First Week

The first week in South Korea has been anything but smooth sailing. The plane ride was absolutely brutal. In theory skipping a night's sleep to attempt to adjust to a 12 hour time difference sounds like a valid exercise to circumvent jet leg, however it may only be effective when you are already fully rested beforehand. So my advice is do not skip two nights in a row! The plane ride took about 24 hours (36 with the time difference) and I was utterly disoriented when I landed in Korea. Luckily I feel asleep easily that night and
slept for a good 10 hours.
The time difference wasn't as bad as I thought I would be. I found that after that first night I was well adjusted (but maybe still a little sleepy!)
   The next morning my roommate (for the first week now I'm on my own) and myself decided to go exploring... Only we couldn't remember our address and ended up running around Yoeksam district for two hours before we eventually called our school director who came to pick us up at the subway station, which we found by speaking Kor-glish to passersby until we pieced together the directions.

   The culture here is much different from Canada. Although most people speak at least a little english it is still difficult to communicate and even going to the grocery store can be a struggle. My goal is to be able to hold a rudimentary conversation by the end of the year, right now I can speak enough Korean to get by, but I'm trying to spend 30-60
minutes a day studying. Being completely immersed in this culture is really helpful for picking up the language. 스래기 벙두 주새요 means "give me the garbage bags please". That was a struggle (you have to ask casiers for garbage bags here, they are sold under the counter).
   So far I've explore Gangnam and Yoeksam and have found the gym I will be working out in for the rest of the year near Konkuk University. It takes about 45 minutes to get there but it is totally worth it, they have absolutely everything I could have asked for. I found the track today too! I will be going to Seoul National University for the time being, since they have jumping pits and it's about a 30 minute walk away (15 minutes by subway).
   I'm really nervous for tomorrow, I start teaching on my own. I have a kindergarten class with 8 students and 4-5 elementary classes. They have been great so far but I haven't been alone with them yet. Coming in I was expecting to have the most trouble with the younger kids but so far they have been a treat to teach, And I dear say they know as much english as Canadian kindergartners.
   I feel like a bit of a bum right now, I haven't been writing or working out this week. But this week is the first REAL week of my new life. I am training five days this week (MWTFS) and have scheduled an hour a day for editing. I want to have a working copy of the manuscript by the end of the summer. The eventual goal is to have something that I deem good enough to start approaching publishers with. I think the underlying story came out well, but it needs a completely rewrite for sure. Next weekend is a Korean holiday which means... FIVE DAY WEEKEND! I'm really excited I'm probably not going to leave the city but I am planning on going hiking at the adjacent National park. I think I'll leave Korea twice during the year. Right now I'm thinking maybe South Africa and maybe Nepal. If I stay again next year I would like to hit up Japan, China, and Australia! 안녕히게새요!