Hi All,
Well, things in Korea got off to a pretty rough start - so much so that we both seriously considered just packing up our bags and coming back home. But, we are learning much can change in a few days, and we're both back on board with this grand adventure.
The first big issue we faced was related to my job. As many of you know, I got this job by essentially cold calling the Director, telling her who I am and what I do, and asking if she might need someone with my skills on her team. After much back and forth, she finally agreed that it might be a good idea, so she made me an offer. There were a few issues I still needed to clarify with them before I signed the contract, but she was gone on business, so were weren't able to clarify those items before I arrived in Seoul. Many would say that I'm crazy for going without a contract, but the fact is we were going whether I had a job immediately lined up or not, and I'm glad that I didn't sign a contract from the states, because when I did finally meet this woman in person, see my working environment, and learn more of the specific details of the contract, I immediately got this sick-to-my-stomach feeling that this job was not going to be nearly as cool as I thought it was going to be. I won't go into specifics about why, but that night I came home, discussed my concerns with Bergie, and we decided that I should trust my gut. The Director is very angry with me - saying I have embarassed her greatly with my decision. I feel really bad about it, because this woman did essentially create this position for me, but we're talking a year of my life here. I had to be selfish about it. So that really threw a wrench into our plans. I'm now scrambling to find something else.
So that caused some serious stress. The second issue was related to our apartment. When we arrived in Seoul, Bergie's school had arranged for us to stay in the VIP room near the school. VIP in Seoul has a different meaning. It was essentially a large dorm room, and we had to pay 66 bucks a night. Because of that, we wanted to get out of that situation and find ourselves an apartment ASAP. So, we were referred to an English speaking realtor in the Itaewon neighborhood, and we started looking for apartments. We quickly found a place we like, so we signed the papers. The day we moved in, however, we started noticing all these little things that we hadn't noticed when we initially visited the place. First of all, the refrigerator door wouldn't close. Then, the hot water to the shower didn't work properly. All of a sudden ants appeared in our bedroom. And at one point, when I was brushing my teeth, the pipes from beneath the bathroom sink just fell off, and water started flowing directly from the faucet onto the floor. We were both just exhausted and quickly sinking into a depression wondering what the hell we would do. I had no job. And our great apartment was turning out to be a hell hole. The weather down here has been oppressively hot and humid. It seemed like the world was against us. We seriously considered just cutting our losses, packing our bags, and moving back home. Of course, we knew we couldn't give up that easily, and the next day, things immediately started looking up.
Our landlady, Mrs. Cho, is a cute little old Korean woman, and she speaks some pretty decent English. We told her about our problems, and she showed up the next day with her husband. Within minutes he replaced the pipe beneath the sink and he fixed the hot water in the shower. Now our shower is even better than the one we have on Nicollet. On top of that, Mrs. Cho bought us a new fridge. We should have internet in the place soon, and our apartment is actually starting to feel like a home. (I'll post pictures soon.) We've begun exploring our neighborhood, and it is really great. We live in an area with a lot of other expats, so many of the locals speak at least some English. Some would say that we aren't getting the full Korean experience this way, but considering how difficult our first week has been, I am extremely thankful for our location. We live very close to Namsan mountain, which has all sorts of great walking paths. We also have a ton of restaurants and bars near us - many of which are foreign, so when we get our fill of bi bim bap, we can switch things up and grab some tacos, thai, italian, etc... - all within a few blocks of our pad.
And Bergie's job is going quite well. She loves the classes she is teaching, and she loves her students. Her colleagues are really great, too. We've already made some decent friends out of that bunch.
And I actually had a job interview yesterday with another online school. For this position, I would be teaching online. It went pretty well I think. After the interview, they invited me to go out to lunch with them. I had another appointment, so I couldn't, but they said I could do it next time (a good sign, no?) The funniest part of that experience was at the end, the admin brought me into this room and presented a sheet to me that had my name on it and next to my name was a field that said 30,000 won and then next to that was a signature field. She pointed at that and said "Interview Fee." I replied, "What? Interview fee? What are you talking about?" To which she replied, "Interview Fee." So, I reluctantly started reaching for my wallet to get the 30k when she said, "No! We pay you!" So that was pretty sweet. I got 30 bucks just for sitting for an interview. Maybe I should just go around interviewing the whole time I'm here.
Anyway - that's the latest. Once we get our internet installed at home, I'll upload more pics. I'm posting this from a PC lounge called e-Nature, the Natural Internet Park. Their motto is "Become Delightful Time."
And that's what we're slowly starting to do.
Hugs to all.
The Godfreys
The parks we've found here in Seoul are very cool - they all seem to have beautiful walking paths, cool statues or monuments, and a wide variety different activities you can do. There is one near Bergie's school called Hyochang Park. We've gone there every day so far, because it has a great walking path, and it has an outdoor gym that is free for the public to use. This gym has several different stations, each designed to either help you work a specific muscle, simply get your blood moving, or help you stretch out. One of the cooler elements is this small walking path. You take off your shoes and walk slowly over rocks of varying sizes - it is supposed to help you work different pressure points on your feet. I did it, and it hurt like hell walking over those rocks, but the old ladies who were doing it seemed to love it. Check out this set of pictures to see Bergie try out all the different stations.
Hello!
the road. We started our grand adventure by checking out Sunset Crater and the Wupatki Ruins - a very cool side adventure! From there we headed up to the Grand Canyon in search of "the secret spot" - a secluded viewing point recommended to us by Richard and Laurel from the England House. For anyone planning a trip to the Grand Canyon, it's mile post 246! The mile or so hike in was totally worth it. We had the canyon pretty much to ourselves, which was so cool considering the numbers of tourists all over the park.
ad lunch at the El Tovar Hotel, which is right in the village at the head of the Bright Angel trail. It was a very tasty restaurant with beautiful views of the canyon - the perfect snack before heading out on our hike down the South Kaibab trail. Despite its steepness, it was an awesome trail with magnificent views of the canyon. By the time we got there, the crowds we not too bad at all. Based on huffing and puffing of the people we crossed going up though, we knew the climb back up would be a challenge - good thing Richard and Laurel loaned us their walking sticks!
