Arriving in South Korea

After months of planning, I am finally in South Korea.  It all happened so fast.  I emailed a recruiter at the end of September last year and since then it was a snow ball effect. 

South Korea is the size of the western cape in South Africa.  They have a population of 50 million people and because the country is 70percent mountains, only 30 percent of the country is used.  Just take a moment to imagine that!! 50 million people in 30% of the western cape...

South Korea Map

When I arrived at Incheon Airport, EPIK was waiting for us and brought us to an university in Daejeon (in the middle of South Korea) where we had an 8 day orientation with about 400 others from all around the world.   Orientation was a bit overwhelming as we were so many and meeting so many people at once with the basic conversation starter “hi, I am Ilze from South Africa, how about you?” - when you get to the 50^th person, you lose track of who  fits in where.  EPIK is so organised, and I must say I have never in my life been at such a big event with so many new people that always ran on time.  I almost felt like in grade 1 again, just without the chaos.

                     

We had loads of classes at the orientation; some days were 17 hours long.   But it was so worth it and very informative.  They divided the new teachers into 6 classes of more or less 50 in a class and we all just rotated lectures.  My class was mainly all with teachers that will be placed in Busan.  

I was in Class 3.. My class at Jeonju Hanok Village..

There were lectures on everything that we need to start a life as an English teacher in Korea, from Korean language classes to co-teaching and what to expect your very first day.  We also had lesson planning, Taekwondo and many more classes.  I really enjoyed it, but I did feel like I had a complete information overload at the end of it.

The compulsory Teakwondo class, I am ducking as im scared of being hit as Samantha tries to break the plank with her hand. (Which she did)

Singing at a nori-bang(karaoke room).  Karaoke is massive in South Korea

The 9 days flew by and I didn't find any of the lectures boring.  Each lecture was  about two and a half hours long and we had 5 a day. With  breakfast, lunch  and supper breaks in between.

I arrived in Busan on Friday.  I met my co-teacher, Mrs. Moon.  The first question she asked me was “what is your age? “ and “what is your height?”  I said, “I am 177cm tall” she went all quiet and then eventually she said“the reason I ask is because, your bed......mmm.....it is just enough”.  I think she was worried that my bed would be too short for me. I found it quite funny, but she did make me worry.  She took me to my flat and I LOVE it. I live on the 5th floor and I can definitely call it home! 

The school bought me a new LG  LED flat screen tv(which I will probably never use as I don’t speak Korean).  I am planning on going for basic Korean lessons. They also bought me a super shocking bright pink duvet set.  They got me that when they heard that I am a girl.

My room and my kitchen. My brand new tv still in its box.

I actually have a proper shower! This is a rare sight in Korea! Most showers are directly linked to the basin.  I also have a glass door which helps to prevent the water from going every where.  This is also rare.  If you look carefully you will see that i am showering directly onto the floor of my bathroom and the floor stays wet for hours that's why you need special bathroom shoes.

Photo taken from my front door.  on the left is my bathroom and on the right my cupboard.

My kitchen.  This photo is taken from my bed.  The long cupboard is actually my fridge, i got the biggest fridge ever.

She parked her car in the basement in a machine that I have never seen before.  It is like a lift system but only for cars.  You park your car in it, get out and it takes your car to the 21^st floor or so and stores it there till you return.  I will need to get a photo of that. 

I used google to find some images. You drive onto this circle, which turns your car into the right direction.  Then you drive into that garage.

The car lift then takes your car to an open space and parks it there.

Mrs. Moon went with me to my school with the bus so that I can easily find my way.  I am a 10 minute bus ride from my school.  My school is a 5 minute walk from the beach so I am really lucky as it is a beautiful beach.

Songjeon beach.  It is a really cold day.

On Saturday I met up with a South African girl, Sarah,  as I brought her South African ID for her, so that she could vote in May or April as we have to vote a week before the official South African election vote.  Because I didn’t know my address yet, it was quite a mission to explain where I was living. We ended up meeting at my school as that was easiest for both of us.  I was told that I live in quite a prime spot.  I felt bad when Mrs. Moon told me that she lives far away from school as she couldn't afford to live in this area.  I am right by a subway station which is very convenient to get around.  

I live at the last stop of the green line in Jeongsan.  It is on the righhand side of this picture.

Mrs. Moon is also new at the school and so we will both be new.  I will be teaching four grades.  From grade 3 to grade 6 elementary levels.  I am placed in a very small school in Songjeon Elementary school, which only has about 150 students.  Each class will have 20-25 kids, so I think that is ideal.  Mrs. Moon will teach all the English grammar in Korean and I will be responsible for speaking and listening lessons.  We also have a Communication English teacher that is Korean, so basically we will all be working as a team, but Mrs. Moon is my co-teacher so she will be with me all the time.  She is 39 in Korean years.  37 international age.  When Koreans are born, they are automatically 1 year old. 

Through Sarah I managed to find a great church near me and I loved the service.  It really feels like a family.  They also had a table with a whole bunch of free stuff and because I have literally have nothing I managed to get a couple of helpful free things. I was also told to keep an eye on the dumpster at my apartment as when Koreans move they don’t move their furniture, they throw them out instead and buy new ones.  So I could easily get a couch, bookshelf, fridge or even a bed for free if I am lucky!! How amazing is that!!  

I did my washing today and I had to wash my clothes three times as every time the cycle finished the machine won't open.  I must have changed the settings and the cycle wasn't finished although the timer was.  My washing machine is in Korean, so I have to guess what setting it is on.  Luckily after  the third wash my machine opened, so i have really clean clothes!! It is really hard when everything is in Korean.  From my floor heating, air-con to my washing machine.  Even the menu's in basically all the restaurants! 

This menu have pictures on them, but a lot of them don't. I am still getting the hang of it.