My Apartment



My Bed



Near Hotel Bobos



Bobos


I have been in Korea for 5 days now. Everyday here is an adventure!

Getting to Korea:
I arrived at Incheon International Airport around noon on Monday. It was a nice flight, but started with a scare. I had my flight booked out of London because I was visiting Raph. When the school sent me my flight information I saw that there was a 20-kilo weight limit. I assumed this was for two bags since it was an international flight, and all of my past flights always had a 2 bag limit with each bag weighing something like 40lbs. Apparently those limits are only for flights to and from the States. At Heathrow Airport I was informed that I was 15 kilos over my limit. Apparently there is no bag limit, but 20 kilos is the max weight. I went to the baggage desk to pay the overage and was told that it would be almost $900! I couldn't believe it. I almost cried and must have a good panic look. The baggage guy explained that I was over, but he would check my bag as hand luggage. He reprinted my ticket and on the bottom it said max hand luggage reached. I wasn’t supposed to bring anything with me to the gate, but I had my laptop. He said, "Oh that's okay, no one will even look at that." So, I made it with out breaking the bank. On my return flight, I already know that I will not be flying to Europe!

Temporary Housing:
Since I was replacing an existing teacher, I had to wait for her (Janet) to leave move out, so that I could move into her apartment. The school put me up at a hotel called Bobos. It seems that adultery is a big industry here. There are many hotels that cater to these couples and I had the pleasure of staying in one! My room was pink. It even had a pink phone. The bed had curtains around it and a blue orb in the corner. Very classy. The bathroom had the best toilet ever. It had a heated seat, three bidet options, and an air dryer for your bum. The TV was close to being the largest I have ever seen in doors, it even had free porn. Again, this was a classy place. It was in a nice area. There was a restaurant across the road with the best dumplings ever. I love dumplings! And crossing the street in the area was great because there were pedestrian bridges everywhere.

Poly School:
My first few days at the school were training. I followed Janet to her classes and learned about the classes. I will be teaching kinder gardeners in the morning. In the afternoons I will be teaching older students. The students here are so incredibly smart! The kinder gardeners can write really well, and read pretty advanced books. I couldn't imagine half of the kinder gardeners in the States being able to keep up in these classes. If the class starts acting up, control is easy to regain. All you have to do is start counting and the kids will knock each other down to be first. Everything is a competition here. The teachers are all very nice and helpful. It seems like it will be a good year. Friday was my first day teaching by myself was on Friday. It went well, but was exhausting.

Medical:
In order to live and work here and I had to go and get a medical check. This was an interesting experience. I had to go around to eight different stations with each doing different things. It seemed very inefficient. One person checks my weight, another my height, on and on. Two strange things I noticed, working with blood does not require gloves and smoking is okay in hospitals. Assuming my test went okay, I should have an alien registration card soon. After that I get free health care, can buy a cell phone, and rent movies!