Day 1

Hey all. As most if not all of you know, I am now in Daejeon, South Korea. The flight was pretty long, 14 hours. I left at 1AM Chicago time, got there at 5am Seoul time, which is 3pm where you are. So yeah, long journey. It didn't even feel like that much time went past; I fell asleep for like 4 hours, and the other 10 were spent watching movies (Taken, Despiradeaux, Marley and Me, and the Curious Case of Benjamin Button). The airline was cool, they gave us dinner, a steak and potatoes, and breakfast, pancakes and sausage. I swear they brought drinks around like 10 times, but they were nice. Mid flight, when they showed the planes progression over the pacific, I got pretty upset. I realized who and I would miss; I realized I didn't know where I was really going, nor what to expect, so I cried a little. Just a little, lol. When the plane landed, I was extra nervous; the guy who was to pick me up was not there, and I was all alone with a language that was clearly foreign. A lot of words were also in English, but Koreans use the Hangul system of symbols, so the majority of EVERYTHING is in symbols that might as well be scribbles. The guy finally showed up, we had to wait an hour for the bus, and he basically put me on there, said something to the driver, and I had a 3.5 hour bus ride from Seoul to Daejeon. When I got off, a lady named Helen, who is my program director, picked me up. We went a few places, and each place I felt more and more alone. I kept randomly bursting out in tears, mostly when I would be with her and she would start speaking to someone else, and totally ignoring me. I kept looking around like, what did I get into. We came to my apartment, which is a studio, and I realized that I live here. Weird. Sat my suitcases down, changed clothes, and went to meet the principal of the school. He speaks no English, but through translation said that he was glad that I was black, because he loves Barack Obama, and black people can do things too, even though I am darker skinned. In my head, I am like, riiight, so why bring it up, but whatever. We had tea, that was nasty, but I had to drink it out of respect. Helen and I went up to my classroom, it is already set up and everything, just have to go and teach, starting Monday. The kids were really intrigued by me, getting out of their seats to look at me in the hallway lol. We take our shoes off in the school building (as well as in homes), so I had on someones random flip flops. Gross, but I had on socks lol. Helen and I left there and went to the hospital for my drug and blood test, as well as physical exam. I was a little nervous, didn't know what they were even saying to me. Spased out again and cried. I guess you can say I was a wreck. We left and went to a Chinese restaurant, and Helen told me how far Tarita and amber were from me, like 40 minutes by train. Def. cried again, because the city is so big. Not really, but not being able to read most things makes it that way. Went to the small marked on my black, all I got was eggs, milk, bread, ham, orange juice, of course, and frosted flakes lol. Guess I will be small when I get back. We went back to my apartment, and Helen said she was leaving but would come back to check on me, and I thought about how if I wanted to leave to walk around the block, I might get lost, so what did I do? As soon as the door closed, I bawled, like a hungry baby. Then I Skype my parents. It was like 12:30am, way past their bed time, but they woke up to video chat with me. They made me feel a lot better, just feeling closer to home. Then I got over it, I started laughing and telling myself to get it together. It was like 4pm our time, 2am at home, but a few friends were up on Facebook, so I chatted them as I unpacked. Kristine, the girl who lives downstaris, came up and asked me if i was ok, and if i wanted to go to dinner with her and some friends. I said sure, not like i had anyting else to do. We took a bus and a subway (which was sooooo clean and nice) to New Down Town Daejeon, and went and ate some type of korean meal. It is like a soup you cook in front of you. There is a stove eye, the waitress brings out a pot of liquid. The waitress cuts up veggies and puts them in the pot, and then she brought out very thin slices of raw beef, which we drop in as we please. They cook in around a minute. We also all eat out of the same pot with our chopsticks. They served a corn slaw right before the meal, which I swear was soooo good. Kristine helped me get home, by then it was early morning at home. When I thought about how easy it was to contact people, once I get he times right, I was OK. Talked to the boo for a few when he got up, the parents when they woke up, and a few other people. I was trying to stay up as late as possible, so it would be easier to adjust to this time. But I feel better, am exhausted as ever....Good night world!