Finally Settled In

I'm sorry that it has been a while since I've been able to post, but things have been so crazy trying to get moved into Seoul.

Our flight from Chicago to Tokyo was delayed an hour and a half due to mechanical problems. That's not exactly what you want to hear before a 13 1/2 hour flight. I wasn't too upset about the delay itself, seeing how we resigned the entire day to travel to begin with, but I was upset that we now only had 20 minutes to get from our gate exit, through security at the international terminal, and onto our next flight. Obviously we made it, but I could not stop worrying about it during the entire flight to Tokyo. Our next flight was 2 1/2 hours and into Incheon, a large suburb west of Seoul.

Our apartment would not be ready for another few days so Plus Academy put us up in a western hotel called the Nobeless. We would stay there the next few days, training at school during the day and hanging out with Korean business men outside of a convenient store at night. Most of these men know about four phrases in English and just repeat them over and over to impress their friends. It's customary to just smile, nod, and act like you are interested because these men are buying you beer and soju and it would be considered extremely rude to not finish your drink.

We were thrown into teaching our second day on the job. I think this was the best way to go about it, because until I was in front of a class, I was pretty nervous about the whole ordeal. This is completely different than anything I have ever done before. The class was a complete disaster, but at least I got broken in and knew it could only get better. Classes since have gone well and I'm sure it won't be long until I'm completely at ease with the whole situation.

I'll be putting up some more new posts soon about all the different things we've done and seen during our first week in Seoul, so check back soon. Take care and we miss everyone back home. Anyoung!

Another 48 Hours

We are only two days away from flying out to Seoul. A lot has happened since my last post. This last week we spent giving away almost everything we own to friends and family. United Airlines' weight restrictions have limited our luggage to two 50# bags and a carry on each. We gave, donated, sold, and threw out everything we did not need until we satisfied that limit. It's really weird to look at everything you own and have it fit into two suitcases and a backpack.

On Tuesday, Savannah's parents came to Bloomington to pick us up since we sold our cars. We had dinner with my parents on the way out of town at Los Potrillos. We have heard repeatedly that Mexican food.....good Mexican food is almost impossible to find in Seoul, so we are eating as much as we can before we leave. The dinner was nice and our parents got along well.

The morning after our move to Woodstock, we got ready for our meeting with the Korean Consulate General. After a long train ride and a couple hours of shopping, we found ourselves on the 27th floor of the NBC tower filling out MORE paperwork for our visas. The interview itself was short and painless. It seemed like more of a red tape formality than an actual screening process. I'm glad it was short because I could barely breathe with my tie on. I guess I've put on a neck pound or two since the last time I had to get dressed up. The told us our passports would be ready Monday. That presented a small problem as we are leaving the country on Monday. We explained our situation and were told to leave our passports and come back on Friday. So there we were, a few days away from flying out of the country with no passports and no visas.

We then spent a night with Savannah's family just chatting, snacking, drinking, and watching the world's best terrible documentary. The next day we were able to pick up our visas from the Korean consulate and get out of the city within a couple of hours. That night we went out with some of my friends from home. Jeremy, Misti, Aaron, Alida, Savannah, and I went to a Mongolian barbecue pit, an Irish pub, and then played Rock Band until 2 or 3 in the morning. My throat is still sore from trying to belt out Sabotage. For obvious reasons I've spent most of today resting and recovering and trying to catch up on sleep from the last two weeks.

Tomorrow should just entail packing and freaking out about weight limits and things we think we forgot get, spending one more sleepless night in Christmas eve-like anticipation, and then the loss of a full day during a 17 hour journey to Korea. Check back in a few days. We'll have pics from the trip, our arrival, and our new home!

*I apologize for all of the links, but this blog is going to a lot of people and I don't want anyone to be left out on what we're doing.