Touch down! -- Of the Plane Variety

I'm not really sure how to recap without it coming across as terribly, terribly boring, so let's hit the highlights of the trip!

Apparently to leave early, you have to shower earlier. Missed that train. Got to airport (cried), security didn't find anything (bwuaha), and I safely boarded from DIA to LAX. Arrived in LAX to a million grumpy people (4 Starbucks should have eliminated the grump factor). Figured out getting new ticket, beat the crowd and got a window seat! YAY! Wandering around in meager attempt to find book resulted in being serenaded. Apparently I've lost that lovin' feelin'.

Flight to South Korea from Los Angeles = 12.5 hours long. Did well; only checked time 35 tries before we landed. Airplane boyfriend drools. Ditched upon arriving at Seoul.

Seoul. The word makes me cringe, now. I gathered my luggage to go through customs (translation: I have no commercial goods, thereby don't need attention. Woo hoo! The tampons and deodorant are still mine!). Got through customs, went to get my new ticket to Daegu. The ticketing machine was BROKEN. Ended up taking luggage over half a mile away--many bruises as a result. Lots of sweating. Ended up boarding just fine, and for first time in years fell asleep from exhaustion without ear plugs.

Arrive in Daegu to find someone not the person who was supposed to pick me up, and was taken to another English teacher's place--Jamie. Sweet, sweet girl from Alabama (hehe that was totally sung in my head), but I am afraid that I was a little too "me" and not enough "normal" for first meeting. Both of us had been up an inappropriate amount of time, so bed at 10. I woke up at 6:30. It was too hot to keep sleeping, so I read and tried to assuage my back muscles from their angry night on the tiny hard bed. For some reason this bed had wood sides to it, and I kept running into it like a kid on the top bunk. It make me giggle in the end, though. :)

After a healthy McDonald's breakfast (lol thanks, Jamie), we went to school! Met everyone here, and they're lovely people. I am not sure of how my first impression went over (I'm afraid I might be the odd duck), but I am really looking forward to my year here. Mel is nothing like I thought, yet everything for which I had hoped (energetic, funny, awesome accent).

Children.

Children yell, hit each other, take each other's scissors, and all other sorts of mischief. They're bright as hell, though. I have 4 classes of 6-7 year olds, and their grasp of the language is better than some of my former coworkers. (There, their, they're come to mind.) I can see how people could be taxed after doing this day in and day out, but that's what pantothenic acid is for! (Thanks ma!)

Yesterday I got the keys to my apartment. First off, it's adorable. Pictures will ensue once I figure out how to make the browsers work at home. I'm not sure how, but last night, stone sober, I misplaced my apartment. I walked up and down the same street for an hour with a very heavy bag of groceries. Finally walked up another block, though, and found the sucker. Have almost completed unpacking, but a girl has to have her priorities. 1) Internet sort of works, and 2) I think I found the button that controls the hot water. (You have to push a button before the shower. Learned that 2 cold showers later.)

Me and my still-swollen feet are going to go through orientation, now. I have to say, though, before I go, despite the fact that I have been hot and sweaty for close to 3 days, now, it's totally worth it. I look forward to someone (anyone!) coming.

God bless,
Kate Teacher