Hello from Korea :)

I made it to Korea safe and sound :)

The flight was good, I lucked out with getting a seat in the emergency exit row. Korean Air is such a luxurious airline - got my own personal tv, they served such tasty food and free wine :) and it was a smooth easy non-stop flight. There were even individually wrapped toothbrushes & toothpaste in the bathroom :) I sat beside a really nice 25-yr old girl on the plane who is from Seoul and has been living in Toronto for the last few years because she went to York University and now works at a Scotiabank, her family is going to a Buddhist temple tomorrow in my city and she invited me along! She said this temple opens its doors to everyone and she has known those monks since she was a little girl. I'm so honoured that she would invite me to spend time with her family since she hasn't seen her mom in 4 years. The flight arrived in Seoul 30 min early, I had no trouble getting through customs or with my luggage and my recruiters had arranged for a man named Kim (this was probably his last name, its a very common name here) was waiting for me with my name on a sign. The 1 hr drive from the airport zipped by, it was 3 am so very dark but I saw many pockets of neon lights and activity along the highway over the water.

The weather today is a sunny 5 deg C, which apparently is nice for this time of year, I'm jealous of Toronto weather which I heard was supposed to be close to 25!!

My apartment is nice, its basically one room with a kitchen along the entrance hallway and a single bed (with a comforter and pillow :) the bathroom has a stand-up shower (with a door :) I just need to figure out how to turn on the hot water! I have a nice LG flat screen TV, an iron, vacuum, microwave, stove top and lots of closets/storage space. The view from my large wall of windows is beautiful, I can see part of the city with huge mountains right behind the train tracks and street. Trains go past pretty frequently, but the noise didn't bother me last night, I can sleep through anything :) I have met two other foreign teachers on my floor, they showed me how to get to this internet cafe. Everyone seems so nice here and willing to help, even if they are Korean and don't speak English.

I purchased an international phone card at the airport but don't know how to use it yet. I actually had a bit of an adventure this morning driving around the neighbourhood with a man who I just met at the local pharmacy trying to find a store that sells the same card, but we couldn't find anyone to help us. So I'm at an internet cafe just down the street because I also don't have internet set up in my apartment. I'm meeting the other English teacher at my school this afternoon so he can show me around the city and how to get to school. I will need to buy another adapter because I left mine at home in my mad rush of packing, among many other things that hopefully my parents won't mind sending to me. For breakfast this morning, I bought a box of cereal (looks like Kellogs), large package of strawberries and a carton of soy milk. Along with buying paper cups and spoons, that cost me 10200 KRW, around $10 Cdn. I saw a Parisian cafe around the corner so I'll check them out for lunch. The convenience store also sold tons of pre-packaged Korean food but I have no idea what they are so I will ask the other teacher at my school where he buys groceries and what is what. There is a seafood restaurant or maybe its a market right outside my apartment with a live fish and octopus tank, very cool looking, but I think I'll pass on the highly authentic fresh fish.

I will upload pictures once I get internet access and an adapter. I'm surrounded right now by about 13 young boys playing some serious fighting games online, and since it's such a nice day I should really get outside. I am starting school on Monday and I'm going to an Arrival Workshop on Wednesday, can't wait to get started!

Ciao for now :)