Great Expectations

Voila,

     We finally now have internet at our apartment rendering it possible for an update that many of you are waiting for.  I suppose it was possible earlier in the week to publish a post, but I did not find it soothing nor apropos to write a blog in a dark, testosterone filled PC room with nothing other than pre-teens and grown men furiously playing World of War Craft and Starcraft.  I was already reluctant enough to bring Kelly in there, as she quite possibly could have been the first woman some of those gentlemen have ever seen.  That is, other than their fictional female fairy avatar counterparts who wields nothing but a sword and longbow.
     (Korea is famous for these "PC rooms" which are basically really advanced internet cafes with really nice computers, but they are usually filled with gamers.  Many Koreans love gaming and are obsessed over the game Starcraft, even to the point where our school director's wife, who must be in her 40's is familiar with it).

     None-the-less we are here in Seoul.  Korea in many ways is everything like we imagined while at the same time nothing like we imagined.  This place is jam-packed with people and neon lights. 

     We arrived Friday night Kora time which is approx. 15 hours ahead of the central time zone in the US.  So yeah, jet-lag is giving us a run for our money.  Our school director picked us up at the airport, late, and brought us to our apartment that evening.  Just as expected the apartment is very small but comfortable.  Like everything else in Ilsan, it is in a high-rise; so it all has to be crammed into the smallest of places for it to fit.  I cannot complain about free housing for 14 months.  Seoul is one of the biggest cities on the planet and we can clearly see why.  We are living in Ilsan, a subdivision of Seoul which is about a 55 minute subway ride from downtown and it consits of about 1 million people. 
     One thing that was nice about arriving Friday night is that we had the weekend to unpack and adjust.  We actually did not need much time to unpack, because we woke up around 3:30 a.m. to unpack all of our things thanks to jet-lag.  The directors wife, who also works at the school, took some time to show us around and offer answers to our endless questions.  One thing about Korea is that Confucian values and teachings are deeply enbedded into the culture, making just about everyone over here insanely generous and gracious...unless they are drunk.  Anyway, she took us to several markets and malls to buy things for us.  We felt a little spoiled when she offered to buy our Christmas tree even though I tried to make a plea bargin for her not to.
     The school is nothing like we had imagined.  It is on the 6th floor of an office building and consists of about 400 highly, highly, highly energetic Korean children from about ages 6-12.  One thing that is interesting about Korean age, is that they are automatically 1 year old when they are born, and age another year after the Lunar New Year.  So technically, a Korean can be born mid-December and in Febuary be 2 years old as opposed to 2 months old.
     We have been doing training all week long and like everywhere else, training blows.  We are learning a lot from the Korean teachers and the foreign teachers alike.  One thing that is nice is that there are about 9 other foreign teachers here (seemingly all from the mid-west (must really suck there) and there is a really awesome network of foreign teachers.  We all went out for dinner on Monday and they seem like very fun and interesting people.  Some of our co-workers hail from a different land, such as Ireland, Australia and Manchester. So far they seem great.     
     A lot of gray area that made us nervous while we were living in the States are getting clearer and clearer.  So far from what we have heard, we are employed at a very reputable and elite school and there are absolutely no issues with the director.  They literally take care of everything.  They pay us on a timely manner and pay all of our bills for us such as internet, cell phones, cable, health care, national pension, etc. (Out of our own paycheck of course.)

Well that is just about all I feel like writing right now.  Sorry to those who were anticipating pictures on this post.  While you can be certain that I will be walking everywhere with my D90, I have not taken any pictures yet.  I have, however, taken a lot of video with my HD handheld camera, however Youtube will not enable me to upload them in Korea, and blogger does not have that function.  If blogger does allow uploaded videos, please do not hesitate to tell me how.

Anyway, hopefully my next post will offer a little more visual stimulation for those who have attention issues.