First week in Korea

I left Reno airport on Monday moring (Mar 1st). Even as my parents drove me to the airport I was scared...at one point I even told my dad to turn around and take me home. Luckily he didn't listen. I knew all along that once I got on the plane I would be fine, it was just a matter of actually doing it.

I got to Seoul Tuesday evening and had to catch a bus because I had missed my connecting flight to Busan. After a 5 1/2 hour bus ride I finally got here to Changwon. It was almost 1 am (3/3) and no one was at the bus station to get me. I was a little nervous but figured it out, got a calling card and called my director to have them come and get me. They brought me to my apartment and I crashed.

The director picked me up and later in the afternoon and took me to the school. It's a nice facility, very clean and bright. It is a new school so the classes are still really small, my largest class has 5 kids in it.

I started teaching the next day and taught Thursday and Friday. It was good though I know it will take some time to get used to teaching kids that do not speak a word of English. It is a lot of repeating, drawing, playing, interacting....which I know sounds like it should be a piece of cake....but isn't as easy as it sounds, at least not for me, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Friday night I went out with Tessa, the other foreign teacher at my school with a group of foreign teachers, it was nice to be around people who spoke English. We went to dinner, bowling and then headed to a local foreign bar (an Irish Pub) to meet some more people.

Today, Saturday, I decided it was time to do some exploring and go in search of an electrical adaptor for my computer.

I spent 6 hours walking around Changwon it was a great day just to get out and explore and see the area. Walked around some really cool Farmers Market type places, had a lot of Korean kids shout "Hello" to me, and FOUND an electrical adaptor.

Now I think it's time for me to get some sleep.

I am going to try to post a blog once a week....but we'll see if that happens, for now here are some pictures of my apartment and my wanderings......