Definitely NOT ‘Land of the Morning Calm!’

I’m happy to say that after only two weeks, I can completely agree with the Korean government’s decision to change the country motto to ‘Dynamic Korea’ rather than ‘Land of the Morning Calm.’ I can say this with such force as I have routinely been awake at all hours of the morning thanks to the fun of jet lag and also because the window in our apartment doesn’t quite shut all the way and we’re only 5 floors up from a 6 lane street.

We’re still getting into the swing of things after our first full week of teaching at ICEV in Incheon, which is about an hour out of Seoul. We spent our first weekend getting acquainted with our surroundings (ie getting lost every time we left the apartment), found our way to a fish market selling manta rays and other indescribables, and wandered our way into hunger where we met bulgogi and bibimibap. Yum!

We met up with our friend Penny’s sister, Sarah, who has been living in Korea for the past few years and thankfully is fluent in Korean. She whisked us around Seoul one afternoon from a cherry blossom festival, downtown Gangnam, and a Buddhist temple, to the biggest mall in Korea. Yes, Koreans do love their shopping and as soon as our airfare is reimbursed, we’re planning on partaking of the pastime ourselves! First thing to buy? Something to sit on in our apartment. We’re getting tired of either sitting on the floor or getting crumbs on the bed!

Teaching has been a whole other experience: I've decided that it's probably not a good thing to take 35 kids who have just eaten chocolate rolls and juice and lock them in a room with one inexperienced and extremely naive teacher. I learn fast though and got straightjackets ordered right away. I wonder what next week will bring?