Arrival

After orientation it was finally time to head to our destinations. We took a bus to Yeosu where we would meet with our individual co-teachers and say our goodbyes.

My co-teacher is about the same age as me and his English is good enough that we can communicate easily. We spent some time hanging out together in Yeosu because the ferries weren't operating at that time due to bad weather, and I'm glad we had time to get to know each other. He and his wife are both teachers at the elementary school and they live in the same apartment building as me, so I'm sure I will see both of them a lot in the future. I ended up staying in two more hotel rooms, and at this point I was very tired of moving my stuff every few days, and ready to finally settle down. (I even left my Choco Pies behind in one of the hotel rooms...)

We did have one fun adventure in Yeosu. Shortly before leaving for Korea my glasses broke and I was hoping to buy a new pair when I got here. Seeing as we had some time to kill, we found a glasses store and I did my best to talk to the employee with my limited Korean while my co-teacher helped to interpret. Before I knew it, I was whisked away to a side room to do the vision check. Looking back, this was probably the first time I was without an escort since coming here. The vision test felt like a pop quiz on Korean numbers, but I managed to get through it, and I'm now equipped with a proper new pair of glasses! I'm able to see out of them better than ever, so I guess I passed the quiz.

On Sunday morning we set sail for Geomun Island. Koreans know how to ride ferries in style. The passenger area was open with heated floors, so you can just lie down and take a nap during the 2.5 hour trip. Unfortunately, I am not very comfortable riding boats (I've only been on a few boats in my entire life) so I started to feel seasick before we arrived. I did manage to get one good shot as we got to the island (on the right).

I will mainly be working at the elementary school here. Actually, the school is built right next to a dormitory where all of the teachers and their families live, so my "commute" is only a short walk to the next building over. I will also work at the middle school on the other side of the island. To get there, a will ride in a van carpool with other students at the school. I hope that I can have a chance to get to know them better in this time. Other than that, there are just a few restaurants and one convenience store in my immediate area, so unless I walk to the nearby town I don't have many options for food here.

The island community is small, but close. Everyone knows each other, and they feel like a big family. Likewise, my classes will be small, only about 4-7 students per class, so I'm hoping that this will give me more time to interact with them one-on-one and get to know their names. As my friend Allen pointed out, I've had a lot of practice memorizing idol names so learning a few students' names shouldn't be difficult.

Thank you for reading my blog and keeping up with my crazy life right now. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below. I'm sure that I will have many stories to share in the future. Getting through the quarantine and all of the hotels was exhausting, but now that I'm here and settled in I feel like my adventure can finally begin!