Training Over. New Apartment. School Starts Monday.

We finished training Friday night and the longest week ever is finally over. Constantly going over the same stories was tedious, and the hours were long (330pm-1030pm for 5 days) - we had to wear masks for swine flu which were incredibly hot and uncomfortable, but guess what? I am a teacher now!(Sorta.)

The Korean-American girl I mentioned earlier got the axe - she really did try hard but when it came down to it, she just wasn't meant to be a teacher. She was super abrasive and unapproachable and didn't know what she was doing. We are working with the littlest kids (like age 7-12) so you have to have the compassion, patience and ability to speak to their level. She didn't have any of those.

I am really missing my training group. There were eight of us and we got super close in the 9 days we were together. We were together day and night. About half of us are staying in Seoul and the other half are going to other parts of the country. It will be great to have Scott and Bob to visit in the south, and we'll just have to make Sean come to us ;) I sincerely hope we stay in touch because we had a blast together. Seoul is a HUGE city though, so its definitely going to take an effort on all of our parts to get together. Tina, Dave and Josh all live in a very central, happening area (close to the university) and I'm sure I will be the one commuting the most as I am in the northeast part of the city.

This was in the hotel on the night before our last day of training. We went to a Noraebong after (kareoke) and had a blast. Needless to say, we didn't feel so hot the next day.




Saturday morning a call taxi came to get my from the hotel and brought me to my new school. It is so cute. I have my own classroom and I am so pumped for school tomorrow. These kids are SO dang adorable. I will surely post videos of them. Clara (essentially the principal) and Zak (the head instructor, from Seattle), Clark (friend from middle school who got me the job) and I went out to lunch afterward and then they showed me around the neighborhood.

I moved into my new apartment and I can't help but feel a little scared and nervous. It's my first time to live alone and it feels really strange not having someone to talk to, watch tv with or just KNOW that they are in the other room. The place itself is really nice, spacious and the girl who lived here before me left me SO much stuff (yoga mat, tennis racket, cell phone, basketball, food, towels, dvd player, bible verses.... etc). The fridge and bathroom are huge (I actually have a glass door which is a novelty around these parts). I was told I would be in the same building as Clark, but I'm not. I am about a 15-20 min walk from his apartment in Nowon, which I am moving into in 3 months. Supposedly there is a guy leaving then; I will take his place and the new person will take my apartment. I wish I could just live there now and not have to totally repack/unpack again but no worries. For now I have a gorgeous view of some beautiful mountains I want to hike this afternoon.



I met up with Richard and his girlfriend Alyna yesterday to go to a baseball game but it was totally sold out, so we went to the "western" part of the city, Itaewon. I got a cheeseburger that was overcooked and the fries were cold, but it was still worth it. After that we went to some bars in Hongdae (university area). This one guy David and I figured out we live on the same street in Houston. Small world. We had a great night, met a ton of people, and spent waaay too much money. In certain parts of the city you can go for days without seeing another westerner, but you go to particular areas of the city and every other person is white. It's pretty hilarious.

I'll write more this week about how school is going.

Miss you all.