They bought me a fan

Like I said before, I was trying to look for a public school job in Korea. I had an area in mind, but there just weren't very many job postings. Finally I ran into a few, but it seemed like every lead was a dead end. After countless emails and late nights spent talking to Koreans that would wake up my parents with their late night phone calls, I had a job.

I was hired by Daran Elementary School towards the end of August. Luckily I had most of my documents ready to go, but I still had to make a run to Tallahassee and Atlanta to get everything submitted on time. I flew out on August 29th and was in Korea on the 30th.

For the first week I was "quarantined" by the school. This was in case I had swine flu. Apparently a lot of public schools shut down for the first week because they were worried that their new teachers would have swine flu. It was basically a free week off. My apartment wasn't ready yet, so I was put into a love motel. A love motel usually serves two purposes. One is that it is a place for Koreans to bring prostitutes. The second, which is what most Koreans say they are for, is that it is a place for Koreans to go to have intimate relations, since having them at home is a logistical impossibility. I don't buy it.

Last Monday was my first day of work, and also the day I was able to move into my apartment. The day was miserable, but not because of the work. It was miserable because I found out I have to wear jeans or pants to work, the weather was hot and sticky because of the spitting rain and sunshine, I had to move my luggage three times that day, and when I arrived at my apartment I found out I didn't have a bed yet or an air conditioner. Other than that, the work itself was pretty easy.

Luckily my bed came that night at 8:30, so I had something ot sleep on. Slowly my apartment became more livable. The apartment is bigger than my old one. I have a kitchen area, a master bedroom, a smaller bedroom the size of a walk in closet, a bathroom with a tub, and a balcony. The nice thing is that it came unfurnished, so the school bought all new appliances and furniture. I would trade some of it for an AC unit, but apparently my contract says they can provide an AC or a fan. They bought me a fan. I have a really nice couch with an ottoman, a twin bed, a table with two chairs, a new washer, a new refrigerator, a new stove, a new vacuum cleaner, a new microwave, and the fan. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have purchased an air conditioner off of GMarket and had it installed. The only things I am waiting on from the school are a wardrobe and a TV. I currently have internet and cable hooked up, but the cable is useless without a TV.

I will update soon on my school, and I will post pictures of my apartment as soon as I have everything together.