We had some quick showers and dressed up in our least wrinkled clothes. At 8:30am our co-teacher Lee Kyung Ran showed up and welcomed us then whisked us off to school to meet everybody. (The students go to school every 2nd Saturday). We arrived to see our welcome banner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The principal, vice, and other teachers were very nice. They introduced us to the students in a ceremonial style. The children lined up and we introduced ourselves over the loudspeaker.
Here's a picture of our school from our apartment balcony. It's pretty nice. We start on Monday with orientation and will begin our actual classes a week later.
After our schol meeting, Mrs. Lee took us to E-Mart (basically like Wal-Mart but with a large grocery section. The school had given us 300 000 Won each to set up our apartment. We spent 305 000 in a couple hours at E-Mart. A toaster, kettle, bedding, fry pan, 2 plates, 2 cups, 4 chopsticks, food, detergent, garbage cans, toilet paper, etc. It added up fast but we are happy and our apartment is functional now.
After E-Mart, Mrs. Lee took us to the other Ohak ESL teachers apartment. Her name is Mya and she took us out for lunch at a nearby restaurant. She is very nice and answered a million questions (she's been here a year already). After lunch we went home for a 2 hour nap and then Mya came back to our apartment with another Yeoju ESL teacher, Tiffany. The four of us took a Taxi to downtown Yeoju (we're in Ohak which is a 20 minute walk from downtown). We went out for dinner - Chicken Kalbi - it was awesome and super spicy. At the restaurant, we had to take off our shoes and sit on the floor. It was really busy and a genuine Korean experience.
The 4 of us continued our evening walking downtown and finally stopped for some Ice Cream.
We taxied home and promptly went to bed. Our first 24 hours were pretty hectic!!!
Bright lights, big city, and ice cream.
ReplyDeleteGood times.