A long overdue update

I'm in Korea and I'm doing well.  We had orientation from Sunday-Thursday.  It was a pretty good time.  I met some cool people, we went out a few times, we got to go on a boat cruise and make pottery, we had free meals, overall I can't complain.  

On Thursday we met our co-teachers who are pretty much our guardian angels/baby-sitters.  My co-teacher is named Peter (that's his English name, he didn't tell me his actual name).  He is fifty years old and has been teaching for 23 years.  He's never co-taught before (I haven't either) so I'm a bit nervous for that.  His English is fairly good.  He lived in Kentucky for two years and claims that my accent is difficult to understand.  Please, my Minnesotan accent is better than a Kentuckian's any day, but I guess he's not used to it.  

My co-teacher is a very fatherly figure.  This evening I was leaving my apartment to go for a walk and he pulled up in his car.  He was worried about me all weekend so he just came by to check that I was alright.  Then he took me out to dinner which was nice.  I don't think he quite knows what to do with me being a vegetarian, so we always have bimibap.  It's an incredibly delicious traditional Korean dish.  Peter also told me I seem like I've lived in Korea for a long time because I'm so calm.  Hopefully that will alleviate some of his fears.  But he is picking me up tomorrow to ride the bus with me to school to make sure I get there safely.  

On Friday I went to school for the day but didn't teach.  I sat at my desk in the teachers' offices while everyone spoke Korean around me.  Between classes, the students walked by yelling "hello" or stopped by to talk to me.  A couple told me I was pretty.  I'm the first native English teacher they've had in the school so I was quite the celebrity on Friday.

Last night I went out to dinner with some other teachers and then we met up with  a lot of the foreign teachers from our orientation group and some other teachers who have been here longer.  We went to an American bar called Rhythm and Booze.  It felt like a standard night in the states.  I drank some jag and played darts.  Not a bad evening.

Today Chrissy (my roommate during orientation) and I went shopping.  I really like the area I'm living in.  I have some (expensive!) department stores, restaurants, movie theaters, bars, etc. near me.  I found two Starbucks that are not far, so I'm happy.  I'm also only ten minutes from a subway station which seems to be the easiest mode of transportation around here.  

Tomorrow I begin teaching my first classes.  I'm incredibly nervous because the vice principal will be observing the classes.  Hopefully it goes alright.  Well, dear reader, that is a very short summary of my life in Korea thus far.  I hope to go into greater detail later on.