of 365, this is the first

oh i've made it. my first impression: nothing looks different. granted, i hadn't gotten off the plane yet. but that sentiment stayed with me throughout the day. except everything kind of smells different once you get outside. it's an indescribable odor right now, but i'll pinpoint it soon and let you know. the people who i've met are very kind, and have given me great advice.

"walking is very important to koreans. it's a popular exercise."

the director of my school

"sometimes in public places, you'll find they put their toilet paper in the waste-bin instead of in the toilet. i guess they have bad pipes. we flush it here (at school), but at home, i don't care where they want me to put it, i'm flushing mine."

a teacher at my school

"i like the pizza with corn on it. koreans and their corn. you'll find corn in dishes that you wouldn't expect. it's not always bad. you have to like corn though. you can get corn on a stick on practically any corner."

a veteran teacher i met on the bus

[walking by a place blaring techno music]

me: what is that place?

director of the school: it's a general bank.

Here is a view from the bridge that I cross to go to school every day. It's smaller than it probably seems. There's a little stream or something that runs underneath and a jogging/biking path around that. To the right, you can see my apartment building.

This is my apartment building. My room is the third window from the front on the second floor. Just don't direct any crazy Korean stalkers to my room please. There's a truck that drives around playing traditional Korean music all day long (a lot like an ice cream truck), but he sells produce. Interesting . . . hmmmmm. and potentially awesome.

And it snowed last night. Like seriously snowed. Thank god it melted today while I was in class. I had to walk to class today in the snow. My thin Louisiana skin was not ready for this. I thought it was springtime in Korea! Maybe next week it will be spring.

I'll talk about my classes later. These kids are crazy. Every day will bring something new for a while at least.

adios,

brenna

music: Pretty Flowers by Steve Martin [The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo]

footnote: haven't found much good food here yet. i ate Popeye's for dinner, and educated some of my fellow teachers on the colorful life of Al Copeland.