First impressions

I arrived at Incheon International airport late last night and was brought to my apartment. It is a nice one bedroom apartment with a reasonably large kitchen and living room. Complete with a balcony and washer, the accomodations are better than I had hoped for and also more spacious than what I have become used to in NYC. I am living in a resedential area filled with very tall apartments buildings (most over 20 stories high) and have a nice view of the commerical center of the city.

Bucheon seems to be very busy. The scale of everything is very large and the commotion of the city seems to be magnified by a seemingly endless amount of neon lights and advertisements. Everything seems very foreign to me, but there are many reminders of home and of US influence here. There are, as expected, numerous McDonalds and Starbucks but also more obscure US establishments like Baskin Robbins and Bennigans.

I have had little time to explore the city so far as I have just arrived but look forward to doing so this coming weekend. I am also just two blocks from the subway to Seoul and hopefully will be able to connect with some other native english speakers this weekend who can help guide me there. I was able to do some shopping this morning for food and drink before going into school. As everything is in written in Korean characters, aside from fruits and vegatables, I really have no clue exactly what I have purchased, but it has all tasted good so far. I will be going shopping later today with one of my co-teachers for basic necessities and then they are having a potluck housewarming party for me.

I briefly went to my school this afternoon which is just a few blocks from my apartment building. I will be teaching the intermediate and advanced levels to the equivilent of 6th and 7th graders. I will be eaching 21 classes a week, each of which is a different group of students. There are 7 other English teachers there, though I am the only native english speaker. I am definitely a bit of a novelty for both the teachers and the students. The teachers seem a little shy and reserved, though the students are anything but that. I will say that it was a little overwhelming being the center of everyone's attention, though presumably as they become familiar with me the novelty will wear some and I will feel less of an outsider. Having said that, everyone has been extremely nice and accomodating and also eager to converse and get to know me.

I will have the next week and a half to prepare to start teaching classes and will then be on my own in the classroom. I have asked many questions about teaching and lesson plans, though everyone seems to be more concerned with my acclimation and comfort than my actual teaching so far. I guess the best thing to do for now is just to go with the flow and let things unravel as they will.

Viva la Kim Chee!