I made the best of it by showering, getting my gear together and making up possibly the world's strongest coffee in the lobby of the hotel, before getting on the shuttle bus back to Incheon airport for the next leg of my journey - a bus ride to Cheonju, the city where I would be based for the next 12 months. It was about three hours bus ride away, but to my amazement the ticket cost 18,000 won (barely more than a tenner). Not to mention it was quick, clean and very efficient. Makes you think about how much you actually get ripped off back in Britain when it comes to public transport.
Anyway, I had just enough time to get ANOTHER coffee and a muffin before the bus left at 10.30am, so I did so and tried to contact Mary Hahn, my contact at the Cheonju POE (Provincial Office of Education). Unfortunately, as I was to discover later, EPIK had given me the wrong number. So I couldn't tell her I was on my way. I sent a quick email to Claire at ESLStarter asking her to contact them for me (thank whatever deity for free wi-fi at airports) and got on my way. FAIL ONE.
The bus ride was smooth, and I arrived at Cheonju at about 1.30. Now the first of a few minor problems began.
Firstly, the cab driver I hailed to get me to the POE spoke NO English. I mean, none at all. FAIL TWO.
I showed him the address of the POE I had been given (in Korean) but he didn't understand that either. Cue 15 minutes and 9000 Won of hand signals, manic turns and desperate phone calls/emails (from him and me) before he finally caught on and got me to the POE.
I checked in at the gate, but Ms Hahn was not in her office. The gate guy managed to get in touch with her, and apparently she'd been told I was arriving on Tuesday - not Monday. FAIL THREE.
I was beginning to get a bit annoyed with the whole business when Ms Hahn actually sent word that she knew I'd arrived and was on her way, having finished a meeting. NO FAIL FOUR!!!
Anyway, a few minutes later, she duly arrived, and directed me to her (thankfully air conditioned) office.
After looking at the paperwork (contract etc), and finding out that I was going to be teaching at a middle school about 30 minutes bus ride from where I would be living, we took a taxi to where my home from home would be for the next 12 months.
That's the entrance to my apartment building. Unfortunately in all the excitement I forgot to take any photos of my room itself, but they're on the way.
Anyway, I moved my stuff in, went through the inventory of Things That Are In My Room And My Responsibilty with the landlord (who is possibly the coolest guy ever) and Ms Hahn. Pretty soon after my co-teacher (Miss Hong) arrived and had a chat with me too. She said that I'd be heading to the school for a show-around on Thursday, and to enjoy myself until then. Unfortunately, jetlag still had me in something approaching a zombified state, and I was just able to round off the conversation and say goodbye before I crashed out.
I woke up to a knock on the door, and what was a real stroke of luck. It turned out the building I am in is FULL of English teachers and two of them, Ken (think a younger Jeff Bridges, both in looks and mannerisms) and Jimmy had dropped by to say hello. I was quickly invited for drinks, and then we all went out into downtown Cheonju (near the university and about 10 minutes walk from my apartment block) to grab some food.
And this is what we had - a DIY BBQ. Seriously, they gave you meat, marinade, hot coals and chopsticks, and left you to get on with it. Best of all - all of the stuff on the side you can see was ON THE HOUSE. Seriously. Kimchee (bottom left, fermented cabbage), salad, onions, dipping sauce/powder (bottom right) was all free. You only paid for the meat and the 5 big bottles of beer ordered between the three of us.
And also, because it was my first night in Cheonju, Ken and Jimmy thought I should be treated like a guest, and as a result I didn't pay for the food, nor a single drink, all night. And these are people I'd known for a sum total of about 2 hours. Amazing.
We also ran into Ted, an American guy who actually used to teach at the school I'm going to teach at. Turns out he lives in the same building as me too, so his advice will be great to have.
Anyway, after messing around with some of the local seafood
hitting an Irish-themed bar and meeting two other teachers (Jon and Ronan, both Irish, both drunk), having another round, playing some Hendrix on the jukebox and singing football songs, I arrived back at the apartment rather inebriated. But also extremely relieved that I'd made friends, and people I could talk to and ask the advice of, on my first day.
As a result, the next day was something of a recovery day, so I'll not go into it here.
Next up - Settling In.
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