The Early Days

6 months ago Luke and I left beautiful Australia to work as english teachers in South Korea. It hasn't always been easy, to say the least, but it has been an experience and a half, that's for sure!

We arrived in Incheon International airport on March 2nd early in the morning with little idea of what to expect other than the fact that we were being picked up, but were to spend our first two weeks in a hotel as our apartment was not ready for us yet. We weren't too thrilled by this fact but there wasn't a lot we could do so we were prepared to just make the best of it. Tired from our overnight flight and a little overwhelmed by it all we made our way to the luggage carousel where we were to get some VERY unwelcome news. We stood there as the crowd of people dwindled away and the appearance of new bags on the carousel stopped. Finally, we had to face the fact that my bag was not going to appear. We went over to the lost baggage counter where we were given a form and told to call the airport the next day...... at this point I fell apart. From there on Incheon airport was a bit of a blur, I didn't really take in much of it through my tears, all I knew was that I wanted to go home!

That first week was a real test for me as I was without my luggage for the whole week and we were staying in a tiny hotel room at the "Nice Hotel". We both started work the day after we arrived so there wasn't a whole lot of time to adjust to the country we would be calling home for the next year. The first week at school was tough more because it was the first week than anything else. There were no classes so I took it fairly easy, I didn't really know what to do to be honest, but my co-teacher, Ellie, was nothing but lovely to me from the very start and we instantly got along. One day in the lunchroom during that first week, as I ate the food that was so strange to me and looked out the window at the dull, grey sky and the stark, boring buildings, I was suddenly hit by how incredibly homesick I was. I tried to hold them back but I couldn't stop the tears from running down my cheeks. Most people had already finished their lunch by this time so the lunchroom was thankfully, quite empty. My tears did not go unnoticed by my principal however, who came over to me and gave me some herbal tea bags and told me (via Ellie, my principal speaks practically no english) that her daughter was studying overseas and she could understand some of what I was feeling. I so appreciated her kindness and understanding at that time, I'm a little disappointed that her understanding has not extended much further than this incident.

So, the first week went by and before we knew it it was Friday afternoon and, joy of joys! my suitcase was delivered to me at the "Nice Hotel"! It instantly perked me up and we went out for dinner to celebrate its arrival and making it through the first week.

It all feels so long ago now and yet at the same time I can't believe we've been here for 6 months. There have been so many memorable moments, some for happier reasons than others, and I will try to recount them here, as they come back to me.

Anyway, that's all for this particular excursion into the early days of teaching in South Korea.

Lucy