Sur-Reality

Well then.

I can already tell this is going to be a ridiculous, bizarre, and awesome experience. I've been in Korea for less than 24 hours and jeez, talk about diving right in. I wonder when the culture shock is going to hit.




Our plane landed at Incheon International Airport at 6.45 last night, twelve and a half hours after leaving San Francisco. The airport was uber-modern and gorgeous and huge, and the first thing I saw, hilariously, was a giant billboard for some place called Paradise Casino with an enormous image of Pierce Brosnan beckoning for me to gamble away my money. I don't know why, but it was just so damn funny to me. Immigration was so easy as to defy belief (there was literally no line and I don't think the immigration agent said one word to me) and customs was the same thing. Easiest entry to a foreign country I've ever had. But as soon as I stepped out to find my driver holding the sign that said "Jason Triolo, welcome to Korea!" I knew I was in for some craziness. The man spoke zero English and drove a van with no seatbelts. Fortunately, he wasn't a psycho driver, but I quickly realized that I hadn't bothered to learn even basic Korean phrases, like "yes" or "no" or "thank you." Nice going, me.

My apartment is exactly what was described to me by my recruiter (score!) and I'm excited to live alone for the first time in my life. I'll eventually take some photos and stick them on here. My bathroom kind of IS my shower, which is a bit weird and hard to explain, so photos are gonna be necessary. But definitely a really nice apartment! I'm pleased with it, except for one glaring MAJOR problem: no ability to connect to the Internet. At all. The apartment can't be wired for it or something. I'm not happy about that but what can I do. My managing teacher, Mr. Lee, gave me a quick tour of the apartment and high school offices (since I live in the on-campus guesthouse) and I was in bed by 10, ready to wake up at 6.30 this morning for my first day of work. Best night's sleep in ages.

But today... wow. Where do I even start? Mr. Lee asked me to wear my suit for the first day in order to make the best first impression I could, so I showed up this morning dressed to the nines, ready to teach (or at least try). Unfortunately, the 3 English teachers hadn't really devised a plan for me yet, so I won't be entering any classrooms until tomorrow. Instead, my whole day has been sitting at my desk in the "Native Speaker's Office" (which is really where the faculty sink and storage are, I guess so they can keep me out of the way of all the Korean teachers in the actual teachers' office) attempting to get my laptop hooked up to the school's Internet. This was a shockingly difficult task, and one that I discovered would have been literally impossible had I not put Windows on my Mac the day before I left the US. That turned out to be a crucial and brilliant move. Thanks for the Windows, Mom!! :)

So few people here can speak English. I mean, really, even Mr. Lee's is just OK. All day, I've been dragged around to meet various teachers and administrators only to stand there while people talk about me in Korean for minutes at a time. It's pretty unnerving. Every time I pass students in the hall, they get really excited and shout "Hello" at me, and the "English intern," Kristen (at least that's her English name... she is Korean and hardly speaks English at all) told me that I am the big buzz around school and that the students keep telling her they can't wait for me to teach them. Haha, no pressure or anything! Some of the high school girls seem to like popping out from around corners and giggling like mad little hormonal maniacs. Basically, I've been like a zoo specimen all day and not done a whit of actual work. Pretty bizarre. I can tell that by the end of this work week, I am going to be desperate to get to Seoul and find some people I can actually communicate with, but for now, things are going well. I'm not as horribly nervous anymore now that I'm actually here, but rather kind of bemused by the whole situation.

Some tidbits:
*Apparently people in Korean high school cafeterias do not use napkins or drink beverages while they eat. I decided it'd be best to follow Kristen's lead at lunch today and I quickly noticed after grabbing our tray of food that absolutely no one had anything with which to clean things up or wash things down. One single cup of water is consumed after disposing of your empty tray before exiting the cafeteria. Just thought that was odd/funny.
*Considering Haseong High School is your typical run-down but decent public high school, the principal's office is stunningly beautiful, and disproportionately massive. Guess I'm already seeing the whole "respect for elders" thing in action.
*The class bell isn't a bell at all. Or a buzz. Or a tone. It's this really perky little ditty that sounds like it belongs on an ice cream truck. I have the feeling that after hearing it several times a day for a year, I'll be humming it till the day I die.