Being away is hard

It's funny the things you realize as you grow older and are away from those you love. This adventure is Korea is definitely going to be a worthwhile experience, but at the same time I wonder why I decided to leave when I had such an amazing support group at home. Now I am here in a foreign country with one friend.

Des and I went running this morning and when I got home I decided to put on some tunes and do a little workout in my apartment. Well, midworkout a song came on that my best friend Jenny and I had been listening to alot this summer. The next thing I knew I was sitting on my floor in tears missing all the people who know me so well. I know this will happen when I'm here, but I am worried that I won't make any friends here that I will consider my best friends. It's hard because right now I can't even talk to anyone from back home so I am so isolated.

There's nothing to do except pick myself up and keep on going. I know things will get easier here and a year will fly by and I'll be back home with everyone I know and love. Until then I keep telling myself to make the best of this situation and try to get as much out of this opportunity as I can.

To grow and to learn.

a strange adventure

Well I made it! Our plane arrived last night around 6pm local time. After finding our bags and getting out of the airport we all found our drivers. Desiree and I got into our cab with a Korean man who obviously didn't speak any english. All we could do was assume he knew where we were going. After about an hour and a half we arrived at our apartment building. Outside waiting for us was the Director of our school June. She showed us to our "apartments". They were the size I had assumed they would be, but they are not exactly as nice as we were hoping. After speaking with some of the other teachers at school today we came to realize that this is the norm around here. So much for a society that is far more advanced than us! We are basically slumming it! Desiree and I are going to look for a better place to live but until then this is our home. So after waking up this morning I was a little uneasy, not only was I not feeling well, but the reality of what I was doing was finally sinking in!! Nerve racked and restless, we went out exploring our neighborhood this morning, which was, to say the least, a little confusing!

At 9:30 our Director picked us up for what we thought was a medical. We ended up spending the entire day at school, (except for the actual medical part), which was actually nice. The faces of those kids actually makes the terrible apartment bearable. They were all so cute and outgoing! I think the job is going to be super fun! I am sure it will be challenging and the days are long, but the kids are why I came here so I am happy that I will get to spend my days with them. We mett some of the other teachers today as well and they seem really nice, so I am glad we will have a few of them around to help us figure stuff out.

After an exhausting day at work, Desiree and I hit the local lotte mart(a cheap walmart equivalent), where we both picked up a few groceries. We plan to go to the E-mart(a better store with better prices apparently) to pick up some much needed essentials such as sheets and pillows. Until then I plan on sending some emails and hitting the hay!!

Stay tuned!

Training day

I managed to get a pretty good sleep last night. Fell asleep at 7pm local time(11pm my time) and woke up at 6am local time. Even so, I was still pretty exhausted today. We had training from 9am until 7pm tonight. A lot of information was hammered into our brains.

After today I am definitely very excited to get to Korea tomorrow! We have a few days before we start actually teaching so we have a period of time to get adjusted to life in Korea. I met 3 other teachers who will be at my school and living in the same building as me as well.

All in all, today was a good but long day. Now I am off to finish up a mock-lesson plan that we have to present tomorrow and then I am going to crash.

Training in the morning until noon and then it's off to the airport for an 11 hour flight to Seoul!!

Saw this sign on my walk. Just another reason why I am lucky to be a Canadian!

The first leg of my journey!

I started today by waking up at 3am not able to sleep. After tossing and turning until 4am, it was finally time for me to get up and say good-bye to Fredericton, my home for the past three years. After a tearful goodbye to my family,(although I expected to cry more, but I think because it was so early I was incapable of tears) I boarded my first flight to Montreal. I basically slept the entire way! The next leg of the journey included a 5 hour flight to Vancouver, during which I was sandwiched between two men who I am sure did not shift at all during the flight, except for the countless times I needed to pee!! Finally, after waiting an extra hour in Vancouver, I was aboard my last flight to Seattle. It was only a 30 minute flight but it was a good one! Mountains and water everywhere!!

So here I was, finally in Seattle. I met up with Chang one of the employees who was picking me up, he also had two others teachers ready and waiting. We all jumped into the van and off to our hotel we went. The drive from the airport was pretty nice, about 40 minutes. My hotel is in a place called Kirkland, just adjacent to Belleview. I have yet to see much of this area but what I have seen is pretty nice! Trees everywhere! It is by far the most wooded metropolitan area I have ever seen.

Even though I had been travelling all day and could have easily gone straight to bed, I decided to go explore and find a place to eat. I found a nice little Italian restaurant with great service! Since it was only 4pm local time I was the only one there so I'm sure that had something to do with it. I sat on the patio and enjoyed my first solo meal of this solo journey!!

After supper I decided to walk around the area I'm in and see whats around. Not much; basically car dealerships and 7-elevens. But it is oddly still all surrounded by tons and tons of trees so it still looks pretty nice! I think if I have some free time tomorrow, I will venture into Seattle and do some sightseeing, the bus apparently takes about 40 minutes to get downtown so it's too much to do tonight.

Tomorrow we meet at 8:30am and then travel to the R&D building of our headquarters to have our training session! Should be fun!!

More to follow...

A new era

Well a new chapter of my life is about to begin. It has been awhile since my last post, since then I have successfully completed my Business degree, graduated and finished my last summer as a camp counselor at the YMCA. I have secured myself an amazing position at what is, I'm told, one of the best private schools in South Korea.

This coming Monday I will say good bye to Canada for a whole year and spend a few days training in Seattle and then fly directly to Korea from there on Wednesday. I am excited(I'll admit a bit nervous as well) for the next stage of my life to begin! Living in a foreign country for a year is no doubt going to be a tough challenge, but it's one that I know will pay off in the end.

So for now I'm going to go enjoy my last weekend with my friends and family, and hope I can get through it without too many tears!!