So since the last post we have moved from Seoul to our institute in Daejeon. Moving out day was oddly similar to leaving home to go to university for the first time; packed bags, saying goodbye to the family, waiting for the car, people worrying about us all, and not having a clue where we are going.
The car journey was a good chance for us to ask questions about what we're getting ourselves in for, and for the directors to find out a bit about the people who they have hired from half way around the world. First surprise was that Alex and I found out that we are the only two native English teachers at the institute, making it one of the smallest branches of the company. So a little bit of pressure but at least all of the kids will all develop and English accent. Next funny moment came when I was asked if I drank... Now bearing in mind that the institute is Adventist, hence t-total, after a slightly awkward pause I answered "a little bit". The director is an extremely nice guy though and after dropping us off at our place for the next twelve months came back ten minutes later with a few bags of food to help us settle in. No beers though.
First floor is all ours.
The apartment is great; a big double room, nice kitchen and kitchen table, little lounge area, and even a spare room to accommodate everyone who is planning to visit. Our institute is a ten minute walk away, loads of restaurants and bars surround us, and the bus into the centre of the city is just around the corner. We have become quite familiar with the buses over the past few days, unfortunately they are the kind that like to go everywhere else before the useful places, so journeys which should take twenty minutes take forty five. But they only cost about one pound flat rate so they can be slightly forgiven.
We have been out for dinner three times in the past four nights which has been amazing. The first night the pastor invited about ten of the teachers out to a fancy bibimbap restaurant, which was very nice despite the fact that I wasn't able to walk after sitting for over an hour on the floor cross-legged.
Koreans love their side dishes!
(The big stone bowl cooks the vegetable side dishes with the rice. Pastor Douglas on the other side of Alex).
On the second night we were invited round to one of the church member's new apartments for a house warming party Adventist style. It turned into a bit of a church meeting so we left slightly early with Pastor Douglas who had to attend his church.
We were't quite ready to start cooking for ourselves so last night went out for Korean BBQ which is an amazing concept which we might have to bring back to England with us. There is a mini-BBQ pit in the middle of the table, your raw meat is then brought to you along with tasty sides and sauces and you casually cook it yourself. The idea is that it makes eating more sociable since you are able to cook and chat while you cook the meat. Unfortunately we forgot the camera this time but we will definitely be going again since it was amazing, cheap, and the owner looked after us a lot since he recognised that we had no idea what we were doing.
Anyway, that's enough typing for today I'm starting to feel like a student again.
First day of school tomorrow! We find out our terms schedule a couple of hours before we start teaching so I predict some interesting posts to come... Until next time.
