Annyeong!

That is the extent of my Korean language skills right there, and I had to look up had to spell it for this blog. So I'm here, after what seems like forever, I have arrived to Andong South Korea to begin teaching English. I've been here for a few days now and tomorrow is my first day teaching! I'm really excited and a bit nervous.

I only had 8 hours notice before my flight left, but luckily I had been planning on leaving so the short notice wasn't a bother. The flight to San Fran was only 1.5 hours, which was offset by the 12 hour flight to Seoul. From Seoul I took a bus to East Seoul, 1.5 hours, and connected with another bus to Andong, arriving 3 hours later. Needless to say Tuesday was a long day.

At the bus depot a cabbie tried to take me to my destination. There were a number of issues with this, beginning with my inability to tell him I have a ride. Besides that I had no idea where I was going. He tried to lift my luggage but since the bag matched his weight his attempts were futile. I tried to tell him no thank you, but he just kept speaking louder. I wondered how many times I'd done this to foreigners.

Mr. Shinn picked me up shortly after, which was reassuring since I didn't have an address or a phone number and it was 2am. He drove me to my apartment and bade me goodnight, but only after showing me the few things he had personally picked up for my comfort, which included toilet paper, 2 beers, a new comforter, a cellphone and random food he apparently brought from home (half a bottle of olives, a bit of cream cheese, condiments at various stages of consumption, etc.) It was rather sweet. He asked me if I had any Korean money, and I didn't, so he pulled out his own wallet and started to give me money. I didn't accept it, politely of course, but I wonder if that was offensive. There's a lot to a high context society I don't understand.

I spent the rest of the early morning unpacking and cleaning my apartment. I had expected it to be much smaller than it is, which is always a nice surprise. And of course no space is complete without photos!

It's taken a few days to get used to this new time zone, after all I am 15 hours ahead of Utah. I never thought I'd say it, but I struggle to stay awake until 10pm!

I've ventured out through my neighborhood a few time now. It's a funny thing seeing Hyundai buses, pretty much the definition of an oxymoron right there. There are street venders for fruits, vegetables and fish throughout the nearby streets. Once I get access to cash I'll establish my fruit guy and the like, but for now I have to use my debit card at proper stores because my card won't withdraw cash for some reason.

On Friday I went for my physical, I need one for my alien registration card. I went to the hospital and in 45 minutes I had a dental check up, blood drawn, a hearing test, a chest x-ray, peed in a cup and consulted with a doctor. Now that's efficiency! I'll get my card in a couple of days, which is good because I can't open a bank account here without it. I still can't believe I'm an immigrant!

After the medical exam Mr. Shinn took me to the school and showed me my classroom. It's massive, it's the largest room in the school. My classes are small, 3-10 students, and I tutor Mr. Shinn's 5 year old son and 12 year old daughter. Talk about intimidating!

Mr. Shinn then took me to a traditional Korean restaurant, I had to take my shoes off and everything! We sat on the floor on big pillows and there were about 30 dishes brought to the table over the course. They were small portions, but quite the variety. I tried everything and liked nearly all of it. I think this surprised Mr. Shinn because the last couple of foreign teachers have been British and they have a rubbish sense of taste, the blandest food on the planet is British, so they couldn't appreciate the spice like I did. There were some traditional dishes, like spiced pork and beef served with brine shrimp, and vegetables I've never seen with meat I probably don't wanna know, but thanks to my Uncle Andy I could easily identify and enjoy the kimchi.

The rest of my week has been spent getting acclimated to both the course work and my environment. There's this rudy rooster that keeps waking me up at 6am every morning, and at first it was rather novel and funny, but now I just want someone to eat him already! I had a mission to find him this morning and strangle him with my own hands, but then I put on some music and he started crooning in rhythm, so I've decided to spare his life for the day. But I can't promise anything for tomorrow.

Today I walked around downtown Andong, which is only a 15 minute walk from my apartment. I had some fried octopus tentacle, well, I'm pretty sure that's what it was, and a crab leg on a stick. It's hard conveying what I want without being completely offensive. How do I indicate what I want without language and without pointing? I've settled on an open-handed gesture. I learned I point way too much for my own good, not that anyone was been upset with me. Koreans have to be some of the nicest people I've ever met.

I was thinking I should learn my address and phone number quick because if I got lost that would be it for me. I know a general outlay of the city, but really, I have no clue what I'm doing right now. I do know the place I like to go to for pineapple juice however, so I guess that's better than nothing. Mmmmm, pineapple juice.

The city is interesting, I'll be walking along a busy street then come across a food market or park. I'm glad I came here instead of Seoul, it's big enough to keep my interest, but not so massive I don't shake leaving my front door. But oh my gosh, I thought I was going to die from heat today, it was really humid.

I'm really pleased with the two shoots above.

Okay, so if I keep blogging I'm gonna die, so I'll just part with this; while I was shopping I came across a comic store and as I was looking through the puzzles I saw this and giggled out loud. If you've enjoyed this blog be sure and let me know, if you haven't, well, don't read anymore. Over and out.