Backtracking from July ><....I have been m.i.a lately because I have been busy and adapting to Korea life...For real tho...lol
When I arrived to Korea in Seoul I had to transfer to Busan (PUS) so I had to wait for another 2 hours. I was so excited at that point. I felt like a little kid receiving a giant lollipop but even better.
In Seoul's Airport, they have a Hello Kitty Cafe. It was sooo cute!!! I love Hello Kitty!!!! <3 <3 <3
Alistair had told me in the previous email that he will be picking me up from Busan International Airport (PUS) and I should not worry to much. As I am an over-thinker. In my head, thoughts were scattered in my brain. What happens if this is a scam?, What happens if Alistair doesn't pick me up? What do I do? Yes, I am that kind of over-thinker. But thank goodness everything went well.
When I finally arrived in Busan (PUS), it was late, I was walking out of the gate and was looking up to see if I can find Alistair. I stand about 6'3 so I was expecting Alistair to be tall. hahaha I heard my name being called but I didn't know where it was coming from so I was scoping around up and down. There I saw Alistair for the first time ever. He was short and a petite man with doctor looking glasses. If you went through Alistair you know, that you don't see Alistair at all, there is only audio.
Alistair helped me with my bags and he drove me to a hotel in Changwon were I would be staying for the night. He told me while he was driving that I will have a roommate at the hotel.
After arriving at the hotel, Alistair just told me to take the bag that I need, to dress business formal to meet the office of education officers tomorrow morning. But my instances kicked in again, should I trust him with my bags, I literally just meet him today in person. What happens if he runs away with all of my things. hahaah..
I was expecting a hotel that looked like the ones in the States like Holiday Express or something. I was expecting to much but I have to say my standards are a bit high and I had to remember that I am in a different country. It looked more like a motel. I didn't mind at all. I was a bit jet-lagged and really didn't care at this point. I meet my roommate that I would be spending the night with but I literally woke her up. She was a familiar friend. We actually meet a couple weeks ago taking the 20 hours in-class TEFL course in NYC.... Small World...We ended up talking for hours catching up with each other. I barely sleep that night because the time zone difference.
Next Morning....
We went down to eat breakfast. I meet another person who went through Korean Horizon and he has been here for 2 weeks already. He mentioned that he wanted to visit some friends before teaching begins. We went to the office of education in Gyeongsangnam-do to review and sign are work contracts with are co-teachers. Mr. Oil was another teacher from my school that came to get me. He was not my co-teacher. His english was not perfect but he was able to get his point across sometimes, without me getting confused that is. lol He was really nice and talked a lot. After an hour in the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education, we departed to go get other important documents done such as are Alien Registration Card (ARC) and a full check up at the hospital. It took us awhile to get are ARC card because Mr. Oil was also very unfamiliar to Busan. We were walking a lot in this blazing hot sun around Busan. Don't get me wrong but I was still very exhausted, tired, jet-lagged and spacing out. We were finally able to get lunch after figuring out my ARC card and check up. It was my first Korean meal, Black bean noodles in Busan. Yummy!! Mr. Oil also took me to my main school to meet all the my future colleagues and Principal from there I was passed on to my real co-teacher, Mr. Kim. He does not speak English at all..very minimal. Mr. Kim took me to a grocery store at this point I was not thinking straight at all as I was still very exhausted. He told me to buy things I needed for apartment. I haven't been to my apartment so I don't really know what I need...hahaha I just ended up buying instant noodles and water.
Finally I went to my apartment, it was nice.
After a couple of days and weeks in Korea, I was thrown into teaching not knowing what to do, so far I got my bank card eaten by the atm machine...and yes it ate it!, I got lost in my own town at night. I did not know where anything was at that time, since I was still very new and mind you I had no cell phone...literally I was on the verge of crying. There was a city wide summer camp held in July 28- August 1 and it was summer vacation for us after. I also meet other cool foreigners in my town. There is only 15 foreigners in my town so you can see how small my town is. Life was rough in the beginning...now I am a bit better off.
XOXO-Chuiee
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