First Day N Stuff

(Nick speaking) Alright, I realize that I have given little love to this blog, so now here I go (I’m so excited to be entering the 21st century club). First off, some things must be said about the differences between Kyle and my living situation. Most notably, I live in the GHET! However, it’s pretty chill because ghetto Koreans are really friendly. They also, put open air markets outside the alley that’s supposed to be the front of your house where you can buy bomb, cheap, and fresh fruits/veggies. Meanwhile, Richie Rich lives in the Carlton, and actually has some Western restaurants down the street from his place… This should have been expected though.

I must give some love to the fellow teachers at my school for they are extremely helpful and accommodating. Communicating with them is a little rough because neither of us speak English (if you’ve ever talked to me over the phone, you know what I’m talking about). They took me out to a grub McBombi 6 course lobster dinner. Although most of it was raw, the food just kept coming! It was epic (Arthur, You Mad like 1000000000 times). We’re rolling to Seoul on Wednesday, so we’ll see how that turns out. I heard there’s actually other western people there, and maybe I’ll be able to speak normal English to someone other than Kyle (what a treat!).

I had my first day of class today. The kids are really cute and fun, especially when they put on little aprons to serve you lunch at your desk (we had soup, cucumbers, kimchi, rice, and fried chicken; Arthur, You Mad). I had six classes cycle through the course of the day today. It was a little draining day, but ended at 2:30pm so I couldn’t complain too much. I also, ran into Kyle’s handsome problem. Everyone (teachers and kids, both male and female) keeps coming up to you and telling you that you’re handsome. It’s a trip! Also, when you’re walking down the hallways every kid tries to shake your hand. Needless to say, you give about 200 hand shakes in one day, and are dying to wash your hands every two minutes (def. the germaphobe inside of me). All in all, it was a pretty great day.

I got to get to bed now because I’m supposed to bring some workout gear to school tomorrow so I can ball up some 6th graders on the soccer field.

Second Thoughts

            (This is Kyle) This may be a little late to post but Nick keeps on insisting that I take down this story.

            On the first day of our arrival both Nick and I were picked up from the airport in the same van. By chance we were driven to my school first where we were separated with nearly no way of contacting one another. I told Nick that I would do my best to attempt to send him an email message so long that I could gain an internet connection. I soon entered my school where I met most of the staff. Afterward, I was walked to my apartment in which I was told was internet-ready. The co-teacher that had shown me the initial ropes, soon left and I was on my own. First thing for me to do was to email Nick, however I soon found that the internet was not in service at my home. I then ventured off to find an internet café that I have heard of through so many blogs……no chance. I did however, find a computer repair store with an old man that was willing to let me connect for a minute. This didn’t prove all that helpful once I got to it because I was unable to give my whereabouts or address to Nick. Everything is in Korean and it is very difficult to pinpoint your location. So my email went something like this:

Subject: Nick, come find me

Body: I have an apartment right by my school but I can’t tell you what my address is. Come back to the school that you dropped me off at and start walking around the neighborhood at around 6pm. I’m sure that I will see you walking. Oh yeah, don’t bother emailing me back because I won’t be connected.

 

After thanking the old man for the hook-up. I returned back to my new apartment. There I attempted to work the heating device for the water (that was all in Korean by the way), with no success. With extreme frustration, I proceeded to go ahead and take the cold shower. It must be noted that the shower-head does not come from the wall but rather from the sink. Washing oneself with one hand above your head is a new experience in itself. It was at this point, taking a one-handed cold shower from my sink with the large doubt of ever seeing my friend that I had planned on spending so much of my time with here, that I began develop a few minor second thoughts.

After drying off, throwing on some shorts, and beginning to sink into my own thoughts, I was magnificently interrupted by a knock on the door from whom other than Nick and 3 other co-teachers. Don’t ask how he had found the place, all that mattered was that we had somehow met up again and I was stoked.

First Day of class/work

(This is Kyle speaking) Currently, I am on my first lunch break at Cheon Cheon Elementary School. Having walked into school today (work), I had no idea what to expect. I guess that the first thing to note is that each time that I enter the school’s campus, I am swarmed with small children that are extremely eager to say something to me in English. Their words typically consist of simple greetings such as “hello,” “hi,” or “good morning.” However, I have been caught quite off-guard with a phrase that everyone, both male and female, from the students, to the teachers, to the administrators all seem to use….. and that is “handsome” or “handsome boy.” I am not joking when I say, that even as I am writing this on my laptop in my homeroom, there are both boys and girls peaking their heads through the door and yelling “handsome boy.” Needless to say that this is all very strange to me and at this point I am not sure if this “handsome” thing is all one big running joke that I am not in on.

Regardless, the day has not been so bad. I began the day by introducing myself to the entire school via their television broadcast system, however the microphone was not turned on so no one heard what I had to say. It was easy for me to forgive the staff for their technical difficulties, considering the entire broadcast crew was around eight years of age. 

So far I have cycled through four different classes of around 35 kids each and have just one left. Some classes are better than others, depending on the age, co-teacher, and kids in attendance. The children can become quite rowdy at some points but nothing that is uncontrollable………

………Now I have officially finished my first day as an English Teacher in Korea; sort of. For this first week I have been instructed to just observe the classes that are being taught. I am assuming that next week is where the true challenges will lie. I began work at 8:40 this morning and have finished by 1:50, not bad at all. I hope to post some pictures of both my classroom and my school very soon. I am soon going to be off with my main assistant Jay, who plans to take me to the hospital for my physical along with some other errands (bank account, cell phone, etc).  

Written in Taipei on a layover (late post)

(This is Kyle) I am currently sitting in a large and rather comfortable chair at Tapei Airport in Taiwan (or China pending how you sit politically). To tell you the truth, any normal sized sitting apparatus beats what I have just endured over the last 14 hours.  Somehow the longest flight on the largest plane I have ever been on came equipped with less leg room than a southwest flight from San Diego to Las Vegas. However, due to my impeccable inability to sleep while on anything that is moving I was able to indulge in China Airlines satisfactory list of movies. Both Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the new Indiana Jones receive 3 and half stars from abroad.

Our next step is a connecting flight to Seoul, South Korea where a team from our recruiting company is waiting for our arrival. I am really hoping for an easy first day considering I have been awake for the last 20 or so hours but I don’t know if keeping your fingers crossed actually works outside of the U.S. We will have to see.

Arrival

This is the alley directly in front of Nick's Apartment. Nick's entry-way can be see off to the right just past the white van.

This is me posing for the camera in an attempt to look hard at work. I am sitting in Nick's very small one bedroom apartment. Seriously, wait until I post some photos of my place....Nick kind of got the shaft on this one.

This is a snapshot from a major highway that Nick and I must walk each day to get to one another's place.
This is the skyline that can be found all accross Korea for reasons yet unknown. There are large series of building complexes all over the place. Each one of the buildings typically has a number, an advertiser, and sometimes an asian cartoon character. At first glance they appear to be government projects. Just to note, I have not yet seen one single family detached home in Korea.
Pizza tour deserves some major love. The spicy chicken pizza for just 8,500 Won was off the charts. We'll definitely be back for the shellfish deluxe.

Take-off

Our journey began at LAX with a very long wait. Good thing we had the best airport company anyone could ask for.... Anne hung in there with us to ensure a safe and official beginning. Thanks Mrs. Carillo!

See if you can tell if we have any idea what we are getting ourselves into.
This is me computing at a rather shabby airport in Taipei, Taiwan. Stretching the legs after 14 hours of flight was unbelievable.

First of many stories to come

Hey there....this is the first post on the blog but definitely not the first thing to note on our trip.
I am currently sitting in Nick's small one bedroom apartment for the first time. Both Nick and I were dropped off at our respective schools yesterday by an airport pick-up caravan (taxi driver) that knew no english and was extremely anxious to get rid of us. This was of some concern to us considering we were soon going to be separated with no way to communicate but the internet (which happens to not work at my house). Regardless, we somehow made it through the rather strange introductory process (which I will explain in separate posts) and reunited at my apartment.
As of right now I would like to tell a story about my friend and traveling partner Nick, and his complete absent mindedness. This morning, the both of us had left off from my apartment in order for Nick to return to his new home and for me to see it for the first time. We set off in one direction (as designated by Nick) only to find a few Olympic stadiums, a very pleasant park, and a very long walk. Don't get me wrong, the sightseeing was fun but we had just walked nearly 45 minutes in the wrong direction. We soon returned to my apartment to rest and collect our thoughts. An hour or so later we set off again with some better luck. We had found the neighborhood that Nick's home was located in....but finding the apartment was a different story.

Now, it must be said that Nick's neighborhood is somewhat dingy compared to mine and anywhere else in Korea that I've seen for that matter. His apartment is amidst a large mess of congested small streets, open air markets, old Korean people, and cluttered alleyways. And Nick will be sure to note that he was only in his apartment the previous night for a small amount of time. However, I think that he has no excuse.

Anyways, by now we have located the neighborhood and the market that Nick's apartment resides in but not the apartment. After walking up and down each street and alleyway, we decided to ask someone whether they could decipher the address that was written (in Korean) to Nick on a sheet of paper by one of his co-teachers. We soon dipped into to a Baskin Robbins ice cream parlor (yeah I know) to look for someone to help. The counter clerk was very nice but she did not end up deciphering the address and rather just called a number that was listed on the paper. Within ten minutes, we had one of Nick's co-teachers there to help. She could not believe that we were not able to find the apartment considering it was only 100 yards away from where we were. Veronica (her western name) soon walked us over to Nick's apartment which was on a street that we had been on, in an alleway that we had been in, and no-joke an apartment building that Nick had earlier walked in and responded "nope, this isn't it." Regardless, to say Nick felt quite less than tip-top after learning that he been here before... twice.
Anyways, the point that I am trying to get accross here is that it is a very difficult for an english speaking person to get around in Suwon and.....Nick is a total airhead. Just Kidding