The Acclimation Continues

So I didn't really have much of a weekend, because I've been getting accustomed to the responsibilities of this job. On Friday I was at school until about 11 PM working on preparations for next week's classes, then on Saturday I went back into the office for more preparations. I also talked to Mrs. Kim a bit about the plans for this week, since it's the busiest time of year here at Raffles. I feel like I'm getting better at this job, but I'm still pretty green, of course.

You probably don't want to hear about all this boring teacher work though. You want to hear about life in a new country!

On Friday morning I went into the immigration office to apply for my Alien Registration Card, and I should have it in about three weeks, I'm told. I had to take a bus to the place where I'd meet one of the Korean teachers, and fortunately, one of my fellow foreign teachers needed to go there too, so she was able to help me find the right bus and all that. The bus was nice. I'm more or less indifferent to public transportation, but it was up to the standards of Chicago's buses, so that's good enough for me.

Besides the work I had to do on Saturday, I did some other significant things as well. I took a short walk around town, and I may have become the first person in history to walk down the streets of Gwangju singing "Everything is Ticketty-Boo." As I was walking I suddenly heard the sweet sounds of Secret's latest single, "Starlight, Moonlight," and I noticed there was a store with a TV in the window tuned to a music channel where the video was playing. Did I stop to watch it, even though I'd already seen it a ton of times? Of course I did! Who can resist Secret's charms?

I went back to Lotteria (that fast food place I mentioned before) to grab a bite. I had a chicken sandwich this time, and it was tasty but gooey. I paid less than the price shown on the menu, and I wondered whether it was because the girl pressed the wrong button or because they lowered the price and hadn't changed the menu yet. Either way, I saved about 1,000 Won, so that was nice.

Also on Saturday I moved out of the guest apartment and into the apartment of the teacher I replaced. It's bigger and has more stuff in it, like a desk to sit at, a microwave and a larger bed (not that I really minded the single bed I had in the guest apartment, but hey, I have more space to move around now). The old teacher didn't leave much of a mess in here either, so that gave me less to worry about. There was no TV, so I took the one from the guest apartment.

I finally did my laundry on Saturday night/Sunday morning. The laundry system here isn't designed for clean freaks like me. On the top floor of this building is a washing machine, and after we're done with a load we have to hang our clothes on racks to let them air dry. For sheets we have to clip them to the bannisters in the stairwell. If you know me, you can believe I wiped off the bannister before I clipped my sheets to it. The paper towel got so much dirt on it that I felt justified in doing so.

On Sunday I needed food, so I went to the grocery store next door to the school. I'd only been in there once to buy one item, because my fellow teachers had told me it was more expensive there. I decided it was time to familiarize myself with their selection though, and boy was I glad I did. I finally found some disinfectant spray! Woo-hoo! Less stress on laundry day! Another thing I liked about it was that they actually had prices listed for most of the items, so I had a better idea of what I'd be paying.

On the way out I saw a girl wearing a White Sox hat, so I stopped and said to her "Chicago White Sox!" She looked confused, then I pointed to her hat and repeated myself. She seemed to understand and just giggled. Next time I'll say "White Sox hwaiting!" to let the person know I'm a fan. MLB merchandise seems to be popular around here (mostly American League teams, I've noticed), but I wonder how many people know anything about the teams whose caps and jerseys they wear.

I don't think I mentioned it before, but the alarm clock I brought from home no longer works. I tried plugging it into the wall with one of those small plastic converters and it shorted out. Oh well. At least it had a good long life. I don't plan to throw it away, because I go way back with that clock. What was it, 1994 or so? Yeah, that thing's part of the history of Ian. I'm saving it. Interestingly enough, that clock was made in China, so it got to die on the same continent where it was born. Anyway, later on Sunday I went out again to buy a new alarm clock. I now have a cool old-fashioned non-digital one that uses a real bell, and the guy behind the counter even threw in new batteries for free. Awesome!

Today after work I went out for my third pizza from Nantapizza 5000. I decided to go with the pepperoni, which was an extra 500 Won, no biggie. They add green peppers to their pepperoni pizza, which, while marginally more healthful, didn't really appeal to my taste buds. I think I'll stick with the plain cheese next time, unless I'm in the mood for one of the more exotic toppings.

While I was out to get the pizza, several random people said "hi" to me. I'm thinking they might have been fascinated by a real live foreigner. It was just strange, because I hadn't had that experience since I'd been here and all of a sudden three different people talked to me in one brief walk outside (well, two of them were in the same pack of people, but still...).

Anyway, maybe next time I'll talk more about my teaching experiences, but as of right now I'm too stressed thinking about the classroom to write about it. Stay tuned!