I made a new friend!

Today was my first day of training. WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO!!! No, really. It's going to be fun. The actual teaching is going to be interesting; some of the kids are little snots and some are great. It feels like being back in elementary school, though. I'm excited to be able to make a difference in their education.

My new friend is Steven. He's my co-teacher. Or the other teacher, really. He's the first white person I've met since I've been here. AND he lives two doors down from me. He's 25 and super cool. Originally from Ireland, he's been here since January. Steven, or Stee-ben as the Korean's call him, has been showing me around all day. He showed me how it's done at the school and then he took me around the inner workings of our dong.

No, I'm not talking about a dirty object. A Dong is the korean word for neighborhood. We live in Hwangsong-dong. For those who know France or French, it's like a Departement or Cartier. We went to the Lotte, which is a small grocery store (like a save-a-lot) and then to a Family Store to use the ATM. Having the ATM that close to me, and one that works for my card, is amazing. When I first got here, I tried 9 different ATMs to see which would accept my card. None of them did. Only one at the train station (a good 2 mile walk from my apt) had worked. I spent my last 10 quid today at the Lotte store, so I was super excited I didn't have to make that trip. Now I can sleep in until about 1pm. (Don't have to be at work until 2!!!)

Other than those exciting adventures into the outer dong, lol, my day was uneventful.

I'll write more on Wednesday about how teaching is going to be like once I have more to talk about. Today thru Wednesday is 'training' and Thursday and Friday are going to be more of me actually teaching the Chir-ren.


All the love from all the way here,
M