So, I started packing on Tuesday (way early for me…) All I can say is Thank God for space bags (the bags you pack and suck all of the air out of with a vacuum hose) because I don’t know how else I would have gotten everything I needed (and probably quite a bit that I don’t need…) into my allotted baggage limit of two bags weighing 50 pounds of less. I weighed everything before we left, shooting to have my bags weigh no more than 40 or so pounds to account for a difference between our bathroom scale and the scale at the airport.
Mom, Dad and I got to the airport well before my flight left. I’m talking 4:45 for a 7:15 flight. We like to be prepared. The woman at the United desk printed off my boarding passes and went to check my luggage. She lifted my first bag and it passed the test with flying colors. The next bag… had to be weighed. When Dad was putting my luggage in the car before we left, he had made a comment about that bag weighing too much. Mom had made the same comment as she carried it into the airport. I knew better. At least, I hoped. As the woman put the bag on the scale, a feeling of great relief passed over me. It weighed 45.7 pounds. No. Big. Deal.
Kirk and Ruth came to the airport to see me off and Nick also called right before it was time for me to go through security. I can’t thank them all enough for coming and calling! Saying goodbye to everyone went a lot more smoothly than I had expected. No tears! My flight to Chicago was no big deal. Maybe 40 minutes. It was fun to look out the window at Cedar Rapids from the air. I’ve only lived in the city for about nine months of my life total, but I feel a special kinship just the same. When I arrived in Chicago, I had about four hours to kill. I landed in terminal two and had to find my way to terminal five which is the international terminal. I followed all of the brightly colored signs and found myself at a train that dropped me off right in front of the terminal as if I had taken the shuttle from Rockford as Mom, Dad, Nick and I had done about 10 years ago on our trip to Sweden. I had to re-check in since I was transferring airlines. I stood in line in front of a girl and guy who were also preparing to teach English in Asia. If was fun listening to them talk about their preparations, what they packed, etc. even though their faint Southern accents and verbal ticks started to get on my nerves a little… When it was my turn to check in, I walked to the desk and handed the woman my passport and boarding pass. Everything went super smoothly until she asked about my carry-on luggage. I showed her what I had with me and she made me weigh the bigger of my two items. It weighed 14.6 kilograms. Apparently, the combined weight limit of carry-on luggage is only 10 kg. Oops. She told me they would have to check it. This worried me because I was not about to pay $45 to check an additional bag. She must have sensed this worry (I’ve never been very good at hiding my emotions…) because she graciously waved the fee! I started to breathe much easier after I profusely thanked her and transferred a few things into my sole carry-on.
My flight to Seoul was also pretty no big deal. I sat on the aisle beside two college age boys from Shanghai, China who were coming back from a Solar Decathlon Competition in Washington D.C. I didn’t talk to them hardly at all, though, because the kid across the aisle from me was quite the Chatty Cathy. Before the plane even began to move, Lee talked my ear off all about the competition (which I could sort of intelligently keep up with because a group from Iowa State had competed in the competition), his interest in energy conversion (lots of smiling and nodding here) and why I was going to Seoul. He was very excited that I was teaching and invited me to come teach in China next! What a character he was! After the plane lights were turned out, I fell fast asleep for the next eight hours straight, waking up a couple of times, having to remind myself that, yes, I was in fact en route to Korea and not having a weird dream. I slept through the first meal they served on the plane, which was fine because the choices were either beef or Korean (I’m not sure what that would have entailed…) so I’m not sure I could have eaten them anyway. I was surprised to find that they even served a meal at all, let alone serving food three times. The second time, they served the first meal again and the third was breakfast several hours later. Much of the rest of my flight was spent sleeping and watching Friends and Under the Tuscan Sun on my ipod. I also ate a breakfast that consisted of an omelet, some melon, a croissant, and yogurt. With about half an hour of the flight left, Lee tapped me on the shoulder and started asking me all sorts of questions about what I studied in college and many other questions that I found funny. He asked me to tell him all about American barbeques, he told me that because I only eat fish and no other meat, I have really nice skin (for real? What a smooth talker… My skin is in the worst shape it’s been in since high school!), and asked how much houses in Iowa cost. What a random kid. He was very, very interested in my study of Sociology and we talked a lot about the differences between Sociology and Psychology. We even exchanged stories about experiments and studies in the respective areas that we found interesting. He kept telling me over and over how much he loves America and how lucky I was to be an American, which is definitely something I take for granted, but I also don’t know that he has a legit idea of all that America entails, nor do I have a legit idea of what it means to not be American...
The flight landed about half an hour early, which made me nervous that Mr. Kim would not be at the airport yet, especially given the time of day (4:30 am!). I made it through immigration quickly and retrieved my baggage within (literally) two minutes. I didn’t even have time to get a luggage cart before I had all of my bags. Customs was also super easy. I handed the man my card with no claims and he bowed and waved me through. Then, right in front of the welcome gate sat a sign that said my name on it, welcoming me to Korea. I walked up to the sign and smiled and made eye contact with Mr. Kim. He introduced me to his friend that would drive me to Gwangju city as he was waiting to pick up another native English teacher who would be arriving a little bit later. The drive from the airport in Incheon to Gwangju city was about an hour. The sun rose as we were driving, revealing Korea’s beautiful landscape of tree-lined hill-mountains. There were also a lot of buildings much like any large urban area. As we got off the interstate and closer to Gwangju city, I began to notice the several bright colored signs that are everywhere: on the sides of buildings, on banners along the side of the road, EVERYWHERE! We met the director of foreign relations at my school, Dr. Hyunjoo Kim, who hired me and has been communicating with me through this process, at my school. Because it was too early to visit the school (6:15 am or so), she took me to my apartment. (I’ll post pictures and a video tour soon, I promise!) It is just two blocks or so down the hill from my school. It is on the fourth floor of the building. On the street level is a small convenience store that is open 24 hours a day. The next floor is home to a business called Drumline that gives music lessons to kids. The third floor houses karate classes. This morning I heard a kid playing a drum kit (he or she was pretty good!) and just now I heard the karate class. There are four apartments on my floor. There is a door to enter the floor that is locked and then my apartment door is also locked so it is very secure! My apartment is quite small but has everything I need with lots of storage. There is a small kitchen right inside the door with a large refrigerator / freezer, a small sink and a two (gas) burner stovetop, very small, shallow broiler and wood laminate floor. If I keep walking straight, I enter the bathroom. It is made entirely of pink tile. There is a shower head on the left (but no enclosed area with a curtain or doors), a short, but good sized sink in the middle under a large mirror and a toilet and washing machine on the right. On the other end of my apartment is my bedroom/dining room/living room. I have a double bed, table with two chairs, good sized closet, television, desk and sofa. The whole wall facing the street is windows from the ceiling to about halfway down the wall. My desk sits on this wall, so I feel just like Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City as I write this entry! I will only live in this apartment for about a month because when the other English teacher at my school leaves at the end of September, I will move into her apartment, which I’m told is larger. Either way, I am very comfortable here!
Dr. Kim left me about two hours to get some rest and get cleaned up for the rest of the day. At 9:00, I was picked up by Chan-yang Jung, one of several Korean English teachers at my school. He took me to a hospital in the next city to get the health screening that is necessary to get my Alien Registration Card, which will enable me to get a cell phone, internet and a bank account. It was a pretty standard general physical, checking my teeth, weight, height, blood pressure, eye sight and hearing. Mr. Jung told me that I would probably have to get new glasses because my sight is not good enough with my current lenses, but we’ll see what the doctor says… I also had to get blood drawn, get a chest x-ray and pee in a cup for a drug test. Mr. Jung handed me the cup and asked if I knew what it was for. I said yes, but I wonder what he would have said if I had said no… The whole thing was quite efficient and took less than an hour, which I guess is pretty fast because Mr. Jung was very happy with the amount of time it took. We talked on the way to and from the hospital about lots of things. The thing that really sticks in my mind was when he asked if America was like what he had seen on Desperate Housewives. He said that watching season two really helped his English skills. I consider it my personal mission for the next year to dispel any and all thoughts that all Americans behave like the women on Wisteria Lane.
Once we got back from the hospital, we went to the school. My school is called Kyung-Hwa English Business High School for Girls. It is part of a larger campus that houses a middle school and an academic high school. My specific school is considered a vocational school for girls that are more geared toward entering a trade school once they are done with high school (beauty school, opening a bakery, becoming a certified typist to work as a secretary, etc.). The whole school was founded on a Christian ideology. Once we got to the school, I was taken around to meet several teachers and administrators and was shown where my desk would be. I was also introduced to a couple of music classes that Dr. Kim teaches. They all cheered and clapped when Dr. Kim introduced me (I suspect she coached them to do this, but it was much appreciated just the same..). Next, we ate lunch. For lunch that day there was standard kimchi and rice, fried pork cutlets and gravy, a cold bean sprout and corn salad and octopus soup. Everything (save the pork cutlet and gravy which I did not try) was delicious! The kimchi was spicy, the rice was nice and sticky and the octopus soup tasted similar to the oyster stew my mom makes for Christmas Eve dinner. I was a little shaky on the chop stick use, but I think I will get the hang of them soon with some practice.
After lunch, Dr. Kim took me to E-Mart (much like a Target store) to purchase some supplies for my apartment. I got some pillows and a comforter for my bed, some eggs and milk, a dish and tea cup, and some cleaning supplies. I’m planning to venture out again tomorrow to get more food, an alarm clock and some other items for my apartment.
After E-Mart, I sat in on two English classes. This helped me get an idea of the levels of the girls I will be teaching. Each of the school'sbthree levels are split into two sections, a lower level and a more advanced level. I will be teaching the lower levels. There isn’t really a set curriculum for me to follow, so Emily (the teacher whose classes I observed) gave me some advice on how to plan the classes. I am to come up with a general concept to practice and break that general concept down into several lessons, starting with easy things and building on those easy concepts to more difficult skills. I think it will take me a little while to come up with what to teach them, but once I figure out what I want to teach, the methods shouldn’t be too hard. I basically need to introduce the concept, have them practice it and them play a game or have an activity to engage them to put their new knowledge to use. I think this will be a lot of fun! The girls seemed very engaged and excited to learn and they all got very into the activities, constantly laughing and cheering when they were successful. I will be teaching about 20 hours per week, but will be at the school from about 7:50 to 5:00 each day, which gives me ample time to prepare my lessons during the day at school. I start teaching by myself on Wednesday! WHOA.
That is all for now. I typed this whole entry in Microsoft Word and am stealing a spotty wireless signal to post it. Plus, I’m still real tired, so I think a nap is next on the day’s agenda.
Thank you for all of the e-mails and Facebook greetings! It is comforting to know you are thinking of me and know that I am thinking of all of you as well!
Dr. Kim told me to use the school’s address to send things since I’ll be moving. Here it is:
Kyung-Hwa English Business High School for Girls
Song-Jung Dong 52-1
Gwang-Ju City, Gyung-ghi Do
Korea
My apartment’s landline phone number can be dialed from the US like this:
011.82.31.768.8659
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