Catching my breathe

1st few days in Korea:
Ok the jetlag and craziness is settling down a bit, I thought I’d write a little bit. So much has been happening I don’t even know where to start. Finally, after getting some sleep after 30+ hrs I got some sleep; about 10hrs. After I got up (I was at a motel), I moved into my new apt, I really didn’t even have time to unpack, I had to come down and meet the new co-workers. After some friendly introductions, I started to shadow a few of the teachers here, whose names are Andrew and Cheri, they are married and from S. Africa. After a few hours, I was able to unpack in my new apt. The apt is pretty much like living in an Almy suite, only 1 person in the room and there is no connection to my roommate. There is a unique addition though, a sort of veranda, that I can step out onto and see the town and woods beyond me. I had dinner with Cheri and Andrew, and he took me around and showed where the local grocery stores. When I got back I was exhausted and passed out soon after. The next day, I woke up at 7am, internal clock not letting me sleep longer (I work from 2pm-8:30pm). So having nothing to do and not have my internet or anything like that yet. I started walking around the neighborhood block after block the town is a lot like American. So blocks are retail strips other are people homes that are fairly similar to ours. Just replace all the English signs and word and people with Korea ones…lol. About 9am I went grocery shopping all by myself. it’s hard to shop for food, when the ppl and writing are another language that you don’t speak. I went shopping in the DR before, but those words though Spanish, a least used the same ABC’s as us and the same symbols and were close enough I might be able to figure out, But not Korean, these symbols are as foreign to me as the Lifetime channel.
So after that fun adventure, a fellow Korean teacher, Eric, took me to the hospital to have physical as it were. All there medical technology seems way more advance than ours, but in some ways not. The technology was advanced, which was cool, but when it came to something as simple as urine test, instead of a plastic cup and lid, they gave me a Dixie cup basically. You thought that little test was embarrassing with the cup; imagine having to fill up a Dixie cup…needless to say I am glad to that test was over. I spent the rest of the day following teachers around and watching how they run their classes. After that Eric and I went to do some shopping at the 1000 waon store (dollar store for us). Then, got some pizza with potatoes and meat which is very good. On Wed I started my 1st day teaching. My 1st class, I had no idea what the lesion plan was since the teacher who had that class before me (kids in that class are about 7-9), was gone, so I had to look at their hmwk to figure where we were. One girl in class was crying when I got there because another boy in class had hit her before class had begun, so for the rest of class all those kids were talking about was how the boy got into trouble…it was a horrible first experience. My other classes gradually got better as the day progressed. By the end, with 13 year old kids the class was better and a least calm. Anyhow, after work there was bible study. Praise God that 3 of my fellow teachers had started up this study, this was such an answer to prayer before I came over here. I will be going to church with them on Sunday. Also, I went shopping this day by myself, which can be hard; it requires a lot of gesture and some pen and paper. I got some shirts,, luckily the clerk spoke enough English to help me out. Afterward, I saw a baskin robins ice cream store. It was like a piece of American heaven in all 30+ flavors. Best $2.00 I have spent all month.