my first days...

so, i've been here in south korea for a couple of days now. when i flew in on saturday evening, i was picked up by a driver who spoke zero english, whatever. he was supposed to drive me to the school where i will be working to meet up w/ my boss & some of the other new teachers and, most importantly [to me], to pick up my welcome box (which includes my cell phone, my electrical adapters, maps, etc). BUT, we were caught up in traffic and it was getting late, so i was driven directly to my apartment and was told that i would be picked up at 8am on monday to go to the school. ummmmm...ok. but what am i to do w/ myself until then? i have no korean currency, no way of contacting anyone, no map to find out where i am. how will i even eat? whatever, i'll figure something out, i'm fine. i boot up my laptop, and HOORAY, i pick up an internet connection...and YAY! my friend, aaron, who is also here in seoul, happens to be on skype. so i chat him up...and he thinks that he lives in the same part of town as me...but he has no idea where he is exactly either, has no phone, and has no idea how he would find me (especially since i don't know where i am). RATS. and then my computer battery dies. i haven't a plug adapter to plug it into the wall. no more internet. i have my friend, smilja's phone number, but i have no local currency with which to make a call via pay phone. bah. so i did some reading and went to sleep that night.

so the next day, after a night of endless wacky dreams, i woke up, completely disoriented, at about 8:30am (according to my nonfunctioning US cell phone), which had a nearly dead battery as well. i did some yoga, took a shower, then decided to go walk around a bit, see what's in my hood. maybe, just maybe, i'll cross paths w/ aaron... but no such luck. almost nothing was open on sunday, and i had no money to purchase anything at the places that were....so back home to twiddle my thumbs. thank goodness for the former teacher living in my apartment who left a package of spaghetti noodles and a jar of prego. linner. got back to my book, even cowgirls get the blues by tom robbins, which i am LOVING........and then jet lag hits me like a ton of bricks. i was out....until god knows when. really, only god knows, because that cell phone, my only time-telling device, was dead when i awoke. criminey...how will i know when to get up in the morning for work? ...it will be fine, i'll just wake up early (hopefully), get ready and wait.

and it all worked out. my biological clock was actually spot on this morning. somehow, i knew when it was 8am, and i walked downstairs and whoosh, there was Christine, my new boss, arriving to fetch me. she felt so bad that they couldn't get in touch w/ me on sunday (because the head teacher took the other newbies shopping at costco...but somehow, they didn't know where i lived. ??? whatever). we stopped at coffee bean & tea leaf (how korean, right?) and she bought me a bagel and coffee (halleleujia for coffee). at the school, we got right to work....we were shown to our classrooms, given our lesson plans, worksheets, etc, and then came the kiddies. whoa! but they were great... i only have 6 students in my class, all 6 years old (7yrs in korean age, huh?), and they've all been at the school for a year already. i was impressed at their level of english. whew, this isn't going to be so bad. the kids are sweet and oh so cute. and we get to/have to wear house slippers at school all day (happy feet).

after school today we had to go get our health check-ups at the hospital, a requirement to get an alien card, which is necessary to open a bank account, etc. that was fun, giving up some blood and urine and what-not. i also got to exchange some money, and now i have a cell phone and a way to plug in my computer. Hey! life is good again....damn technology.

can't wait to explore the city and to start learning korean.