We're Here!

Dear Family and Friends,

We’ve made it to Korea safe and sound, although the trip was long and a bit emotionally draining. Saying goodbye to my parents at the airport involved multiple tears which were pretty constant all the way to our Atlanta transfer. Our flight to Incheon was fourteen hours long… but we were thrilled to have the little personalized television screens to distract us throughout the ride. I think I must have watched 5 movies (David watched around 6!), but no matter how you pad it, 14 hours sitting in one place is pretty ridiculous.

We landed around 4:30 in the afternoon in Seoul and a taxi driver picked us up and drove us into Incheon. He didn’t speak any English—and the cab ride was almost 2 hours! He dropped us off at a motel where we met up with our principle Jason Lee. He helped us get settled into our temporary room and took us out to dinner before he left us to sleep. The room is really funny, all of the other teachers who’ve stayed here have dubbed it the “Love Motel” since the bed is circular and there are mirrors and funky lights everywhere. There’s even a vending machine for “adult toys” in the corner!

After a long nights sleep we went with Jason to the hospital for our traditional health checkup. They were pretty amazed at David’s and my vision (we both have better than 20/20. The worst part was when they drew blood. I for one, hate needles being under my skin. She drew one vial and then kept putting new vials on until she had five massive vials of my blood. It was quite a relief to finally be done with that. Everyone here is really paranoid about the Swine Flu. Apparently the parents of the children we’re teaching are worried that we’ll carry it off to their kids! Oh no! So far there haven’t been any cases in Incheon. I would hate to wreck it!

After lunch, where I ate Kimchi for the first time (it wasn’t half-bad, although I imagined a bit more flavor other than spice…) Jason brought us to Kid’s College. It’s on the fifth floor of a pretty tall building. We met all the other teachers as well as the ones we’re replacing. They’re all incredibly nice and welcoming. We got to observe the classes we’ll be teaching. It is a full, long day! We teach class non-stop (with an hour for lunch) from 9:30 in the morning to 6:15 at night. That also doesn’t include the lesson planning we have to do! (Our replacements usually came in early in the morning for that). As for the kids, they seem really nice. Apparently I have the angelic class! I have five kindergarten children: three girls and two boys. Three elementary school children: two girls and a boy. And four ridiculously ADD boys in an “international class.” Most of the children already have a pretty functional grasp on the language, but strangely enough it’s the elementary class which has the most trouble. Even the end of our half-day observation was a little exhausting—and both of us had the sense of “Oh! What have we gotten ourselves into?!” but I know that everything will come into place over the next few weeks.

We have the weekend free, but until we’re settled we’re at a bit of a loss of what to do. We don’t move into our apartment until Monday when Sara and Jonah fly back home.

I’ll be back soon with more updates! (We don’t get regular internet until Tuesday or Wednesday!)

Much Love,

Ryan and David