Hello from Seoul!

Pshew!!! Just wanted to leave a quick note to say I've arrived safely. There are about seven new teachers and most of us arrived last night and shared a cab to our hotel. I believe all but one of us is American - one from North Carolina, another from Georgia, and if you can believe it, three of us are from Minnesota. I thought that was kind of neat. One teacher is from Mahtomedi and went to North St. Paul High School (Tartan rival). I wanted to punch him or make fun of him but I was nice. For now...muah ha ha.

I think I might be 'the elder' within the group of new teachers but only by two years-ish. Most teachers are coming right out of college or are just a year or two out. In fact, I was ready to play the name game with the guy from North High but we compared graduation years and he told me I'm 'a bit ahead of his time'. But apparently you'd never guess I'm a little older as I've already been told I look like I'm 23...and 12. Such sweet people here.

Last night we arrived at our hotel, threw our bags into our rooms and walked up the street to grab dinner with the school director and three current teachers. They're all very nice. We're all just a bunch of Americans, Canadians and one Londoner. We ordered our first Korean meal which of course was delicious. I had a bolgogi dish with lots of rice and veggies. Had to eat with a spoon after attempting with chopsticks for the first five minutes (goal #1: master the chopstick technique. ASAP.). I am just going to loooooove the food here, methinks.

It's currently 7am local time and I have been awake for the last half hour. We meet today at 9:15 to head over to the school so I've got a few hours to get settled (I'll be in this hotel until March 1). AND I am awaiting the arrival of a dear friend and former colleague from DC, LaToya. She's flying in this morning after a work trip in Vietnam and will stay with me through Sunday. I have a feeling we'll have some crazy pictures and stories from our time together, so stay tuned. :)

Thanks for following and I love you all. I spent a good chunk of time on my flight to Seoul thinking over the last months in DC and Minnesota and I feel so lucky to have such amazing friends and family and I'm so glad I got to spend a significant amount of time visiting with you all. You all pretty much rock my face off. :)

KAAS