Yada, yada, yada meets blah, blah, blah

Captain's log: Day 10

As it's very late and school starts tomorrow, I've written a few snippets of the past week's events so as not to fall so far behind and forget what's been going on! Everything is fluid and plans change frequently, so remaining flexible is key to not freaking out (so far, so good... who knew flexibility and patience really are key attributes!)

Orientation: Tuesday, February 23 marked my first official day at my school. The Western teachers were introduced to the Korean teachers in what proved to be a delightfully short first meeting with the principal. Our principal, who we had met the day before, is a man of few words. His welcoming message to the English teachers: "Welcome. Do a good job. Goodbye." Fair enough. Message received!


And so, after meeting our Korean counterparts, we retreated to a second floor classroom and began a week of questionable productivity. Presentations on Korea's history (I'm not quite sure a qualified fact-checker was employed in reviewing the facts, though; apparently, a few key facts were omitted!), classroom management and other key information were provided. We brainstormed names for each "level" of English proficiency (jungle animals for lower grades; elements for higher grades), crafted snappy slogans to be posted in our classrooms, selected our teaching dens, and later in the week, cut rainbow triangles and fastened them to ribbon to make flags for decor! (Given my distinct lack of arts&crafts skills, this was, by far, my least favorite activity and, in what may be a surprise to you, instilled a level of anxiety I had yet to experience since arriving in Korea!)

Korean food: Eating in Korea is a communal event. All the dishes are shared, and each meal comes with several side dishes. Again with the pictures -- I have them, but have yet to sort out how to post them here. Give me time. Speaking of time, it's only taken 10 days to progress from being a chopsticks-fumbling fool to below-basic, but still functioning, *master* of chopsticks!

Seoul: Venturing into the big city took an hour by bus to reach the nearest subway station (but only 30 minutes on return ride home... traffic woes) and then another hour to reach Itaewon. Itaweon is the area where Westerners are known to congregate. Personally, I found the place relatively unimpressive, but I do imagine it will be comforting to visit a Subway after a few months in good ol' Maseok. I'm interested in seeing some other areas of Seoul, but I've always held a pretty consistent view of big cities: A big city is a big city. You can be anywhere in the world and see the same thing. What's the draw?

Maseok (Namyangju): While Seoul is a sprawling metropolis, Maseok can be covered by foot in about 20 minutes.. It's much smaller than I had anticipated, but I can't complain. I live right off the main street, so I hear the cars whizzing by, but thankfully, the noise doesn't bother me. It's soothing, actually. The next town over (20 minutes by car) has an EMart, which is like a steroid-enhanced Walmart.

Health check: Briefly... we've all peed in cups, right? Agreed, I'm sure, BUT can you say you've ever peed in a paper Dixie cup and handed it over to a non-gloved nurse? Oh yeah, baby. That's top notch sanitary.

Soju = whhaaa TF? (more later)

And the winning phrase for the week? Blah, Blah, Blah... similar to Seinfeld's clever yada, yada, yada to gloss over details, Korea's blah, blah, blah, might be more for glossing over words not known in English, but still maintains the integrity of yada, yada, yada. Our trusty Korean boss employs this phrase in almost every conversation.

And ... blah, blah, blah. Now I'm a millionaire.

Onward and upward,

Suzi