well, I'm here.

Yes! I made it to South Korea safe and sound! I left California early Monday morning for my journey. It went amazingly well. I think the more I worry about flights these days, the better they seem to go. The girl at the check in counter for China Airlines didn't even weigh my bags! I was super worried about the weight, since I have the tendency to always be over the allotted 50 pounds. I was also pretty worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep on the plane. Leaving in the middle of the night has its benefits though...I slept like a baby. Despite the uncomfortable seats and having nowhere to lay my head, I was awake for only about 4 hours of the 14 hour flight to Taipei. When I arrived in Seoul, I found a taxi easily and made it safely to my new apartment, where my boss met me. The first day, I just stopped by the school to meet all the teachers and then took the day to rest and unpack. I was delighted to find that my new single occupancy apartment is on the 34th floor of a very nice building, complete with a gym, pharmacy, bank, convenience store, and several restaurants.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were my training days. This just involved observing the veteran teachers and meeting all the kids. I will be teaching a Kindergarten class in the morning and an elementary class in the afternoon. I didn't meet my Kindergarten students yet since they will be brand new on Monday! I am already expecting lots of tears and possibly wetting pants. My classes are very small--only 10 students. So much better than Taiwan in that aspect! I have really been impressed at how smart and well-behaved they all are as well.

So far, I couldn't be happier here! The teachers I work with are all amazing. So helpful and fun to hang out with. My boss is also pretty cool. He is willing to help has repeatedly told us that whatever we need he will do what he can to help. On Friday we all went out to dinner and drinks and had a blast. I'm excited to get to know these new friends:


After dinner, we ended up at a Norebong, the Korean KTV or Karoke:



Here are a few of my apartment:






Pretty nice, huh?

I'll try to get out the next few days and take some pictures of the area...very nice. There are lots of cute cafes and restaurants in the area, as well as good parks for running and exploring.