On Korean Time with a San Diego State of Mind!

  "Are you thinking about dinner? I was a maniac!" I've always loved that line from Pretty Woman, however, tonight it went to a whole new level! But I'm getting ahead of myself, so we'll come back to that...

  First things first: My flight into town was really pretty amazing. After I got over the fleeting moment of "Wait. Wait. WAIT! I changed my mind!" that surged through my head as the plane from LA surged out over the seemingly endless Pacific Ocean, the rest of the flight was cake! My window seat was more than comfortable and to be perfectly honest, the 12 hours I spent there very likely could have been 6 judging by the way it felt. I was easily able to fall into a deep, Tylenol PM-induced sleep, and when I woke up, we were 3 hours outside Incheon. Worse things have happened for sure.

Korean Air flight 012: Service to Incheon International Airport!

Roomy, no? Especially for an Asian airline...

  After landing, I waltzed through customs and headed down to baggage claim where I found all three of my bags, safe and sound *whew!* And then headed onward to find the adorable little Korean man holding my name at the arrivals gate. His English was about as good as my Korean, so we spent the next hour on the road to my apartment in almost complete silence. Thank God for that obnoxious little Korean woman shouting out orders from the GPS or things could have gotten really awkward! We picked up my mentor teacher, Claire, at her apartment around 6AM and she led us to my house. The apartment is modest to say the least, more or less like a college dorm room, but I really like it. The smallness of it keeps me from dwelling on the fact that I'm living alone.

This luggage cart was preposterously heavy

View from the front door

View from the kitchen/laundry room

  After a quick breakfast with Claire, she was off to school and I was left to unpack and orient myself. Once the door shut behind her and I was left alone in my apartment, a twinge of homesickness sank in knowing that if I stepped outside my apartment on my own I would more than likely become irreversibly lost and there would be no one to understand, let alone help me. But that quickly dissolved when I hooked up the internet and spoke with home. The world seems infinitely smaller when you can look at the ones you love from 6,000+ miles away.

  After spending the morning unpacking and setting up home, I ventured out to meet Claire at the bus stop near my apartment (I was mildly confident that I could make the 2 block journey without getting lost) so we could head over to the hospital for my health check-up. Directly after that it was off to school to meet Number 1 (school principal) and various teachers. The school is very nice and all of the teachers were so sweet to me. They all smile and giggle when they see me because they know right away that they need to speak English in order for me to understand them and most of them are very timid with regard to their English speaking skills. When we finally made it to Number 1's office, he invited us in for grape juice and a chat during which he told me I am much prettier than my picture (which is a... compliment??). He presented me with a gift of hand towels and an exercise bungee cord (again... unsure of the intended message there) and proceeded to invite me to a going away dinner for Number 2 (vice principal) as she will be transferred to another school on Wednesday. And just like that I was in a tiny car with four Korean women (all ridiculously beautiful) listening to speedy Korean chatter and zipping down the narrow streets of Suwon on the way to dinner. 

Gifts from Number 1

  
  We were served a traditional Korean-style, multi-course meal that is eaten while sitting cross-legged and barefoot on the floor. I immediately regretted my decision to wear a dress today. This regret, however, was quickly trumped by the fact that my foot kept falling asleep all throughout dinner because I was making an attempt to sit inconspicuously. How does a 5'8" girl sitting at a table designed for 5'2" tiny Koreans maneuver a comfortable and appropriate sitting position without looking like a giraffe drinking from the water hole? Please feel free to shout out the answer if you know it. 

Oh, look! There's Laurie at dinner!

  Everyone spoke Korean for the duration of the evening so I mostly kept to myself and tried my best to not look functionally retarded while trying to eat oil covered rice noodles and tofu with absurdly slippery metal chopsticks. Then when Number 1 pulled me up in front of the entire Jidong Elementary School staff to introduce me, the only thing I could do was to say "Hello" and make a horrible attempt at a bow, which, out of utter embarrassment and lack of experience, turned out to be more of a half-wave/half-curtsy.. neither of which is appropriate. But nevertheless I had a really good time and even got to have coffee and speak English with Claire and the Science Teacher afterward. 

  I realize I'm wearing out my welcome with this uncommonly long first official post, but it's hard to sum up all the amazing, strange, hilarious, and exciting moments from my very first day as an expat. I promise to henceforth be much more concise. Annyonghi jumushipsiyo (goodnight) for now and I will talk to you again soon!

PS- I did actually take pictures of the view from my apartment and my street, but forgot that the chip wasn't in my camera so I will have to take them again tomorrow and post them later.