First teaching week!

It's been a few days so it's time to post something. This will be short, though, because I'm quite busy now that I'm teaching. I'm sure I'll have more time once I'm in the swing of things.

After one intense week of training in Seoul, I am now at my actual location, in Gunpo Sanbon, an hour south of Seoul. Just as the map indicated, it is surrounded by mountains on all sided. Right now there is a great view because it is fall and all the trees are turning colors. Unfortunately, the view is very limited except along the main avenue of the city, which is maybe 100,00o people or so. However, it seems bigger because everybody lives close together and they build up instead of spreading out. I'll have to take a picture of the main shopping promenade: it's quite a neon light show.

Straightaway upon my arrival last Friday (the last day of training, when I was already exhausted from lack of sleep), I met the owner of the school here and he invited me to a teacher weekend getaway in the hills. It was the first of its kind according to the teachers already here, and it just happened to fall on that night. I didn't want to pass up the opportunity, so I yes and we left as soon as I dropped off my stuff at my new apartment. That night was long and included driving several hours, a late night barbecuing session amid scattered rain, and several rounds of drinking (including plenty of soju, the Korean drink of choice), the last of which I opted out of in favor of long-awaited sleep.

Monday, back at the school, a full schedule of classes awaited me. I had 5 or 6 40-minute classes, at all different levels. The kids are a challenge, to say the least, but they are fun. Korean children have to study an awful lot, probably three times as much as their U.S. counterparts (seriously! They go from public school in the morning, to math and science academies to language academies, sometimes until late at night. Only pre-school age Korean children enjoy what we consider a full night's sleep.) It will take me a little while to get conditioned to the schedule and intensity, but the other teachers are very supportive so I think I'll do fine.

I'm looking forward to updating everyone on future adventures and outings!

I made it!

After months of being delayed I'm finally here! Today is my third day. I've seen a lot already but there is much more to see: Seoul is a very big city.

So far, it's been overwhelming, but I'm doing fine. Having close to zero language skills and trying (and failing) to communicate even the most basic things leaves me feeling pretty helpless. The city itself is huge and bursting at the seams with people: so many (to me) similar-looking people rushing around and mostly dressed in business attire is a new experience for me. Even on the weekends people mostly dress pretty nicely. I'm kind of glad I'm not tall and blonde, or I would stand out a lot more! 

For anyone interested, I'll sum up my activities and first impressions so far:

Today (Sat.) I met my old friend from Spain, Maria, and we explored the neighborhood around Itaewon. We did plenty of window shopping, ate at a Thai restaurant and stopped at an American-style cafe (that serves pancakes and brunch any time of day!). Itaewon is the most international neighborhood in Seoul. There are more westerners here than anywhere else (except the US military bases).

Yesterday I spent the day with two new friends, both from the US and teachers-to-be, like me. We visited one of the Olympic stadiums (Olympics were in Seoul in '88) where there just happened to be a design convention going on. We then tried to walk to the main Olympic park but somehow never arrived, so we took the subway under the river to the bottom of a large hill. On the top of the hill was N'Seoul Tower, a tall space-needle type structure complete with a revolving restaurant far above and in the middle of the city. We didn't eat there but  we climbed the hill (a good hike) and went up to the observatory. (check out the photo of the view). Seeing the city from that perspective left me with an even stronger impression of the urban immensity that is Seoul. In every direction, following the Han river, the city stretches on. From up here there appears to be not just one but three or four "downtown" areas with clusters of skyscrapers. Thinking about this, I feel thankful I will be outside the city.

I am still in the middle of the initial down time before the start of training next week. If all goes well and I pass the training week, I'll be off to Gunpo Sanbon, a town about an hour south of Seoul. I'll try to update again sometime during training week.