Settling In to Pyeongchon

So for all you followers of the Pensive Sophist who have been waiting for my next post, sorry about the delay. As you can guess, I’ve been pretty busy the last week, with the end of training and all the little things that go into starting a real life in Korea. I got my official placement in Pyeongchon, which is about a 30 minute subway ride south of Seoul in Anyang City. I was initially a little disappointed that I wasn’t placed in the heart of the city like some of the friends I’ve made so far, but the more I’ve gotten to learn and see of Pyeongchon, the more I am realizing that it should be a good place to be. Since it’s outside of Seoul, it’s not quite as hectic and busy as the city. It’s still well built-up, with lots of restaurants and bars, but there is also some green space—including a nice big park only 5 minutes or so from my apartment with basketball courts and an outdoor rollerblading rink—and the air here is noticeably cleaner than it is in Seoul. The icing on the cake is that Pyeongchon is actually Chungdahm’s (the school I work for) second biggest branch, so there are about 45 other teachers there, and thus lots of new people to meet.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been moving into my apartment, which is in a high-rise building right across the street from the subway station and an E-Mart, which is a 4 level shopping store pretty similar to a Walmart (though not quite as cheap). The E-Mart has a big grocery store plus just about everything I’ll need for my new apartment, so it’s very convenient and takes a lot of the stress out of moving into a new place. My apartment is unfurnished, so tonight I’ll be sleeping on a pad I bought, although I ordered a bed online with the help of a Korean friend that theoretically should be making its way here tomorrow afternoon.

I also got my teaching schedule today, which looks pretty solid. I’m only teaching 21 hours a week, and have Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays off, so I should have a fair amount of relaxation time. I’ll be teaching iBT (internet-based TOEFL) prep classes as well as a couple classes called “Interview and Discussion” where I’ll basically be helping prepare 4th and 5th graders for their interviews to get in to the top private middle schools in the country. I’m more than a little nervous about teaching for the first time, but I’m hoping that it just takes a couple lessons under my belt before I get comfortable.

I’ll end with a good story: last weekend I spent an afternoon at an outdoor market in Insadong with a couple of my new friends, aka the Wolfpack. While there, I tried bundegi, which is roasted silkworm larvae, or in more simple words, bug. I have a personal credo that I’ll try anything once, so I tried to let that guide me as the woman at the stand was scooping a large spoonful of the bugs into a cup for us from a big, steaming vat of insect stew. My friend Kevin pointed out that it’s easy to tell where they’re selling bundegi because of the smell, and he was right; it was pretty foul. The bundegi was a bit crunchy but chewier than I would have expected, and tasted about the same as it smelled: not-a-so-good. Who would have thought I’d be eating bug this soon? I guess I’m not in Kansas anymore.