Garbage picking? Yes, please!

This picks up about a week into my South Korea experience. Since I don't have Internet at my apartment, I've been writing journal entries that I fully intend to post here as soon as I can get them online. So bear with me because I'm not going to describe anything that's happened before today because I've got way more information than you'd ever want to know that will be posted at a later date. For now, the basics:

I live in Buyeo, Chungnam province, South Korea. It's a pretty small town about an hour/hour and a half outside Daejeon, the fifth largest city in SK.

"The Land of the Morning Calm" is a nickname for Korea.

I live in an apartment complex by myself, but there are other native English teachers there as well.

I teach at Seokyang and Seukseung elementary schools, grades 3-6. The former is about 150 students; the latter 60.

I can't speak or read Korean... I am a mute illiterate. Ouch.

I like Korea so far. People are nice and helpful and friendly.

So yesterday I went to one of the other native teacher's apartment for dinner. Bob and his wife Yuan are Australian, though Bob is a native Malaysian and Yuan is from Christmas Island (I must google this). They met in Melbourne. They've got three daughters and have been married for 30+ years. Bob used to be an accountant in Australia before deciding to become a teacher. He said he really just wanted to help educate people. He and Yuan moved to the slums of Bangkok for a year and then South Africa. They moved to Korea because they really wanted somewhere to stay for a while to "see the progression" in their students. They've been in Buyeo for three years, and Yuan said it's home for them.

We had cold noodles and then ice cream. It was delicious. Bob and Yuan are total lifesavers when it comes to knowing what's what in Buyeo and in my apartment complex (Dongnam). They showed me where the good drinking water is, helped me unclog my sink, took me to the garbage collection area, gave me salt and pepper, explained how to use my washer, checked out my gas/heating system, and gave me some tips on moving furniture to maximize space.

The best part was about ten minutes after they left. I had just changed into my pajamas when Bob knocked on the door. Earlier I had asked about the surfeit of furniture in the garbage area because I had seen a small dresser that would make a good nightstand. Bob and Yuan assured me it was okay to grab it if I liked it. So anyway, Bob knocked on my door because he had the two drawers from the nightstand! I told him I'd put on some shoes and help him, so we trucked over to the pile and grabbed a trolley and Yuan directed us to take the nightstand, a long, low table ("For your microwave!"), and a little table ("Hmm, it's a little bent but I have a hammer, we can use that.") So I'm in my pajamas loading up this trolley with furniture covered in sand from the dump site, then I dragged it back to my aparment (Bob - "I should take your picture... hey Mom, look it's my second job!"). Bob and I carry these things up the four flights of stairs to my apartment, so by that time I was sweating bullets (it's like 85 and humid), covered in sand, and still wearing my pajamas. Awesome. But honestly, it was so nice of Bob and Yuan to look out for me like that. Yuan was concerned that if we didn't pounce on the goods, someone else would swipe them.

Saturday I'm going with Bob and Yuan to nearby Nonsan to do some shopping.

Yesterday we had an all-school assembly and the principal introduced me. Mr. Kim, my co-teacher, had me introduce myself to each class. It was kind of hilarious to see the looks on everyone's faces when I started speaking English... this sort of baffled, wide-eyed "whoa!"

Nothing very exciting has happened so far at school. I just sit in the back of the classroom at my desk and watch Mr. Kim teach. I can't tell if the kids think I'm dumb for not speaking Korean. They ask me questions that I can't understand. The sixth graders especially are always coming up to my desk, and one girl wrote her name down for me. It's Jeoung Yu-jin, and their little eyes almost popped out when I read it to them. It's hard for me to tell, but I don't think Korean has much of an accent... it's really phonetic, so if I read phrases out of my phrase book I don't seem to have to worry very much about pronouncing it correctly, which is like 180 degree difference from French.

Yesterday I spent my down time writing and rewriting hangul consonants and vowels. I felt like I was back in first grade when you write the same letter over and over again.