MY (ONGOING) LIST OF THINGS I WISH I HAD BROUGHT FROM CANADA

- pumice stone
- tea
- TOWEL (the towels here are REALLY small and thin, imagine trying to dry yourself off with a handtowel. Except even thinner than what you're probably imagining...)
- sugar

PICTURESSSSS

OKAY so I went to a coffeeplace (which was REALLY Starbucks-esque) and synced my Dropbox on my phone, so I can access some pics - here are pictures from my first day at work!

This is the playground right outside my apartment! 

The first street I walk down...

The second street I walk down. To the left is a grocery store called EMart.

This is the main intersection. You can see at this part of town it becomes a little more open.

Mountain in the background. Those buildings with crosses I assume are churches, but if they are, their services are in Korean. I'm told a church with English services is another town over or so, so it might be a couple weeks before someone can show me how to get there.

Down the last big road before I reach the school. Those trees are cherry blossoms, I think, so in April it's supposed to be suuuuper pretty. I'll be sure to take more pictures at that time. :)

My desk at school! It's actually really comfy. You can see my Internet is wired by ethernet cable. Every teacher has a cubicle thingy, my fellow English teachers are all around in the same area. The students feel totally comfortable coming in here and checking things with the teachers - it's a really warm environment, I like it. :)

After school, the walk home...

Also on this same road on the way back home, it's a little farm-like, and greenhouses. (And at certain points it certainly smells that way too! haha. Well, manure smells the same in Korea as Canada...)

Oh, also, along the same route, there is a little fenced off area where someone has puppies and they are soooooo cute!

MY (ONGOING) LIST OF THINGS I WISH I HAD BROUGHT FROM CANADA

my tea
my pumice stone

more to come as i like, figure out what i wish i had brought

First day at school

Well... it sure does feel like a school in Canada! Some things are so familiar about it that I forget I can’t speak the language for a moment. There’s bells and class times (though the rings to signify the start and end of classes are kinda wacky fun), and there’s basketball and soccer courts outside the back, which kids from the town use outside school hours ‘cause it’s a small town, I guess.

The atmosphere with the other teachers is professional, but warm. They seem willing to joke around and most of the time everyone seems happy. Busy and happy. I can’t wait until it warms up and the courts open up, I should try and find a way to get out there and play or something, when it’s hot. It just looks like a very welcoming soccer field…

I eat lunch in the school’s cafeteria, and lunches are provided (the cost is taken from my salary, at something like 3.50 a day – good, huh!). The lunches are going to be great, if this first day is any indication. There was kimchi, of course, some sausage and egg thing which tasted like it could have been from Canada, some… green vegetable that was good, rice (it was sticky rice obviously, but mixed with something sweet and purple. Idk, it was good!), and some beef soup. Then to top it all off, the best piece of pineapple I might have ever had. I might dream about that pineapple.

This is also the first time since I’ve come to Korea where I was really excited to see what the future is like. It’s already pretty enough, but as I might have said already, they’ve mentioned it’s really pretty here when the plants and trees start growing again in April. Anyway, it’s easy to picture what it might look like in the spring/summer and I’m kind of excited to see it. =)

I have a desk in the teacher’s room, it’s pretty sweet.

I don’t actually teach until next week. This week, I sit at my desk and get familiar with the material I’ll be using in my classes. It’s a bit hectic ‘cause this isn’t just my first day at school, it’s the first day for everyone else, too. (I have a suspicion that more conversations than I think actually do have to do with me and what I'm up to.) Trying to figure out the schedules and how the classes will actually look is a bit stressful, but again, that’ll take a couple weeks to get into the swing of things. 

Good first day! We'll see what tomorrow looks like!

First couple days in Korea

This is where I wish I could upload the photos but... again, working on it. It's different from Canada... I've told a few people in chats, but here we go...

It's not cold here. They think it's cold here, it's not. The temperature ranges from like -5 in the evenings to 0 or +2 in the afternoon. (It says it's +8 right now, but still feels a little cool.) I still wear my winter coat, but I get hot walking places. There's not snow on the ground - it seems like it's an event whenever it is.

The floor at my apartment is heated, that's something else. Since my feet are now barely ever cold, I now barely ever feel cold. Honestly, the heated floor is nice.

There is smog. There isn't really such a thing as a clear day, which I expect will wear on me eventually. Even sunny days, which it is right now, aren't really sunny. It's sunny and grey at the same time, which is truly a bizarre look. When it's overcast, it's REALLY overcast, haha.

Jetlag hit me really hard. That first weekend I was struggling with homesickness, not wanting to eat (but still being hungry???), and so Saturday I slept from 3pm to around 3am, and then Sunday I stayed up 3am to 8pm (pretty much watched Parks and Rec all day), and then slept 8pm until 630am on Monday morning.

Still nothing on uploading pictures or video. The USB cord I have is great for charging things but it doesn’t seem to allow a connection between my computer and my phone. Now, I have pictures and video, but not a way to upload them…. Yet!

From my last few days in Canada...

In the last week or so, as my exit from Canada sneaks up on me, I've been feeling like Bilbo Baggins.

“Sorry! I don't want any adventures, thank you. Not Today. Good morning! But please come to tea -any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Good bye!” 

“We are plain quiet folk, and I have no use for adventures. Nasty, disturbing, and uncomfortable things.” 

“Getting rid of dragons is not at all in my line, but I will do my best to think about it. Personally I have no hopes at all, and wish I was safe back at home.” 

I am hardly off to get rid of a dragon, but I will say I am feeling daunted by what's in front of me. I guess you could say that I'm a fair weather adventurer. When it's daylight out, I feel I can do anything - in the dark of nighttime, this whole "moving to Korea" thing seems ill-advised and frightening.

Time will tell. It's currently pretty scary feeling, but I'm sure there will be good things for me, too.

Also Bilbo-related, and again, stretching the metaphor a bit, but I will try to think of it this way... It's not extraordinary courage that I'll need to get through this, but the everyday sort.

“Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien