Day 140: On Display

Poly phoned me yesterday to let me know that all my papers had gone through with Korean Immigration (now is the appropriate time to let out a huge YAHOO!!!) and that I can start work at Poly pretty much immediately. They wanted me to come in on Monday but since I had no plans for today I figured what the heck, why not start now?

Today was a really busy but fun day. Jeannette has been teaching all of my classes (both the pre-school ones and the afternoon elementary ones) and so the plan for today was to follow her around so that I can meet all of my future students and become familiar with the schedule. I also was to teach every second class so this would give me a feel for how it would all go. I was a little nervous to teach my first classes but it was really easy and fun and Jeannette was super helpful too. All my kids really seemed to like me and all in all the day was a big success I'd say!

I received some exciting news from Poly today also - I would be going to Japan for my Visa run on MONDAY!!! WOW!!! I'm totally stoked!!! I only get to spend an afternoon in Osaka and most of it will be running around doing Immigration stuff but I'm still really looking forward to it! I mean, how often do you get to go to fly to a foreign country (FOR FREE!) just for the day??? So cool!

After work tonight I went to hang out at Amy's with Kelsey and the three of us ordered some pizza and then just hung out and watched TV. After spending a few hours at Amy's we cabbed it on over to LaFesta where we were meeting up with a big gang for some drinks. It was both Amy and Meighan's last weekend in town and we wanted to celebrate their accomplishment of a year in Korea before they moved on to their next adventures. Everyone was there when we arrived - Meighan, her friend Jen visiting from Canada, Jess, Rick, Tracy, Steve, Ben, Brian, Pauline, Jeremy, and Sam! WOW WHAT A BIG GANG! We sat outside on some patio tables and chairs and had some beers that we had bought from the local convenience store (yes, alcohol is sold nearly everywhere in Korea!)

Seeing 15 foreigners sitting all together in one giant group proved to be a spectacle too exciting for many Korean passerby to simply pass up! Time and time again during the night random Korean pedestrians would just S-T-A-R-E at us while they walked by, and some would even stop and just stand and look at us for a while!! There was even one man who seemed so interested in our presence that he circled our group at least two or three times, completely transfixed by the sight of so many foreigners sitting outside!! As amusing as all of this was, it was a little uncomfortable at the same time. After a while you start to feel like you're animals in a zoo, or mannequins on display in a store window. I mean 'HELLO! We can see you staring at us! You're only 3 feet away!!!' LOL!

Ahhh well, it's good for a laugh and really just makes you feel popular! Haha! You get used to it but sometimes it's just so blatantly obvious and unabashed that it can make you feel a little uneasy. Oh well, it all comes with the territory, right? :-)