In a While Crocodile

I made it.

Half hour in a cab, 3 hours at the airport, 14 hours to Seoul, 2 more hours in an airport, one more hour in the sky, and one more hour in a car. Easy peasy.

The storm that blew into town on Tuesday the 12th turned Pearson airport into a slideshow of nightmares, and the flight I had been anticipating for months was cancelled. After 3 hours on the phone and some dramatic weeping where I ran into the cold icy heart of the storm, my fist shaking, my eyes to heavens, screaming, “WHY????” as my tears froze on my face (slight exaggeration), I was booked on a flight the next day.

My travel day was as you’d expect – cramped, exhausting, exciting and hilarious. I sat next to two Korean ajummas (older ladies) who were friendly and abrupt, helpful and sleepy. They didn’t speak any English, so I butchered my way through some broken Korean, and we tried our best to relay our life stories. They were either coworkers OR they were on their way home after completing a quest. It’s one of those two things.

Week One!

While waiting at the airport for my ride (an ahjusshi [older man] holding a sign with my name on it), I got a message from my new pal and fellow teacher Ferrol telling me that in the morning we’ll be hopping a bus to Seoul for a day of training. So after a few hours of jet-lagged-first-night-in-a-new-place-with-new-noises non-sleep, I met up with Ferrol and another teacher pal, downed a convenience store coffee, and settled in for a delirious day of busses, terminal food (in Korea, even bus station food is delicious), and copious power-point presentations.

Luckily my new teacher pal Kimmy had already taught a year in Korea, and knew her way around Seoul. I followed her around like a lost puppy, because good sweet heck that city is a maniac.

Sunday was a funday, spent exploring, eating, and playing on exercise equipment in the park.

The thing I’m quickly learning is that my fellow foreign teachers and I are legit celebrities. Luckily, being a total star with supermodel good looks has made me used to being stared at on the street, so it’s not a problem. *wink*

I was sitting on a bench in the park waiting for Ferrol, and some ladies walking by saw me and stopped to chat (in Korean, which I did not understand even a little bit), and when I butchered some Korean back to them, she GAVE ME A CANDY. That’s right folks, a lady in the park gave me a hard candy just for attempting her language. Later that day, an older gentleman walked up to Ferrol and gave her some travel-tissues (you never know when you’ll need a tissue).

This place is bonkers, and I LOVE IT.

My first week at the school has been a mix of teacher training and helping to set up the new school.

GRAPES OF MATH!!! hahahahahhahahahahahhahahha *wipes tear*.

I also got to observe a few classes with my co-teacher Joy (pronounced Joey). The kids are adorable, and Joy is awesome.

Everyone I’ve met at the school (there are still some teachers to come) is pretty darn cool. The Korean teachers and the foreign teachers have been working together to set up the library; labeling books, sorting them, and giving them a plastic coating. It sounds dull, but with some music and a few (okay, more than a few) jokes, the day goes by faster than you’d think.

I’m the oldest of the teachers, so they’ve been calling me “big older sister” (큰 언니 – kuhn Unnie). Unnie is a term for any female friend (or actual sister) who is older than you. So because I’m the oldest, they put “big” in front of it. Which I am FINE WITH, OKAY???? (I really do like it)

Because the head of POLY Language School (my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss) is a Buddhist, he arranged for a monk to bless the new school. A few of the teachers and I got to watch/participate in the ceremony, which was very cool (and nutritious!)

Oh, and for this training period, our director Sam has been taking us out to lunch every day. I thought I knew Korean food before, but man alive is there a whole new world of taste over here. Yes, some dishes are WACKO spicy, but for the most part, everything is delicious (맛있어요 – ma-shi-seo-yo)

I’ll save the tour of the apartment for the next post – when I might have some furniture. There has been a LOT of floor-eating on my tiny little laptop-table.

That’s all the news I have! If you have the Kakao Talk app (similar to Whatsapp or Line), you can find me under my username 1Toni.

Words you’ve learned today:

맛있어요 – ma-shi-seo-yo – delicious

언니 – unnie – older sister (a term used only by females)

큰 – kuhn – a conjugation of 크다, which is the verb “to be big”.

I mean, I AM a teacher now, and this was a teachable moment. 🙂

Later Gators!!