My first day at school!

Right, today was my first day and I am still suffering some minor effects of Jetlag, so apologies for the incoherence.  But now I feel ready to give you a more in-depth version of events:

As mentioned last night, the cab driver from the airport to the apartment was very "friendly" by Western standards.  I probably shouldn't have sat in the front seat due to the gratuitous hand holding and groping that followed for the next hour, not to mention the arse-grabbage at the apartment.  I have since been assured that this is common between males in Korea (and yet they're in denial about homosexuality...).  I decided to forgo the pink bedding that Avalon provided for me and will attempt to purchase some before I finally grow tired of the paper thin quilt designed as a supplement rather than the main thing.

The TAs (Teaching Assistants, although the ones who showed up at my door looked like Korea's answer to Minder) arrived at 4pm and took me to my school.  As I had suspected, it wasn't the elementary school in the heart of Seoul that I had thought it was, 

but a high school in Bundang.  Part of me is glad of this; I think the challenge of teaching the kids there will be good.), but the rest of me is wondering how this will affect my contract.  These are issues I may have to address with my foreign head teacher on the morrow.  But I digress.

There are 3 other westerners in the school besides me and the head (who takes some classes of her own as well as mine for this week!  A present of some kind may be in order!)  They're great people, very patient.  It's a little overwhelming, with me being a fresh-off-the-plane, jetlagged Brit graduate and they all having some form of experience in teaching before there, but that should fade with time.  I'm probably also finding it overwhelming by virtue of the fact I have 3 days to cram 5 days of training into.  Which means I get 2 lessons to observe before doing a "mock lesson" (presentation) in front of th head and her big boss! 

However, I am going to have to go clothes shopping, as the dress code is far more lax than I had expected.  I'm just glad I didn't wear a tie or else I would've looked slightly more foolish.  I'll need a new jacket too, although apparently it starts to warm up from now so that shouldn't be an issue.

Et Finalement, here is my teeny-weeny Korean apartment.  Still, at least I have a shower.

First things first...

Introductions: In case you haven't guessed, I'm Andy, I'm a 21 year old British guy and I'm about to embark on what will probably be a life changing trip.  In a matter of weeks, I will be moving to South Korea to teach children how to speak English.  The purpose of this blog is quite simple: to keep friends and family updated on my travels (I'll probably keep in touch with most of you on Facebook but this allows me to vent my spleen more), be a soapbox for my opinions of things I may find strange about my new home, as well as offer any people thinking of taking this route an impartial guide to what happens.  So what makes this different from any other Korea-based blog that you may have happened upon? Not a lot, to be honest.  But the way I see it, if you find more opinions and stories about teaching and life in general, the better informed you are before making a fairly important decision.

So, the first thing I did was sign up to an agency; you can (and many do) look for a job yourself via the internet, but at the same time this can lead to trouble and you ending up in a bottom-of-the-barrel hagwon in the sticks where they consider payment to be an optional extra.  Agencies, by and large, screen the schools for you.  While you're waiting on them, its best to get all the visa documents you need in order; it took about 6 weeks for me to get everything together, and once I got the contract I sent stuff off to Korea within the week.  It sped things up no end.

Right now, I'm trying to get my head around the Korean alphabet and some basic phrases; the schools say that the less Korean you know before you arrive, the better.  But not knowing any is just plain dumb.  It's all well and good making your kids think in English by maintaining a language barrier, but once you're out of the classroom, the barrier is a hindrance again.  I don't know about you, but I want to be able to do most of my food shopping without the need of a translator or resorting to Pictionary.  Needless to say, it's tough going; I haven't mastered any phrases as of yet  But there is still time.

I'll probably update this more once I get to Korea (this is, after all, more about introductions and the planning) but I hope you keep checking back in on this every so often.