To the Land Of the Morning Calm I Go

On Aug 29th I packed my bags… pre-flight… I’m not the man they think I am back home… oh no… no no no no…

Alright, enough Shatner. I flew from St. John’s across Canada to Vancouver BC with stops in Montreal and Calgary. The Canadian leg of my journey was marred by a bawling 2-year child who sat in front of me until they deplaned in Calgary. It wasn’t the kid’s fault, but man it was something to sit through for about 6 hours, and he spent about 3 or 4 of them screaming like a wounded animal.

Vancouver to Incheon was much less eventful. I got to see some beautiful mountains (including the Rockies) on my way to Korea. Our flight actually went north from Vancouver and we flew over Russia to get to Korea. So on Aug 29th, I left Canada at 6:30 am Newfie time. On Aug 30th I arrived in Incheon at 5:30 Korean time. Subtracting the 11.5 hour time difference that makes my flying time around 23 hours. After the flight, I call the school and inform them of my arrival. I buy my bus ticket and inform them of when my bus leaves as arrangements need to be made to pick me up in the city of Daejeon.

I have a three hour trip on the bus, mostly sleeping time. I am actually exhausted by this point because i didn’t sleep the night before my flight. When I arrive at Daejon there is no one around to pick me up. Fortunately a local uses his cell phone to call the school and let them know their new teacher has arrived. After about fifteen minutes the school director greets me and takes me to a motel. This is my home during my first 5 days in Daejon.

I get to sleep almost immediately on my first night. but I wake up at 4:30 am. So I get to watch some Korean TV, and at 8 am I do some exploring. Even though I don’t know the language, I have never felt uncomfortable in the city. I found a nice spot where I can have a sandwich and some fresh juice. This marks my introduction to Korean cuisine. The juice is great, and the sandwich is too. It’s got egg, cheese, and something else I can’t name. It has a sweetness that you don’t find in our version of the same sandwich.

Anyways after my breakfast, I am back to the hotel and waiting for my boss to come and take me to school. On my ‘first day’ i got to watch the teacher I was replacing in 4 classes. The next day I am teaching full time. So my orientation and training lasted about half a day. This is something that I am still not too happy about. When it comes to working I am basically training myself and learning as I go. However, this seems to be the case for all of us foreign teachers at the school. I can take some comfort in that at least.

When it comes to teaching I’ve had some good days and some bad ones. The bad ones make me pine for home and the good ones remind me of all the potential that lies within an experience like this. Three weeks in and I am starting to settle into the routine of work, I am still exploring the city and trying to learn my way around, and in one week my girlfriend will be joining me, so I will have someone to share the ups and downs with. This is going to be a good year.