The Situation So Far...

What follows is a rather rough outline of the past several days. Lots of people have been asking about how it's been and what's been going on, so here is just that. 

Enjoy! 

Let's start at the beginning: the flight. 

Our flight with Asiana was a hassle and a half. The cats were whiny (understandably so) And it was an uncomfortable 15 hours. There was no wifi, no outlets, and while we were lucky enough to be seated together in the only row with only two seats, it was still awful. I got off of the plane looking good because my carry on was loaded with lotions and face moisturizers and sheet masks and cleansing wipes. But I felt absolutely dead to the world. 

To make matters worse, the flight was an hour longer than normal because of strong headwinds. Immigration was ridiculously backed up. The cats were tired and grumpy, as was I. 

When we finally got to our driver, he was pissed off for having to wait for so long. It wasn't our fault, but he was rushing us and generally acting rude. Typical taxi driver, I suppose. 

We got to the school for a quick stop off. The school was absolutely awesome and gave us a good bit of food (milk, orange juice, bread, ham, cheese, butter, and jam) and a huge bottle of water. They also gave us brand new sheets and a comforter as well. 

However, I lost everything when we saw our apartment. It's a dinky, itty bitty, barely larger than a broom closet room. Definitely not a couple's apartment, but a single apartment. I was furious. I started crying and had trouble falling asleep because of that. I thought we had been lied to and was planning on bitching the next morning. 

Had trouble sleeping the first night due to jet lag and stress. I missed my cats, I missed my parents, and for a moment (or five), I just wanted to pull a runner and go home. I think it was mostly the exhaustion talking, as well as missing my cats. 

However, the next day we got the chance to talk to some of our coworkers and they said that the apartment we are currently in isn't our set apartment. They had to put us in a single apartment temporarily because the couple's apartments are all currently occupied. So that's a load off. 

Then, the vet called about the rabies titer for my cats. He asked the head Korean teacher if we had paid yet. We were told by customs not to pay because it would have to be done after the test. Well, to run the test, they need the money now. And they'll only accept payment in the form of a bank transfer from a Korean bank. I'm about to think that all is lost when the teacher offers to pay it and then have me pay her back in cash. And when she realized she didn't have that card with her, she ran downstairs and got one of the other teachers to pay it and then we paid back that cash. 

Our coworkers are all lovely and smart and amazing, and I don't know how I'm going to compare. I know they've been here for a while, but I feel so lost and confused and scared. They've been extremely helpful though, and they make it look easy. 

Our curriculum is already really established, so we just do it as they ask. We have to do some small lesson planning, but not a whole lot, which is nice. 

The kids are frighteningly smart. These kids are a Western age of four and are able to hold conversations in English. And smell, and read, and write, and count very high (in the hundreds, and the thousands if you give them a minute). They're all active little four and five year olds that are eager to learn, dress immaculately, and are absolutely spoiled rotten. But not in a bad way. 

This morning Jeffrey and I couldn't sleep. We were awake at midnight, and decided to get up and out of bed at 4 am. From there we got ready and decided to wander around. We found a 24 hour restaurant and sat down, had a huge Korean style breakfast (so not actually breakfast) and then went home and back to sleep. 

TL;DR-I'm settling. It's a slow process but I'm getting there. Fighting!