Medical Tests

Went to my doctors appointment this morning. Cost $90!! Language barrier meant I thought $19...thank goodness for plastic! That could have been horrible. The tests were reuitine except that I got a chest x-ray. I presume they were checking for terberculosis. Blood work, height, weight, family history, BP, urine test (no drugs there!). The doctor said, and it was kind of hard to understand, that I was anemic. Well that's what happens when you eat poorly the first four days. I'm not too worried about it. Once the test results are in then one of the Reinforcement Team (about 10 guys) will go and pick up my tests and translate it for me if need be. Fun times.

My training today is only going to be an hour?! But that means that I can go home grab some Kimbap and maybe run over to e-mart for a comforter. I plan on sleeping in a squishy bed tonight! I'm going to head into work early in the hopes of actually getting my books for my classes. What a thought. I start teaching tomorrow. EEEEEEE! I'm sure it'll be fine. The guys I went out with last night said that they don't expect you to get anything near what you're supposed to get done in the first week or two. So that takes some presure off. So tonight it's either me running over to the E-mart or just going home, making dinner and figuring out my classes.

My house

Home Sweet Home. My apartment is the third floor on the right.

First few days

It's Saturday here and I have finish my first two out of three days of training. I'm hoping that they give me my books on Monday! Otherwise my first classes on Tuesday are going to be very hard! The classes are all repetition, repetition, repetition. Coral reading with round robins, teacher say, students repeat etc. There are a lot of classes to learn the structure for so that it going to be the hardest thing. I have my doctors appointment on Monday and then more training and then observing in the afternoon till 8:50pm.

I'm nervous about Tuesday but anyone would be upon entering a class like this. The hardest thing is that while I've been training and before they've had substitute teachers. So I have to break them of habits and such. Onto more exciting things...

I found my way home last night from my school which was a miracle. I asked a few people where the Siji E-mart was and got pointed in the right direction (it was about a block away). This morning the reinforcement guy came to fix my shower. Now I have a shiny new shower head and hose. :D Then I just went for a walk. Found out that my debit card does not work at the ATM for NH Bank. Maybe it'll work at a bigger one. I went shopping and decided to buy only the amount of food and such that I had cash for and then try to buy it with my credit card. My credit card worked so I "checked" my food bag unstairs then ran down stairs to grab a fan. Operation: Not Dying of the Heat has commenced.

Last night as I was walking home I heard, "Misse, Misse!!" You have to say Miss-eu. Anyway. He ran over and introduced himself and asked if he could walk me home. At first I was hesitant but then we got to talking. He just likes to talk to English speakers to improve his own. He offered to buy me a coffee to continue our conversation but I told him I was too tired. Not to mention hungry. He was really nice and explained a lot about random bits of Korean facts.

So all in all I'm having a great time despite the heat. I'm sure I'll have more to say later!

Arriving in Daegu

Today is my first day in Daegu. Last night I got settled and took a shower which was interesting. The shower and the bathroom, as I had been told, is the same thing. The shower connector is a little broken so it’s like having two shower heads. This morning I woke up, had breakfast and just hung out for a while talking to Mom and Susie. The Moon School provided me with some basic food stuff like milk, OJ, water, bread, nutella and frosted flakes. After trying to get my brain to function I went out for a walk.

During this lovely walk I got many strange looks and have come to realize that unless the person you pass has delt first hand with Westerns they will get unnerved with you smiling all the time. I am going to be the odd one out on this, I smile too much. People did seem friendly and I had a fun moment with an older woman because I was trying to get a picture of this giant bug. It makes a very, very loud buzzing sound. She walked closer to see what I was interested in. I pointed to the bug and said, “It’s so loud!” I proceeded to make a short loud bzzzz noise and laugh. The woman understanding laughed as well and shook her head walking away.

It is so hot outside that I wish I could spend all day indoors with my AC. It’s about 90 here and that’s average/high for this time of year. I didn’t want to venture too far so I decided to just go “around the block.” Bad idea. I got lost. Luckily for me I can remember signs and images well so I eventually turned around and followed my meandering path home. As a reward for actually finding my house, I bought myself an ice cream and lunch. Now I’m waiting till 1:30pm to get picked up to go to training. I really need to remember to take a photo of my house so if I get lost again I can ask for directions! More later.

Thanks Susan K.

Stolen shamelessly from: http://dearkoreacomic.com/2011/03/dear-korea-009/

Fanny Fatigue

That's right, fanny fatigue. This is the result of sitting on two planes for a total of sixteen hours (so far). Right now I'm sitting in the Seoul Airport waiting for my Check-in Counter to open. I'm worried about the flight since it's pouring outside AND there's thunder/lightning. I will be more than annoyed if my flight is delayed. Mainly because I can't call anyone to tell them this is happening. I do suppose that I could find a payphone somewhere.

Anyway, back to the beginning. I had a wonderful send off from my Mom, Dad, Sister and brother-in-law. I wont lie, I almost lost it. Alan helped me get my luggage inside the airport in Portland and I made it through all the security. The plane ride was short and I was fortunate enough to be sitting at the emergency exit and next to a very nice man. He turned out to be the one in charge of Sugar Loaf (a ski resort).

Detroit was big, though later I'll tell you about how small it is in comparison. I got off my Portland flight with plenty of time to run around and check things out. They even had a tram to get to one end to the other! The country mouse in me went, "WEEEEEEEEE!" I met up with some very, very nice people from the Taejon Christian International School. They gave me all kinds of advice and such about Korea and traveling. Not to mention they were kind enough to give me their business card so that if I need to get in touch with them I can.

The main flight from Detroit to Seoul was uneventful and I sat next to yet another family from the Christian School. They were also very nice and traveling with some very cute kids. I have no managed to grab a little food and a drink. Paying with Won it was about 4,000 (so weird). Well I'm off to investigate why there's no one at the desk yet with only two hours to go until my plane. More later!