Chasing the Sun

I have arrived.

The trip was pretty tiring, although I didn't really have any problems. The longest airport wait I had, really, was between 5am-7am (after having gone through security) while waiting for my flight in Ottawa to Chicago. I can't really complain - all the flights arrived a few minutes early, and although I only technically had an hour in between flight one, I had no problem finding the gate (Although O'Hare Airport really is enormous - it's also really, really cool).

Ottawa to Chicago took about an hour and a half. Then Chicago to San Fran was a little over four hours; finally, San Fran to Incheon was the mother flight, at a whopping 11 and a half hours. The strangest thing about yesterday was the fact that I was seemingly always chasing the sun, so even though it had been almost a full 24 hours since the sun had risen (5:30am-ish in Ottawa), it was still up when I arrived in Incheon (5:30pm-ish). It was a little strange to say the least.

The dorm where i'm staying, as well as my room, are very nice. I'm fully equipped with a TV (which I haven't turned on yet), a desk, a chair, a bed, a fridge, an air conditioner, and a bathroom that includes a shower. The shower is very.. un-north american though. It's attached to the sink, and the drain is next to the toilet - you can check out the pictures. The nice thing about the dorm is that it's literally a 15 second walk from the school, which I had a chance to tour quickly. The classes are about 10-12 kids. You teach the same kids for a period of three months, and then they move on. I'm looking forward to starting.

There are about 14-16 other Foreign teachers living in the same dorm as me. So far i've only met about half of them, but they seem nice. The boxscore appears to point to more Canadians than Americans (Go Team!) although i've yet to find another Sens fan.

Last night when I arrived, one of the other teachers, Brandon, took me to a Thai Restaurant, which was a fun experience. We had to take two buses to get there, so I got to slowly start familiarizing myself with the neighbourhood, and I have to say - whoever decided to call Incheon 'English City' used the term rather loosely. To get by, i'll definitely need at leeeeast some very basic Korean, so thanks again Chantal for the CD-Lessons and book!

One cool thing about the buses, though, is that you can pay by a type of 'Computer Chip' system. And that chip can be in anything - a key chain, a card, whatever. You can scan it again on your way out, and it gives you a little extra credit for the next ride. Man, OC Transpo's wayyy behind.

So today on the Agenda, i have to go do a health-check at the hospital, and then I begin training. The kids are out for the week (it's one of their break-weeks where the school's not in session), so i'll only start actual teaching next week. But for now i'll keep unpacking. Just a reminder that i'm on Skype (account: misteralexp), so whoever feels like talking it up, give me a shout.