Finally!

I have home Internet at last! After more than a month of being here I've got so much to say!


That's the problem with those smaller airports:
There were complications at the airport, as such a day must always entail. This time it's actually funny in retrospect.

Being that I distilled my life down to three bags and a personal item, I was right on the money for the weight allowance of 50 lbs per bag. After some adjustments, my two pieces of checked luggage equaled out to 50 and 49.5 lbs. I boarded at Hartsfield with a duffel bag in one hand and a bookbag on my back, each bursting at the seams.

I flew into Chicago O'Hare on my way to Japan on my way to Korea, and with my five hour layover I decided to leave the airport security bubble and meet my friend Chiasa for breakfast.

After eating, however, Chicago wouldn't let me back in. You see, my bags were too large to be carry-ons. I tried to explain that I had already been on one plane that morning and that I was about to get on an even larger plane, so the baggage shouldn't be an issue. Of course that was all in vain. To my complaint that Hartsfield had already allowed this baggage I was told only, "That's the problem with those smaller airports." LOL!

Hartsfield larger than O'Hare in acreage, flights per day, and passengers processed per year. You know what the real problem with those smaller airports is? They charge you an extra $200. In the end it was nice to not have to lug that duffel everywhere with me (which was also 47.something pounds...), but not 200 dollars nice.

Ah, the spacious airplane ride.

Avalon:
The school where I'm teaching is called Avalon (pronounced Koreanly: Ah-bah-lone) and it is a sort of chain tutoring school for elementary and middle school students. After they get out of public school, they go to Avalon locations all over the city for extra school.

I teach 7 classes (4 on TTh, 3 on MWF) and the levels are all over the place. I have kids who are still practicing capitals versus lower case. I have medium level kids who are reading about class schedules and phone conversations. I even have the class where all the kids have lived for several years in an English speaking country! I'm not even teaching them English but rather public speaking. I think the management is just spreading me around to see how I do.

I'm on a team with 6 other western teachers (depending on the mood we're called either the foreign teachers or the native teachers...which seems contradictory). We are all American save for one Torontan. In fact, there are two other Georgians in the group (Marietta and Savannah). Everyone's nice enough but I've got my work cut out for me: not only do I have to learn their names but there are 3 bosses, the Korean desk staff, the TA's, and the Korean teachers (who teach the kids grammar and vocabulary whereas we work on listening and conversation). Did I mention that there's another division of the building for the middle school kids? So, all that times 2. Plus 7 classes of kids (though most of them are named John and Sally). I'm not even that good with remembering my close friends' names...

My smartest kids giving speeches

Korean Life:
I'm resettling nicely. Words continuously trickle back in to my brain without me even hearing them, which I find odd. I'll just be in my apartment, then suddenly *poof* 한가한 (having spare time). It's like the environment has reactivated that part of my brain. I won't know what the words mean, just that I used to. Then I'll go look up the word and kick myself for not remembering on my own. It's been kinda weird.

I fully expected to be treated like a Korean in respect to accommodations, but I should have guessed that a school that regularly employs foreigners would be used to how we like things. For example, I thought I'd be crashing on the floor but in fact there was a bed in my apartment! A welcome surprise. In fact, I had a lot more from the get go than I had imagined. The school bought some dishes and cookware for me, there was a refrigerator, and even a TV. The room was more spacious than I predicted as well. Location is almost perfect too, so definitely no complaints in the housing department.

In a lot of ways I feel as though I never left. I'm back in the same part of town, contacting my Yonsei friends, and not nearly as crippled by months of language atrophy as I feared. It's as though my American life and Korean life are two seperate consciousnesses, between which I can switch without making effort or  feeling the passage of time. I can't really explain it well, but suffice it to say that I'm comfortable.

Now that everything's working in my apartment internet-wise, I'll be posting regularly and in more detail again. Just wanted to get something out here so everyone knows the basics: I'm here, I'm working, and I'm happy. Talk to everyone soon! Psst me for a skype date.