Saturday, August 30

Settling in Busan

I've finally arrived in Busan! We arrived at the Main Education Office around 4:30pm (Friday). There we met our contact teachers. Contact teachers are your go-to people when ever you have a question or need help with anything. They can speak english and are basically responsible for you while you are settling in. My contact teacher's name is Mr. Lee. Nice guy. After collecting my gear we headed off to my school, Gaepup Elementary near the Susang-gu district of Busan (central west area). There I met the vice-principle who seemed very nice but unfortunately I can't remember her name. It was a little awkward because they were speaking Korean the whole time while I sat there twiddling my thumbs. I didn't really know what to say. The only Korean words I know off hand are AHN YONG HA SE YO which means hello and KAMSAHAMNIDA which means thank you.

After the meeting we drove to my new apartment! My apartment is about a 10 minute walk from my school, 5 minutes to the nearest subway station, and a hop-skip-step away from an E-mart where I can get all of my groceries and appliances etc... Speaking of which, after seeing my apartment for the first time we went to E-mart and picked up basically everything I needed. Dishes, cutlery, cooking pots, pan, dish soap, laundry detergent, clothes rack, mixing bowl, flipper, wooden spoon, shelf, microwave, water boiler, etc.... My studio apartment has a kitchen, gas stove, a washing machine, a small fridge, a brand new TV and a bathroom. My bedroom and kitchen are just one big room. I still need a table and chairs but that is supposed to arrive later today.

My only complaint about the room is that it was pretty dirty when I arrived. I spent most of the night cleaning the floor, walls, cupboards and bathroom. It's pretty clean now but the floor still feels a little gritty.

I'm at an Internet cafe right outside of my place. It costs about 1,000 KRW for an hour. I'm going to spend this weekend settling in and exploring the area. On Monday we have an opening ceremony at my school. Classes start on Tuesday. Wish me luck!!!!

1 comment:

peggi said...

Sounds like you've got everything for your apt. You were cleaning yours while MA was cleaning hers and has now moved in with us temp. Good luck on Tues.

Love Mom oxox