Well, I've been in South Korea for a little under a week now, and I'm starting to get settled in. Things felt very overwhelming for the first few days, but I feel that I at least have my head above water now. I could fill a notebook on my thoughts and experiences already.
Because of my research before coming to Korea, I knew that there were a lot of things that didn't work the way that Americans or other English-speaking foreigners would expect when coming to a foreign country to work. There are a lot of "horror stories" all over the Internet about people who had terrible experiences in Korea, and why no one in their right mind should come here to work (or teach English, at least). I took these stories with a grain of salt, however, knowing that one's experience has as much to do with one's attitude as it does with one's circumstances. Additionally,
every person who I have an actual personal connection with and has gone to Korea has said it was a great experience, so that tells you a little about how biased a random polling of Internet posts can be. Still, I came prepared to expect surprises and roll with the punches.
Turns out that started right off the bat for me. A little under a week before I was bound for South Korea, I happened to stumble upon a message on facebook that someone I didn't know had sent to me the week before. Turns out it was my predecesser at 태안 (Taean) Girls High School, wanting to fill me in on the details about the school to ease my transition for both me and the school. One of the most pertinent things he informed me of was that I would be teaching the day after I arrived in South Korea, five classes no less. I had nothing prepared at that point, as my recruiter had told me it wasn't necessary and that I'd have a few days to observe before doing any teaching. Additionally, I didn't know much about the school and I knew nothing about the curriculumn, so it would be difficult to come up with a lesson plan, anyway.
There was also some confusion between me, the recruiter, and the school about how I was going to make it from 인전 (Incheon) to 태안. But, that all got worked out and the next thing I know I'm at the airport terminal in 태안 picking up my luggage. I'm a little apprehensive about how to fill out my customs declaration form. I'm not carrying any goods that have special taxes or provisions, but I'm limited to brining in only $400 worth of goods. How does one self-report the value of used goods? If I overreport their value, then I'll pay duties that I didn't need to. If they decide, however, that I've under-reported their value, they could make me pay a penalty on top of the duties owed. I decided that it was best just to mark "nothing to delcare" and hope they didn't decide that I'd lied. So, I walked up to the gateway, pushing my luggage cart, and handed the customs agent my declarations form. He looked at the form, and then at my cart with two trunks, a suit case, small carry-on suit case, and backpack, all stuffed to the brim with the things I'd decided I needed to live in Korea for the next year (about 250 lbs worth), and waved me straight through, without even bothering to send anything through the X-ray machines in the line to the right. A complete non-event.
With that out of the way, I walk through the gate where I almost immediately find the representative from my recruiting agency holding a sign. I point at the sign with my name and he motions me to follow him. Turns out he doesn't speak much English. He hands me a bus ticket though and brings me to the terminal where the bus will arrive in an hour. He also points at the ticket booth and says "information." I nod to show that I understand and he walks off. He comes back a few minutes later to take a picture of me standing at the bus terminal with his cell phone. I find this kinda humorous. I feel like a commodity being delivered: one English teacher to 태안.
While waiting, I witness an entertaining exchange between a bus driver and a young woman, who looks to be about 19. The woman arrives at the terminal in a hurry just before the bus is about to leave, but she doesn't have a ticket. She drops her small suitcase near the entrance of the bus and she exchanges words with the bus driver in Korean. She runs over to the ticket counter, getting in line. She makes pouty faces at the bus driver, trying to entice him to stick around. This appears to be the
aegyo at work that I've read/heard about. The ploy doesn't work (ha!). The bus driver soon makes a dismissive wave, climbs into the bus, and drives off, to the young lady's chagrin.
About 15 minutes before the bus arrives, another man comes by asking me a name or word I don't recognize. Then he asks "English teacher?," and I nod yes. He looks at my ticket and helps me load my luggage when the bus arrives. He then takes a picture of me sitting in the bus seat. I wonder if they bought insurance in case I get lost or damaged along the way?
Anyway, I know that the bus I'm on has several stops at different towns along the way. Knowing how "rural" 충청남도 (Chungcheongnam Do) is, I expect to see mostly grassy hills punctuated by cities along the way. Instead, I see nothing but urban sprawl. Furthermore, there are no obvious markings when the bus stops to tell you where you are. What's worse, not all the bus stops are obvious "stops." Sometimes, it seemed, the bus would just stopped to let a person off at a particular street. So, counting stops wouldn't help me figure out where I was. About 1.5 hours into it, everyone got off the bus. It's a little early, but I'm thinking this is the end of the line. I come up to the bus driver and say "태안 이에요?" (Taean ee-eh-yoh?). The driver says "no, Seosan". I'm not sure where Seosan is, but the bus moves again and more people get on the bus. Another 20 minutes later and the bus stops again, with everyone getting off this time as well. I ask another passenger if this was Taean and he nods.
At that point, I stand on the side of the dark road for several minutes with no ride in sight. Then, I see a teenage girl come running towards me. "Are you Kevin?" she asks. I nod yes, and she waves at someone down the street, who drives up a white car. It's Crystal, my new co-teacher. My luggage only barely fits into her car. The student that is with her has to ride in the back half standing up because my luggage is in the way.
On the drive to my apartment, she says that I am perhaps tired from my long trip and that "tomorrow only" I can sleep in as late as I want. She also tells me that students are taking a test tomorrow, and so "no classes." So, I say "oh, so I have no classes tomorrow?" She says, "maybe one or two." I'm not sure how to understand the "maybe" part, but I go with it.
So, they help carry my luggage up and get me into the apartment. The stuff I've ordered from The Arrival Store is there as well. After they leave, I explore around the apartment a bit. In the "laundry room" in the back I find a window open, so I close it. I quickly start unpacking the boxes from
The Arrival Store, trying to find the things I need to get to sleep. I'm utterly exhausted. I test out the mattress. It's by far the firmest mattress I've ever felt. I swear an elephant wouldn't put much of a dent in that thing. Its also warm in the apartment, so I try to get the AC working. I spend at least ten minutes on the thermistat, not sure what, if anything, I'm going, having only a scribbled note from the previous tenant and the undecipherable Korean on the buttons to go off (turns out the thermistat has nothing to do with the AC). Eventually, I find a button the AC itself and push it. The AC chirps a brief song and then starts blowing cool air into the room (success!). After a while, though, I notice its still not getting very cool. I look around some more, and when I open the door to the laundry room I get a blast of hot air. I realize that the AC is dumping the warm air into the laundry room, not outside, which is probably the back window was left open. I open the back window again and lay back down on the couch where its softer and cooler, and I finally find sleep.
And that was my first day in Korea!
