R-O-C-K in the R-O-K

1st official post from korea.

So I suppose apologies are in order. I've been meaning to write a little something to let you all know I'd arrived safely in Korea, but then I blinked and a whole month had gone by. So here is the roundup, one month in.

Landed in K-town without incident. SMOE (seoul met. office of education) staff gathered us and put our jet-lagged arses onto busses. At a university on the edges of seoul for a week of orientation, which quickly became orientation/quarantine thanks to the swine flu scare. A week of lockdown, with nowhere to go and no drinking allowed. Awesome. fortunately, we met some really fantastic people and spent the week making friends rather than weeping from boredom. Still, we were happy to be released into seoul proper.

I should mention at this point that I didn't know what school I would be teaching at until the night before we left orientation for our specific schools. I was overjoyed to be picked up by the nicest vice principal ever and a coteacher who had lived in canada and spoke perfect english. They didn't have an apartment set up for me quite yet, so I spent a few days at a hotel up in the mountains. not too shabby.

The next few days were spent meeting teachers, checking out the school, meeting up with SMOE friends, and wishing desperately for cell phone service. I'm getting a hang of the teaching thing now (altho with classes of 30-40 it will always be challenging) and my apartment is totally sweet.

The 9-5 world is still not my favorite, but it does have its merits. Having no responsibilities after 5pm has done wonders for my social life. I'm learning to read and write korean, slowly. hopefully speaking and understanding will follow. eventually. in the meantime, I rely on english-speaking co-workers and my ability to communicate via gesture.

This weekend is Chusak, the Korean thanksgiving, so we are off monday and friday. This is deeply exciting. Going with arianna and a bunch of our friends to an island off the west coast where we are allowed to camp on the beach. It'll be nice to see a little more of Korea.

Theres so much more to tell, but as usual I'm running late. I'm going to attempt to post occasionally on a blog rather than making facebook notes. I can't promise to update frequently, but if you ever want to check it out its http://anyidiotwithablog.blogspot.com/

also, I have a skype phone number. Its an new york number and it costs the same as a new york # to call. However, it calls my computer rather than a phone, so if I'm around I can talk to you. I would love to hear from you, whether by skype or by email. Just to know how you are, ect.
(347) 627-0964

anyways, love and miss you all.

anyang!
rachel