Written on Friday, posted on Tuesday

I have finally made good on my once-vague plans to move to Korea! I am teaching English at Luther Theological University (LTU) in the city of Yongin , about 45 minutes outside of Seoul.

I have been here since Tuesday, and I have been teaching since Wednesday! I am writing to you during my first real break since arriving, and I feel quite at peace right now.

My family came with me to the airport on Monday morning, where I boarded a plane to Chicago O'Hare to connect with Korean Air. The flight from Chicago to Seoul (Incheon) was over 13 hours. I have mentioned to several people that I hate airports and long flights, but this flight managed to be fairly relaxing. I got a few hours of half-sleep (which is the most that I can manage on a plane). The flight attendants were extremely gracious, and I even had some pleasant conversation with my seat neighbor, a man in the army stationed in Cheongju, I believe.

I got through customs easily, except for the fact that it was very difficult to wheel around my two large 50-lb suitcases. I was also able to find the bus I needed to take with no trouble. I took the "red line" to Suwon, a city neighboring Yongin. The ride was about an hour and twenty minutes, and I spent most of the time looking out the window. On the highways, the main features I noticed about Korea were lots of tree-covered hills and mountains, and lots of apartment complexes.

The Head of the English Department at LTU picked me up from Suwon at around 6:00. He took me to dinner for kalbitang, a soup with beef ribs in it. Very tasty. I also tried ddukguk, which is rice cake soup. Not rice cakes like we eat in the U.S., but more like chewy rice dumplings. I kinda like them, especially the texture.

I woke up at 6:30 on Wednesday, partly due to jet lag and partly to get more planning in. I met some of the other teachers at the ESL camp. There are Korean teachers, who teach only English classes like I do, and there are also American volunteers and another (American) professor at LTU teaching English classes as well as Bible classes to a different set of students than I have. I have a Korean teaching assistant who is very sweet and very helpful.

I survived the first day of teaching pretty well, I think, and it's been getting better and easier every day. I've never taught children before, so I've been getting used to how they learn and what keeps them interested. 

When I'm not teaching and planning, I've been meeting the people around LTU, trying lots of new food, and settling into the apartment where I get to stay.

I went to dinner on Wednesday with the American volunteers, and the American LTU professor. We went to a Chinese restaurant (Chinese done Korean style, I guess?). Anyway, it was delicious. If you visit me, I would take you there.

Last night (Thursday) I went to dinner with the LTU President and his wife and son. They were all very nice, and I learned some more about the history of LTU as well. We got pizza, at Pizza Hut, actually! Pizza Hut pizza in Korea is different from in the U.S., as you might expect. Some toppings are the same, but the featured toppings are quite different. We got a spicy chicken pizza with pineapple and peppers. Pretty good. Pizza is pizza, I say. The most surprising difference, though, was the smell. Namely, there wasn't any smell in the Korean Pizza Hut. Which probably meant that it was cleaner than an American Pizza Hut. I'm not gonna lie, though, I kinda love that smell.

On trying food, I also eat Korean food every day for lunch in the cafeteria with the other teachers and teaching assistants. I haven't tried anything I don't like yet. Still, I was really happy to get my own Western food to eat in my apartment for dinner. Dinner tonight was a peanut butter sandwich, milk, and barbecue potato chips. It was heaven. :D

And on settling into the apartment, it's been quite easy. The apartment is plain and functional, but it's clean, the bed and couch are comfortable, and there's a TV, which I find very relaxing at the end of the day. It's fun to watch the Korean programming, actually, to guess what's going on. Earlier this evening, I watched Kung Fu Hustle in Cantonese with Korean subtitles. That was really fun. That movie is so visual and stylish, it's awesome even without translation.

That brings us up to speed! Finally!

I realize the post was loooong, so I'll try to write on smaller topics in the future. :)