The beginning of confusing posts

2/27/08 (No internet = delay in posting)

Delays in internet connections mean that these posts, and pictures, are all out of whack and probably won't make much sense.  When in doubt, just click on pictures to look at neat stuff and ignore the mumbo-jumbo typing (:

So maybe the last post was the technical first, but since this whole thing was created for my sharing experiences in Korea – this will be the un-official official first one.

Just so I have it on record, I’ll share what exactly I had to do to prepare for this trip.   Well, that’s really not true, because I’m going to share only 1 part of what I had to do, as it was by far the one that created the most adventure and challenge: The Criminal History Background Report certified for international use with an Apostille.  Here are the facts:

-       I ordered 3 criminal records in total ($25 each)

-       I drove to Austin 3 times

-       Driving mileage topped 900 miles total in the attempt to obtain

-       The whole process took almost 3 weeks, when it could have only taken 2 days (and no trips to Austin or miles driven)

The specific details I will spare, but know that it was a beautiful and enlightening trip to the beaches of Bureaucracy that I recommend to anyone wishing to show support the high blood pressure pill companies.

The flight to Seoul took 14 h 40 m.   I didn’t get up ONCE.  I felt bad about making the other 2 people move, so I never asked.  But, I didn’t really feel the urge to get up – so it wasn’t really that bad!  The cool part was that I got to take some pictures out the window!  Check out the pictures in the albums posted just prior for a couple.

Welp, I got my luggage back yesterday, everything there, everything still in 1 piece.  They got lost in the first place because I didn't get my bags in Seoul and re-check them before I flew to Busan.  The people at DFW made a mistake and routed my bags straight to Busan with me, but that isn't the way it works, as everyone goes through customs once they land for the first time in Korea.  Thus, my bags didn't go to Busan because I didn’t go get them in Seoul (despite the fact that my receipt said they would).  The airline was really good about getting them back to me, though - they found my bags in Seoul and delivered them straight to the school by 3pm the next day!

The first drive to my apartment from the airport was all I had hoped it would be!  It was dark, so it was hard to see much detail about the city.  But leaving the airport there is a stretch of road that overlooks Busan.... Busan was lit up all pretty, just like any huge city would be at night (Busan has 5 million people living there); it was nestled at the base of mountains (like every city here is - 3/4 of S. Korea is mountains) so you could see the silhouette of the mountains behind the city; and either a large river or the sea was in the foreground of it all (between the car and the city) so you could see the light glistening off the water.  And right in between 2 peaks of mountains the full moon was blazing away over everything.  It was absolutely beautiful, and a scene that I doubt I'll forget for a long time.  It's my goal before I leave here to go back to Busan during a full moon, back to that road, and take a picture of what I saw - it was stunning.

So I have been sleeping a looot at night.  I’ve been trippin’ on this badass old-school drug called jetlag.  All the kids are doing it these days.  The last 2 nights Kelly and her foreigner friends went out (hopefully soon to be mine and Britani’s, too!); but I was too tired and stayed at home.  I actually went to bed at like 8pm last night!  But then I woke up at 3 am.... only to go to bed again at 4 am!

Yesterday we went to a big bookstore that Mr. Choi wanted us to browse through and check out what kind of books were available for teaching English.  Turns out they are trying to actually give us some guidelines on WHAT and HOW to teach!!  Since most of the students will need to take the TOEFL and maybe the SAT, they want us to cater our lessons to being successful on those tests (which the TOEFL includes speaking and writing, exactly what I thought I'd be teaching...).  It was nice to know that I'd actually have some worksheets to go off of and make lesson plans!

But we didn’t buy anything there; Mr. Choi just wanted us to look around and see what was available because he wants us to develop a test to give to the students next week so see can get a baseline level of the students’ abilities.  We’ll then place an order for textbooks that we think they will need.  It's pretty cool; we really are being given a) a lot of resources, and b) a lot of flexibility!

BUT DUDE – This bookstore was awesome!  They had a section of books that were in English, but had some Korean translations in the footnotes for less-common words.  I think the books were meant for Korean speakers to practice reading English, but could have some help as well.  THE BOOKS STARTED AT $2.50!!  Titles like "The Little Prince", "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", "Siddhartha", 2 Shell Silverstein books, and a bunch bunch more!!!  I was so excited because the books were ones that I really liked (many for the same reasons...) and they had a bunch more books that I'd never heard of right next to them!!  So I'm hoping that the other books that I've never heard of will be similar to the books I know I like and that I'll enjoy the new ones just as much!

The only downside to the trip is that I don't have any Korean Won yet, so I didn't buy anything.  I didn't exchange any currency at the airport when I was there (STUPID STUPID STUPID!).  So I'm relying right now on everyone else to help me out.  So when we took the subway into Busan yesterday, Britani bought my ticket.  When we went to the grocery store, Mr. Choi bought my food.  GAH!! I hate it!  But Mr. Choi doesn't seem to think it is a problem and doesn't want to take me to a bank... he said I could just borrow some cash from him and pay him back when I started to get paid.  Whatever.

Mr. Choi has been showing us around a lot the last couple of days.  He's been paying for our food, too... and he doesn't pick the normal places to eat, either!  He's treating us to the really really nice places, that you pay lots of money for.  Lunch for 5 in Busan yesterday was more than 70 bucks!!  Then he took us to the coast to enjoy a $7.50 cup of coffee (delicious, might I add..) at a restaurant overlooking the East Sea.  I told him that he was spoiling us and that once Britani and I get out on our own we're going to be disappointed with the "regular" Korean cuisine we encounter!  (I've been told the cafeteria food at the school is an experience - just like cafeteria food in the US...).

That’s all for now.  I’ll be going to visit the school principle today, so that should be fun.  But Kelli says that they leave us alone throughout the year, so no school administration coming into my room during class and evaluating me…. EVER!  WOOO!  I view that not as a lack of interest in what I’m doing, but rather as job security… as anybody who knows me realizes how ironic it is that I’m being paid to speak.