Day 1- Roller Coaster of Emotions

June 23, 2012

Well...where do I start?  The travelling was a pain in the butt, I met some really amazing people on the airplane and had some good conversation and much needed sleep however being in an airplane for about 13 hours can only be so fun.  I have realized that I do not like planes...haha it’s a good thing though because that just means that I will stay my entire contract before I come home because the thought of doing it again sucks! :P

So I arrived at the airport and felt ok, following the crowd who got off my plane and noticing the few non-Koreans I saw, I stuck with a few people who looked familiar.  I met a really nice girl and we explored the airport together, trying to find out where to buy our bus tickets, sadly she was going 4 hours North of where I was so we quickly parted ways upon needing to catch our busses.

Ok so the few things that came to mind as I was travelling was

1) how attractive and well put together the Korean flight attendants were, HOLY cow it was literally like a movie seeing them walk toward the plane with their beautiful outfits and perfect hair...they clean up GOOD :P

2) The bus “stations” are literally just a stick in the ground on the side of the craziest and busiest streets of life

3) The bus driver may have wanted to kill all the passengers, I have never driven in such a hectic life threatening form of city transportation.  On my 1.5 hour bus drive two peoples laptops broke from falling onto the ground with the sudden stops and hectic jerking going on by the bus driver.

4) The fact that there is flat land but it is inbetween the largest amount of clusters of buildings.  There looks to be about 500 sky scrapers shoved together in the smallest of areas.

5) Koreans are the most kind and helpful people EVER! I have only been here 12 hours and already have been assisted many times by groups of lovely people willing and wanting to assist me.  This is great practise for my humility as I need to ask so many questions all the time...sometimes I feel inadequate and it’s only been one night.

Those are just a few things I have noticed thus far.  I have yet to go outside today as I am waiting for my director to pick me up from my motel room since the teacher who had my apartment is moving out this morning and therefore I needed to stay here. Last night once I was picked up from a bus station, I was brought here and given a cell phone by my director and a schedule and outline of my classes...Oh my gosh I am anxious about it since I have about 4 different classes.  I just keep having to remind myself it’s part of the experience and I have a year to figure it all out :P  My director seems awesome, she’s super nice and keeps saying that she thinks the kids will love me and I will make her school a fun place.  On another note, I am heading to my new apartment today at noon, finally a safe place to call my own!!! I feel that will help to take away some of my feelings of not belonging.  At this exact moment, I am sitting in my motel room the morning after my arrival in Seoul and listening to “Pretty Girl Rock” hoping to prep myself for the day.  As I am here alone, I am feeling sooo many emotions that it is hard to describe, I miss my family already, feeling incredibly alone but at the same time looking forward to my experience and exploring today...all in all, I am trying to figure out  what is going on in my brain but I can’t yet.  I didn’t seem to understand the fact that I would be leaving my family for an ENTIRE year, this morning I woke up and cried my face off, I don’t remember ever feeling so overwhelmed  with emotions.  I am aware that this is literally the first day I will be in Korea and yet I had to start off crying my little heart out to get rid of some of that built up tension.  After I cried and texted a friend in Korea who I have yet to meet (from church), I put on some of my music and danced around the motel room a little before getting ready (you know the whole positive attitude thing).  Today my director has set me up with another English teacher who will take me out to lunch and debrief me about living in Korea and all the excitement that entails.  I have lots of questions so I am excited about getting to know her and learning about her experience here.  After that my friend from church is planning on coming over to help me explore and give me a little company! Today should be a good day and help put me at ease! I am planning on attending church tomorrow however it will be a mission and a half so I am hoping for the best!!! :P  Travelling here stresses me out, so many busses!!! Ahhh haha I will get the hang of it eventually!!

I start teaching Monday and literally have no idea what I am  doing which is a little frightening but I know that with patience I can do it! :)

That is quite an update for only being here one night and waking up to write this but its much needed for me to do, it has honestly made me more comfortable :)

That’s all for now! Love and miss you all A LOT and it’s only been day one! eeek