Bring nothing.

Well I took my moms advice and didn't bring up the contract again. I know Koreans like to do things at the last minute, and the lease just started the day I arrived, so of course they didn't have furniture yet. They had already ordered it online so my closet and bed actually arrived the next day and when I got back from EMart (Korean Walmart) they were both already there and set up. Koreans are the nicest people in the world to foriegners so I feel at home here.

I randomly ran into my friend Shamus at Lotte Mart, who told me that it's best to be Polite but Firm. He is a New Zealander who has been teaching in Korea for years.  He kinda got the short end of the stick. His school is in the sticks, where there are literally two buildings and just a few houses. When he got there he asked where his apartment was and they told him they didn't have one ready for him yet. They tried to get him to stay in the basement of the Administration Officer's business. He told them that he was really thankful for their gracious offer, but he "wanted to keep his Personal life seperate from his Professional life." They put him up in a motel for a day and went around with him for hours looking for an apartment in Gumi proper. They wouldn't buy him a year lease, probably because they thought he would run. So they got him a month-to-month apartment near Gumi Station, in the downtown area.

In comparison, I really lucked out. I just wish I had internet in my apartment (which I will get soon), but there are plenty of PC rooms (internet cafes) around where I live, along with tons of restaurants (yes Seongy, Outback Steakhouse, Popeyes, McDonalds, etc. are all here to keep my cholesterol up, although I haven't tried any restaurant yet) and convienience stores.

After I set up my apartment with food and necessities, and did my laundry, I just walked around the city for hours. It is a lot like Queens, quite spread out but with a lot of restaurants, dry cleaners, and salons, and a lot going on. I just need to get my camera battery charger (which I left at home) and take some pictures to post.
The weather is rainy and humid, but cold. I am wearing layers and I am still a little cold, although it's better than being hot and sweaty. I have already cased most of the city and I know how to find my house on Google Maps. If you want, here are some instructions:
 
-Type Songjeong Dong, Gumi, South Korea into Google Maps search bar and click Search Maps.
-Click Satellite, a button on the top right corner of the map.
-Find Gumi Civil Stadium, which looks like an egg-shaped oval with a smaller maroon colored dome next to it. It should be on the bottom right of the screen.
-My school is one of the large, open dirt areas with surrounding buildings to the northwest of Gumi Stadium. Specifically it is the southern one, as the northern one is an elementary school.
-I live so close to the school that I can see it from my apartment, so I live on the street north of the school grounds.
 
I start my first day of school tomorrow. When I called my co-teacher, Park seungsennim (literally Park teacher), she told me to "bring nothing." When I asked her what I would be doing tomorrow she said, "You will find out about the school." Sounds good to me! Some people will have to start teaching right off the bat. But it won't hurt if I make a few introductory lesson plans. I can always fix them later to fit the situation.
 
The one thing I do have to bring is a few indoors shoes. They all take off their shoes when they get to work, and put on leather slipper looking things. I figure for the first week I may be able to clean the bottoms of my two good looking pairs of shoes and leave those at school until I get a sweet pair of slippers like they wear. When I met my principal and administration I made sure to scope out what type of slippers they were wearing. They were black leather slippers with what looked like sandal straps around the toes and top of the foot.... I guess thats professional here, but I really couldn't stop thinking about how ridiculous it looked.
 
Oh well, that's enough of my nervous banter. Now its time to study Hangul (the Korean alphabet) and start reading and speaking some Korean! I want to be able to read all my kids names by the 8th, the day I should start teaching.