Days 2 & 3

It turns out that arriving in town a day early was kind of fun.  I got picked up from my hotel Thursday morning, and we did a bit of a driving tour of the area around the school and my apartment and such.  Seoul isn't really laid out like American cities.  There are a few main roads that pump through the majority of the traffic, but outside the main roads, no one really knows or cares to know the names of the little alleys that wind up and down the hills between the buildings.  I'm going to have to completely give up my street-navigating ways.  On Friday morning, we were driven around to our apartments to see what they were like, and I had to stop watching the road - our driver was (to my perception) barreling down the alleys, sometimes with walls/vehicles/people on both sides seeming to pass within inches of the van.  At one point, there were people working in the road, and he had to execute a very impressive turn.  In any case, I decided I don't ever want to have a car here.

I got to go up to the school, after a formal promise that I wouldn't think about work :)  I chilled out and used the wifi for a while, and then around noon I went with some of the guys from school who were going screen golfing.  Golf isn't really my thing, and I doubt I'll go again, but it was fun to get to meet and get to know some of my colleagues a little bit.  We got lunch while screen golfing.  Afterward, I got to play some volleyball!  The high school coach was having open gym, so I got to play some vball and meet some of my students.  They were fun - they all seemed like pretty good kids.

I had my first Korean meal at dinner - I don't remember the word for it, but there was a flame in the middle of the table, over which they placed a flat metal pan, and they brought out meat and vegetables, which we grilled and dipped in the special sauce.  It was pretty delicious :)

Yesterday we had our official tour times.  We got to see some of the main stuff in our area - the local mall, the electronics mart (a mind-blowing 8 stories of every kind of electronic device you could imagine), more Korean food, the theater (apparently they have '4-D' movies here - kind of like some of the rides at Disney and such where they blow air on you or spray you with water in times with the things happening on screen), and the English bookstore.  I also rode the subway for the first time, and had a fun adventure involving taking the bus they wrong way and nearly losing my wallet.  All of us newbies had dinner with a few of the old hats at a pretty Americanized teriyaki place (it was delicious), and I had a lot of fun and good conversations, especially with Ross, my tour buddy and hotel roommate who has super-TCK powers.

It was a jam-packed couple of days, but I learned a lot about how to get around, and I think I can navigate from my hotel to the main drag to my apartment.  I only went to or from the school as a passenger in a car, so getting there would be more of an adventure.  However, I do think that I could have an exploratory adventure and not get completely lost.  I got to look at a map last night and that did a lot to help me orient myself.

We're going to have to check out of the hotel today, so I'll be moving into my apartment and discovering the multitude of things I should have remembered to bring with me and determining whether or not I can purchase them here (answer: probably, but are they reasonably priced?). 

Another note:  the currency is pretty easy.  There are roughly 1000 won to the dollar, so it's simply a decimal shift to determine the equivalent American price and see if something is a good deal or not.  Hail to base 10!

Also, I haven't mentioned them specifically, but so far I like everyone I'm going to be working with, so that's been a big plus.

Please pray that God would help me to adjust, and continue to depend on Him for my strength.  Also, pray that I will be developing good, deep relationships with my coworkers, who are also going to more or less be my family here.

peace,
Bennett