I'm here!

Well, I am here in South Korea, and have been for almost 48 hours now. I don't have internet yet but I found a wireless that is letting me connect.

I just moved into my apartment today. The people who were in it before left it a giant mess and it needed to be cleaned. It was bad enough that the Koreans were wearing shoes inside to clean it, which apparently is a big sign of how bad it was. They told me that the one guy who was cleaning will stop in the doorway when carrying in a heavy piece of furniture to take off his shoes, so him wearing them in here was fairly significant. I saw it after they had been cleaning for a while, and I wouldn't call it disgusting, but I've seen some pretty gross places. It was left with a bunch of crap everywhere.

Anyway, I start teaching tomorrow, which is also the first day of school for OSU...kind of ironic, don't you think? I'm a little nervous. There is another new guy who got here a couple hours before I did, and we are observing a class and then have to teach our own. On the upside, the classes we should have are beginning English kindergarten kids, so we don't have to do much, especially the first day, but the fact that they're going to be five and six is not helping here. We'll see how it goes.

So far it's been pretty busy for me. I've been staying with Gayle, one of the other teachers, and I've been pretty much doing stuff ever since I got here. It's nice, and she's paid for everything so far - it's like a pay it forward to the newbies - but I've had a total of maybe an hour and half to myself.

Anyway, I need to go to bed, as I'm still trying to catch up on sleep from the way over here. 12 hour flight, plus a two hour layover, plus a three hour flight, and then a half hour taxi ride. Yuck. I have a couple of pictures of random stuff that I'll post tomorrow if the internet holds.

Night. :)

Hmmm...

Alright, I'm very bad at this whole blog thing. In case you missed that. I'm trying again though. ;)

Well, if you haven't heard, I am going to South Korea for a year to teach English. Why, as everyone keeps asking me? Why not? It pays well, I get to see Asia, and it delays the real world for another year. I found out this summer that what I thought would be my perfect career is...not. So I'm back at not knowing what I really want to do, and I couldn't find a job that I liked. After thinking about it, I figured why get a job that I don't even like while I'm applying for it, just because I'm broke, when I could go teach in Korea instead. So, there you have it.

I'm teaching at a private school, where I'll have kids from 5-15. They pay for my airfare, my one-bedroom apartment, and I get a month pay as a bonus at the end of the year. It's a pretty good deal, and I'm hoping to save a lot of money for those pesky student loans. I'm also hoping the year will help me see the light of what to do with my life and all.

Anyway, I'm in Los Angeles right now, waiting to leave. I had to come here for my visa interview, which was really dumb because the interview only lasted about 45 seconds, yet I had to come and do it in person. At least the school is paying for my hotel room because they wanted me to stay and pick up my visa as soon as it's ready, and then leave from here. My flight leaves at noon on Thursday, and I get into Seoul at 9pm on Friday. (Ick for time differences. On the upside, when I return, I'll get in two hours after I leave, by local times)

So that's it...expect pictures and more to follow!

Well, I'm going to try at least. :)