The view from my employers home, where I lived my first 10 days in Korea. These buildings are everywhere in Korea. Where else are you going to house millions of people when you have no land? The view out the kitchen window-hillsides that are unsuitable for building housing yet great for hiking!
Photo below is Eric, in his PJ's, having some success with our Cashflow 101 Game. Another unsolicited peace sign.
My first grade class before the other 8 students arrived. From right to left Sally, Susie, Jane, and in the back is Amy. Notice they all have removed their shoes and wear adult-sized slippers while in class.
As many of you know, I moved out of my home in Santa Rosa on 8/24, in anticipation of my move to Incheon, South Korea on 8/25. Well, that must have been wishful thinking because the process of submitting paperwork and being hired to teach English here took much longer than I could have dreamed. Apparently, so many native-speakers come to Korea to teach English in the fall that the immigration office was backed up for a couple of weeks. Then the Korean Consulate in San Francisco neglected to call to say my Visa was ready (and that they would not need to interview me after all).
My car was being sold to the State of CA and Swartzenneger's budget didn't exist for 85 days but that all resolved itself just in time to leave except that funds that had been suspended before the budget crisis were not released, which meant that CA funds to purchase my car were in suspension. I was told they would be released any day but after more than a week I heard on the news that CA might run out of cash by the end of the month and decided to go ahead and leave for Korea, and have someone else handle the car sale. And then the choice of a day to leave and purchase of a ticket, which the agency that placed me handled, entailed emails back and forth and even more delay. It was one thing after another. But I did make it to Korea, at last.
My loving friend, Kat, hosted me in her guest unit, which she will be turning into a Bed and Breakfast called The Blue Moon room (appropriate for me, I thought), once she and her partner Bob do some construction and put in a kitchen. Graciously, Kat allowed me to remain there until my flight finally happened on 10/5, six weeks exactly after my move. We had thought I would only be there for a few days but life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans, right? I also have Kat to thank for handling the sale of my car, which qualified for the vehicle retirement program since the third cylinder was blown out while I was traveling last year. Thank you Kat, for your patience, generosity, and kindness during my six weeks in Sebastopol!
After all that extra time, I would have thought I would have been more than ready to go. That proved not to be the case. Going out to dinner with JJ for a "last meal" and sneaking in one last massage for her, who had just returned from helping her daughter move in Alaska, and then organizing and squeezing every little thing into my suitcases, took till 3:30 am. I lay down to rest and didn't wake up till I was too late to catch the Airporter in Petaluma (or so JJ said as she drove past the exit, taking me on to the S.F. Airport). Thank you JJ for your love and support and for pointing me in the right direction and getting someone to help me with my bags!
I ended up paying extra for baggage (some of which was planned and some of which was not) but the Northwest staff also gave me a break on price too. It was all worth it, in fact, I now wish I had brought another box of stuff with me because it will probably be more expensive to have it shipped over later than it would have been to bring with me on the plane, even with the recently increased baggage costs on airlines.
The flight was long, sixteen hours, I believe, with a layover in Tokyo for a couple of hours. I watched a few films (well, nearly, as we landed just before one film ended) and read a bit of a book but despite being exhausted, I was too excited to sleep. Had a nice visit with a young man from Taiwan who I sat next to on the long leg of the journey who had just been to Los Angeles and San Francisco for the first time.
Got into Incheon/Seoul airport at 9:30 pm on Monday (having left S.F. at 1:30 pm on Sunday). I had not heard anything about what to do or where to go once I arrived so I just put one foot in front of another. Stopped for a restroom, picked up luggage, went through customs (which took my walnuts and apples from me), and stopped for currency exchange so I could buy a bottle of water. Then saw a sign with my name on it and introduced myself to Peter. A friendly man who was more than a foot shorter than me. Peter couldn't speak English and so no matter what I tried to communicate, it was to no avail. We speeded through the highways and headed into Incheon, and Peter pointed the way to Seoul as we passed the exit. It was too dark to see much of the terrain but it was warm and humid so he put on the air conditioner and we shared turns putting our hands in front of the vents and enjoying the cool, connecting despite our difference in language. We finally arrived (I had no idea where we were headed) at Reah's home. She is the President of the School program that hired me and received her Master's degree in education from Arizona State University. It was nearly midnight by now so she showed me to her son's room and I collapsed.
Reah sent a cab to pick me up at 11:00 am on Tuesday and he took me, again silently, across town to the schools headquarters and Reah's office. There I browsed a library of used English books while I waited for Reah's availability. She drove me to the school I will be teaching at. I had many questions for her but due to traffic and the focus necessary for her to speak English, that was better left to a time when she was not driving. As it was, we missed our exit and had to back track, arriving at the school much later than hoped. Reah introduced me to the Principal of the school, who shared a vitamin drink with the two of us. The Vice Principle joined us later and they all spoke about me in Korean with little translation. I did hear that the President is confident that I will make a good teacher but that was it. Then Reah introduced me to Lexy, the 26 year old Korean woman who I will be teaching with everyday. Lexy has been teaching for only three months now, since she decided to give up computer programming. Then the two women introduced me to the students and Reah said someone would come pick me up later. Reah encouraged me to shake each child's hand individually and say to them how happy I was to meet them and the children each, in turn, told me their names. Lexy had given them each English names (translated from their Korean names, which is readily available on her cell phone, which also tells us time when classes start and end). I'm still working on learning all 43 of their names (I have six classes, each 55 minutes long, with between 4 and 14 students between the ages of 7 and 13, increasing in age as the day goes on). The youngest students are more active participants than the older students, which I attribute to them being more acclimated to the school environment but could simply be a result of exhaustion for both them and me as the day wears on. This is an after school program so most of these children have been studying since early morning so by the time it's 6:00 pm and they are tired, no matter how exciting the material is, and I am tired as well so perhaps I am not as enthusiastic as I am earlier in the day either.
Lexy walked me to the street and we waited for someone to pick me up after school on Tuesday. It turned out to be Reah's husband, who reminds me of my ex-husband, Randy Moon, with his long, straight, and dark thick hair and native American-like features. So, once again, I took a long ride in silence across town with a strange man. I was surprised when we stopped and he got out and called to someone. Turned out to be Eric, the boy who generously offered to allow me to stay in his room, until my own place is ready (which Reah had said would be only a couple of days). That was when I realized that this man is Reah's husband and Eric's dad. They took me out for a traditional Korean dinner and we sat on the floor, around a table with a grill in the middle of it. The food was excellent, perhaps because I had missed lunch, and Eric translated for his father and I to interact a few times. Eric and I decided to play the Cashflow 101 game I brought along with me when we got home. I barely had time to explain the rules before I was ready to fall asleep and my brain would no longer perform simple math (at only 9:00 pm!).
Eric and I finished our Cashflow game the next night, with him getting out of the Rat Race in record time. I enjoyed watching him revel in his success as he lined up all of his money and matched it with the money in the bank after the game was over. He usually plays Monopoly or Life but admitted that he liked this as well or better than those games. I loved seeing him so excited about being successful at only 12 years of age!
Wednesday Reah's husband picked me up and took me to work at 11:30 am. We stopped for gas and then drove through a car wash (much better than the ones in the USA). I still haven't calculated the cost of gas here (which requires changing liters to gallons as well as won to dollars to make sense to me) have seen signs for anywhere from $11-19 won per liter. Interestingly, all the stations I've seen are full service, where they pump your gas for you. It's been a long time since I saw that in the USA!
When I arrived at school, Lexy was waiting for me so we could go have lunch together in the teachers cafeteria for my first time. She commented that she thought the meal was especially for me since it had corn chowder soup when traditionally they only serve typical Korean food. I decided that Koreans eat quickly (I tend to be a slow eater and enjoy conversation over food but those habits had left me hungry twice). When all four of us went out to eat on Wednesday night, I ate quickly and didn't talk so that I would be ready to go when others were and get enough food. I may need to undo this habit when I get home but for this year, it's the only way to go!
I slept nearly twelve hours/night the first few nights here, attempting to switch my days and nights around. I finally woke up after only 8 hours this morning. Not sure why but today, Thursday, nobody came to pick me up so I spent the day here at Reah's home reading and writing and getting caught up on news and emails. I learned yesterday that Korea's won has fallen in value 30% this year and to the lowest point in the last ten years, since the Asian economic crisis. Why seems to be a mystery but US speculators is a possible cause.
I've just been attempting to take photos from the windows in the front and back of the home but I only get the reflection of the flash on the glass. Will have to post photos to the blog later, I guess. Want to sharing with you all what it's like here. Incheon reminds me more of Paris than any other place I've visited. Vast intersections and monolithic infrastructures everywhere, with lots of parks, people, and storefronts shouting their offerings in the Korean alphabet. Which reminds me to mention that today is Hongul day, where the origination of the Korean alphabet is acknowledged (but apparently not celebrated).
Love you all!
Terri
P.S. Please let me know how you are doing over there. News sounds pessimistic so I hope you are staying out of fear.
