"Its so hard for me to believe you are in Korea..."

                               "Its hard for me to believe too, every time I step outside the door."

So...KOREA.

As you might imagine, Asia can be quite the jolt to your system. But, aside from dealing with a new, currently incomprehensible language and having eyes constantly trained on my tall, brown-haired, green-eyed self wherever I go, things aren't really that shocking. Sure, people drive on the sidewalk here and you have to keep an eye on the roving gangs of Korean middle aged women, but its just a different kind of crazy. Reality is inherently absurd and I crack up at things multiple times in a day because they are so pleasantly shocking. Everyone here is incredibly accommodating and willing to tolerate your ignorance of their culture, all you need to do is show a little desire to learn and wield more than a little bravery in your daily travails. Men named Mr. Park seem especially eager to interact and by interact I mean buy you lots of alcohol. Its a pleasant problem, really. So, if I could sum up my first whole week in Korea, it would be wide-eyed wonder punctuated with pleasant problems and the occasional bout of gut-wrenching loneliness.

I hope this blog can function as a small window into my world here. Every foreigner that comes to Korea to teach English starts a blog, and while mine may be one of many, this is still a digital representation of myself and my life here and I want to make it something special. Expect some pictures, yes, but mostly prose about life and living in this strange, wonderful land. I hope to do some nuts-and-bolts posts eventually about discovering how to live and thrive here but I've only just started to live. Hopefully thriving is just around the corner. Please join me for all the inevitable trials and triumphs.