Travel and First Night

3/1/11 (2/28)
Internet connection isn’t an immediate option, so I’m drafting my entries like a journal for now, and will upload them to my blog later (which you’re now able to read). Since the posting date will be off, I’m going to date these in the text body according to when I wrote them, with the date they happened in parentheses if it’s different. For this first full day here (and maybe other times too), I have a lot of down time to fill, so I’ll end up being extremely thorough. But you, friends and family, have told me you want to hear all about my experiences, so I’m going to hold you to that until I hear otherwise!

Thanks to multiple re-packings and a fairly accurate luggage scale, my checked luggage weighed exactly the weight limit on one piece, and underweight for the smaller piece. After saying a tearful goodbye to family members at the Nashville airport early Sunday, I went through the routine security checks of getting on a plane these days. I think I only went through the metal detector, not the infamous “full body scanner” although they did have the massive machine there. A girl ahead of me was selected for a pat-down search, but they just let me through.

There weren’t many people on that first early flight from Nashville, and since the plane was so empty, we were allowed to change seats, so I chose the window. A Korean lady ahead of me was apparently heading to Incheon airport too, so when the flight attendant came and loudly told her which gate she would need to go to once she reached Atlanta, I conveniently benefited from that same information! So finding my way around the Atlanta airport to get my connecting flight was a cinch! I had forgotten how fast the airport tram between concourses went…!

At the gate waiting area in Atlanta, the check-in clerk (a Korean lady) chatted a bit and asked if I was going to Korea as a student, but I told her I was a high school teacher. She smiled and said, “Ohhh… high schoolers are pretty wild sometimes!” I mentioned I had been told that these students were well-behaved, but she gave me a knowing look and said, “Ha… Believe me. I was there [in a Korean high school] myself once.” Well, I guess I’ll see for myself tomorrow (Wednesday 3/2)! There were a handful of westerners waiting on the flight in addition to mostly Koreans. One group was a family of four Americans who were apparently newly moving to Korea long-term. There were also half a dozen or more soldiers heading to Korea to begin (or resume) tours of duty. One of them ended up sitting next to me on the plane, but we didn’t really speak. In fact, almost no one on the plane spoke to anyone.

My seat wasn’t great, but at least I wasn’t in between the “proverbial ” two large Albanian women. A small-framed Korean man was on one side, and the tall but slender US soldier was on the other side.

If this is the front of the plane, and the marks below represent seats,
IXXX XoXX XXXI
And this is the back of the plane,
the “o” was my seating position in the row. I was glad it wasn’t right on an engine though, and the headphone jack and TV screen worked fine. Also we felt very little turbulence apart from one 5-minute spot that really lurched. The airline food included three meals: dinner, breakfast, and lunch, though breakfast was more like a snack. For dinner, we could have either bibimbap (a Korean mixed food dish mentioned in my earlier food entry) with soup or a beef meal. I chose the former, and it was reasonably tasty, though I skipped the soup since it was seaweed in broth, and the smell turned my stomach. Breakfast was either a roll or a banana, and I chose the former. This was probably a mistake since I found it was filled with a ground meat substance, like a Korean version of sloppy Joe meat. Odd, but I finished it. Lunch was “chicken” or “beef,” so I chose the “chicken” one. It was like one of those Hormel chicken and rice in gravy microwave meals. Not very good at all, but the dessert was tasty: a square of almond/amaretto mousse. The worst aspect of the plane, besides being cramped, was the dehydration effect. I had been told to drink plenty of water on the flight, and they weren’t kidding! I was thankful that I had filled my small Nalgene bottle at the airport before departure, since they didn’t bring nearly enough fluids in-flight. I’ll skip talking about the airplane “lavatories”…

There may have been wi-fi on the plane, but I couldn’t connect, so I mostly slept, sat and did nothing, or watched in-flight movies. I watched Black Swan, Tangled, and The Social Network. The only one I really enjoyed was Tangled, but the others were highly acclaimed, so… for what that’s worth… I also watched the Indiana Jones-esque flight path at various points. We did fly west (I actually was watching the flight path when it crossed over middle Tennessee, “Hi, Mom!”), over Canada, across to Russia, down across Russia and China, and swung out over the ocean a little to avoid flying over North Korean airspace. The Incheon airport is actually on an island (or slightly connected landmass using a geographical term I can’t recall) separate from Incheon proper.

Flight attendants (all very petite, pretty, young, impeccably-dressed Korean ladies) passed out immigration forms and customs declaration papers to all passengers before we landed. For a few of the items, I wasn’t sure how to answer (i.e. did a 2oz can of pepper spray constitute a weapon? Did dried apples and cranberries from homemade trail mix have to go through plant quarantine? Would my $600 computer count against my $400 total combined value of items?), but I did the best I could and waited nervously to see what would happen at customs.

The airport wasn’t crowded much at all at that time in the evening the day before a national holiday, so I had no trouble finding my way to the baggage claim. As with many airports, this one had some objects from a nearby museum. I didn’t look closely, but they seemed to be antique (perhaps “ancient”?) furniture pieces on display. My baggage took a long time to come out, but that was good because it meant a lot of luggage had already been claimed, so it was easier to grab mine when they finally emerged. The luggage cart was super helpful, and saved the worry of how I would carry all that stuff around. Customs ended up being super easy as well—they stamped my visa first. Then they put some of my bags on a belt through a scanner and had me push the cart with the other luggage through another scanner. It beeped, but whatever that meant, the customs agent motioned me to be on my way, and that was all there was to it!

As soon as I walked out of the baggage area, there was the call van driver who the recruiting company had arranged to pick me up holding my name clearly written on a sign in the middle of a big crowd. Super easy too, and he took care of my luggage the rest of the way, ribbing me a little about how much luggage I had with me. :) He spoke almost zero English though, so I was glad he had my co-teacher’s number and that I had my apartment address written down for him to use in his GPS. I have heard some scary things about the driving skill of some drivers (mainly taxis) in Korea, but this guy seemed like a great driver. We did get a little lost, ending up in a hagwon (private school) instead of my apartment floor, but then back down to street level and another quick call brought my co-teacher and another Korean teacher of English around a corner to meet us. Whew! Thanks to everyone who was praying for my travel to go smoothly; I can’t imagine a trip more free of problems than this was, compared to what could have gone wrong at any step of the way. God provided “traveling mercies.”

I didn’t actually catch the lady teacher’s name (I know, I know, I should have just asked again, though I genuinely don’t recall being told it in the first place…), but I did learn that she has been teaching English at Sorae High School for four years, so one year less than my co-teacher. They showed me to my apartment and gave me a quick tour. It is SO much nicer than I had been dreading, and I think the co-teacher (henceforth referred to as Mr. Kim since that’s his name and since so many people in Korea have that surname that it’s not really going to make him identifiable) was pretty relieved by my response, though I’m still not sure he entirely believes me yet. :) It’s SUCH a cute little “officetel” though! Pictures will be coming soon, I hope, or maybe even a video tour if I can a) get the video to my computer, b) get it on YouTube, and c) link to it on YouTube. I shot the video late last night (the 28th) before I had unpacked.

The place has a living/kitchen/dining area, a small room off to the side that closes off with a sliding glass door, a bathroom off to the other side, and stairs leading up to a half-level loft where I sleep! It’s got a mock-wood floor on the main level, and the floor is heated by an ondol, a heating system that runs through the floors so that the floor itself gets warm through and through, and then the heat just sort of rises through the rest of the house. It’s kind of wonderful…! I didn’t know how to work it of course, but both teachers were taken aback when I knew the word before they told me (thanks, “Eat Your Kimchi” people for posting a video on ondols)! The last resident left LOTS of cutesy little stickers on the sliding door and the fridge, so I think a child lived there based on the sticker height. I said that was okay—the place came pre-decorated! Ha! I also floored them when I asked about tomorrow being “Sam-Il” a Korean national holiday. They said I knew more than some elementary children did!

Some of the furniture and small appliances have yet to be bought (or retrieved from storage), but I started out with a washing machine, a microwave, a 2-burner gas stove, a vacuum cleaner, a brand new LG brand HDTV (!!!), a phone (yet to be connected), table and 2 chairs, a couch for 1, a fridge and freezer (larger than dorm size but smaller than our typical appliance in the US), a wardrobe and shelves, and a mattress with comforter and pillow. The bed doesn’t… exactly have sheets, in the typical Western sense… It’s more like a mattress pad with sheet-like tendencies, so I’m glad I brought my own sheet set. The shower is not divided from the rest of the bathroom in any way, so that’s a bit weird—just a shower handle attached to the sink with a drain in the middle of the tile floor between sink and toilet, which I’m thankful is a western-style toilet.

Okay, enough about my apartment! The teachers told me it would be their pleasure to take me out for a Korean dinner, so we took the elevator down, walked a block or so, and took another elevator up… somewhere. :) (I’m pretty turned around still, and I haven’t ventured out on my own yet, so finding stuff is still a little beyond me. I was thrilled to discover I could [painstakingly slowly] read the writing on some of the signs outside my window on nearby buildings, at least enough to tell where a PC bang—i.e. internet café—and a pharmacy are, caddy-corner to my building.) The seating was in low booths with a table that swiveled on an axis to let people into the seats comfortably. A central fountain splashed cheerfully in the middle of the restaurant with booths surrounding it, and jade and other small potted plants lined the low windowsills around us.

Mr. Kim asked me with a grin if I was ready to try spicy Korean food. I was willing, but he ended up ordering a milder dish for me to be safe (aww…. =\ oh well, another time I can try). It was bulgogi, but a soup/broth version. I enjoyed the food; it included beef, bean noodles, long mushrooms, carrots, onions, and a few other ingredients in a salty broth, but I was still pretty stuffed from all the icky airline food, so I couldn’t eat as much as I wanted. That’s maybe rude, but it looked like they (at least the lady teacher) left some food behind too, so maybe it was okay? We definitely didn’t completely finish any of the banchan (side dishes, as mentioned in an earlier post on food).

Dinner conversation was pleasant and light, I guess to be expected between several people who have just met and don’t speak the same first language. About midway through the meal, Mr. Kim asked me if I was speaking more slowly than I normally would, for their benefit. I admitted, somewhat sheepishly, that I was, and proceeded to demonstrate a more normal pace that I would use with other native speakers. The teachers nodded at each other, and Mr. Kim said, “Ah, so you can speak faster! It is very considerate of you. The teacher before the most recent one was from Florida and he spoke very quickly.” I hope they weren’t worried that I was slow…! I’m glad they don’t have trouble understanding me, and I gather that they’re somewhat self-conscious of what they see as limitations in their English skills considering they are actually teachers of English.

I also learned more at dinner about what my teaching duties will probably be: 15 hours of teaching students in 15 different classrooms per week. That means I see each individual student once a week and teach the same one lesson 15 times per week. I’ll also be teaching 2 sets/hours of Korean English teachers (so they can sharpen their skills) and one hour to Korean teachers who teach other subjects and just want to learn. While my contract stipulates that the principal can ask me to teach up to 26 in-class hours a week, and he might still stick on up to that later, for now I only have 18 hours a week spoken for, and the rest of the school hours will probably be spent in my office. It seems like quite the cushy job so far! I’m sure I’ll get more details soon, and may be brought back to reality. :) Oh, and it seems that there IS a textbook to work from, so I can’t be very creative with that, but it also means I won’t have to invent lessons from nothing whatsoever to use as a guideline. Mr. Kim said I might think this was boring; in some ways it’s kind of a relief, and I think I will have some say in the detail level of how I use the textbook.

They told me there was more they wanted to talk about but even though they were both English teachers, the language was still a little difficult to form or express suitably, so they were limited from asking all that was on their minds. They both speak with good pronunciation, though the pace is a bit halting, and I do have to ask Mr. Kim to repeat himself sometimes. We talked a little about my family, about Tennessee (they had heard that there were places in Tennessee that didn’t sell alcohol on Sundays! I did my best to explain the Bible Belt), and about the school itself.

Following dinner, which Mr. Kim paid for, we walked to a “Home Plus Express” convenience store around the corner from my apartment entrance. It’s like a sort of “Walmart to-Go.” They bought enough items for me to make it through the night and have breakfast the next morning. This included toilet paper, milk, orange juice, bread rolls, Special K cereal, and disposable bowls, cups, and utensils. You know, the essentials. If you have TP, you’re good. Since I packed nearly 150 lbs. of stuff, I only needed a few things that first night. The lady teacher bought us each a can of coffee too, and when I saw the Western-style bottled StarBucks Frappuccinos in the same glass-encased storage shelf, naturally I assumed it would be iced coffee. When she handed me the can, I almost yelped! It was scalding hot! I guess that’s how the canned/bottled coffee comes in Korean convenience stores.

Twice during the evening, the lady teacher asked me if I still knew where my apartment was. The first time I pointed in the completely wrong direction! She corrected me, and I laughed at myself a little. The second time, I almost got it wrong, but then I gained my bearings and turned to point in the right direction, which seemed to relieve her (and me too, truth be told!). I was glad she made a point of asking, since I was so overwhelmed by everything that I was mostly following them around and not paying as much attention to orienteering as I should have been. I think my reasonably bad sense of direction and his experience with former new foreign teachers prompted Mr. Kim the next day to offer to walk me to school the first time for real, even though he had already shown me the way once by then (is that timeline confusing enough for you?). Apparently Bradley, the teacher before last, was late on his first day since it took him over an hour to get un-lost, even though his apartment was just 20 minutes away. Ever since then, Mr. Kim has personally walked the new teachers to school. He’s pretty much an expert at helping new foreign teachers like me around by now.

Then they took me back to my place and bid me goodnight! It was only about 8 pm local time, so I had several hours to leisurely unpack and settle in. I must say, I’m pleased with how homey I was able to make it with the stuff I had brought and the furniture that was available. While there’s no internet I can access yet, my new Samsung world phone gets signal, and even though it may be costing ridiculous amounts of money to have it roaming here (not to mention calling and texting), I’m glad I do get signal and can call out in case of emergencies and to make brief contact with my family. I waited a couple of hours before calling home when I knew my parents would both be awake but not yet at work. It was great to hear their voices, to give them a quick update, and to pray with them briefly before they had to get off to work and I to bed.

I slept amazingly well, around 7 hours. So I guess the crazy time zone conditioning for the week and a half leading up to my trip was worth the nocturnal and solitary hours. At least, I haven’t noticed any effects of jet lag yet. Aside from shoulders that ache from toting nearly 50 lbs of carry-on luggage around with me, I feel better than I have in a couple weeks. Then again, a friend who has already returned from teaching in Korea said she only felt jet lag when coming back to the States, and that was without trying to adjust to the timezones beforehand. …I still like to think it was worth the weird sleep hours.

A side note: I’m maybe receiving different treatment since I’m a woman than the other native English teachers have gotten. My feelings about this are mixed. Apparently, the principal and two vice-principals have not wanted to hire a female teacher in the past because they were worried that a foreign woman would have a much harder time adjusting to Korean culture than a man would. I did a mental “Ehhhh?” when I heard this, but okaaay. I was warned by various “internet people” that such mentalities were still in place in Korea. In fact, I am THE first female native English teacher that the school has ever hired. No pressure, right? During that first dinner, both teachers said they thought I was brave to come into a strange, foreign situation like this one, especially as a woman. I was frank: yes, I am nervous about some things, but I am also excited to learn all I can (plus, I’ll be careful to lock my doors and stuff, and not wander around a lot alone at night).

Additionally, I am being given two extra days of observation before being asked to start teaching on my own, contrary to the one day that was agreed upon during the interview. I don’t know that it’s because of my gender or my insecure disposition. And also, I’m getting a little more careful treatment in the “making sure I can get to school without getting lost” realm, which might be considered condescending to some women, but I’m actually glad that it’s one less thing I have to think about, especially since my track record of finding my apartment the first night wasn’t so good. More postings are forthcoming!