welcome to the R.O.K.

I've arrived.

Being back in Korea is as much a frustrating pain in the neck as it is a nostalgic reunion. I'm glad of the triangle gimbap, the godawful convenience-store food, the PC-bang and the excellent exchange rate, but on the other hand, I'm being reminded of all the things which annoyed the hell out of me the first time, too. The complete lack of public garbage cans, for one thing. Can't find one to save my life. The homicidal drivers, for the other. The cab driver who brought me from Incheon International Airport to the S.R. Hotel in Bucheon was a classic example.

And now, having checked into a hotel, exchanged all my money for Korean bills, let my family and friends know that I'm alive and well—and having survived my couple of days on the job—my head's in a whirl and I'm feeling completely overwhelmed. And yet somehow, I'm relieved. As I should've expected.

Perhaps I can sum the whole affair up in the message I sent to my parents earlier last evening:

Okay, here's the scoop. I'm a hotel room. This is pretty standard since the person I'm replacing hasn't moved out of the apartment yet. I'll be taking possession on the 12th.


Whoo boy, where to begin? I arrived at my room at around 6:45 PM on February 7; I fell into an exhausted slumber at 7:30, awaking around 5:30 AM this morning. I channel-flipped for a few hours (finding two English-speaking channels, one for dramas like CSI and one National Geographic Channel), then put on my clothes and began to explore the neighborhood. It was bitterly cold and windy, the wind chill putting the already frosty 19 degrees down into the single digits. Thank GOODNESS you guys bought me some long underwear and I've got my rabbit fur hat and gloves with me. I'd be so frozen without them...


I should add at this point that my hotel room is VERY warm, with a heated floor, hot water, a big bathtub and shower, and this computer I'm typing on. I finally got it to work!


So: Mr. M (the English fellow who is apparently the head native English teacher at Avalon) came at 1:30 and we walked me to school. It's quite close by...not even five minutes from the hotel. And right next door to the apartment complex where I'll be staying eventually. But this is where it gets complicated. Avalon actually is TWO facilities: the old one on the second floor of one building, and another on the fourth floor of the building next door. Some teachers work primarily out of the one campus; some teachers primarily out of the other; some both. It's maddeningly confusing. Things only went downhill from there. My head is a whirling tornado of grade levels, classes, and other information. This Avalon school is a LOT more stringent and professional than Reading Town was. They make Reading Town look like a half-assed wannabe English school, in fact. They make you keep daily reports (which do come in handy for keeping track of things); fill out lesson plans; and are in the process of overhauling the curriculum. Rumors abound that class times (which currently stand at 70 minutes, five classes per day, though most teachers only teach four) will be altered next semester, which begins March 2. That's right, I've come in on the tail of a semester. Swell. I felt overwhelmed at first...still do, in fact...but after sitting in a couple of classes (two of them taught by Andy), I feel a whole lot better. Andy assured me that this looks a lot more complex than it really is, and I'm beginning to see that. I'm just going to have to really sweat it out for the first week. I'm teaching two classes and observing one tomorrow. The good news is I have three hours to prepare my lessons, with the aid of Mr. M and the woman I'm replacing.


Her name, incidentally, is C.A., and she's from Columbia, South Carolina. She does have a bit of an accent. Out of decency I haven't pumped her for the details of her dismissal, but I do know that she already has another job lined up in a podunk town south of Seoul, in an elementary school. For lunch break today she took me to a little shop she knows of which sells street food. We ate sausages on a stick while she took me up to the apartment I'll soon be occupying, No. 908. I love the layout. The bathroom is surprisingly spacious, there's lots of storage and the view is spectacular. There's a little sleeping loft above the kitchenette which is a perfect nook, in my opinion. I'll send pics as soon as I can. I received more good news in that I don't need a transformer (both my laptop and my phone charger can run on up to 240 volts, so all I need is my adapter; I'm beginning to think the monitor of my old laptop getting fried was just a tragic coincidence).


So...long story short, I have the Internet in my hotel room (so I don't need to use a PC room and pay money for the moment); my laptop is charging; my first day of work went swimmingly; and my living quarters are VERY close to a humongous amount of shopping, plus bus stations to the interior. This really couldn't be a better setup. My only worries are my wrinkled clothes, being thrown into the teaching crucible tomorrow with virtually no training, and trying to get organized and in-step with operations. Plus I'm homesick as hell, even worse than last time. The cookies you baked me are definitely helping, Mom. I'm trying to set up Skype on this computer so maybe we'll talk this afternoon, eh?


Love, Andrew