First Day in Korea (and seven years elsewhere)

07.10.10
Today has a lot of meaning for me. It is our (Phill and myself) 7th anniversary and
1st year engaged. A lot of emotions. And today is my first ‘real’ day in Korea.
I feel totally unprepared and yet calm about my decision. All this morning I was
prepping for the day, all stuff I should have figured out before I left my home in
Minnesota. I know, yes, I do procrastinate, guilty. So far the thing I miss the most
is Phill. My heart feels like its breaking, but I know in time, it will help strength our relationship. It just feels really hard to accomplish right now.
I am very surprised at how comfortable I feel in a foreign country. Today was
the first day for baby steps. I went for a walk around my area, probably just a
ten-block radius. There is a lot to see in such a small space. A few people were
out and about like me. There is a park, school, fitness park, grocery shop,
convenience stores, fast food spots, and even a few vegetable gardens within
that zone. I feel silly studying every little detail in quick memorization. So far, I
love it all. Grocery shopping felt odd, there were foods I recognized and some
I did not. I spend almost an hr looking in the small store and spent 33,380 Won
(mainly on rice, water, and a few, more than a few, odd things). I still need to call
Phill’s aunt to meet up with her tomorrow and get some dinner. I am happy to
report I have talked to most of my family and Phill earlier today so they all know
I’m alive and well. Yesterday I met the 5-2 teacher (Kwag Sang-hyun) briefly
and I still have a million questions for him. The humidity is too much for me, it
definitely feels like “air you can wear”, but I must get use to it. Thank goodness
my small apartment has AC! I have a feeling I won’t be eating as much as I did
in the States, my diet has been reduced as I only eat when I feel hungry, not as
before when it was time to eat. School starts Monday at 8 am, until then I will
wander and get to know the area, before I’m labeled “The English Teacher”. It
still feels odd saying, “I’m a teacher”. Not too long ago, it was just Head Cashier,
Teacher sounds like a step in the right direction. Alright, time to head out and find
something to eat for dinner and find a phone. Hopefully, someone will lend me a
phone for 5 minutes; I promise I won’t make any international calls.
Just had dinner at a local restaurant, some kind of pork soup with rice, kimchi,
and carrots on the side, only cost me another 6,000 Won. After dinner I kindly
asked the waitress if I could use the phone in broken Korean, then showed
her the Romanized version on paper. “Su na sayong jeonhwagi?” She didn’t
understand me, I felt stupid. So she asked another patron what I was trying to
say, he got it, I needed to use a telephone. Hurray! He lent me his phone, I dialed
the first number, didn’t work, so I tried the second and I finally got a hold of Mrs.
이모 aka Phill’s Aunt, Yang Young Rae. She sort of understood me, and then
handed the phone to her son to translate better. I will be meeting her as well as
her son tomorrow at 3pm in front of my apartment. Communication a success!
W00t. I was very fortune that my broken Korean was understood. Note to self:
learn better Korean fast. Ugh, I have to actually try this time. Overall today went
well enough, scary, but do-able. Got some food, played nice with the locals, next
time will go smoother, hopefully.
Now the sun is down and I will be inside, relaxing and hoping for the best for
tomorrow. And go to bed before 11pm, with anticipation and dread. So far for
today I’ve spend 39,380 Won= $32.57 USD. Looking forward to Phill’s call, after
that it’s bedtime. So I might as well get ready for bed, for now.









This is the fitness park/playground, all ages, I'm guessing.








This is the view of my apt building from the park, extremely close by.










The Family Mart shops are on every 3 blocks, it's like a 7-11.















I love the decals on this car, its in front of the school.












Half-way up the stairs to the park, very very steep and it's a hard workout, I would hate to do 'killers' from Track on those things. Seriously too steep.