The blog is back!

And so am I!

There is so much to say, but there’s also a lot of time to say it. As you can see from the picture, this blog will mainly document the challenges I face adjusting to living on Jeju island.

The giant volcano in the picture, Hallasan, is the tallest mountain in Korea and sits right in the middle of my new home. It is visible from every part of the island…except since I got here, as intense rain and fog (and a general haze) has kept it invisible except for a few hours yesterday. But it’s a truly massive mountain.

The locals like to refer to Jeju island as “the Korean Hawaii”, except one of the school directors also referred to Newfoundland as the “Canadian Hawaii,” so all comparisons must be taken very broadly. Still, from what I can tell (and truth be told I have no idea where I am or what is going on, I guess I should have listened to those language CDs instead of playing old computer games) Jeju island is a very beautiful place with lots of fun natural formations.

In case the picture in my blog background doesn’t do Hallasan justice, here’s a more accurate side profile of the volcano:

As you can see, the island is very harmonious with nature, and although the pathway up is very steep, there are helpful pedestrian signs along the slope. It looks like there might be a stegosaurus on the peak as well. That’s something to look forward to!

Seogwipo is a small city of 60,000 people that so far seems very nice but is extremely confusing for a foreigner to navigate. There a couple reminders of home, but none that really inspire: a Dunkin Donuts here, a Baskin Robbins there. The large city on the island, Jeju City (300,000 people), has an Outback steakhouse (I noticed on my way from the airport).

I’m teaching at a school called Yale Foreign Language Academy (YFLA). Let’s keep this a secret, but apparently there’s only a “loose” affiliation with the school in New Haven; lots of language schools here like to take the name of a famous University. There’s a big picture in the front of the school of all the Ivy leagues, I’ll have to ask at some point if we’ve sent any students there.

I’m teaching with six other (North) American girls at the school. I’m the only guy. That makes me the Snow White of YFLA. Maybe I’ll do some spring cleaning around the office.

I’ll have a lot more to say about my first few days of classes in upcoming blog posts, but for now, I’ll point out some interesting observations: all of the students above grade 5 asked me if I had a girlfriend (none below did). One class asked me 5 times. I changed my answer because I got tired of telling them “no.” So for several classes, I have a mysterious gf who lives back in the US, and also I now live in New York City.

My favorite part of teaching is when one of the students asked me if I had a perm. What a silly question! Of course I’ve had a perm! How else would I keep my hair so nice and curly?

It took me four days to learn how to use the hot water in my apartment. I’ll talk more about my apartment later.

In summary: there will be some good times. There will be some bad times. But how? That’s the adventure!