First Glimpse of My Life in Korea!

Well, I promised a blog, so here it is! 

To be honest, I have no idea where to start... I posted once before I left, just to get the feel, so hopefully this will go well and be informative and entertaining.

For the first time since a family trip to Minnesota in the mid-90’s, I did not use my own headphones even once during my travels. See I have flown quite a bit over the past 6 years or so, and plugging myself into my iPod became my sense of comfort in those exceptionally uncomfortable airplane seats.  

This time was different. From the moment I passed security at SFO, I felt at ease, comforted by the sites and sounds of another trip through the airport . Whether it’s SFO, Logan, Frankfurt, or now Seoul, I just kind of feel at home in airports.  I suppose airports are to me what mountains are to hikers, beaches are to surfers, etc.  

My first flight was 45 minutes late to Seoul because strong headwinds and my second flight was cancelled due to driving rains, but they squeezed me (barely) onto a flight 30 minutes early and I made it just fine. Then it was just a 1 hour drive to Ulsan City where I was happily greeted by the queen sized bed in my new apartment : )

The picture on this post is the view from my balcony. The view from my 13th floor apartment basically looks over the entire city, and I love it. The view from the hallway on the other side is of the beautiful hills and mountains in the background, so feel like I got pretty lucky with this set-up!

On Sunday, the school manager took me and another teacher (Brienna) out for lunch. We went to the Green Pig; A Pig Farm. Yes, I typed that correctly, haha. It was fantastic!  We took our shoes off when we entered (as you would at anyone’s home in Korea) and sat down on the wood floor at our table.  My director (Suzie) ordered and they quickly brought out raw meat and plenty of vegetable based entrées. Suzie cooked the meat on top of the hot coals that they put in the center of the table, then cut the meat into pieces with provided scissors and we each grabbed sesame leaves, wrapped up the meat and veggies (we did this about 15 times for the whole meal) and it was amazing! I seriously can’t wait to go back. I need to work on my flexibility so I can actually sit comfortably on the ground, but even considering that it was a great culinary experience : )

My first day went well today.  I am still adjusting to the time difference (I had to force myself back to sleep when I woke up at 4 this morning), but I think i’ll come around in just a couple of days.  I observed a couple of classes taught by my 2 american colleagues (Brienna & Amy; both very cool!), and then I taught my first class of Korean kindergartners on my own. 

THAT was interesting, haha. Turns out I teach mainly 6-7 year old, and then have one elementary (9-10 year olds) class to finish out the day. The older ones were quite refreshing, as they already have a good understanding of English (it also helps that they don’t throw things and constantly try to stand on their chairs! haha). 

I don’t have too much to say about the actual teaching process just yet, but once I get into the swing of things i’ll definitely give a better overview. Hopefully i’ll have some pictures of the kids too, they really are awesome & hilarious!

I’ve heard wind that a local group of foreigners gets together for soccer (and ultimate) on the weekends, so I am definitely going to get in on that action a.s.a.p. (pretty much my main priority! haha). 

I hope this gives everyone a decent idea of what i’m experiencing over here so far. I will have so much more to write in the coming weeks, as i’ve pretty much only been to my apartment and school. I will try to put together a photo album too!

I hope you enjoyed my first official post. I look forward to keeping everyone updated often!

-Matt      (or Mattchew Teacher as I am known here!)