Arrival in Mokpo

So we have finally arrived in Mokpo and are pretty much set up in our apartment. We arrived in Gwangju Saturday aug 16th and had orientation until Friday. Lots of seminars on what we will be teaching and presentations about the culture and what to expect from our students. The week was long but most of the orientation was useful. We also had a few field trips in there to a Korean folk village, the national museum, and to a temple retreat.

Friday was the day our co-teachers were to pick us up and bring us to our apartments...it was quite the day! I had met my co-teacher earlier in the week as they were invited to join us for our field trip to the folk village. My co-teacher is very nice but I think taking care of me is a bit too much responsibility for her. Her name is Seul Gi and she is 23 years old and just starting teaching this year. She was so nervous the day she came to meet me. In Korean culture, the older you are the more respect you get even if you are only a year older than someone. So since i have more teaching experience and since i am 3 years older than her she (according to her culture) owes me lots of respect. She has to bow to me and serve me (and all the other teachers in the school) meanwhile, I'm the one out of my element and have no idea how I'm going to teach these little Korean kids! So Friday she was supposed to come get me in Gwangju and bring me to Mokpo. She didn't show. She had asked Milton's co-teacher to pick both Milton and i up and bring us to Mokpo. Milton's teacher for some reason decided to bring her husband and her son which then meant that there was no room in the car for me or my luggage since Milton and his luggage barely fit! So we asked her to just see if one of the other 15 teachers or principals going to mokpo could take me. Makes sense in Canada right? well, not in Korea. So before i know it i have the supervisor for high school teachers in mokpo approaching me and trying to figure something out for getting me to mokpo. If he's involved it's a big deal (which means someone somewhere down the line got in big trouble!) He came back to find me a few minutes later to tell me that my principal was on the way and would be there in an hour to get me. Him and then the language program director for the province came to find me to tell me that plans had changed, that my teacher was on her way but she got lost. I carried my bags down to the front doors and was waiting when the supervisor came back and told me to load my bags in his car, he would be driving me. By this time I'm totally confused but just happy to have a ride. It turned out that Milton and I loaded half our bags into his co-teacher's car and the rest into the supervisor's car who drove both Milton and i to Mokpo. Someone is in serious trouble now we figure if he is driving us!

In the car we were told that he was driving us to Milton's school where Milton's co teacher and mine would be joining us to take us to our apartment. It was only and hour drive from Gwangju to Mokpo and we got to Milton's school (under the pouring rain) and there is no sign of my teacher or Milton's teacher at this point so Supervisor Kim accompanied us into the school to meet Milton's principal. Milton's principal didn't speak a word of english but was very nice and gave us the tour. Milton's school is AMAZING! it is brand new and super clean with all kinds of high tech equipment and a huge gym (which is important b/c the teachers in korea all play volleyball on Wednesdays for some reason and the foreign teachers have to play too). after the tour we head back to the Principal's office and wait for our teachers to show. Milton's finally shows but still no sign of my co-teacher. After an hour wait and several calls she finally shows up (she got lost because she is also a new driver and just got her license!) My teacher finally walks in and everything seems fine - no shouting or even anything that seemed like an angry tone, but words were exchanged in Korean so i have no clue what was said. They offered her a drink which she took and then suddenly out of no where burst into tears and ran out of the room! What is going on?!?!?!
she comes back in and i just feel so bad for the girl but there isn't much i can do. I tried to figure out what was going on but she doesn't speak much english either. What i think happened is that she was leading a school scouts camp that day and had tried to make arrangements for me to be picked up by Milton's co-teacher. Milton's co teacher can't do anything without her husband (he had also accompanied her to the folk village earlier in the week) and so when she filled the car with her hubby and son and figured out there was no room for me and our luggage she got on the phone and tried to bail on my teacher. I think my teacher got in huge trouble and just couldn't take it anymore and broke down. I tired to tell her not to stress it was all OK, i made it to Mokpo, but the Canadian laid back way just doesn't exist in Korea. Why they put a new, inexperienced teacher in charge of hosting the foreign teacher is beyond me -- they really could learn a thing or two from the new teacher inductee program like Ontario has!

Finally around 5pm we arrive at my school (after getting lost b/c my teacher can't drive and doesn't know her way around) and my school is the dump next to Milton's. It is tiny, and so run down. It is just outside of the city and, of course, there is no bus that will get me there so I'm not sure how this will work. and by this time the principal has left for the day, who was the reason we were going to the school in the first place. What a day!
They finally take us to our apartment which was the ray of sunshine that day - we finally find our home for the next year and can unpack after living out of suitcases for about three weeks now. We are very happy with our apartment! we have a kitchen, a bedroom, a living room, and a spare room - all separate distinct rooms as apposed to a square box, open concept apt that some people have been unfortunate to get. We live a block from E-mart (like K-mart with a grocery store) and we are right in the middle of the city. The gym is also one block away and another girl who has been here for a few months is going to help me set up a membership. We can walk to the waterfront - about a 15 minute walk, and have already discovered lots of nice little restaurant/bar and shopping streets. we are surrounded by mountains that we will eventually hike up, and we have already been looking at used bikes so we can get around town that way too.
We made a few immediate purchases - speakers for our computer so we can play music, a spaghetti pot for Milton and a small oven (like a big toaster oven with a rotisserie) for me b/c i can't stand the thought of frying everything for a year! (Emma, you'd be proud of my oven purchase. For starters it was on sale for 49$, and then when the salesman said they had none left, I got the floor model for 39$!)

So we are pretty much set up here in Mokpo. I am meeting my principal tomorrow - I think. My co-teacher asked me to meet him Monday but wasn't sure when. When i asked her how I would know when and where she said she would call me. I reminded her that she had just picked me up and obviously I hadn't had a chance to get a phone. She then said she would call Milton's phone. Again, i reminded her that Milton was in the same boat as me - she is not the brightest I think (she also loves to talk to me in Korean as if i have any idea what she is talking about!) So I tried to skip a few steps and I let her know that we also had no home phone yet and no Internet. "Oh" she said. "DUH!" i was thinking. So i asked her what time, and of course she had no clue. So i said pick a time and come get me and tell your principal that's when I'll be at school. For some reason this will not work. So the plan for now is that I will wait downstairs at my building and someone, she doesn't know who, will come and get me a noon and I will somehow meet the principal. We'll see how it goes ---it may be a good story for my next entry !

Hope all is well in Canada! I'll have Internet and phone soon (Milton's co-teacher who is a bit more reliable said she will help us set that up this coming Friday) so hopefully we will be in touch with you all soon! I'll also post pictures soon.

ciao for now!