The First Few Days

The first few days...

Well it probably would have been a better idea to post more regularly over the first few days but hey times have been ridiculously, yet enjoyably busy. I'll start at the beginning; after travelling from 11:30am local time on Tuesday the 16th of October in England to arriving at the school at about 8pm Korean local time on the Wednesday we had been travelling for about 23 hours. Thankfully this was with Emirates so the food and movies kept us comfortably entertained. Getting picked up by Mr. Joe (no I dont think that's his real name either) in his fancy car with a leather roof was a nice end to the journey, even if he did insist on using two mobile phones simultaneously while driving. Now bearing in mind we had no idea what to expect when we arrived at the head office we were greeted very kindly and led in our dazed state to some staff accommodation and given some food. I thought it best to save questions until after a night's sleep when words might come more coherently out of my mouth  and so said goodnight.

Korean packed lunch food....

On day one orientation began. Have a look at the picture of our schedule and you will see that we have a busy couple of weeks planned. This schedule we found on the fridge and was the answer to the question of what will be to happening to us. It's a good thing that we are such laid back people to find out our first two weeks of employment the other side of the world from a fridge!

So we met the other teachers over breakfast and had a chat, all very nice people from America and one from Hawaii (I have had to brush up on my American geography as I have no idea where any of their states are). After breakfast everyday is "worship", which leads on to some explaining I have to do. We are employed by a language institute called SDA, Seventh Day Adventists. Now we knew this when we accepted the position and were told that it's fine that we don't follow the religion, only thing is apparently we are two of the few people who do not so we have had to excuse ourselves from  a couple of worships and prayers. A little bit awkward to start off with but things have fallen into place since.

For the past few days we have generally been sorting things out like bank accounts, and otherwise getting to know the area and what's expected of us. A few classroom observations have set my mind at ease regarding teaching, and the Korean people I have met so far have generally been very chatty and enquisitive in order to improve their conversational skills. The eight hour time difference had messed up sleeping patterns so I have found myself wide awake at about 5:30, and then crashing at random times but since we are so busy we just power through.

Today involves a health check at the hospital and some more training. If anyone has questions or comments then feel free to leave them. Otherwise, until next time.

First Impressions

I figured that there isn't much point us both explaining the same things so I have decided for now to just explain some of the cultural differences and interesting things we have encountered so far...

We have been eating at the school mostly where we get a bit of western food (Special K and pancakes for breakfast!) and also some Korean food, so there is still a lot we need to try when we are let loose on the restaurants! Kimchi is a much loved dish here - it is basically pickled spicy cabbage, and it is actually quite nice! A bit like spicy sauerkraut, and they have it with every meal.

We have also tried bibimbap (photo below, courtesy of Brittany!) which is apparently a dish the Koreans deem 'safe' for foreigners! It is a sizzling bowl of rice and vegetables with a raw egg cracked on top, which all cooks when you mix it together with red pepper sauce, and it's really tasty.

A few of the little customs here we are trying to get used to are things like bowing when you meet people rather than waving - particularly your elders and important people! This is quite difficult as it feels awkward for us, but I guess we will get used to it over time. Also when there is water on the table you are not supposed to pour it yourself; if you want some then you offer to pour others and hopefully they will then pour yours! You also ring a bell at the table if you want the waiter to come over, rather than them checking up on you every now and again.

Not only are we getting used to the Korean cultural differences, but also those of the Adventists we are with - we are the only non-Adventist teachers at the school as far as we can tell. They are not supposed to have caffeine, meat or alcohol, and the missionary teachers are not allowed to do things like go to the cinema or internet cafes which seems pretty strict to us. They are having religion class and sermon training which we don't take part in. A lot of the people we meet don't realise that we aren't Adventist as it is the norm here, so they look a bit confused when we tell them that we are together but not married! Our contracts are very different from the missionary teachers, and as we are some of the first non-Adventist teachers to come here, sometimes we find ourselves in slightly awkward situations, but we are just taking it all in our stride.

We have been a bit useless at taking pictures so far but in future I will try and get more of the things that we are talking about here to give you a better idea!