I've Arrived in Gwangju! (광주에 왔다!)

Morning, folks!

It's currently 10:56 a.m. on Monday morning in Gwangju, South Korea. Pretty happy to be here and utterly shocked that (and I don't want to jinx this, but...) I feel no trace of jet lag.

Flight from Chicago clocked in at just over 13 hours, although it felt like much more. Arrived at Incheon International around 5:00 p.m. Sunday night (Korea time), grabbed the bags, even caught a celebrity sighting, complete with dozens of wailing middle school girls (Lindsay Ross, I'm looking at you!), caught up with an old man holding a card that read "Samuel Hurd" (always wanted to see one of those!), and waited for another teacher arriving on a later flight--who, by the way, is an awesome dude! His name is Steven, and it's his first year in Korea.

We caught a 7:20 p.m. bus to Gwangju, where we were promptly met by the academy director (we think?) and shuttled to a hotel, where we will be staying for a few days. For all you folks familiar with Korea, it's a pretty cheap but clean Love Motel--the kind that, for better or worse (more often than not, worse) reek of garlic, booze, and sex. This one is pretty nice and quiet and odorless, and we are thankful for that.

Had a late dinner of (what else for a first meal?) grilled pig and soju.

Slept hard for 7 hours, which I haven't done in a long time, and here we are. Today, it's off to meet the director and other incoming teachers for lunch--then, we're off to get poked and prodded in every which way at the hospital. Medical checks here are, well, not something to look forward to. It's like Scott Van Pelt says about running: "the best part is when I stop."

Looks like we're free for the day after that. We'll most likely start work tomorrow, but that's just a rough guess for now. Will probably try to explore the city a bit more later today.

That's all for now, folks. Thanks for all the love and support and kind wishes. I'll do my best to make you all very proud throughout the next year. Check back often for updates!

Gwangju is exactly as I remember it. Charming. And an all-around extremely livable city.