Arrival (My First Night)

Date: May 18, 2008

After being in the air for about 12 hours, I finally arrived the Incheon airport in Seoul on Sunday night (May 18, 2008). It was raining hard that night, after going through the custom and getting my baggage, I came out of the doors expecting to see my name on a big piece of paper; however I could not find it.

I went over to the Information desk and asked to make a phone call to the person (Sam) who is in charge of arranging my ride and apartment. He told me the driver is already on his way and asked me to wait by the info desk. After waiting about 20 min, I saw a little old man holding a piece of paper pacing through the waiting area and finally walked to the info desk. I saw my name written on that piece of paper, so I went up to meet him. Once he saw me, he started speaking Korean to me, and of course, I didn't understand what he was saying, so I told him that I don't speak Korean, so we got quiet for a bit.

It was about an hour drive from the airport to my apartment, and it was a little awkward that we couldn't really converse/communicate. I tried to say something simple (with gestures) to him at first, and he would always just smile or nod cuz his English is very limited. There were couple times when we drove by some (i assume) famous spots/landmarks in South Korean, and he would say something and point. But I guess we both got tired of "trying to" speak (and i was just physically tired), so it got quiet. One thing I did remember though was that he smoked a lot. Although he tried to open the windows to let the smokes out and turn on the fan, but I could still smell it just cuz he was sitting right next to me.

[It's interesting, now i've been in Korea for couple months, I realized that most korean men smoke, from young to old. Perhaps that's their way of relieving stress, and I think they are partially responsible for the polluted air here. I'm not kidding, walking on the streets, waiting for the bus, you see smoking men everywhere, and i normally hold my breath or cover my nose when i have to pass by them or get stuck walking behind them. Don't mean to sound all "critical", but I wish they know how much smoking hurt their health and also the health of people around them. Or maybe they know, and it's just too hard to quit!]

My apt is in a 8 or 9-floor tall building, and I'm on the 4th floor, room 407. After we got to my apartment, we waited for another 30 min. or so outside of the door for Sam to get there and for the landlord to deliver the key (it was nice for the driver to wait with me although he said he had to b/c Sam told him to). By the time Sam and the landlord came; it was about 8:30pm. My first impression of the apt (or they call it one-room apt) was :"wow, it's bigger than i thought". I totally was thinking since they're providing the place, it must be really tiny, but the size is actually quite nice. The ceiling especially is really high, which makes the room seem even bigger.

[A little text tour for now, i'll post some pix later. When you walk in the door, there's like a storage closet on the right, and then immediately follows a small kitchen area. The area includes cupboards, 2 electric stoves, sink, fridge, microwave, and a small washing machine (it's normal here not to have dryers in the house, people hang their clothes to dry). On the left, there's the bathroom (which is also bigger than i imagined, especially with the cool double shower heads: one is like a dish like, the other one is just the regular sprinkler kind- pix later). After the kitchen area, then it's my "room", all connected. There's a big window in the room, which i like, a desk and a desk chair, another closet, a bed, a tv (no service yet), a small dinning table with 2 chairs, and 3 wooden cubes for storing stuff. ]

Sam helped me re-arranging the furniture to the spots I like, and he also brought some stuff ( 2 bowls, 2 pots, 2 plates, 2 cups, 2 forks, 2 spoons, and a basic bedding set as stated on the contract), and then he took me to E-Mart (famous Korean warehouse similar to Costco, Sam's club and/or wal-mart) to get some necessities to get me started at least for the week since I were to start teaching the next day. He also treated me dinner at E-Mart as a welcoming gift. [The closest E-mart to me is the one in the city of Sabon. It takes about 15 min. bus ride. My Korean co-teacher and I go there for supplies for the kids]

By the time I got back to the apt, it was close to 11pm and i was exhausted. I took my first shower in Korea with the cool double shower heads and went straight to bed.

Everything till now has been so rushed ( i didn't know my actual departure date till about 2-3 days before i had to leave), so i haven't really had time to think. I just know tomorrow will be a new day and it'll be a brand new experience whatever comes my way...for now....I just want to SLEEEEPPPPP...cuz I'm EXHAUSTED! night! =D