First day in Korea

I'm finally here in Korea at the EPIK Orientation. I keep going back and forth from being excited about where I am and pleased with my decision to do this to feeling completely insane. I landed last night at Inch'on International Airport. Landings are always my favorite part of flying. When you're going somewhere you've never been it's like descending on a different planet. The hills and valleys, the patterns of roads, the clusters of buildings... everywhere so similar but so foreign at the same time. And then when you come back from a trip, nothing compares to that feeling of relief and familiarity when you touch down back at home. I've got 12 months to look forward to that! Actually, if I'm lucky enough to squeeze a trip or two to Japan or China into my year, maybe I'll get that feeling when I land back in Korea. Boy does that seem far-fetched right now. From the airport I took a bus with other EPIK teachers to Eulji University where I am staying for the next ten days before I move to Daejeon. It seems many of the other new teachers either came with someone they know or latched on to the first person they met and are pretending to be best buddies already. I generally find these orientation things a bit awkward but I'm sure I'll have some friends by the end of it if not going to my city then at least for travelling later. Food has been great so far! Much better than in Spain. Who'd have thought? Well, I have a week and a half of being herded around in a pack from health exams to teaching English 101 and survival Korean. We're required to wear our EPIK sweatshirts on our Seoul expedition this Sunday. I might have to break the rules. Oh yeah, and speaking of breaking the rules, no shoes are allowed in the dorm rooms. They kindly provided us with nifty slippers (the likes of which you would find on a porch beneath a pair of hanging underpants in San Francisco), but I'm still having trouble following this one.