Month One: September

Well ...it hasn't even been two weeks yet since we have gotten here, but already I am feeling like it's been a million years since we started this journey. Perhaps that is because it took about 900,000 of those years before we actually got on a plane. Perhaps it's because there is so much to see and learn here that every second can feel like sensory overload.

I have to admit - for the weeks leading up to us leaving, I was constantly being asked, "Are you excited?" Over and over again, and over and over again I answered honestly, "No." It was a simple answer and it was completely the truth. I couldn't understand how I could get excited about leaving my life for an entire year, a life that I absolutely loved and had worked hard for. Albeit, a life without a job ...hence, the decision to come to Korea.

For me, it was completely a financial decision that lead me on this path, but for Wayne it was a love of travelling, and a love for the country that he enjoyed a couple years ago. He was ecstatic as the day to leave drew nearer, whereas my apprehension grew more and more each day. I think part of the reason that I couldn't feel much excitment (if any) was because I couldn't let myself feel much for fear that fear itself would take over. And that I would lose my nerve to get onto that plane.

And I swear I almost did. When I said goodbye to my mom and dad at that airport, it was all I could do not to run back and tell me to take me home. I couldn't even talk for about an hour, and I almost cried through customs.

But, as hard as it was to leave behind family & friends, and a Godson that I am absolutely in love with (who has the most amazing mom) and fun 'Friday nights' ...and just about everything ...I have to admit now, that I am happy.

I love it here. I love the fact that when I walk down the street there are tons of smiling faces looking at me, I love that people are constantly reaching out to us here, trying to speak English to make us feel more comfortable. And most of all I love the kids, every day I am so excited at the end of the day with what my classes were like.

I'm not a traveller (or at least, I wasn't) ...maybe a litle afraid of the world out there, maybe just a little geographically challenged ...but I think I have grown just a little bit this month. And maybe, just maybe ...I will grow to the point that I may even be able to speak to people here and not simply be a mute! Haha ...for anyone that knows my abilities with languages, they will understand what a challenge this is, but I have learned to say "Thank You" and I keep claiming to Wayne that a smile is the universal language. Pathetic, I know - but at this point, it's all I got!

And guess what ...I ate something spicey today and so far am not dying!!

But I'm still homesick:)

xoxo

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Our Address & Phone Numbers

Well ...the moment you have all been waiting for ...the moment when you can start bestowing on us lavish and generous gifts:

Junior College
Attn: Lori Eldridge & Wayne Ervin
DA PLAZA, 21 Block
1 Lot Sang-UP Young-Ji
Nonhyun-dong Namdong-Gu
Incheon-si
South Korea
405-300
Ph: 032) 202-2900

Lori's cell: 011-82-10-7579-5074
Wayne's Cell: 011-82-10-7579-2868

We are also going to be set up on Skype ...so definitely get an account and then we can talk (and see each other) for free!!

xoxoxo

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First Visit to Seoul

For those of you that think that Toronto is a busy, fast paced place with tons going on and too many vehicles on the road - visit Seoul. I have never seen anything like it. (Pics to come.)

We have a bus that is right near our apartment that will take us directly to Seoul station and were told that it takes anywhere between 40 minutes and an hour. Apparently this person did not head there on a Saturday afternoon. So - one hour and 40 minutes after we got onto that bus (thank goodness it's a Greyhound style bus and not a city bus, or I might have actually died) we arrived at Seoul station.

Wayne has a friend from his last stint here (Chris ...or as people coin him, "Angry Chris" ...though I am assured by him that this is completely unfounded) that married the sweetest, cutest Korean girl, Rachel. So they currently live in Seoul and were absolutely amazing to us. After the bus, we hopped on a subway and made our way to one of the stops for them to pick us up. (Yes girls, I now have a subway card and will be riding it frequently! Proud?) We then proceeded to go and get new cell phones (matching! Wayne's going to kill me for that one, if he ever reads this) and then out for dinner.

This may sound like a fairly quick, easy process, but I assure you that after all of the paperwork with our phones was done and we set out into traffic, it took us about one million years to make it to our destination! I have never seen traffic of this magnitude before ...thank goodness the scenery was so alive and nice to keep me entertained:)

We had probably my favourite meal yet - Shabu Shabu (there is no way that I spelled that correctly) and after eating for like 45 minutes had still only consumed under 300 calories! Hmmmmm, coke or full meal? This food is crazy.

Then we headed home for a little pre-drink and then out. I will sum up my night by giving you a few interesting tid bits into what I discovered and what I experienced:

1. This is one of the things that I find incredibly interesting: when parking in a parking lot, everyone simply lines up their vehicles and packs that parking lot full. Then (since, there are numerous cars buried in this lot) they leave it in neutral so that if someone needs to get out, they simply push the other vehicles out of the way! You would think that this would get confusing, but in actuality it works amazingly well. (Again, pics to follow because you need to see it to believe it.)

2. I actually went to a place called "Hookers Hill" ...and you may be thinking that they simply call this location that in some type of inside joke, or snyde remark ...nope ...when you walk down the hill, all of the doors will open to the hookers lairs. (No pics to follow, not allowed.)

3. On the way home the next day we went to a Cosco. I have never been so happy in my life to have ritz crackers, cheese and cheerios. It might have been Christmas.

And that concludes my first (of I'm sure many) trips to Seoul, where I will love to visit ...but will always make me happy to come back to my quiet, relaxed lifestyle.

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The First Day of Teaching ...

...came slightly earlier than we expected. In what I am told is typical fashion up here, we were sitting at our desks on Friday afternoon (minding our own business) when we were told that we would be teaching that day, and more specifically in 45 minutes!

Let me paint this picture for you: not only have I never taught ESL before, but I didn't even know what books my classes were using, where they were in these books AND what classrooms they were even being taught in! So, to say that I was thrown slightly off guard is a bit of an understatement, I was definitely outside my comfort zone and completely clueless.

I would say that we rallied pretty well (after a few english curse words and some sweat) and ended up teaching 4 classes each. Phew. And now that it's over, I will admit that, that might have been the best way to start. No sleepless night the night before, no hours spent planning for something that you cannot anticipate - just thrown to the wolves and forced to sink or swim! And for the most part, I think that I swam, or at the very least doggy paddled in the deep end:)

I have 4 classes in total (Wayne has 5, I suppose that's why they pay him the big bucks!) and they are all back to back and have students at different levels and ages. My youngest student is 9 and the oldest 13 - and they are all adorable. I love them.

They each get to make up their own names - so I have a Tim, a Tom, a Rachel ...and then on the other end of the spectrum - I have a Stewi, Nice, a Candy and a Dick!! Too funny. But it definitely shows their personalilities. My largest class has about 9 in it, and my smallest has 5 students. Classes are 45 minutes each and have 5 minute breaks in between, so I was pretty exhausted at the end of my first day. But felt really positive and excited about my students.

And that pretty much concludes my first day ...and now I am preparing for the 2nd, feeling a bit more aware, slightly more comfortable - but still pretty clueless and thinking that the doggy paddle is a vastly underappreciated exercise:)

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Would You Rather

Would you rather: have a balcony in your apartment, but have your bathroom window (with no fan in your bathroom) lead out to the hallway in your apartment (I'm serious, think about it) ....or ....have no balcony and have your bathroom window lead to the outside of your apartment building?

Those are the two options in our apartment building and it blows my mind!

And in case you were wondering ...alas, I have no balcony:)

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We are here!

Well ...I guess I can say that it finally feels real. We are actually here. After a very long flight (which, I'm not going to lie - I actually enjoyed for the most part ...I will never argue with being 'forced' to watch 6 back to back movies and an episode of Friends ...Heaven, thanks to Bob & Nancy for my neck rest!) we were picked up from the airport by our recruiter. He was an hour and a half late, but we won't dwell on that.

As you will notice on my map (located on the right side of screen with a handly little star that says 'We Are Here' that I put in purely for your viewing enjoyment) we are in Incheon and that is where thier major airport is, very convenient:) Except that Incheon is huge - over 3 million people! And our little 'suberb' of Incheon, called Namdong (not pronounced 'dong' as Wayne keeps reminding me, but 'd-own') took about an hour to drive to with traffic, but I am assured that it's not typically that bad for those that are coming to visit! I promise to pick you up at the airport and we will have figured out how things work by then.

We were taken directly to the school to meet the director who seems really, really nice and to see where we will be teaching! Got me pretty excited, because it's super, super cute (will post pics once we get the internet in our apartment) and has a library and a bunch of little mini classrooms ...and our very own desks!

Then they took us to our apartment, which is HUGE ...if by huge you mean ridiculously small, with no closets and no dressers at this point. But hey, I can deal with that, it's not like I'm an organized person who likes to unpack the second I get there and make myself at home:) Nope, the new me loves living with things everywhere and is super relaxed about having nothing at this point! Haha ...Wayne wishes.

But I will say this - I honestly have no idea how I brought so much stuff. I think it has something to do with the fact that I kinda packed over the course of a month and the longer I waited the more stuff I just kinda ended up 'throwing' in ...and I somewhat forgot about what was already in there. Yah, you may or may not be shocked that I ended up bringing - 10 pairs of shoes. Not at all sure how that happened.

But if Wayne can bring his hockey equipment, I can bring the things that make me happy ...shoes:)

Hmmm, where was I? Oh yes, after the tour of our apartment, which took all of about 30 seconds, our director took us out for dinner. Amazing food. We had beef on a little grill in the middle of our table, that we cooked ...loved it so much that Wayne & I went out and had it again ourselves last night. As long as I do my best to avoid the spicey, I think I can definitely survive, so far I have loved everything that I have eaten and avoided everything that scared me. Like the little fishheads that I was telling Andrew about that they served us at lunch yesterday as an add on ...yum. They had little eyes and everything!

And that concluded our first night - we were both asleep by 10pm, after having been up for 30 hours. And I honestly thought that we completely avoided jet lag,until yesterday afternoon when we decided to take a little nap (not really even tired, just kinda relaxing) and ended up waking up 4 1/2 hours later! Oops. Guess our bodies were slightly confused.

Anyways, we don't start teaching until Thursday so we are using our time to explore, doing a lot of walking and just enjoying the experience and each other and having fun. We don't have internet yet at our apartment, but as soon as we do - I will give everyone a visual 'tour' of our apartment and our town!

Until then, xoxo

ps. Did I mention that we haven't been able to unpack yet?

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"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go ...I've been standing here" - hmm, 3 weeks now

...I don't quite think that's how the Chantel song goes, but the first part is accurate.  I am starting to wonder if I am ever going to get the wrinkles out of my clothes.


But I do have news!  And of course a full story behind that news.


It starts like this: every night for the past 3 weeks I have been going to bed with my blackberry turned up to loud (to wake me up) and my computer by my bed so that I can wake up 3 times throughout the night to check for emails.  Korea is 13 hours ahead, so the timing of talking to our recruiter has been tough, and we didn't want to miss anything.  Especially since every second was important and we were waiting for the go ahead to head to the Consulate in Toronto to hand in our passports and have our visas inserted into them.


Anyways, long story short - we got word that they were backed up over there, so it was taking much (much) longer than expected.  So, Thursday night I went to sleep at Lindsays, where unfortunately the internet was down ...which didn't seem like a big deal because we had been waiting 3 weeks and what were the chances.  However, I did ask Wayne to check my email along with his, just to be safe.


Friday morning I wake up, all rested and relaxed ...a night without stressing apparently was much needed! Until ....duh, duh, duh ...Wayne calls at 10am! 10am!  He didn't check the email until 10am and we got the go ahead and had to be at the Embassy by noon ...in Toronto!


This may seem a bit unfortunate to you ...but let me paint you the entire picture - I was at Lindsays, without a car, without my passport, without a change of clothes, in my pajamas ...with less than 2 hours to make it downtown Toronto.


SO - we jumped in her car (still in pajamas), hauled it downtown to pick up my moms keys (still in my pajamas) then I had to physically run across downtown to get to the parking garage (still in my pajamas) head home to grab my passport and jump back in the car to drive as quickly as possible to the Embassy (still in my pajamas.)


The outcome: Wayne made it on time, I did not.  But it didn't matter because he made it at 11:59 and the girl left for her lunch ...until 1:30.  So we waited ...and waited (and yes, I was still in my pajamas, having not brushed my teeth or my hair or washed my face ...lovely) with little hope because they don't take people after 12.  But our wish came true and she felt bad for us that we ended up sitting there for 2 hours waiting and she took care of us.


Another step down!


Last step: Interview on Thursday.  They just want to make sure I'm not a drug dealer or a danger to their country ... it's just a formality and our plane tickets are booked for Friday.


So yes, after so much waiting and impatience ...now I have a new sickness in my stomach ...I can't believe it's happening, we're actually going!


But for the record - I'm not saying any goodbyes (I'm even rethinking allowing my mom at the airport because I'm not sure either of us will be in good shape.)


And no ...Wayne has still not started packing yet. Boys.

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Have we left YET? Are we EVER leaving?

The first question is the question that I am being asked at least 10 times per day at this point ...and the second one is the one that I have started to ask myself.


The update is this:  our papers are still awaiting approval at Immigration in South Korea.  It feels like it is taking forever, and every night that go to bed, I assume that I will be waking up to an email from our recruiter telling us to head to the Embassy to have everything finalized.  But alas ...the email never comes, and we are sitting here in limbo.


Of course, there are a number of different pluses to this situation - we have been able to spend a ton more time with family and friends ...attending a great birthday party (complete with balloons and streamers) last Saturday and a fabulous games night (and I apologize, but I will not be able to disclose the champions) on Sunday night!  The second ...and honestly, if you know me at all - this is making me extremely happy ...good thing that is happening is I am being able to catch some of the tv premieres that are starting up this week!  Like - the 2nd season of 90210, the new season of Melrose Place and my new personal favourite (tribute to my life and essence in general ...seriously had tears in my eyes because it was so amazing) - Glee.  Love it. 


So, until we get that fateful email, I will be here - visiting and watching tv.  Some may say - a fate slightly less painful than death.


But I promise to keep you posted when we finally get the go-ahead!


...and  seriously I hope that there are irons in Korea (because Wayne told me that there aren't, but he tends to think it's funny when I believe silly things, so you never know) ...because my clothes have now been packed for over 2 weeks!!


And no ...Wayne has not started packing yet.

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