The Continuing Adventures of Riceman Holcomb

Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! Extremely long post ahead!

I apologize because my next few posts will probably not include pictures due to the lack of internet at my apartment, so I have to make up for it by being verbose. Sucks for you. I am currently sharing a PC bang with a bunch of Korean kids playing all sorts of various computer games and growing visibly older while I watch. It's like an arcade in here.

Yesterday was the final final day of orientation, wherein we were rushed around to eventually leave for our respective provinces/cities. We were excited to find out where we would be spending the next year of our lives, but it was bittersweet. We had to say goodbye to the friends we had made over the past week. Luckily, we have each others' facebook pages and we can easily hit each other up if we want to travel around Korea and party.

In the morning, I found out my placement: Namsan Elementary school in Dong-bu, Daegu. I had originally requested high school as my first choice, but as orientation wore on and we learned more about the education system, elementary school was growing on me. I was secretly glad to be placed there. There is more structure (you guys know me and structure), and a lot more simple things that they need to learn. Plus, smaller kids are easier to punt than teenagers. I'm ready for it on Tuesday. I hope they have the uprights on the playground.

The 3 and 1/2 hour long bus ride was mostly silent. I sat next to Siamek from Vancouver. Swell guy. When we finally got to the Daegu Ministry of Education (I think?), we were shoveled into a classroom of sorts where we got our final lecture: what we, as Daegu specific teachers, were expected to do. Our questions were answered, and nervously we all went down to the level below to meet our co-teachers by region. I was told my region, Dong-bu, was out in the suburbs and I would be doing nothing out there except hiking to temples and talking to old, Korean sages about mysticism and incense. 20 minute bus rides to anywhere decent in town. Lots of flora. Boy, were they wrong. Suckers!

My co-teacher is very nice and quite helpful. She had a driver with her, as she has no car. Her driver, I soon learned, is the administrative person of the school. I am surprised she hasn't died in a car accident yet. By the time we got to my school, she had gone the wrong way down more than one one-way street, and she cut people off left and right, never looking where she was merging. The thing is, the school was literally within walking distance from the Ministry of Education, so the fact that she committed so many traffic faux pas is a feat in itself.

When we entered the school, I met my principal. I sat in a short meeting wherein everyone spoke rapid Korean and I stared at the paintings on the Principal's office wall. They were reminiscent of a C.M. Coolidge work, only with musical instruments instead of dogs. We abruptly left school and were whisked away to my new apartment. This was the moment of truth. Our driver went the wrong way down one last one-way street and we were there. I'd say that it would take shorter to walk to my apartment from school than to drive there. It is literally a five minute walk. Blessed be the day! No commute costs! Take that, DS!

The apartment itself is kind of a funny little bird. It opens right onto the street (does that even qualify it as an apartment?), which means no stairs! Whee! The bathroom is the strangest part, I think. It smells of mold, the toilet is awkwardly placed so you can't sit comfortably on it, and the shower is, like other Korean bathrooms, just a nozzle in the middle of the room. The kicker is that my washing machine literally takes up half of my shower space. I could sit on my washer and shower simultaneously. Maybe I'll try that some time. I could also brush my teeth and shower, or be mesmerized by my stunning visage in the mirror while showering. I could probably work it so that I could take a dump and shower at the same time, too. Maybe this won't be so bad like I thought.

My co-teacher took me out to go shopping, so that I could learn where the nearest "essentials" grocery store is. It's in a department store. A department store with groceries. How fricking convenient! When we returned with my new victuals, someone was in my apartment. I was about to floor a bitch, but I soon learned it was my landlord, Mr. Lee. His name is easy to remember. He was putting some final touches on my interior walls and cleaning a bit. He even got me a desk, free of charge. He mentioned that he was Christian pretty early on, so I'm guessing he's hardcore about it. The thing is, though, that he's not a "push it in your face" kind (maybe because he can't speak English and I can't speak Korean. Lucky me if that's the case). He was really nice, but abruptly left to go to church on a Friday night. Very devout, I'd say.

Just as abruptly (seems like a running theme for the day), my co-teacher left as it was approaching 8 PM. I got several thank-yous in before she closed the door, and soon I was on my own. I couldn't figure out the stove, so I opted to go find some Western food. Well, that didn't work. Everything Western sounding turned out to be a coffee shop. So, I found a 7-11 and bought some snacks and walked back. I ended up eating some of my groceries for dinner and staying in, turning in somewhat early.

I slept until 10 AM. I needed it. This morning, I figured out how to work the stove, but my life is still not functioning properly. I also found some bearings and some maps that show some important things around me. I need to do some shopping for home items and there is a market for that close by. What a day, what a day. I suppose I should unpack some time.

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about that Korean Folk Village and Icheon Ceramics, but I can't tell you all about it until I get the internets in my apartment and can upload pictures.