Day One - I Have Arrived!

(copied and pasted from an email)

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that I got here safely, and here's what my day looked like:

-got on plane, met a couple from Halifax named Jeff and Madeleine, became friends. they're working in another city, and had to take a 2 hour bus ride to get out there.

-Joe picked me and another girl (i feel bad, she's sitting beside me in the internet cafe and i forget her name) up from the airport and drove 2 hours to a hotel. We're staying there until the teachers who we're replacing leave. so I'll be in the hotel until the 31st. which means i'll be frequenting this internet cafe when i want to talk to you.

-on the way there, there was this crazy tollbooth where a mannequin was wearing the tollbooth guard uniform and it had a mechanical arm that waved cars through. STRAAAANGE. i'll try to take a picture if I'm passing that place again.

-It's humid here, but the rain came and cooled everything down.

-Joe left us alone in our hotel rooms for an hour, wherein I discovered none of the plugs in the place seem to fit my adaptors i bought. then, i took a shower in the shower curtainless bathroom (which i'm told is a traditional korean bathroom) and completely flooded the bathroom. apparently that's SUPPOSED to happen?!? this is also after my curiosity got the best of me, and got my shirt sprayed by the toilet which prompted the shower in the first place.

-when joe came back, he showed me and other girl around, showing us the nearby subway station (Yatap) and bought us both rechargable transit cards. we were shown the pharmacy, supermarket, and internet cafe (this one!).

-then, Joe said goodbye, and told us we were having dinner with a teacher who is finishing her term there, Vanessa. a thin, freckled blonde girl who's leaving maple bear to live closer to her korean boyfriend.

-So while waiting to go out for dinner, I watched Kung Fu Hustle on tv, which was thankfully, in cantonese/mandarin! I also watched a Starcraft tournament. Yellow won. and by Yellow, I mean Asian.

-We met Vanessa at Yatap station and Anna and some other girl who are both korean teaching assistants joined us, and the 5 of us went out for Pho. I had my regular rice noodle with beef. Vanessa paid.

-Theeen, we parted ways and Anna showed us to the internet cafe and got us set up. End story!

So that was day one...I'm pretty homesick already though. I opened up my luggage and everything was so neat and perfect the way Mom and Dad packed my things, i didn't want to move anything, because it made me think of you guys, and i felt if i moved anything, their mom and dadness would go away. So i've been carefully moving things about.

One thing that worries me is that my hotel room, being a hotel room, means maids have access to my room while i'm gone, and no "do not disturb" signs exist. so i almost want to take my luggage with me everywhere I go, but i know i can't.

Anyhow, that's it! day one, crossed off! 364 days to go! actually, no. more like 371, since i got here a week early. I miss you all very much and I can't wait till I move in to my own place and can actually set up my own internet and everything and start going on msn and getting skype set up.

Bye everyone! i'll write more tomorrow!