The Arrival

Upon my arrival in Busan, something incredibly strange and completely unexpected happened: things went right. The plane landed on time. I walked through an efficient line for immigration where a pleasant lady silently looked at my documents and stamped my passport. My bags were rotating around the belt when I went to pick them up. Nobody questioned me when I went through the “nothing to claim” line at Customs. Within five minutes of waiting in the arrivals hall, a guy around my age by the name of Hyung Tae approached me, asked if I was working for MoonKkang, and informed me that I looked much better than I did in my photo (which is a back-handed compliment that is sort of true since I did, after all, look like a middle-aged man in my photo). He spoke fluent English, and we drove the hour or so it takes to get to Daegu. We then drove through central Daegu so he could go to his office and pick up my apartment key before heading to Chilgok on the outskirts of Daegu, where I would be living and working. I moved into my apartment immediately, meaning that I don’t have to deal with the inconvenience of temporary housing and only partial unpacking. My next door neighbor is a teacher at my school. Another teacher at my school resides one floor below me. Mike is Canadian, and he will be leaving MoonKkang at the end of the month and will be replaced with a new guy; Nick is from just north of Chicago and has been here for 15 months. I met them last night very briefly and they seemed extremely friendly and helpful, as one of them carried my 65 pound bag up three flights of stairs while I carried his bacon and bread. I stepped into my apartment, which is a lot larger than I expected it to be. It is in a slightly older but highly secure building that houses maybe 12-15 residents. Other MoonKkang teachers live just a few minutes from my apartment. When I opened my bags, everything was intact, and I didn’t discover any tragically exploded bottles or stovetop stuffing remnants. My school purchased a few new things for me including some dishes, pots, pans, and utensils, as well as a brand new LG microwave and Electrolux toaster oven. They provided me with a rather modern 19” LG T.V. and a brand new Sony DVD player. They gave me brand new bedding in my favorite color, purple. My refrigerator is stocked with water, orange juice, milk, bread, jam, and a box of cereal (which I literally found in the refrigerator), so I need not worry about starving this morning. There is a 7 Eleven around the corner, and my new coworkers informed me that there is a grocery store about two blocks away. My bed feels like the equivalent of sleeping on a blanketed coffee table, but I will adjust. My favorite feature of the apartment is the floor…it heats up! This will be the first winter in recorded history that I can walk barefoot around the house and not get frostbite! My apartment also comes furnished with a small table, a few chairs, an entertainment center, an armoire, a washer, a drying rack, and a 2 burner stovetop. I still obviously have some things to buy, but we’re off to a great start, and there are two people living in this building who I can ask where to buy things when I need them.

I don’t know how to react to such a smooth transition and to my own chirpy optimism, and I don’t trust it. Something must go horribly awry, right? I’m still waiting…