Intro to Korea

I arrived in Korea late Sunday night, June 20. I began the trip 24 hours earlier at 7:30am Saturday in Atlanta (with the time change it was just 24 hours of travel). The longest flight (New York to Narita, Japan) was also the most cramped I have ever been on a plane. I was slightly miserable, and I can't imagine how taller people feel.

Top 5 memories from the long flight:

5.the woman next to me who nodded off multiple times during the 14 hours and ended up just laying her head on my shoulder, violating all airplane and Asian etiquette I have ever known.

4. watching a Japanese movie 3 or more times partly because the other selections didn't interest me but mostly because the main actor was really cute.

3. getting really excited to fly into Japan, probably because I had watched around 7 hours worth of Japanese movies

2.flying over Japan, admiring the incredible greenery and juxtapositions of textures and thinking every thing looked Asian.

1. flying into Japan realizing I was (partially) completing a lifelong dream of going to Japan

The Incheon airport (closest airport to city Seoul) is actually on an island. Arriving at night when it was cool and a little misty made a very good first impression on me. A future co-worker of mine from the school picked me up at the airport. She is so nice and sweet. She took me to a convenient store for basic food needs (I think Italy was playing New Zealand at the time) then directly to my apartment. The school installed bedding, dishes, toilet paper and a toothbrush in my apt before I arrived so felt comfortable immediately in my new home.

My first full day began early. I woke up naturally at 5am, and I'll probably never do that again. Symptoms of jetlag don't show up in my body until Day 2 and I handled it very well, sleeping and eating exactly on schedule. So I showed up to work at noon, received an orientation of the school, planned a sample lesson and taught a sample class. I love the school where I am teaching; it was a big gamble to go to a school about which I knew so little, but I am very blessed to be at a high-quality school with a constructive and uplifting work environment. It's also a very beautiful and fun-looking school. Since the school opened the first day I arrived, we don't have very many students yet. But everyone is confident more will sign up soon and we all stay busy preparing for it. I have great co-workers; everyone speaks English fluently (or nearly fluently). I greatly admire my boss; she is an intelligent, refined, and warm woman very considerate of her employees and very kind to them. Right now there is one other American, from Indiana, and another will arrive this month. There are three other teachers plus two supervising teachers and two office ladies, all Korean. We have a lot of fun together.


Top 5 things I like in my school:

5. Location, location, location! The school is on the same street as my apt. I timed the leisurely walk today: 4 minutes.

4. Flowers! Instead of streamers announcing a new school or business, they use plants. They bring in beautiful live arrangements of orchids, trees, or other plants. So many orchids and I love it!!

3. Planet and star wall paper in the Science room that glows in the dark.

2. One (sometimes two) meal is provided by the school every day. Since we all work from 12pm or 1pm or earlier to 9pm, we have to eat at least one meal, and we usually eat together. Usually they order Korean food delivered to the school or the office ladies will prepare Korean food and we all have a good laugh when I try eating with metal chopsticks. Lately, however, my supervisor picked up a huge load of food at Costco! Now available for consumption: pizza, corn dogs, microwave dinners, and rice krispy treats.

1. I picked the window desk and I can never get over the view I have. (see below)

The view from my desk:

Above: The building with giant braille is the library!

I love my city, Pangyo. It is brand new, I'd say at least 50% of the buildings here are still under construction. Lots of construction is not on my Top 5 Favorite list, but it's worth it to me for all the other things I like about it. My apartment is adorable, the perfect size for just me. There are only two things I don't like about it: my closet receives an F on functionality, and there is a lot of construction dust still no matter how often I sweep. Aside from the occasional crowd at the chicken restaurant just outside my window and the construction during the day, it stays very quiet. In fact, after traveling a little bit in areas closer to Seoul, my city is calm, clean, and quiet.

Top Favorite things about my city, Pangyo, and my apartment:

5. LIGHTS! There are many bridges and some outlines of rooftops that are lit and change colors very subtly, not the flashy Vegas style but a really cool and attractive way. I'm still working on getting a good video to post.

4. heated floors. Wow. I turned on the heating by accident and was very pleasantly surprised in the morning. No carpet, just heated floors.

3. bright orange cabinets in my kitchen area. Retro.

2. No shower curtain, door or tub! The whole room is the shower. This simplifies cleaning and moving around. No more dripping on the floor because you forgot something in the cabinet; no more scrubbing mold out of corners of the tub; and no more caring about where the water goes! Plus, the shower is drip-style (like rain!) in addition to the pressurized hand-held squirter.

1. Miles and miles of walking paths in the parks and woods. My two favorite paths: into the wooded hillside spotted with benches and pagodas; and following the creek going towards neighboring cities. The trails are just beautiful! (see pics)

Honorable mention:
Playgrounds for adults set up with machines for working out (see pics) I tried a few. I felt like a kid again.


I live in the center building, 2nd floor, far right. Everything else is under construction.

This is a park across my street (over one of the light-up bridges) that stretches for miles. The creek joins other creeks and becomes a nice river about 10 miles up. There are around 100 tall apartment buildings like this in the area, but they're all on the other side of the street/park/creek.




The park closest to my house, the bridge leading to the forest trail, and one of the many pagodas along the trail.