Finally...a computer that works!

Good afternoon!

Orientation ended on Friday, so on Friday afternoon we were all sent along with our co-teachers to our schools, which are all scattered around Seoul. None of us knew where we were going exactly (thank you, SMOE), so we couldn't inform others as to how to contact us...no known phone number, no internet access. I didn't know where I was let alone where I was going. Kind of stressful.

I got to my school...very small - smaller than any elementary school I've ever been to. There are only 4 classes of each grade. Its a cute little school and the vice principal speaks some English. He is a fun guy. And, I'm not trying to be stereotypical, but he looks exactly like an older Jackie Chan. Like Jackie Chan's dad. And since you now think I make huge generalizations about a diverse group of people, let me just say that everyone here LOOKS THE SAME. I see another white person maybe once a day. And they usually look just like me - confused.

English here is hilarious. There's no other way to describe it. Its "token" English, it makes no sense and is often spelled very wrong. The other day I was in HomePlus (like Wal-Mart) and I saw a sign for "baby feeling equipment". I think they meant "feeding" but there's no way to be sure. The Korean language is a phonetic language, so Korean words when spelled in English are spelled many different ways. Names of towns differ according to who wrote the sign. Some notable wacky English I've seen so far:

-Donky Fried Chicken (restaurant)
-Hey Nebraska! (t-shirt)
-"Star Funky" (t-shirt)
-Gum Sole Power (t-shirt)

There are so many more...I'll add to the liast as I encounter more. Until then, expect your Christmas presents to be random english word/phrase shirts bought here.

My power cord died for my computer, so my battery is dead until further notice. I just bought another power cord on ebay today so it should get to me in about a week. But that means all my blogging will have to be done at school, so it may be infrequent this week.

Today was my first day teaching, and I'll write more on it later, but I let the kids ask me questions, and some of the more popular ones they asked were:

1) Are you married?
2) Do you have a boyfriend?
3) How old are you?

And my favorite:

1) What's your blood type?

By the way all of the food here has been terrible so far. I think I'm not looking in the right places, but if it continues like this, I may go anorexic. I've already lost about 10 lbs since being here. None of my clothes fit and I look homeless. I am happy though!! Just also very hungry :(

Alright, teacher's meetingin 10, then I get to go home! Actually I'm going to Hil's, but you know what I mean.

As they say in Korean English class, "BYE BYE!!"

Jess