From Dayton to Daegu

Well I made it. After 24 hours of flying, I arrived in Daegu last night around 11:30 p.m. The flight to Tokyo was the longest I've ever been on but I was grateful that the seat next to me was unoccupied. A little extra room goes a long way on a 13 hour flight. The only downside were the three loud American college students who had the uncanny ability to find something to talk about for 13 hours straight, proving that Americans are still a unique people.

The first night was rough. Appearently, the school had forgotten I was coming so soon and hadn't clean my apartment yet. So on top of missing home and not sleeping for two days, I found myself in a dirty, smelly apartment that formerly belonged to a smoker and alcoholic who didn't think much of cleaning. It was almost too much too handle and made me wonder just what I got myself into. But then I opened up Spurgeon's Morning and Evening and read the May 12 evening entry. Talk about sovereign grace in time of desperate need.

So after a long and hard first night, I took to the streets today to look for E-mart, the Wal-Mart of Korea. By God's grace, I found it and a little shopping put me in a better mood. Emart doesn't have quite the selection of a Wal-mart but I was able to pick up a converter, hangars, a beard trimmer, and some cleaning supplies. I also found some cheap furnishings I plan on buying soon that just might make these four walls more of a home. And then to complete my adventerous day, I crossed the street and had lunch at Outback Steakhouse.

Tonight I'm going to the school to observe and meet some of the other foreign teachers. And then tomorrow I start. I'll be teaching mostly middle school students essay writing and pronuciation. Having never taught anything before, I am a little nervous but hoping it's not as hard as I'm thinking it's going to be. My director assured me that as long as I'm enthusiastic and passionate, I will be a good teacher and the kids will like me. If I live to write about it, I will be posting about my first day of teaching very soon. Stay tuned.