Just another birthday, ok maybe not!

What a day! I don't even know where to begin.... I can't even begin to describe the feeling I have right now, somewhat feeling like I am floating/ being in someone else's body, happy/sad/tired/anxious, you name it and that is how I feel about now all except anger that is. I take that back, I am a bit angry, my wireless connection has suddenly gone away and I am quite angry about that. No internet for me is a curse. thankfully I know that I will have it again at work tomorrow where I can update my blog! :) 

So, today is indeed my birthday. I have had a lot of things happen on my birthday aside from the actual birth. There was the layoff from Schwab, going to a bar in Kentucky when I turned 20 (and got in!!), having a kidney stone operation, being broken up with (it's ok though I'm over it now...no really I am! haha), and now starting teaching in a foreign country. WOW! 

Today I got up nice and early, had a pb&j sandwich for breakfast and headed off to school (walking that is). The walk was about 15 minutes almost all of it downhill until the huge steep driveway at the school itself. Tell ya what this gal is gonna get her exercise. The school is HUGE! There are roughly 850 girls in grades 7-9 (ages 13-15 due to the way Koreans count age beginning in the womb you are 1). Annie met me at the bottom of the hill and escorted me to the top, showing me around and introducing me to other staff members as well as my Principal, Mr. Kim., coincidentally the VPs name is Mrs. Kim but they are not married to one another. I share an office with roughly 11 other teachers, most of whom are quite eager to test their English skills on me.

I pretty much just sat at my desk all day, was given a laptop about 4 hours into the day and told to go ahead and surf the internet. WOOT! Annie had me go to a couple of meetings, where I was completely lost but would smile and laugh when others would. I think I am good at faking like I know what is going on. Lunch in the cafeteria with the entire school was not only interesting but very loud. As a teacher one simply does not wait in line like the students, you just push your way through to the beginning. 2 types of kimchi, bean curd & fried kimchi, a stir fried type meat (perhaps pork or beef), a fish stew, rice and milk completed lunch. If I haven't mentioned it before... I think I am gonna lose some weight here, the food selections are... different but I am at least trying them! :D

Oh, roughly 2 periods into the morning a group of about 5 girls came into my office and very cutely giggling told me Happy Birthday. My heart melted! Everywhere I walked in the school students stopped to say hello instead of aenyong heseo (Korean for hello) as well as happy birthday. Annie had sent out an announcement to the entire school telling them it was my birthday. I was made to feel VERY special today from my new friends as well as all the love I received from friends on FB and email. THANK YOU!

At the end of the day Annie called to tell me there was another meeting in the English room (3rd floor of my building). I went up and met the other 4 teachers, she had bought me a cake and birthday hat. SO CUTE!!! I am telling you they have been wonderful and making me feel welcome and at home, it is truly great. My heart melted today many times. 

You would think that would be the end of my day but nooooo.... I got to go to the hospital where I was literally poked, prodded, measured and weighed. Asked multiple questions regarding my health. Funny thing, those little robes they give you to change into... yeah they were NOT made for women who are well... not ballerina size! hahahaha  Soooo I go out of the changing room and the back was open, OMG ppl were racing over to close the back for me. So funny! They are quite modest here, that is for sure.

Still not done, we had to go have my photo taken for my alien registration card. This is quite a process I tell ya.  After that we made a quick stop at the store where I picked up, of all things spaghetti and Prego! HAHAHA Yes, I found about the most Western food I could to make this week. It will be interesting with only 2 pans. I am sure I can get creative though. It was also nice to have a ride home so I didn't have to walk as the temp got up to 31c. 

Finally I finished my 38th birthday off with a meal of scrambled egg and grilled cheese sandwich with rice wine and will have my birthday cake!

Some observations

A list of random observations thus far on my journey.

1) The first signs of American invasion in the form of food: Dunkin Donnuts and Jamba Juice in the ariport (the only American places that I saw there though I am sure there is more)

2) 7-11 is on just about every corner here just as in the States.

3) I passed an Outback Steakhouse, I can get a bloomin onion if I can remember how to get there.

4) Have only seen 3 McDonalds. This actually surprised me, though I really wasn't in Seoul for long, just driving around it on my trip north to Pocheon. I know at some point I must try it. Speaking of Mc D, did you know that in France they have introduced the McBaguette? It's true, very sad, but also very true.

5) The beds are solid as a rock

6) The people here are really good drivers. I have heard quite a few horns honking while driving around but in general I haven't seen any typical road rage.

7) Water is pronounced "mool"

8) Frosted Flakes and Pringles are just as good here as at home.

9) I haven't seen one local in "grubby" clothes. Even doing yard work they are dressed fairly well.

Fuzzy

10) My village is VERY quiet. I have only seen the neighbors a couple of times outside doing yard work. The dogs make more noise than they do.

11) There are a lot of dogs and they are cute! Luckily my landlord has a puppy that is right next to my room, he loves to give doggie kisses. Not that it is s substitute for Mags, he will have to do for my doggie fix.

12) The houses do not have window shades/ curtains/ coverings. This seems to be fairly normal. Kinda makes me a bit leary though so I have fashioned a curtain out of one of my scarves. :)

13) I can fit: 1 bottle of Pepsi Nex, Mool (water if you weren't paying attention from the above #7), Rice wine, milk, OJ, a dozen eggs, 1 jar of strawberry jam, a container of butter, and 2 packages of cheese, 4 oranges and a pint of strawberries in my fridge.

14) Butter knives do not exist here.

15) Gas stations are called - Oil banks

16) Hyundai cars are actually pretty nice here and are popular as are KIAs.

17) My neighbors have a chicken

18) Grocery shopping was intimidating. Glad that I had my co-teacher Annie along or I would have come home with who knows what aside from Pringles, Frosted Flakes, and eggs.

19) I CAN use a Korean rice maker even with all the buttons in Korean. Feeling kinda proud right now. The next challenge will be using the washing machine... all in Korean... no dryer. WOOT! haha :)

20) It is really easy to keep the dishes clean when you only have 2 of everything and 1 mug to drink from.
It's been a fun first couple of days. Today though I was feeling quite jet lagged and my body was not happy. So, it was a day spent in bed napping and watching movies with an occasional walk out to pet Fuzzy (the land lord's dog. I dont' know his name but that is what I think I will call him. hehe)

Tomorrow will be my first day at school though I have to go take my physical and have blood tests. It should prove to be interesting. What a great birthday it will be! :)

Peace!  Enjoy some pics that I posted to my Picasa account:

Pocheon days 1 and 2

My first breakfast consisted of bread, strawberry jam, an orange, and PJ Tips tea that I brought with me.





Pocheon is known for its mushrooms. The lunch we had Saturday was a 5 mushroom pot with dumplings, then noodles and finally fried rice.

5000+ miles, a drive around town, and grocery shopping....

Mom and I got off to the airport around 7 am, which is what we were aiming for. Trying to take a few back roads, I got us off to a rocky start. Thankfully my mother is calm and didn't kill me with as my nerves were getting the best of me and I was a tad cranky. As we were about 10 minutes from the airport I got a call asking if I was there yet from the travel agent who was trying to tell me something that I couldn't really understand, upon getting checked into my flight I found out what it was... the flights to SFO had all been delayed and I would be on the 9:30 as opposed to the 10:20 flight. Great, this left me with about 30 minutes to go through security and get to my gate. Let the race begin! My flights both went smooth as could be and I lucked out and didn't have a person in the middle seat on either flight. I cannot sing the praises of Singapore airlines enough. AMAZING!!!! Anyone flying to Asia, I highly recommend them. The food was good (plenty of options), snacks were abundant, alcohol was all free (pretty much all you could drink), great entertainment choices, and the crew were fantastic! After nearly 16 hours of travel time I made it to ICN (Incheon) just outside of Seoul. I was pleasantly surprised that customs took less time than going through security at either PDX or SFO. I always feel so special when someone is waiting for me at the airport holding a sign with my name. Oh I forgot to mention that I had to take 3 large heavy suitcases, thankfully only one of them was over 50lbs but it cost $330! YOUCH! I also had 2 very heavy backpacks as carry ons that contained my 2 laptops and the other had my camera and lenses. This girl has got to be prepared! ;) About an hour and half/ two hours later I was pulling up in front of my school where my co-teacher was waiting to take me to my apartment... it was roughly 9:45 pm and she had been waiting there for me since school got out around 4 pm that afternoon. SO NICE! Annie is her English name. She got me to my apartment, about 20 minute walk to my school (which is what I will be doing 2 times a day for the next year), oh and it is at the top of a hill too. WOOT! Good thing I go downhill on my way to school in the am! Annie had been at my place earlier that day cleaning it and going shopping to get me some starter groceries: milk, bread, jam, coffee, water, oranges, tomatoes, and cleaning products, toilet paper (thank God!), and a few other items. What a nice surprise it was to walk into my place with these items ready for me. My place is about the size of a large hotel room (bigger than i expected really). I have a 2 top gas stove, rice cooker, microwave, micro SMALL fridge, and a bed that is rock hard. I am thankful for everything! Just taking some getting used to, especially the bathroom, though I do have a normal sit down toilet the shower is pretty much the entire bathroom. It is tiled (very small) and you just shut the door and turn on the water... good thing I brought shower shoes! Ok, this will do it for now. I will post a few pics and a few more of my observations later. For now I am going to try and get my first warm shower and get to bed. HASTA!!!!

Annie my co-teacher

The time has come

Goooood morning out there in interweb land!5:35 was my wake up call this morning as I head out to PDX for my 2 hour flight to SFO and then on to my 12.5 hr flight to ICN (Seoul). I did manage at least 1 1/2 hours of sleep last night as I was busy preparing my newly acquired Kindle and updating my iPod for the trip. I had better sleep on the plane!!! ;)I am hoping that they don't charge an arm ad a leg for my 3rd suitcase at the airport, but let me tell ya it will be worth it! There was just no way possible that I was going to get everything into 2 bags, and I "only" brought 5 pair of shoes!! haha The next time I post, I will be coming to you live from Pocheon, SK. Peace!

The final countdown

And so it begins...

Today I received my visa back from the Korean Consulate in Seattle. Let me back up a few days....

Weds of this week mom & I drove up to Seattle with all my paperwork in hand along with my passport. Of course I forgot the piece of paper with the address on it at home before I picked her up at the hotel and did I leave the house on time? No... anyway, we got on the road a bit past 9 and off to Seattle. About an hour and a half into the drive and we made a pit stop. I filled out the paperwork, put the directions to the consulate into my smart phone (gee I am sooo happy that there are these new fan dangled things called smart phones!) and off we were again.

Arriving in the Emerald City we only got mildly turned around before heading in the right direction, paying $8 to park for 0-2 hours (of which we only needed less than 20 minutes). I think it actually took longer to walk to the building and get to the office than it did for me to hand over my paperwork, $45 (thank goodness a friend had sent me some cash!), and a couple of corrections to the forms. Again, thankfully I have this smart phone as I was able to check my email to get my visa approval number. Paying another $20 to have the visa/my passport mailed to me when it was ready. I was told this would be ready mail by Tuesday (April 24), keep in mind I am supposed to be starting April 23.

After several calls with my recruiter I finally was put at ease that I would not be starting on time and the school is fully prepared and all right with this situation. Phew! This takes a load off my already fragile mind! haha

Flash forward to today, after mom & dad left yesterday, I am just hanging out trying to relax a bit before resuming the packing. It is really just down to small things like my computers, and the items that I am going to pack. Well the mailman rings the door and guess what I have to sign for? Yup! The passport!! HOLY COW! This is really happening and so much quicker than I thought.

At this point in time I feel comfortable saying that I am leaving Weds April 25. All paperwork is in hand, just bags to be packed, and see you soons to be said.

Played my last D&D game tonight. What a great group of guys I have been fortunate in meeting. Thank you for the fun and memories we've had over the last nearly 8 years. I know there is a spot being saved for me at the table when I get back next year!

Peace!

Packing, partying, and being pooped

I don't remember buying this much stuff! Where does it come from? I am seriously concerned about the fact that clothes, most notably underwear and socks go into my closet, multiply, and suddenly have doubled overnight.

At this point we have spent a good 3 days getting my "stuff" together. Last weekend the kitchen got packed up so I haven't had a homemade meal in a while and won't. I finally have almost all of my clothes sorted into the 1)keep and want to take with me, 2) like/ want to keep but will leave behind, and 3) donation piles. Does anyone else have an issue with tossing a) old shoes, b) underwear, c) socks? I don't know why but this seems to be a HUGE deal for me. I am talking things I haven't worn in at least 4 years... GIVE IT UP ALREADY!!!! I keep chanting to myself.

Maggie is growing more confused every day. She is continuously trying to put her toys in the packing boxes and she wont' leave my side. Ugh, this is going to be tougher than I imagined.

The weekend also brought together many friends and family wishing me well. Tax season party was a smashing success. I have been truly blessed to h ave worked with such a wonderful group of people for the last 6 years. What an honor! Sunday brought waffle breakfast with friends and family as well as a Sunday evening gathering. Special thank you goes out to B for breakfast and my Aunt for hosting the evening party! I had a fabulous time seeing everyone knowing that I have the support of many people means so much to me. Thank you EVERYONE!


Last but not least... I STILL do NOT know when I am leaving. The fact that I am supposed to start teaching on the 23 (like 7 days from now) is only mildly freaking me out. Ok well... more than mildly. I just hate the not knowing part and that things are out of my control is even worse. Guess it's time to try and sleep and hope that tomorrow I can make an appt to go to the embassy in Seattle.

Au revoir mes amis!

Getting Started

This process first began around the end of January when I submitted my fingerprints to the FBI for an official background check which I finally got back 8 weeks later.

The evening of March 25th was my first interview with a school in SK, with the 16 hour time difference this took place at 11 pm. Thankfully I didn't have to be to work until noon the following day. It was at this point that everything started happening so quick that I am still trying to recover. The interview lasted a total of maybe 5 minutes, 7 minutes if I stretched it. Truth be told I am pretty certain that the teacher interviewing me was much more nervous than I was. Flash forward 8 hours later and I woke up to an email saying that they went with a teacher that was already living in SK. No biggie I thought, there is more to come.

My second interview was that next night about the same time. I was asked all of 2 questions one of which is if I had ever been to SK or Asia and the other was if I had any friends or close family. A bit odd I thought, but what I latter learned is that they really just wanted to hear me speak. 8 hours later I had an email with a job offer and contract to look over!

That is when the fun began!

Hello and Welcome!

I have had a few friends suggest that I keep a blog so that they can hunt me down.. I mean keep track of my every move. Well something like that anyway!