In Country
Sunday, March 4
Seoul is overwhelming.
I fight to stay awake in the back of the cab that is taking me from Incheon International Airport. I fail at this spectacularly. The last time I slept was days ago, and that was drunken sleep. I spent 17 hours in the air watching "The Big Bang Theory" and doing puzzles.
Every now and again my head falls back. My eyes want to shut but I force my lids to stay open. The cabbie might be weirded out as I am sure he looks into his mirror and sees a guy with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. I look like a tweaker, maybe.
I am met on the street by a Korean guy, impeccably dressed, named Chris. We make small talk as he leads the way to my apartment. I ask his real name and he tells me that it's "only Chris." I am too damned tired to ask much more.
I am barely aware of my surroundings when a door opens in front of me and I am shown my "apartment."
"You will be here only 3 or 4 days," says only Chris.
It is a nightmare. The room is not much bigger than a bathroom despite actually containing a bathroom. A tiny bed is jammed into the space between the toilet and the wall. A glass divider keeps me from rolling into the bathroom. A long desk occupies another wall. With my luggage there is no room to walk.
Bummer, I think.
I am given some keys and then taken to the school.
I take in very little. My systems are shutting down. I try to be polite. I meet the guy I am replacing and the other native teacher, both Canadians. I ask the names of some of the Korean teachers but I make almost no effort to remember them. This day will exist in my memory as only a blurb.
On my way "home" I buy a roll of kimbap. As I eat it with my fingers I notice there is no strip of crab in it.
This might all work out afterall, I think. I then pass the hell out.
I fight to stay awake in the back of the cab that is taking me from Incheon International Airport. I fail at this spectacularly. The last time I slept was days ago, and that was drunken sleep. I spent 17 hours in the air watching "The Big Bang Theory" and doing puzzles.
Every now and again my head falls back. My eyes want to shut but I force my lids to stay open. The cabbie might be weirded out as I am sure he looks into his mirror and sees a guy with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. I look like a tweaker, maybe.
I am met on the street by a Korean guy, impeccably dressed, named Chris. We make small talk as he leads the way to my apartment. I ask his real name and he tells me that it's "only Chris." I am too damned tired to ask much more.
I am barely aware of my surroundings when a door opens in front of me and I am shown my "apartment."
"You will be here only 3 or 4 days," says only Chris.
It is a nightmare. The room is not much bigger than a bathroom despite actually containing a bathroom. A tiny bed is jammed into the space between the toilet and the wall. A glass divider keeps me from rolling into the bathroom. A long desk occupies another wall. With my luggage there is no room to walk.
Bummer, I think.
I am given some keys and then taken to the school.
I take in very little. My systems are shutting down. I try to be polite. I meet the guy I am replacing and the other native teacher, both Canadians. I ask the names of some of the Korean teachers but I make almost no effort to remember them. This day will exist in my memory as only a blurb.
On my way "home" I buy a roll of kimbap. As I eat it with my fingers I notice there is no strip of crab in it.
This might all work out afterall, I think. I then pass the hell out.
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