Happy Election Day!

Well to those of you either just waking up or just going to sleep (or checking this weeks later) I just wanted to make a quick post to say Happy Election Day and remind everyone to vote! Not that anyone will likely read this before the end of the day but I figured I'd take the opportunity to inform everyone, since I'm sure you're just dying to know, that I did in fact get a chance to vote this election, despite currently residing in Seoul, a 14 hour time difference from my registered district.

No clue what the day will bring as the past few elections (the only that I remember) have proven to be truly memorable. . .though not always in the best of ways! Who knows, but by the time I wake up tomorrow there will likely have been declared a new president elect. . .how wonderfully exciting it will be to check CNN.com or pick up a TIME without having to read about the two candidates anymore. . . I mean, seriously, had anyone really not made up their mind after the initial Palin wave swept through the media? Any whoo, as living proof that I did in fact vote absentee and "made freedom count" in the process, see below. Legality of showing you my ballot? No clue. But I'm hoping that it doesn't actually have to be counted as that would mean it is needed to break a tie in Michigan, which would be great if it didn't come down to that!




Why such a short post when there's so much to talk about you ask? Well, cause I don't feel like writing anything political, and in all honesty, am in no way inspired to do so. Perhaps its because I don't get the hype of watching CNN all day but more so because I had to force myself awake this morning after only three hours of sleep to attend a mandatory unpaid meeting at DYB headquarters in Daechi.

After being completely unable to fall asleep last night, I had to pull myself out of bed at 9:00 to hop on the subway, for an hour, to get to Daechi. We sat around for almost half an hour in a room with 25 or so other Native Teachers until a Oxford University Press representative began his lecture. We were introduced to a few 'creative' and rather mundane ideas on how to engage our kids in class and help them improve their writing. Unfortunately, none of the materials that we use are from Oxford and the speaker clearly had no clue as to the format or content of the material that we are expected to teach. In turn, the presentation felt entirely wasted.

We then had a brief discussion session with the director of research and development for DYB (of which he is the only one in the 'department). Though it was nice to hear other teachers voice concerns similar to ours, the session was rather unproductive as it appeared Steve's (I think was his name) role was less to absorb and head feedback than to to dispel negative attitudes. Even so, he offered some decent perspective in to the fact that DYB is certainly a business, not a 'school' and that the reason things are as they are is because a bottom line must be met. He agreed that it would be nice to tailor individual books for individual classes but entirely economically impossible.

For some reason, as much as I dislike the teaching class structure I'm forced to deal with, I seem to be dealing with it much better than a dozen or so teachers who had to stay after the meeting to discuss 'serious issues' with Mr. Lee. Whether these meetings were initiated by an upset director or by complaining teachers is hard to tell. However, it is nice to know that we "have no problem" as Yumi told Nate and I, although it doesn't make teaching any more enjoyable or less exhausting!

On the bright side, being back in our quaint little quasi-ritzy Daechi, Nate and I were able to locate our old home base, Hanti Station. It took us no more than 15 minutes from DYB to find the station exit outside of Lotte Department Store where we were quickly able to locate the TACO Chili Chili store we had eaten at during our first weeks in the city! Mmmmmm, nothing like a good enchilada for lunch after sitting through a pointless and time consuming meeting! In the end, was it worth it? No way! I didn't get to sleep last night until after six and am praying that I can stay awake in class today! Was it really that much worse than waking up and bumming around Junggye all morning until class, not really!

Happy Election Day, it'll be the Black House soon!

P.S. Halloween pix to come by the end of the week, though they'll most likely be posted behind this as I already started uploading. . .oops!

Rain Rain Go Away

I know its been a while since my last post but as you will learn shortly I'm currently in the middle of a large and awkward move. . .so bare with me please!

Monday morning I awoke to the pitter-patter of what sounded like a dying rainstorm above the city. Despite the bleak conditions our stomachs called so Nate and I headed out down the street, in shorts and rain jackets, to the closest eatery, Beany and Sandy's (what a cute name for a coffee and sandwich shop, right!?). I scarfed down a Korean Klub Sandwich (cousin Stefanie's favorite Asian meal) in no time then washed it down with what had to be the closest thing to real coffee that we've had since Starbucks!

We scuttled (the only Korean way to travel) back to our rooms to try and dry off a bit and get ready for work, hoping that the rain would subside by the time we left. Of course we were granted no such luck. So, again, I pulled on my rain jacket and headed off to work. At least the rain gave me an excuse to wear dark pants and the black shoes that I brought which, we've since learned, make for an entirely over dressed DYB employee. . .oh well, it looks better than wet khakis in the rain!

Pulling up to school we were surprisingly greeted underneath an umbrella by our bright receptionist, Sunny. Sunny then passed us off to Julie (also known as Princess as she is the only employee that bears a hint of make up. . .and still looks 10 years younger than she likely is) who walked us into our building underneath an umbrella. Trying to figure out how and why we were given such thoughtful treatment it was brought to our attention that there was a new foreign arrival at the elementary school that afternoon and they were in fact outside to me him. . .not us. This new teacher, while still a mystery in person, is supposedly from the great state of Michigan as well. . .so we will have to meet!

At work Monday went as any rainy day does. . . wet floors and lethargic attitudes, I can't blame anyone though, rain is rain is rain!

Our day was brightened slightly as Joseph delivered our new cell phones we (still have not) purchased through our recruiting service, Adventure Teaching. Through AT's program, called AddOns, they are assisting us in getting a cell phone set up and in our names for the time that we are in Korea. Having little knowledge of their cellular networks and how plans are orchestrated, this seems like a good idea as they have been extremely helpful so far and the prices do not seem unreasonable. We will be essentially renting a phone from AT for our time in Korea and then (it seems) we will be signed up for a plan on their business account, an option normally not available for first time teachers as it takes a year or so to gain the necessary documents to sign a phone contract versus using the more expensive prepaid service (PPS).

Still not entirely sure what the deal is and/or how the phones work (as even once they have been switched the English 50% of the menus are still in Korean). But if you have a friend in Korea that is just dying to make contact with me, feel free to share my phone number which is 010-8450-2258. If you're trying to reach Nate instead, his is the exact same except 8451!

We made it through work in one piece and headed out into the night only to find that the rain had not ceased. We dove into the first cab we spotted and directed him towards our home in Daechidong. While I have had quite some problem figuring out how to work Koean seat belts (despite them being no different from ours at home) Nate assured me that mine was broken and then reassured me that "if there's one night you want a seat belt, it's this one." This in reference to the bullet-down-the-barrel-of-a-gun style of driving the taxis employ here mixed with dark and wet roads!

I agreed and demanded to Nate that I be strapped in (always a good thing to do anyways, especially if the driver is wearing theirs!!!). So he unhooked his seat belt, I looped mine through, and he reconnected. Problem solved! Now if we get in a crash we just get yanked together at 80 mph instead of flying forward into the relatively soft back of the front seats! Luckily we did not have to test this theory as we arrived in Dechidong safely, in one piece.

Looking out over the canal we travel along for a good portion of our drive each way, Nate noticed that the 'river front park' was missing! How does an entire boardwalk of exercise machines, basketball hoops, badmitton nets and the like go missing you ask!? Same way a city set below sea level does! It had been raining so much throughout the day (non-stop at that,) that the river had spilled well over its banks literally covering any and all riverside attractions on both sides.

Well we felt no eminent threat as we a) do not live near the river and b) it did not appear to threaten the roads at all. . .this was an extremely eerie and ironic event knowing that at the same time (Mon evening Korean) Hurricane Gustav was rolling ashore in Southern Louisiana with its eventual outcome far from uncertain! For the love of both Seoul and New Orleans, the rains ceased and the storm passed allowing water levels to subside to normal again! Thank you Momma Nature!!

Just before we eventually arrived at our destination however, our taxi driver began shouting about something in what sounded like a ferocious tone. Nate and I both tried to reassure him that the directions we gave him were okay and that we wanted to go to Daechidong! He would not stop and kept swatting our hands away as we pointed towards the small map we had given him for direction. Finally we realized he was yelling 'Obama!' Laughing at our misunderstanding, and, his enthusiastic support, we agreed 'Obama!' Our driver further asserted his right headedness as he declared "Joan Meecane, no, grrrandpapa, bad! Obamaaa!!" Not able to stop myself from laughing I continued to agree "Obamaaa." We traveled like this for the final five-ten minutes of our ride one parting yelling "Obamaa," the other agreeing and yet another calling out "Meecane Grrrandpapa!"

It's good to know that sensibility is supported world wide!

For further hilarity. . .please direct your attention to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

More to come on our big move!!! Pictures up as soon as I get settled!!

Thanks for you patience and your comments!!

A Long Day. . .

Well. . .despite being offered a position by DYB late Tuesday night, we did not receive a final contract until almost the same time Wednesday evening. Before ever receiving or accepting a final contract however Nate and I were both e-mailed an itinerary for our outbound flights to Korea; the first of which left at 6:00am Thursday morning from Detroit!

Wednesday was rather hectic as I really still wasn't too sure if we were actually going or not, though the odds looked good. I began laying out clothing early, as I am expected to pack for a years worth of work and travel across four different seasons. I managed to spend the better part of Wednesday doing nothing but fretting about actually going and napping while watching the Olympics. I started the actual packing process around 10pm, after stopping at Grandma and Poppa's to say goodbye and borrowing a suitcase.

I finally finished jamming a years worth of life into two suitcases, that weighed in at just below 50 lbs. each, at around 2:15am. . . .just enough time to hop in the shower before the Kochanski's picked me up at three to drive us down to DTW. Check in went fine but of course we were tagged for an added security check as we were flying on international tickets, booked within the day and paid for by a third party! Oh well. . . .we both passed!

From DTW we flew to Chicago O'Hare and attempted, unknowingly, to board the incorrect flight out to San Fransisco. . . .oops! Having to wait an extra hour we managed to catch our scheduled flight, both jammed into the middle seat of different rows. In San Fransisco we grabbed perhaps our last 'American' meal for a good while at a Mexican restaurant, Aribe. . . .this time I managed to hold it down, unlike in Scottsdale!

After a few hour layover and a mean game of cutthroat euchre we boarded flight UA 893 from San Fransisco to Seoul, S. Korea. Almost thirteen hours later we landed safe 'n sound in a middle of a disgusting downpour, blocking out any view we might have had of the city. Passed through immigration and customs with little trouble as they bought out story about 'looking for a job.' Long story short, we were hired on such short notice that we did not have time to apply for the proper work visa so our employer, DYB, will be sending us to Osaka, Japan within the month for a 'visa run' to get the proper paperwork completed so that we might work legally. . .as opposed to whatever we are expected to do in the meantime!

An extremely kind S. Korean, Pep, picked us up at the airport and drove us, through horrendous traffic, to the academy we will be working at. It would impossible to describe how uncomfortable this three hour ride was as the car was literally stuffed to the brim with luggage and we had already been traveling for at least a day at this point.

We met Yumi, the school's secretary outside DYB who directed us to transfer our bags to another van driven by two men, somehow affiliated with the school. They took us first to the 'nicer' of our temporary apartments at which point Nate and I had to rock paper scissors for the room. Showing an unusual scissors I was able to win the room by beating out Nate's paper on the first throw!

My (First) Building!

Settling in consisted of being given a set of keys and the password to the front door. Our two escorts made sure that my lights and TV (on which I cannot find an English channel) were working. The four of us then set off to find Nate's apartment just around the corner. To be more precise. . . and more so, if I forget, it's actually a left around the corner, down past the big intersection and a left off the third alley way. . .second building on the right, room 402! Phew. . .


Mr. Lee gave us a call on one of the men's phones before the left informing us that we are to report to school by 12:00 noon tomorrow. My guess is we will be taking the 'grand tour' and given scheduling. . . Work most certainly begins on Monday!

Time to catch up on some sleep after a long. . .long day!