Monday, August 24, 2009

I'm a Seoul man

...yeah, endless stupid puns are available on the name of this city. Actually, it really isn't "soul"; that's a Westernism. It's "saw-ool". But what fun is that?

This will be quick, sort of a placeholder, till I'm awake, have more to say, and have the Internet at the apartment.

The trip would have been fine, three hours door to door through endless forested mountains on a beautiful day, but the middle-aged Korean driver of the van was plotting the whole way to throw both Tug and me out the door at full speed because Tug wouldn't stop yowling. You have no idea what "nervewracking" means till you've had a three-hour ride with a crying cat and a homicidally upset driver who doesn't speak English, and most Koreans hate cats already. I expect Tug to yowl some more overnight.

The school is ultramodern, brand new except for the just past summer school. It's on three floors, albeit with a small space on each. My classroom has a big flat-screen tv hooked to the computer. I also have a computer workstation in the faculty room... no more lugging my laptop back and forth every day! And the classes, my goodness gracious gosh: English 7, composition, American lit honors, speech... and (yes!) creative writing! Too bad I have to build them all from scratch in the next six days.

Apartment is TINY. It might do when I get organized, but it's half or less the size of the one I woke up in today. It would also be nice if they had remembered to give me a closet, for Buddha's sake... supposedly I'll be given some kind of wardrobe tomorrow. I also have no furniture but the bed, two kitchen chairs, and one tiny table. I feel horribly cut off with no Internet and no television... yet. (I'm typing this in a coffee shop; I should be sleeping or screaming at Tug to shut up that yowling.)

It's a ten-minute or less walk to work and only five blocks to both Costco and E-Mart. I have a teeny balcony facing a nice little park, which has basketball and tennis courts, a paved path, a flower walk, and an outdoor workout setup. It's a very quiet and I would say upscale neighborhood. If I can adjust to the postage-stamp-sized apartment, I'll say I'm in a very good spot.

And now I want to go to bed. I'll talk at you soon.

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