Busy, Busy, Busy

We definitely hit the ground running here in South Korea!  Lindsey and I were the last to arrive of thirteen new teachers.  Thankfully, we didn't miss too much, and have easily caught up with the rest of the group.  Each day we follow a very packed schedule.  It starts with a yummy breakfast, after which we have worship.  Then it is teacher training until lunch, then more teacher training!  Somehow we have managed to find time to open bank accounts, deal with some policy matters, take care of health screenings, and have a very inspirational and uplifting testimony time.  For an exciting turn of the tables, the English "All Day Club" (a group of students that spend all day learning English together), provided us with a Korean language lesson.  I picked up some valuable phrases that will certainly help me to communicate with the people I meet.

Like the Korean Colonel Sanders, of course

Most of our free time (of which there is not much) is spent just getting adapted to the local culture.  Life here is quite different from life in the States.  Korea is a country of extremely hard-working people who put 100% into everything they do.  Their goal seems simply to excel; be it in the classroom, on the job, or while pursuing a hobby.  Apparently there is a lot of pressure on young people to succeed and look good doing it.  If they cannot do so in all aspects of their lives, they risk being labeled as a failure by family, friends, and society in general.  Education and the job market are both extremely competitive.  These circumstances have resulted in a culture that seems addicted to long, exhausting work days, caffeine, fashionable clothing, and plastic surgery.  People push past you on the street and while boarding the subway, and there is a general sense that most everyone is in a rush to get nowhere fast.

Forget to do your shopping?  No problem. 

Grab what you need in the tunnel before you board the train

Despite this driven, high-stress environment, in the short time I have been here, I have already had many opportunities to see first-hand something that the Korean people are well known for:  their wonderfully welcoming hospitality.  

Friendliest Police Station I've ever seen

The staff at the institute made us feel right at home from the very start.  Even those who don't speak a lick of English are always ready to help, direct, or advise in any way they can (it's amazing how well one can communicate even without the use of words).  Just tonight one of the other new teachers went to an electronics shop in order to purchase a replacement cord for her laptop, and the shop owner gave her one for free!  When the All-Day Club took us on an afternoon outing, they helped us to read signs, answered our many questions, and pulled us out of the way of motorcycles on the sidewalk.

Yes, you read that right

In a nutshell, it's been interesting.  Everything is just so novel and exciting, I'm finding it hard to sort it all out.  I'll just take it all in for now :)