Arriving in Daejeon

I landed at Incheon late afternoon and was met at the airport by someone from the recruitment agency who put me on a bus to Daejeon. The bus ride was about 2 and a half hours (I think) and we drove over the new bridge which Lisa and I had gone under on the ferry to Deokjeokdo last summer.

I arrived safely in Daejeon and was met at the bus terminal by Jessica, my new principal and two other members of staff (HJ, who had interviewed me, and the receptionist Sarah). They are all Korean, but have adopted English names which is common here for staff at English language hagwons.

They took me to my apartment, which is in an area of Daejeon called Songchondong. Its on the top floor of a 3 storey apartment building and is more cosy than my last apartment. There are three sets of windows, so I can have a fairly panoramic view and I can actually see countryside from the side windows! It was about 11pm by the time we got to the apartment, so they left me to get some sleep. It was nice because they provided me with a mobile phone and had bought some groceries for me, so it felt very welcoming. I slept very late the next day and was woken by the door bell about 5pm; the principal came round to drop off a pizza, which again made me feel welcomed.

I spent the whole weekend sleeping off my jetlag, so haven't had the chance to do much exploring. My neighbourhood, Songhondong, is on the eastern edge of Daejeon and there is a small shopping area with Homeplus Express, some coffee shops and restaurants etc. It is much more of a low rise area than Bucheon.

Tomorrow, HJ is coming to pick me up at 1pm to take me to the school and introduce me to the staff and students. Better get some sleep, so I can hopefully feel a bit less groggy tomorrow!