Home Sweet Home

Monday morning was an eventful beginning for the week. Soon after I woke up in my hotel, I walked down the road to a little Korean restaurant and tried my luck at ordering some food. Although the dish was not at all what I expected, it was rather good. I’ve begun to learn that when ordering in a foreign language, not to be too stuck on what you want, and just take what comes and enjoy it.

After my meal, I was lucky enough to notice some internet connection on the street, so I called my Oma and had a nice chat with her. This was my first time talking with her since I arrived in Korea and I missed her dearly. Chatting her elevated my spirits I explained to her that tomorrow I will be moving into my permanent apartment for the year. I was very excited to be able to unpack all of my things instead of living out of a suitcase.

As our phone conversation ended and I made my way back to the hotel, I stopped by a fruit vendor and purchased some fruit. As I continued on my way, I was caught off guard when I heard my name being shouted from a minivan. I turned around and to my surprise, saw my boss. He merely said “It’s now time to move into your apartment!”. Being extremely confused I declined his offer to come upstairs and pack up my things (everything was everywhere in my hotel room--- not something you want your new boss to witness) and I asked him to wait for ten minutes.

That had to be the most stressful ten minutes I’ve had for a while. I definitely broke a sweat trying to push all of my belongings in my overcrowded bags. Eventually everything was packed and he helped me bring my bags downstairs to the van.

I must add here that I was just in total disbelief at the way things are done here…. He just randomly found me walking down a street and decided it was time to go…. RANDOM!!!

Apparently the guy who’s apartment I was taking over had told our boss that he didn’t wash the sheets so we stopped off at a department store and my boss purchased new sheets for me (I appreciated this greatly because the thought of sharing sheets isn’t that thrilling, but they’re hugely expensive here).

Once we arrived at the apartment I was extremely disappointed to see that it was a disaster. Everything was sticky and dusty and in need of a huge scrub down. Aside from the lack of cleanliness, the overall layout was nice. Apartments in Korea are much smaller than ones in North America, so I had in my mind that I’d be living in a closet… this was a bit of an upgrade.

After unloading all of my bags from the van, I bumped into another coworker who also lives in the same apartment. Ironically she was finishing her contract and leaving at the same time so I asked if I could have a peak at her apartment. It was slightly brighter and much cleaner than the one I was supposed to be moving into. I quickly got into contact with my boss and asked if I could take this one instead, and he was fine with it… hurrah!

Once I moved my bags into this new apartment, it was time to go to work for my first official day of teaching. I was slightly nervous, but felt prepared enough to try to ‘wing it’. It happened to be the last day of classes for the semester, so there wasn’t that much to do in the classes. I finished up the work with them and then we played games. 99 percent of the kids are super well behaved and a joy to be around. There was one boy who was a bit of a trouble maker. We had some conflict and when I told him that he could not continue, he began screaming “teacher is a giant!!!” haha what can you say to that?!? Lol

Work finished at 10pm and I was happy to come home… it was a full day and I still had unpacking to do. Luckily, Tuesday is a holiday in the school system here so when I woke up this morning, I had the whole day to get adjusted and unpacked.

The first thing I did was go to the store and buy cleaning supplies. Although the apartment wasn’t dirty, it was very dusty and I wanted to wash out all of the drawers and shelves before I put my clothes and dishes in them. This took the better part of the day--- not exactly exciting, but as I’m sitting here writing this, everything is clean, the fridge is full of food, I’m totally unpacked and I have a yummy scented candle burning…. It’s a good way to start off the year!

One side note—in the picture of the bathroom, you’ll notice that there is a showerhead coming out above the sink—this is the shower. Apparently this is the common thing in Korea; they have a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor and you just shower in the middle of the bathroom. This was especially convenient today because I was able to scrub everything down at the same time and it makes rinsing everything a breeze!

One thing that I’ll have to keep in mind is that there is a little switch on the water faucet in the bathroom that either directs the water to come out of the shower head or the sink. Well, today after my shower I went out and ran errands, when I came home I used the washroom and as I went to wash my hands (now fully clothed) I was blasted with water from the showerhead--- quite a learning experience!! haha

Here are some photos of the apartment. I’ll try to take some pics of my kids later this week and post them.

Hi to everyone back home!!

Ps- Amy and Jessie: notice how I have your pictures above my desk already?!? Gotta keep the sissies close!