DAY ONE - KOREA

So after a slightly anxious journey I have arrived in Korea. My flights went with only a few minor glitches. I had some anxious moments at Toronto Pearson when they were weighing my luggage. I packed and repacked numerous times trying to keep my two bags under the 50lb limit and when I placed them on the airport scales they were were both 49.8 (I just squeaked by) and managed to avoid the $50 penalty.

I had some frustrating moments at LAX when I couldn't find the Korean Airlines check in counter (turns out I was in the wrong terminal). The travel agent that I used failed to book my flights properly so they were unable to check me in for the second part of my flight in Toronto. My luggage went directly through to Korea but for some reason when I arrived in Los Angelas I had to leave the arrivals area go back to departures and recheck in - meaning I also had to go back through security. I teamed up with another girl looking for the same place and we spent half an hour running around the airport until we found it. All ended well though and I made my flight with lots of time to spare.

The flight between LA and Korea was 13 hours and felt like 24. Fortunatly the seat beside me was empty so I was able to stretch out and get some sleep. The food they served was interesting. For dinner it was a Korean rice dish and they gave you a pamphlet telling you how to prepare it. Bascially it was steamed rice which you put over some vegetables, then you mix in this tube of spicy paste and some seaseme oil. It was good but different. For breakfast they gave us green tea porridge ( a rice porridge dish that you mix with a package of green tea leaves). It wasn't as good and actually tasted kind of fishy. I waited and grabbed a muffin when I got into the airport.

I arrived in Seoul at 6am and already there were about 20 other teachers waiting for the EPIK desk to open to register for the bus. Within about half an hour they came to check us on and we boarded a bus for Eulgi University and our orientation. The drive to the University took about 2 hours and all you could hear were excited voices asking where people came from and what city they were teaching in. When we arrived at the University it was chaos with everyone trying to get room assignments, name tags etc but it was organized well and in a few short moments I had my key in hand, dragging all my suitcases and the bag of goodies they had given me up to my dorm room. My roomate arrived at the same time, another Canadian, and we dropped our bags, brushed our teeth and headed out to explore.

The University we are at is situated right in the center of Seongnam City so it was a short walk from the campus to all the stores. We wandered around the streets where there seemed to be a 7 Eleven on every corner and every other business was a restaurant. After buying some water and other goodies we headed back to the campus for lunch. I had my first taste of Kimchi (a cabbage dish served with every meal in Korea). It was ok but very spicy. Apparently it grows on you.

So far things are going good and I have already met some wonderful people. I will keep you posted as the orientation starts tomorrow.