It’s been exactly 16 days since I landed in South Korea and today I am welcoming you from my new home from home; the city of Wonju, located in the south west corner of Gangwon-do province.

That’s your cue to grab a map.

I’m not going to lie; the past 16 days have been filled with apprehension, a bit of stress, a hefty dose of confusion, but also lots and lots of wonderful food. So maybe it all has worked out in the wash?

I started out my time here with a couple days in Seoul. I’m not quite sure what emotions I was expecting to feel standing back on Korean soil, but oddly I felt pretty devoid of anything but a general sense of unease swirling around me that I didn’t particularly care for. Honestly, I think I was in a state of shock.

Hmm. Well, when I’m feeling out of sorts, you know what comes next, right?

Of course you do. Books. And walking.

It’s time for my most predictable and comforting activities, looking at beautiful books I can’t read, and walking until I feel ready to drop. I never consider a day wasted when it’s spent in the bookstore and the library, and walking in Seoul just really reminds me how beautiful and interesting this city is.

So that was how my 3 days in Seoul were spent before boarding a bus back to the airport, not to leave but instead to begin the main event that I’m here for – the EPIK orientation and a year of teaching. The orientation consisted of 1 week of back to back lectures, sharing a dorm room at a university with someone I didn’t know, and getting reacquainted with one of my most loathed activities, formal lesson planning.

First off the bat, let me tell you I was a tad surprised at how many people came to Korea to teach this year. My rough guess was about 250, but on arrival back at the airport for registration, I’m a smidge gobsmacked to discover it appears to be closer to about 500. Also, there’s a lot of luggage between us. A. Lot. Of. Luggage.

Once processed (semi military style), we’re herded onto buses and driven 3 hours south to the city of Daejeon, where we were ensconced for the week at the Daejeon Institute for Science and Technology.

I won’t babble on about the orientation, but I will say overall it was well worth it, run like clockwork, and a good place to meet a few people who shared all the same concerns as myself. Also, the food was AMAZING (and yes, deserving of capital letters).

On the final day (yes, the very last day) of orientation, we were all finally told where we were headed to live and teach.

We filed into a classroom to meet our province representatives, and were handed a stack of paperwork for signing which had a nice clear sticker on the front telling us where we were assigned.

Again, I won’t lie to you or sugar coat it. When I picked up my envelope, my heart sank.

 So very much was riding on this moment, this is a whole year of my life I am committing to being in this country, and while assignments are random, there was still part of me desperately hoping I’d be off to live somewhere deep in the countryside with fields and trees and mountains as far as the eye can see and plenty of local Koreans to try and ingratiate myself with. To work at a rural school where I’d have small classes of middle school students and possibly with animals to look after in the deal (there’s actually a teacher who does this in my province).

But it was not to be.

I looked at the envelope. And breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Don’t cry. Don’t freak out. Try to maintain some sort of composure.

Not only am I not in the countryside, I have been placed in the largest city in the province – Wonju-si. Additionally, no middle school for me, but a high school – the most dreaded prospect I could think of (even more so than singing songs with elementary school kids), being responsible for teaching students heading towards their crucial university entrance exam.

Oh god.

Oh god.

Oh god.

This isn’t good.

Funnily enough, everyone else in the little group of friends I had made seemed happy with their lot (except one who wanted to be in a city and is now literally living in a forest, 40 minutes from the nearest convenience store).

OK. Well. I’m just going to have to deal with this. Stop feeling crushed and panicked. Let’s do what I do best. Research.

And so I spent the next 5 hours learning everything I could about the city and the school I would be moving to. I gazed at maps of the surrounding area and started marking places that might be useful or interesting to visit. I practically jumped for joy to learn that Chiaksan National Park is as close to being on my doorstep as I could hope for and that apparently there is a 250 mile trail (with stamps!) around the city. I also discovered that most teachers in high schools teach only the first year, and therefore gave me some hope that I wouldn’t be dealing with those last 2 precious years of Uni prep.

I arrived in Wonju (via another military-like transportation and immigration operation) and immediately the ball started rolling – meeting my co-teacher, being taken straight to my school for introductions, and then to my apartment.

The good news is that the teachers at my school (who I have met only a few and very briefly – it’s still school holidays) seem very nice and welcoming. There was a whirlwind tour of the school (well, I was shown my office, the HR office, and then met the Principal) and then the *exciting* news of being told that not only was I to teach at the high school, but also the local middle and elementary school (yes, I will be prepping lessons from sing-song level up to debate and discussion). OK, well, there’s a little bit of anxiety I wasn’t expecting. Still, let’s move on.

Time to be ferried to my new home, literally a 30 second drive away from the school, during which there was just enough time to inform me that it wasn’t going to be my new home at all, it’s just temporary for a month as my designated place apparently needs ‘some work’ and I’ll move in at the end of March.

It was at this point I felt the internal hysteria boiling up and I really just wanted to laugh out loud.

What stopped it from being overwhelming was the fact that two of the school staff and my co-teacher had come to my temporary lodgings to help me move it and get things sorted, and they were lovely. My landlady was there to show me the heating and assured me there was always hot water on tap (which appears to be true). The staff got the internet up and running for me, and then explained the weekly rubbish schedule to me and how the washing machine works. I think they were a little nervous given the fact my ‘housing’ is a little unusual. It looks a little like this…

I’d like to assure you, I didn’t bring all of this furniture with me in my luggage. And all the food I discovered in the fridge and freezer isn’t mine either.

I’ve basically moved into someone’s home. I have no idea where they are though.

When I walked in and looked around, my stomach dropped, because as they kept telling me about my ‘room’, I had a sudden dreadful feeling that I was to be living with the landlady for the month. Turns out this isn’t the case, but I’m still completely stunned and surprised to literally be living in someone’s house with all of their stuff.

The upside/downside to this is that my actual apartment is downstairs in this building (so no big move away from the area), and while I get to enjoy the massive space and big windows with tons of light right now (it’s really great), my actual place is less than half this size with 3 very small windows (a very typical one room). I’m trying not to feel too gutted at that thought.

But for all of the unexpectedness of my placement, now I’m here, I can see the potential in what I have been given.

While being in the city wasn’t my ideal choice, I can walk out of my door and look down the street and see the mountains of the national park. Walking through the city streets, I can turn my head and the peaks are a backdrop to the cityscape. And that makes me feel good. It makes me smile.

I can also walk around the corner and there is a sweet little coffee shop (on my 3^rd visit there I didn’t even need to order, the lady already knew what I wanted) and a convenience store. Another road over and I have a local mart, laundromat, Chinese takeaway, and hairdresser. My main school is a 5 minute walk from my door (and I think my other 2 schools are both about 10-15 minute walk).

When I have the time on the weekends (or feeling ambitious after school ends) the main Wonju City Library is a 20 minute walk which also takes me past 3 bigger marts and not far from the cinema, more coffee shops, and a Daiso (think much better and upper class Poundland).

There are numerous small parks and the city hiking trail to explore (I mentioned the stamps, right?), and once I really get settled and feel up for it, the national park can be reached in an hour by bus or 25 minutes if I call a taxi or rent a car.

So as far as my actual living situation goes, I could have ended up with something far less desirable. Here, I have small little conveniences that make life here easier to settle in. And yes, while fields and trees and close mountains would have been wonderful in one respect, I would have less small comforts to help me along the way long term (like books within walking distance).

And whereas I thought being in the country would force me to use and improve my Korean skills, well, I can do that right here in Wonju. In a city of 350,000 people, I think there’s less than about 50 teachers scattered about. So there are plenty of Korean people whom I will need to interact with – teachers at my school, students, local shops, people I meet hiking. In fact, I’ve already pushed myself a couple of times to go out of my way to make sentences to ask for things or introduce myself. Now I just need to crack on and study more and make use of anything I learn.

So really, the only thing (and it’s a really big thing) that is the great unknown still is the actual teaching. Term doesn’t start until Monday. I have no idea what I will be facing. It will be a total sink or swim moment.

So I best strap on my armbands and get ready.