Long overdue, apparently, first impressions of my new school

not only because inquiring familial minds want to know, but any other odd souls who find their way to this blog will as well.

I finished my first week, which was training, following Ashling, the teacher I was replacing, to each class, etc. And I really like it there! The funniest thing was that all week, starting Monday, my face hurt from smiling so much, which I was doing without thinking about it because I just like the place. I really like the kids (and liked them all the more when one of the Korean teachers told us that all the kids, whether in my class or not, think I look royal and like Queen Elizabeth I!), really like the Korean teachers, the other native teacher is nice and willing to help. I like the hours, because I work from 1:30-10:00 PM MWF and 1:30-9:00 or 9:30 Tues Thurs, so I'm much more awake, and still have time to go to the bank, or see doctors and dentists, without needing to get up extra early on Saturdays to get to clinics.

It's much more relaxed (sometimes a bit too relaxed, as I went from SUPER structured to, "Oh, assigning HW is easy, so much so that I don't feel the need to tell you if they have separate homework HW books, worksheets, or whatever"). On Wednesday we have staff meetings, and last Wednesday they were finalizing the winners of the previous week's speech contest. Anna, the head principal (and Korean), was mentioning that 2 of her homeroom students had won best students (which is decided by the foreign teachers), and Sue, the owner (who cooks us teachers dinner every night herself) leaned to me and said, "Notice that ANNA'S students won best students. What a coincidence!" They actually joke with each other!

I'm still more or less lost regarding the HW, and Ashling just didn't quite understand why, but on Friday when I demonstrated how totally lost I was regarding that, she took pity on me and wrote out next week's homework for one class, and checking most, though not all of, the others. This, then, will be the biggest I-have-no-idea-what's-going-on part of my job. That and remembering to set up the computer when it's needed. It will click, I just have to remember of course I'm still going to have, "Wait, what do I do/how do I do __?" moments/days for a while.

I hate to risk jinxing myself, but I really like it there.

And I kind of love my new apartment, which I started moving into Saturday morning. I say started because I only had my duffel bag that I had packed for my 2-3 weeks being between homes with me. My big backpack was at Danielle's (my friend with the adorable 5-year-old girl and great husband who bent over backwards to get my travel and hotel plans straightened out for Busan), while my suitcase was at Tausha's. I will mention here too that despite my having done it a few times now, I still suck at packing with good weight distribution, so my suitcase was over-packed and a bit too much for the wheels. So getting that suitcase from my friend Nathalie's to Tausha's on the train was a trauma due to the fact that wheels didn't work well on the brick sidewalks, unhappily on the concrete, and I was very worried the extendable handle was going to break when I tried pulling it on the back wheels. It has 360 degree wheels, but they wouldn't turn because the bag was so heavy. I knew I wouldn't be able to lift it up onto the bus, and there were NO cabs in Dongbaek, the old neighborhood, so I spent 45 hot, irritating minutes forcing/pushing and guiding the suitcase on foot to the train station. Then up 4 flight of stairs to Tausha's, after down the 3 from Nathalie's. My hope was that I'd be able to get my backpack from Danielle's on Saturday, unpack it, then unload some of the extra weight into it from the suitcase and have a much easier time on the train with them all.

But my ridiculously awesome and helpful friends came through again! Danielle and Hyunsam (her husband) asked me to stay overnight on Saturday, then they'd drive me and my 2 pieces of luggage to my place. This way, they could all see it too. Hyunsan even insisted on carrying that monstrously heavy suitcase for me! Had a great time, as I always do with them, then we all came here. As Leah happily climbed up and down to the loft, which she is excited to sleep over in, Hyunsam took apart my air conditioner and cleaned it for around an hour. Here, you have to regularly clean the filters. As we don't really have to in the US, foreign teachers never know to do it, so you can get bad air in your apartment. The filter was black, and once Hyunsam was done, it was white. Danielle said he just does that, he will clean things, he will finish it and never leave it half done, and he does it for her, her mom, Leah, his family, everyone.

So I'm now enjoying a clean air conditioner in my much nicer, new apartment, which I'd guess is 4 times the size of my old one. I have so much space to put things, I barely know what to do with it all. The ONLY downside is I only have ONE burner on the stove (!!!!!!). But I can live with that. I also now have a smaller freezer. But these are surprising trifles compared to how bright, nice, and spacious my new digs are. And how much better I feel at the new school.

I had the additional fortune of Ashling showing me what buses to take to and from home and school, and how to do the 20-25 minute walk (which is the same distance my old place was from the school). My new neighborhood is on a MUCH busier street, and not a strictly residential area like my old place, so I have around 7-8 cafes alone within less than a block. I have a giant superstore called Lotte Mart about a 5 minute walk away, and Ashling sweetly had me come with her to her dentist's office, because they speak English. So while I have not had time to walk around my new neighborhood except when walking home at night (my hotel was across the street from the apartment), I know how to get around.

And I may have cut off about 15-20 minutes from my trip to Aaron's, who is the Army guy that I am still seeing every other weekend. (I'm reiterating the relationship  details because Mark has been on me yet again about my lack of pertinent details.) We don't have enough in common to ever be very serious, but he's nice, doesn't act and more importantly doesn't treat me like this is just a friends-with-benefits situation, which I've never liked... and as I said, US prices and products on the base! It works for both of us.

Oh. And get THIS: I was totally great not drinking all this week. Amazing what a nontoxic work environment can do for you!

But for now I'm going to have a celebratory glass of scotch. It's breaking a record, but it seems a good reason to.