first days are tough for a foreign teacher abroad. I remember my first day walking around , trying to orient myself in the city, the trips to the cyber cafes, waiting for a good housing situation to turn up. it wound up taking a week to settle on a place. I had jet-lag then as I do now. i was experiencing culture shock as i am now, too. today was tough, a quintessential first day.
here's what happened. had coffee with Alex, my mentor here, and incidentally, my former roommate in st cloud and a good friend. he explained a lot of details to me about scheduling and the like, useful stuff. then another teacher, Paul, took me on a tour around parts of the university area. he showed me around campus which is actually quite pretty in parts. there is a major culinary program which has an on-campus fine dining restaurant and French-style bakery. in the neighborhood around the university, there are plenty of diverse restaurants, a much better selection than I had anticipated. Paul also showed me a big grocery store, lotte mart. it was nice of him to take time to show me around. I also took care of some things at the language center office. I may be able to move into permanent couples housing some time tomorrow. a student worker walked me to the place scott and i will be this afternoon. it looks better than our minneapolis place, i have to admit. hopefully, things will be arranged before Scott arrives. I can't wait until he does. i miss him a lot!
I really gotta learn basic Korean. yikes! I can barely say hello. and I can't really read anything. a reality check there.
one other thing: monsoon season is in full force. it rained most of today. hard. everyone carries around an umbrella in the likely event that a downpour will start. since umbrellas are so there are umbrella pots at the entrance of many businesses. you stow your umbrella when you enter a business. some place even have plastic bag dispensers for umbrella bagging. I feel soggy just writing about this.
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Thursday
today's goals:
1) get to the hospital and get my visa-related medical exam
2) check the center website for more info about teaching and schedules
3) see if I can get the key for my new place, move my stuff there, if possible
4) find eating utensils in a store
5) learn a few new Korean words: how much? where is? bag ( grocery), numbers
6) Skype with Scott, mom, and dad tonight
medical exam completed. it was actually a very fun experience. everyone at the hospital was very helpful, although not everyone was able to speak English well. the nurses amused themselves playing charades with me. it was relatively quick and painless, except for the drawing of my blood. i was pleased that I got around smoothly by taxi. the cab driver on the way back tried to explain the news on the radio to me in broken english, something about California and smoking.
it's sunny today. :)
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Friday
orientation day. met new teachers in the morning and then had a general staff meeting. there are 135 English teachers in the program. it's quite the cast. I'll reserve further comment.
unfortunately, I was tired all day because the new place where I live was in sorry condition and I had to start cleaning it to make it livable. the disgruntled previous tenant left behind a very messy place: rotting food in the fridge, gross counter tops, a filthy toilet. yes, it fell to me to clean the place. there are big drawbacks to having your employer provide you with free housing. still, the place has a lot of space, a nice bed that will fit both me and Scott, and a balcony. it will be worth the trouble in the long run.
don't worry too much about me. Scott is joining me soon.
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Saturday
have I mentioned Korean streets? pedestrian beware. at least in Daejeon, which granted is a big city, crossing the street is hazardous. it is not right of way to the pedestrians. cars brazenly cut off pedestrians nearly hitting them. on some side streets, there aren't sidewalks. people are accustomed to it though, it would seem. I am not, and do not intend to be. I watch carefully for cars when crossing and avoid walking down the road where possible.
today was calm. shopping, hanging out with Alex, and skyping with Scott.
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checklist for Monday :
locate classrooms
medical results
fill out Korean resume forms
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