"Everything will work itself out in time"

I spent the majority of my orientation listening to the horror stories of Korean students and Korean co-teachers who would leave the native speakers alone in the class.  I was imagining being alone with 35 sixth graders who really didn't understand English when it came to disciplinary action.  I came to Busan pretty much expecting the worst. In hindsight, people love misery so of course that is all anyone wanted to talk about.

As if I had any glimmer of hope, aside from my bubbly and upbeat attitude :P

Any who, when I arrived at the Office of Education, my teacher was the last one to get me and in such a hurry, I could not really understand her.  I thought that I had bagged one of the teachers that pretended to the students that they cold speak English and relied wholly on the Native Speakers to run things.  My brain was going a million miles a minute but I remembered that she is meeting me for the first time too; so I just smiled.  If I didn't understand her, I would smile. If I was looking out the window, I would do it with a smile.  My face is an open book but I at least wanted to look like I wasn't apprehensive of the situation.

 She started driving me off to what I thought would be my apartment but instead, she surprised me by first bringing me by my school.  In the car, she told me the school is "very countryside" and has 38 students.  I heard rural an thought I was going to be in the middle of nowhere.  How rural could I get when I purposefully asked to be in a big city?  I heard 38 students and assumed she was confusing her English and the classes must be about 38 students big.  I'm scared, still scared from before really.

The school, I must say, left me fairly speechless.  It was a small school, but honestly it didn't appear to be so.  The elementary is right at the base of one of Busan's many mountains and it has its own ducks and vegetable garden.  It was really quite stunning - and in a rural area so the fresh air was nice.  Side note: This is the theory I have formulated on "rural" for Busan.  I live only a 15 minute bus ride away from my school.  I live in Busan next to a bridge to cross the river - but where I live is crowded, next to a subway stop, lots of traffic.  In short - it's the city.  As soon as the bus crosses that bridge, the city ceases.  There are no suburbs to keep the connectivity of the city so even though my co-teacher called it rural, I think it's like a super small suburb literally across the river.

My teacher then surprised me again with dinner at a traditional korean restaurant. Sitting cross legged, eating a million different small dishes, having the floor heated so my legs were never cold; it was refreshing and I started shedding my doubts....until I arrived at my apartment.

I thought I was walking into one of my old (bigger) bedrooms.  I have my bed in one corner and four feet in front of the foot of the bed is my kitchen.  I have a bathroom but it's a 'wet bathroom' which means there is no tub or shower, just a shower head attached to the sink faucet.  It seemed to small to be what I would have considered an apartment, or studio even.  But for me, I realized its perfect.  I have less to clean and electricity will be cheaper.

My first night in Busan was a bit lonely since I had no internet, phone, or any way of contacting anyone and I had just spent a week in dorms surrounded by people I came to know.  As the prime minister says in Anna and the King, "Everything will work itself out in time".  And I truly believe that to be so.  This is a process, not a microwavable dinner.  I'm still cleaning my vegetables and expecting a stir fry to appear.  Had enough cooking metaphors?? :D  Giving myself time to adjust to my new area is all I need.  Rushing it won't make it any easier so I'm just gonna go with the flow -- like a water bender.