'skin this cat' as Andrew would say!). It wasn't an easy trek-that is for dang sure-but it was well worth the 4 buses and train it took to get there :) There was an international food festival and music the night before the sea parting (which we got up at 3:45 am for...and you all know how I love those early mornings!). Basically there is one time of the year that the tide is so low that you can walk from the mainland to the island of Jindo. It happens twice a day (when the tides go out) for about 4 days. It was such an awesome experience-we didn't have a place to stay because you are off the grid where this takes place (thank goodness Hayley let us sleep on her bus for a few hours!) and then it was still dark out at that hour so you had torches to walk across the 'water' AND don't forget the super awesome rain boots we got-the best purchase I have done since being here. The boots kept you warm & dry! The water wasn't as 'low' as I had thought it would be...at one point we were walking in water up to our knees. You can see in the pics below all the people that were also in the water walking toward Jindo. The morning group didn't get all the way across...at one point the people ahead of us stopped. None of us knew what was going on, it was pitch black out and super windy. We heard the faint sound from the shore saying 'please exit the sea road the tide is coming back in' soooo after some chit chat amongst all the ex-pats in the water we walked back toward the shore. 

I also started Korean classes this month! My friend Bill's co-teacher offered to give us free classes. It is soooo hard-I feel like a little kid and have a whole new level of respect for anyone learning a foreign language! I really just want to be able to communicate with the cab drivers and be able to order food. Let me tell you, I have a long way to go! I do fairly well with the cabbies-I can say straight, right, left, u-turn and stop/here. Whew! There are 5 of us in the 'class' and it is held at her home. We have a lot of fun and I even made a new friend-Marie! She is great, lives around the corner from me, loves to bake AND has an oven. It was friendship at first sight :) She actually baked brownies for class last week-they were bomb!

We heard that Phantom of the Opera was playing in Daegu AND was in English so a group of us decided to go. It was so good! I hadn't seen it in years and forgot how much I loved it. The crazy 'small world' part is my friend Sheyna's cousin is in the show and was also staying in Daegu! She had told me that when I found out I was placed in Daegu but there was so much going on at the time I didn't put two and two together until later. 

After all this fun my body decided it needed a break...and I got bronchitis. Good times. Being sick sucks when you have the 'comforts' of the things you want/need when you are sick but being sick here is a whole other level of sucking! I finally went to the doctor since after 5 days I was just getting worse (after going to the school nurse) and she gave me a ton of medicine (see pic below!). She also told me to come back 3 days later to see how I was doing. Her name is Dr. Kim and she is AWESOME. Zachary told me about her (again, Zachary saving the day!) and I am so happy to have a great doctor right down the street. So I was sick for 2 weeks...they don't believe in sick days over here and let me tell you (my teacher friends at home will appreciate this) being sick and TEACHING is also a whole other level of not fun! I would go teach all day and be 'on' and by the end of the day be soooo done for it wasn't even funny. I would come home and just go straight to bed. You can only imagine how annoyed I was by this since I don't like to not be able to have fun :) The funniest story from me being sick (or according to Hayley and Elaine at least) is my teacher outing last Friday. So, I was told the Monday before (when I was getting sicker by the day) that we had a teacher outing on Friday from 2:30-9:30 (after classes were over for the day). I was partially dreading it b/c I am usually done for by Friday and also wasn't feeling good. Well, let's just fast forward to the funny story...my one co-teacher can't ride a bike. She asked me mid-week if I liked riding a bike and I said yes. Well then she mentions that we are going to be riding bikes on Friday and that maybe she can sit on the 2 person bike behind me and I can bike/cycle/drive her around. Well, I was mid-fever at this point and was only partially listening so just ignored this. Fast forward to Thursday and she tells me that I probably shouldn't bike at all on Friday since I was so sick. This kinda annoyed me (we all know how much I love being told what to do) but again, didn't feel good so just let it go. Friday rolls around and since everyone else was biking she was embarrassed she wasn't so insists that I bike with her and basically 'drive' her around. It was like Driving Miss Daisy. No joke. Have you ever been on a bike with someone who doesn't know how to ride a bike? Not fun or easy. AND have I mentioned that cars do NOT stop for you here. So, we were trying to cross this busy road to get to the bike lanes and she was pedaling when we needed to STOP so we didn't become roadkill. Aye yiyi. After about an hour (yes an hour) I was done. She wanted to go uphill (and we weren't on a mountain bike-it was like a beach cruiser!) and I said I couldn't bike anymore. She of course thought it was because she was too heavy and I said no, it is because I am tired. The outing ended with us having a yummy Korean meal and then taking a walk.

Elsa's birthday was last weekend and since she likes baseball I figured let's all go to a baseball game! We had a big group go and cheer on the Samsung Lions. Going to a game here was so fun and I cannot wait to go to more-I already put their schedule on my calendar (of course I did!). We brought in good ole Costco wine (woohoo Costco rocks!) and there were tons of vendors selling food outside the stadium to bring in! We got some fried chicken and it was the BEST fried chicken I have had here yet. After the game our group decided to check out the ex-pat bars (my first time to both of them) and then of course ended the night out at the norebong (karaoke rooms). It was a super fun night and I was glad that I was able to celebrate Elsa's bday with her :)

In the midst of being sick I had some downtime to research where I was going to travel during my holidays. I booked my first trip and am so excited to be going to Tokyo in just a few weeks (we have a 4 day wkend b/c of Children's Day and Buddha's bday). There are 5 of us going-my friend Anna is flying out from Texas to join us at the happiest place in Tokyo-Disneyland-and I am thrilled! Speaking of friends coming out to good ole South Korea...I was super excited to have a surprise guest last week-Rachel was visiting her aunt in Shanghai and they decided to come out to see me in Daegu. I mean, it is just a hop and a skip over the sea :) I had tickets to Swan Lake with some of the girls here and was soooo excited that Rachel and her aunt Julie could join us. It was an amazing show and we had killer seats! We had a great time during their visit-full of laughs and trying to figure out things in a foreign land. Starting with finding each other on Thursday night in the midst of rain and bad directions and ending with almost getting stuck in an ATM Saturday night after going to yummy Korean BBQ. You can only laugh when these things happen-they make for great stories to share with others!

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page" -St. Augustine

Busan!

Cherry Blossoms took over Daegu!

Sake from wooden box-first time for everything!

Marie made brownies for Korean class snack :) 

Co-teachers

Medicine from my doctor!

Andrew & me at Jindo Sea Festival

Erin & Erin-celebrating birthdays!

Elsa's bday

First KTX ride!

Hayley with me at the Sea Festival in Jindo

All the people getting ready to enter the sea

The view from in the water crossing the sea-lots of people!!

My Korean class teacher-she is the sweetest!

Korean BBQ when Rachel was in town

The list of names!

Norebong with Erin! We sang Beauty and the Beast:)

Phantom of the Opera

Rachel and me downtown

Subway fun!

Sunset near the Opera House

Swan Lake

My Theater class singing Tomorrow from Annie

4th graders 

Jindo Sea Festival with Flat Stanley

My Easter brunch!

The Teaching has Begun!

I have now been in Korea for a month...wow! Time flies-the crazy thing is *if* I only stay for the one year time is a ticking...good thing I got my ARC (Alien Registration Card) the other day b/c now I can finally start to travel-and that is what I have been waiting for!!! Exploring Asia starts now :)
Last week was a big week-I finally taught my first classes! I did my introduction PPT for the classroom (so they could find out ALL about Erin Teacher!) and it was pretty fun. A lot of you would've laughed at some of the pictures used...or the references I used in pictures to explain something the kids would enjoy/like/faces would light up. I think the funniest is I used my friend Allison's dog Gunner as a picture for my dog (and yeah, I don't have a dog, you are all correct! but didn't even have a pic of my parents dog) because I figured they would like to see a dog AND I had a pic with Gunner. Gunner is famous over here at Bukbu Elementary :) Then, the other picture that they LOVED was the picture I have with Dana Vollmer and me wearing her Olympic gold medal. Their eyes got really big-I think they might've gotten confused and thought I had won the gold medal...there was definitely some translating from my co-teacher on that one! The kids were allowed to ask me questions after and some of the questions I got were: how old are you (remember it isn't rude here-it is all about hierarchy), do I have a boyfriend, and how tall are you. I realized that I needed to learn the metric system b/c when I told the little boy I was 5'7" he just looked at me so confused. The funniest question I got was towards the end of the week-this boy raised his hand and asked me if this was my real hair color. My sister in law told me they would love my blue eyes, and I know my hair color is not a 'typical' color BUT it was so cute to hear him ask. They are so used to everyone having the same color hair (again like when we went to Costco-easy to spot us b/c we have lighter hair!).
Last week I also figured out the subway all on my own (I had to meet up with friends to watch my guilty pleasure the Bachelor). The subway is super nice, easy to use and clean! I have become very comfortable catching a cab back from downtown as well...since the bus stops at 11 and I didn't make it by that time. Ooops ;)

So let's see...last week also consisted of sleepless nights. Definitely not fun. It is all part of the adjustment I am assuming...could also be the night owl in me. I get to that point where I am like 'I will just stay up b/c now people at home are awake...' yeah, that needs to stop! It is pretty amazing to be overseas this time b/c in the last 10 years since I lived overseas technology has advanced SO much! I mean, before we had email and international calling cards. Now we have Skype, Facebook, Instagram, good ole iMessage/Facetime with the iPhone/mac AND Kakao. For my friends that haven't downloaded this from home you need to. Pretty freaking cool. AND it is the THING in Korea :) I especially liked it when I sent my sister a text and she sends me one back that says 'my phone just talked to me' yep...it does...it says kakao hahaha

I will say that I forget how much I love the traveling family you acquire when you are traveling/living overseas. Just the bonds you make with people who are also going through what you are going through is amazing! And, let's not forget about the people back home that introduce you to someone they know that is here. I had this happen to me last weekend. I worked at Chevy's in Sacramento in between coming back from Dallas and starting at the AHA. While working there I met Charlotte. Charlotte was cool and she went off to teach in Thailand 4 years ago...well we were friends on FB (of course) and last year when I was thinking of coming overseas I got in touch, and then this year I did again when I knew I was really (finally!) going to do it. She introduced me to her friend and his gf who have been out here for 4 years between Thailand and South Korea. They had me over for dinner Saturday night (amazing meal too-yum!) and we got to just talk about living overseas and they shared their experiences with me. It was wonderful! I also hiked in my backyard over the weekend. I mean, you think I am joking but I am not! I can walk out of my building and go about 10 minutes and be at the foot of Mt. Hamji. I love hiking and feel so blessed that I can hike whenever I want without having to go far. There are SO many other mountains and I will definitely be exploring those too. My friend Jen came over and we set out for Hamji...we took a wrong turn and hiked up the other mountain-Hamji's neighbor :) and when I say we went up, I mean we went UP and right away. It was a great workout-Jen & I both had a blast and the weather was perfect! I was a little worried about wearing a tank top (since it is not appropriate in this culture to show your shoulders or your chest/cleavage) but it was so warm that I didn't care. And, I didn't get too many stares-not any more than usual :)

The things I have noticed in the last month are interesting. I don't know if you could really say they are 'culture shocks' but they are different. But, many differences are just that-different. They aren't good, or bad. This is why I've come here-to experience the differences.

Here are some of the ways that South Korea is different than good ole California:
1. Toilet paper...it is like BYOTP here. No joke. So, the bathrooms have toilet paper as you walk into the restroom. Not in the individual stalls. You grab what you think you will need and continue on. Sometimes there isn't TP. That is just part of the journey. I have learned to ALWAYS have kleenex with me :) andddd since we are on the subject of the restroom you don't flush the TP here. There is a wastebasket next to the toilet for that. Okay moving on!
2. Kleenex are napkins. No really! When you go into the lunchroom (at my school) there are kleenex boxes that they use as the napkin. And, even the 'paper towels' I have bought at Home Plus (our Target) are not the Bounty you would get at home :) they are thin, small and little. I feel like I use a lot of paper in general haha
3. Soap on a stick-some of you saw the picture on facebook and instagram. For those of you that missed it please see below. This reminds me of the bathrooms back at home in the nasty gas stations that have the towel that is in the towel holder that you pull down and wipe your hands dry with. Do you know what I am talking about?! So, this is just like it sounds. Soap on a stick and you use that as your 'soap' to wash your hands. Now there aren't towels or dryers-they all just shake them dry. I have a towel at work that I use, and again I always have kleenex with me too. I mean, let's be serious, I don't even like using hand soap that people I know have touched (it is one of my things I dunno).
4. Cold classrooms, hallways & bathrooms. So, people told me that the classrooms weren't heated before I came over. I freaked out. I remember emailing Andrew (another one of those 'friends' that became my friend since he is over here and we have a mutual friend at home-he is amazing, answers all my questions & I pretty much owe him a year of beer!) and asking the Q. Especially since I was already concerned with the cold that I was going to encounter. I remember being at orientation, in the lobby of the dorm, and being SO cold. I could see my breath it was so cold. I was having a conversation with one of my new friends over here, she is from cold Minnesota, and she said that even for her it was an adjustment. Because, let's face it, at home it is cold OUTSIDE not inside. So...yeah the cold hallways (and bathrooms!) are quite a shock when you walk out of the warm (sometimes) classroom. The classroom temp varies as well-because even though we turn the heater on the office really has all control. And, I wasn't here for the dead of winter so can only imagine. Thank goodness Zach had a heater at his (now my) desk. There is a reason that Koreans keep those puffy jackets on all day!
5. Okay so back to the bathroom for just a second (I feel like a middle school boy discussing the bathroom so much!). They do have toilet seat warmers. We were at orientation and the one stall had this crazy looking toilet-I seriously should've taken a picture! There were all these buttons on the side. Anyway someone decided to check it out and we realized it was a seat warmer. Soooo that was nice. But, I haven't seen one of those since the dorm at the university!
6. Korean age. I have shared this knowledge with some of you. It baffled me. So there is international age, and Korean age. International age is what we are all used to. Korean age is different b/c they consider the term that while they are in their mother's womb so when they are born they are 1. Then, they all age during the New Year on January 1, not their birthday. So-they are between 1-2 years 'younger' than what they say. It just depends on when their birthday falls. So-my 3rd graders that I teach are really 1st grade ages. Yes, they are babies! :) There are a few ways to figure out your Korean age but the easiest is to take the current year and subtract the year you were born and then add a year. And yes, I am 34 Korean age...no thanks! haha
7. Hagwon. A hagwon is where students go after school for more school. It amazes me how many hours they study here. During our orientation one of the other EPIK teachers gave a lecture about classroom management. She was talking about different things that would come up in the classroom and ways she has handled them, etc. She did bring up sleeping in the classroom. I initially reacted by thinking 'that is so rude if they sleep during the class' but then, after hearing her say a few things my thoughts changed. She was telling us that the kids/students will go to school from roughly 8-4. Then they will take a bus to a hagwon (private school/academy/tutoring) and have school from 5ish-10 or even later (especially high school since they have so many tests that they study for). So, not only do they go to school for that many hours in ONE day they then go home, eat dinner with their family (Koreans eat super late) and then do homework! People told me how important education was here but it didn't really sink in until I heard that (and now witness it). If you want to see a funny video about a day in the life of a Korean student check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bniwLF4hYHQ&list=PLYg_KcjCjrMhK30ROZ2JFIep5ABdHk-fU&index=7

At the end of the day this is all part of the adventure. The little things are what truly set it apart from life at home. And, this is what makes living in a foreign land so appealing :)

The English Zone-my classroom

My school-Bukbu Elementary

Friday night dinner with Irish neighbor (Chris), Siu & Jason

Door & fridge

Hiking with Jen

4th graders making their English name cards

5th grade-super cute class

My bathroom

Good ole shower!

My closet for the year...it is twice the size of the closet I had in London!

Playing 4 corners with 4th graders!

Gift from my co-teacher! Pencil holder :)

School lunch...let's talk about how hard it is to eat spaghetti with chopsticks! 

Thank goodness for Costco-made myself some Mexican!

My kitchen!

My Korean name

My one bedroom house (as they call it!)

View from the door-complete with drying rack!

The washing machine (or as my family likes to call it my jacuzzi!)

Can you figure this out...yeah me either. Thank goodness for Zach!

Walking home from school and noticed the shoes...

My wine cellar :)

Grocery shopping...spam anyone?!

Subway ride!

Blossoms are everywhere-so pretty (and not nice for allergies!) This is right in front of my school.

My First Three Weeks in Korea...

Where do I even begin? First off, I will be better with the blogging-promise! It has been a BIT crazy since I left SFO 3 weeks ago! The journey started with me attempting to repack my suitcase about 3 times to get it under the amount of kilos that were allowed. I told the guy I would just pay the overage and somehow that wasn't an option. Singapore Airlines was legit though...they fed you constantly! Every time I would look up there was another 'snack' or meal heading my way. I had the window seat and sat next to a very nice father & son. I watched a few movies (Captain Phillips was SO good & then watched We're the Millers), drank some wine & took a cat nap (I wanted to be nice & tired so I could sleep that night when I arrived). So...here is where things start to get a bit funny. We all know that I didn't even know I was going on the early round until 10 days before...so the whole time I thought my orientation was in Seoul (b/c that was where we were flying into-makes sense, right?). Well...I get my luggage & pile it onto the cart...and make my way toward the EPIK desk. I made an instant friend (Jen) who told me to grab a paper from the desk and wait for my number to be called. Then I made friends with some girls from the UK...and then I overheard the shocking news. That we were getting on a bus for 3 hours. Um, what? So apparently my orientation was NOT in Seoul :) The good news was I stayed in my yoga pants. There was no way I was going to get changed to get 'ready' for a 3 hour bus ride that was going to consist of sleeping! AND arriving close to midnight.
We stepped outside and I was actually surprised b/c it wasn't too cold-yay!!! We got to Jeonju University around 11:30 pm and checked in-got my nametag, nurse took my temp, got my roomie and hauled my luggage to the 7th floor. My roommate was Tarah, from Florida, so we both bonded on being 'cold' haha
Okay so the thing that Korea has that is AMAZING (I know there will be more but this was the first thing I noticed and fell in love) is heated floors (Ondol). No joke, it is amazing! I mean-the whole 'don't want to get out of bed b/c your feet might get cold' yeah, that doesn't happen here ;) Nice & toasty-our dorm room was a heater! So when we checked in we got our orientation packet in a cute little canvas tote with some snacks too! I will say that the EPIK program was very organized & took GREAT care of us. Since I planned events for so long I know how much goes into making something like this flow and was very impressed.
Orientation was great-long ass days-but great. Met some cool people and actually had some GREAT lectures taught mainly by other EPIK teachers. So, they were able to give you some hints as to what you could encounter in the year ahead. The university dorm provided us with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Perhaps NOW is the time to tell you that after my plane food over I have only used a fork 3 times since...yes you read that correctly. So, breakfast Wednesday morning (first day of orientation) I got the 'surprise' reminder that 'oh yeah, you are in Korea, home of the chopsticks :) Luckily they always have a spoon with every meal (b/c they have soup breakfast, lunch & dinner with their meal). The first few days I felt like a toddler-using my spoon to {help} eat everything (mind you this was after using the chopsticks first but there comes a time when you just want that last 'spoonful'). Do you know how hard it is to eat eggs with chopsticks? Let me tell you...we got creative. Like the piece of toast we got with the eggs-yeah that meal became an egg sandwich :)
Orientation consisted of an awesome welcoming ceremony that had a kick-ass Taekwondo performance & a great professor that gave us a Welcome to Korea lecture. Seriously, this guy was funny. Not only was he dealing with people that were on serious jet lag, it was also an oven in that lecture hall so you wanted to fall asleep, but he was FUNNY! Good think he was, otherwise we might've all fallen asleep. Saturday of orientation 'week' was a field trip to see the local sights. It was a great day-gorgeous weather (I was worried b/c so far we had been inside so of course I was warm enough due to heating!). We explored Hanok Village in Jeonju. Our classes split up and saw the sights. We saw one of the first Christian style chapels that was built (and it was a tad awk b/c here come about 100 of us and there was a funeral taking place...boy did we stick out!). After that we went to a paper making company and saw the process that goes in to making paper. Lunch was next and boy was it yummy!! We had bibimbap-some of you saw me post it on fb & insta. After lunch was free time and then we all met up and had a crafty afternoon-made pencil boxes & then played the drums...good times! The last part of orientation consisted of us working in groups to co-teach and demonstrate the lesson to our class. We also had lectures going on so the days were even longer. Tuesday night we had our closing ceremony and then an amazing FEAST of a dinner (they also gave us forks that night lol). Wednesday was the big day-we got to leave orientation, say goodbye to the friends we had made, and finally be on our way to our 'home' for the next year. When we got to Daegu they called us up in groups based on the area where your school was. I had found out I was teaching elementary (Zach, who I took over for, had emailed me and we skyped-he was/is a lifesaver and gave me a LOT of guidance...shoot he still is-he helped me with my laundry today via FB when I couldn't figure out how to work the machine!). I met one of my co-teachers and we were on our way. Okay...so that day was BUSY. You all know me-I enjoy busy-but holy shiza that day wore me out...I think I could still be catching up! So from there Mrs. Na brought me and all my bags to my new home-pics to come. The place is great-Zach hooked it up BIG time and left me a TON. I am soooo lucky-you all have no idea. I could go on and on but I won't right now-let's just say that some of my friends walked into nothing-literally some had/have no beds still-and I walked in to a clean studio (stocked with food!), post-it notes giving me directions/explanations for different things AND internet-yes he kept it on for me. Lifesaver!!!
So after I saw my place we left to get lunch, then went by the school, then went to get my ARC card (alien registration card)-which was an EPIK reunion! There were a TON of people from orientation at the immigration office so it was fun to run into a friendly face. After that we went to Home Plus (imagine 5 story Target) and then, finally, back to my 'house' where we unloaded all the stuff we bought shopping. That first day here was the most tired I have been in a long time-I can't describe it, but all the other EPIK teachers agreed. It was almost like we were on this adrenaline high and then came down from it.
In addition to Zach being helpful with everything to make my transition as easy as possible he also did something else. He introduced me via FB to his awesome Irish neighbor Chris. Chris came over my first night when I was freezing and the heater wasn't working to help me out. Since then he has been my tour guide, introduced me to some yummy cuisine in our neighborhood & given me great directions when I ask where something is. He is super social (more social than me!) and invites me out and about with him and has introduced me to some of his friends. I am so lucky to have him right next door!

I only had to go into the classroom on that Thursday with my one co-teachers and we stayed until lunch and then went to set up a bank account for me and get me a cell phone (oh yeah, you know it, I can't go too long without one!). I did eat lunch with the Principal, VP & office staff that were working that week. They commented on how good I was with chopsticks. I think they were just being polite LOL

That first weekend was fun-I went out for my birthday and there was a welcome party for all of us 'newbies.' Celebrating my bday on a new continent was a first for me and I am glad I got to do it! We all went out to some bars and then norebang after (which is karaoke and amazing and you all know how much I love to sing-I am in heaven!). The next day (my actual bday) was a lot of fun too! Some of the girls I met at orientation came to my neighborhood and we went and got Korean BBQ and then got some treats to eat at my apartment. Cheers to 33 and me feeling 'free' :)

So...the teaching part. I am sure many of you are thinking-okay so what is going on, is she actually teaching over there or not!? Well I met my one co-teacher (like I mentioned-she picked me up and took me all around on day 1 here). I have 2 other co-teachers as well. They are all very nice & two of them actually lived in the states before! I am teaching 3rd-6th grade and have my time split up between the three of them. Co-teaching is interesting and I am still getting introduced to it. The first week of school was last week and I actually did not teach. The teachers wanted the first week with their classes and I totally understand why. I teach 20 classes per week so only see the kids once. I have about 500 students total...memorizing names is going to take me til summer I am sure! So like I said last week there were no classes for me to 'teach.' I got to do what we NETs (Native English Teachers or Guest English Teachers) call deskwarming. OMG I haven't facebooked that much in forever. Seriously. I wanted to just fall asleep in my chair. I did do some research for lessons, etc. but still...8 hours times 5 days is a lot of time to lesson plan...especially when you aren't even sure what you are supposed to cover :) Friday night was the teacher welcome dinner-this is a BIG deal b/c the school takes everyone out to dinner (& lots of drinking!) and it is all about first impressions. Soooo yeah...let's just say I was told I was a 'strong' drinker & got to take shots with my principal & VP and then the VP showed me how to soju bomb. It was a lot of fun-the staff laughed at me attempting to speak Korean and had fun teaching me how to say different words/expressions. It is going to be an amazing year!

Saturday was a big day...I went to Costco. Yes-there is a Costco and it was AMAZING. I mean, don't get me wrong, the food here is good. But, it is also so awesome that I can go to Costco and get avocados...or salsa...or...the list can go on and on! There was a group of us girls that went-it is 25 minutes away by bus for me and was a super easy (and pretty) ride. The funniest part of the trip was this-it was packed...I mean, yes Costco usually is but WOW you thought you were at Disneyland! So, one of the girls had to use the restroom and we were telling her where to find us/the general area where we would be. Well, she got back to us and said we were easy to spot. We were the only 'foreigners' around...we stood out like where's waldo style :) There were even some little kids that just stared at us-because a lot of them haven't seen Westerners before. They might've seen 'us' on a movie but not in real life.

There is soooo much more to say but I am going to wrap this novel up! I want to share about some of the culture shocks but that will have to come in the next update-and that will be soon-PROMISE :) And I will also have pics of my apartment too (I have had some requests!).

Yesterday I taught my first classes FINALLY (4 total classes and 100 students total). Some of you saw the picture of my last 5th grade class on FB & Instagram. Anyway, it went great! I think after deskwarming all last week I wasn't nervous anymore-you get past that, where you just want to do something! My co-teacher was super great to work with. The kids LOVED the PPT intro I had put together-it included pics of 'my life' in America-lots of family pics, friend pics, WEDDING pics (lol b/c we know I have enough of those to share pics) and one of the students favorites was me wearing the Olympic gold medal. It was a lot of fun putting it together for them as well-just looking at some of the things I/we take for granted! The kids are so cute, and seem so excited to meet Erin Teacher. I know not everyday will be perfect, and there will be challenges, but that is okay. That is all part of this adventure. Thank goodness for the friends we made at orientation. Since we are all going through this crazy journey together-and even though EVERY school is different, and every co-T is different, we at least can laugh and share how the day went with each other.

The beautiful thing is that tomorrow is always a new day, and if you are lucky it will teach you something new while you are teaching others. You just have to open your eyes (& maybe even your mind) to see it!

Hope you all have a great day! Love you~

Thank goodness for the free luggage cart! 

Milkshakes-yum!!!

School lunch...squid soup :)

Teacher welcome dinner!

              Taekwondo class at EPIK orientation!

Costco 'field trip' fun! 

EPIK orientation field trip to Hanok Village-Jeonju

My Classroom!

Gorgeous cathedral!