Arrival and first day

I'm officially in Korea (actually have been for about 24 hours now). My trip wasn't bad at all. I got just enough sleep that the time went by quickly, but I wasn't too tired when I got here. I tried to think in Korean time as soon as I got to the airport so my jetlag wouldn't be so bad. So far, it's working. I'm a little tired today but it was a busy day and I wouldn't expect anything less. It was a scorcher, too -- the heat index was 106 and HUMID. Reminds me of Missouri... and not in a good way.

My first day went well! I only had to teach two 50-minute classes and the lessons were already ready for me. One of my vocabulary words was "poke" and one kid ran up and said, "Laura Teacher, this is poke!" and poked me right in the butt. I guess I should've seen that coming.

The kids all have English names their parents gave them; some of my favorites include Esther, Agatha, Helen, Kai, and Mickey. Where do they find these names?! Regardless, they're adorable -- and I only had the elementary kids today! How much cuter can they get? I guess I'll find out next week when the kindergartners start back up!

My Vice Principal was nice enough to outfit my apartment with bananas and cherry tomatoes -- so that was my first Korean meal, but my second was much more interesting. I ate in the school kitchen with the other English teachers and we had kimchi (obviously), rice (even more obviously), a kind of egg casserole, fried eggs, squid in a spicy sauce, and seaweed in broth. It was all very good, but I think I'll pass on the squid next time -- a little too chewy and squidy for me. 

After school, I stopped by the Lotte Mart which is absurdly close to my apartment and got some hangers and ramen. So it looks like ramen and tomatoes for dinner before I settle in with my Kindle and hit the hay. I wish I would've brought sheets, as there's only a kind of pad on my bed, but fortunately, I stole the blanket from the airplane. All in all, I think I will sleep well after these hectic days.

Oh, and yes, whoever made the schedule spelled my name "Rora."

Time for some ramen and reading before bed!

Rora, out.