Alright! The first post! This is actually just a rough copy/paste job from an email I wrote to my mom, but it sums up the first day pretty well.

So the hour here is different from what I thought...instead of having your 1 AM be my 2 PM like I thought it would be, it would be your 1 AM to my 3 PM. Surprisingly enough, I haven't felt any jet lag. Well either that, or like I was hoping, my strange sleep schedule from back home is paying off haha.

Aaaaanyways, things here so far have been really good. The apartment wasn't the same one they showed me in pics, but it seems that that was probably better because I guess that was actually community housing and there were TWO people in the huge apartment. So instead of just being the only english teacher in korea with a two bedroom place, I have a one bedroom, but it's kind of nice to have that privacy. Also, this place is brand new and so has just about everything in it. And they really stocked the place, too. I've got everything from the basic appliances, TV, A/C, etc. to a rice maker, coffee pot, and video intercom system to let people in from outside. But the BEST part about it is the view. I'm on top of a hill where I look down at most of the city and the ocean beyond that. It's really neat at night to see all of the neon lighting down below....bummer you guys can't be here to see it with me!

All the people are super friendly...any time I start a conversation with somebody (which is always in broken english....seems everybody knows the basics very well, but beyond that its not very good. Even my fellow english teachers who are local have pretty shaky english past basic, formal stuff) it lasts for much longer than I plan because they're so interested and love to talk. I haven't had a single bus, plane, or car ride without constant talk with a local or somebody from my program. So yeah! Everything here is good. I'm starting to learn the ropes after going around the city a bit. I went to the hospital today to get checked for swine flu because the koreans are really paranoid about it, and also saw and entered my school where I met the rest of the faculty and got my lesson plan. It's MUCH different than anything you'd get in the US as far as how they go about it. No materials can be taken home (so I'm forced to prepare at the school), and the "orientation" is what I did in about 20 minutes....meeting the other faculty, glancing at the facilities and seeing the schedule. Nothing more. Oh, I was given a brief chance to ask questions. So we'll see how things go tomorrow!

Also, the food is good. Contrary to my prior fears, there are quite a few options, the fish is good, and even kimchi (a strange fermented cabbage dish) wasn't bad. Good thing I'm not shy when it comes to food, I guess.