night one and day two

It's about 4 PM and I'm fighting the sleepies hard. I woke up well before dawn (which is at about 5:30 here) and couldn't get back to sleep. Even with sleep deprivation, I suppose my body knows that I'm usually in bed right about now.

So! I'm set up in my domicile for the next year. It's SUPER cute. One good sized room with kitchen stuff along one wall, and cabinetry and shelves along the other. I have the biggest sink I've ever seen, a microwave, a 2 burner plug-in hot plate, a little instant-hot-water pot, and a washing machine, all neatly tucked into about 5 feet of kitchen space. There's even a blender! Either the previous tenant or the welcoming committee (or both) left me almost everything I need: some basic groceries, cleaning supplies, a few plates, bowls, mugs, glasses, silverware. (I had curry and rice for lunch, all quite easy to prepare even though the packets AND the microwave are only in Korean!) There's a TV and DVD player, and basic cable. One of those fold-up into the wall college beds, but I'm not folding it up...don't need to. The space where it WOULD fold is allllll shelves and cupboards, and then there's one other closet with lots of shelves, plus a vacuum cleaner and ironing board. I have my own bathroom with a roomy standup shower, but oddly enough there is NO storage space in there, which is where I need it most! Oh well. I also have no dresser, but the closet is easy enough to neatly stack folded clothes, and there's a drawer or two in there too.

I want to go out and explore, but I'm not supposed to leave my room until I see a doctor to declare me swine flu-free. Argh. I guess I'll have time for everything, sooner or later. I did slip out and peek around the main street a little bit. I'm basically living in a theme park. There's a City Hall, and a main street thoroughfare with bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants, a bar, and a convenience store, all within sight of my building. I'm in a quiet dorm, I met my neighbor Renee already when she brought me a welcome basket! Apparently there's a louder, party-prone dorm right behind my building, but that's easy enough to wander over to if I want to! It looks like nothing in English Village is more than a 5-10 minute walk away at most. There's a cafeteria, and a gym I can join for about $20/month. And everything is very pretty. The Village is actually built into the side of a mountain, so things are on oddly picturesque levels. There's a bit of a solar system motif, and my building is pretty far from the Town Hall (or "Sun"), so I live in Pluto! I'm not even a freakin' planet!

Turns out swine flu is actually a big deal right now, to the point where most of the schools that would visit us have delayed opening. This means I might not start actually teaching for several weeks, but I'm still officially on the job...so I guess lots of time to get oriented! In the meantime, I've completely unpacked, made myself a shopping list, set up a skype account (lauren.wingert), caught up completely on True Blood, and arranged my stuff pretty much as I like it.

Also, before I forget, here is my mailing address:
Lauren Wingert
English Village, Pluto 203
1779 Beopheung-ri, Tanhyeon-myeon, Paju City
Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea, 413-780

What else...ah, the ride from the airport was really funny, as I mentioned to a few of you already. The driver had very limited English, and I had to fight the impulse to try and speak Spanish to him. Shows how much travel I've done! If someone doesn't speak English, the linguistic area of my brain assumes that Spanish is the only other language. Kind of embarrassing. We did manage to communicate through gesture and simple words... first time in Korea, the breeze feels good, that sort of thing. Then as I let out a loud jaw-splitting yawn, he turned to me and ROARED and exclaimed "MONSTER!" which startled me right out of the yawn and into a giggle fit. Thus encouraged, he periodically roared at me throughout the trip. I love how a sense of humor and general silliness transcends language barriers! He also pointed out North Korea to me, and the gun turrets, complete with machine-gun sound effects and exploding-torso pantomine! I really am within view of the DMZ.

My weird, weird tranquillity about this transition has persisted. So far nothing feels terrifyingly foreign. (I'm sure my first shopping trip will change that.) The only moment of shock was when we landed in Seoul, and the airport tower had no English, only a few Hongul characters, and I kind of gasped and cried for just a second, because the knowledge actually hit home that I am not home, that I am so far from home. And it will be a long time before I go back, although not so long in the course of a lifetime. But I am finding nothing to fear. Crime is practically nonexistent, people here not only leave their doors unlocked, but hanging open when they leave for a day or two...and I can be as sheltered as I want to be within this little community. But also, I'm feeling very secure in the knowledge that I can take care of myself.

I'm throwing out italics harder than Anne Shirley; perhaps it's time to conclude. Despite my boredom, I'm quite pleased to be here, and excited to find out more about my new home for the next year! Until next time...