Anyong!

Thanks, Arrested Development, for helping me to retain at least one Korean word.

All is well here. Humid and kimchi-filled, but well nonetheless.

I mean, we are surrounded by mountains. This midwestern girl (Hannah here, in case you haven't gathered from the lack of mocking Hannah that is going on), who is exposed to no hills save the little man-made bump of earth in her backyard, can't get enough of this:

Right now, life mainly consists of attending classes, trying new (scary) foods, and meeting (slightly less scary) people. We're at Daejin University, north of Seoul, until Monday. On Sunday, we will have a (hopefully) super dramatic reveal of our city assignments. At least, it had better be dramatic after all this suspense and build-up. I'm expecting fog machines and colored spot-lights, at minimum.

We haven't been here long enough to share any wild stories (other than almost getting mauled by a disturbingly exotic flying creature), so here are a few snapshots of our last 48 hours:

Immediately upon entering our dorm room, we must leave our shoes here before stepping up onto the floor:

Our dorm room (balcony through those doors!):

Some campus exploration:

When trying to find your way around here, "Hey let's just look at a map" does not help anything. But at least this photo depicts how nestled in the mountains this campus is:

So lovely:

Anyong! (This also means good-bye, so two words for the price of one! I'll be fluent in no time.)

Omaha: Gateway to the Far East, Part 2

Continued from previous:

5. Sleepless in Seattle

Okay, do we really need TWO Hanks/Ryan movies in Korea? They're basically the same movie, except in Sleepless in Seattle Meg Ryan breaks up with boyfriend because he's a loser with allergies.

6. School of Rock

Maybe not a desert island movie, but still a pretty decent choice.

7. Megamind

I've seen this movie way too many times. Good movie, but there are better sarcastic/ironic animated movies out there.

8. Julie and Julia

Really?

9. The King's Speech

I do like that scene where he drops a bunch of f-bombs....

10. Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa

Great, great movie. This and Princess Bride are the only two that would even be close to getting on my list.

We're in Omaha for the night, and are hoping to be to the airport by 5 a.m., as our flight leaves at 7. Watching KETV, drinking an IPA and a Straw-ber-rita, and going out with a bang. Good night, sweet prince (America).

Omaha: Gateway to the Far East

Hey everyone. Trevor here. If you are at all interested in following our flights tomorrow (the 17th), here are our flight numbers.

American Airlines 3341 Omaha to Chicago.

Asiana Airlines 235 Chicago to Seoul (Incheon International Airport).

Packing went mostly well. Hannah would like to point out that she packed lighter than me. I would like to point that I packed more lighters than Hannah. You decide who wins.

We also decided to take 20 movies with us to Korea (that's ten per person for you all keeping score at home). This created an exciting, real-world desert island movie scenario! I must say, I'm particularly proud of my choices:

1. The Aviator
2. The Dark Knight
3. The Big Lebowski
4. Die Hard
5. Das Boot
6. Inglorious Basterds
7. It's a Wonderful Life
8. Casino Royale
9. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
10. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

See the brilliance? A Scorsese, an Eastwood, a Batman, a James Bond, a Harrison Ford movie, a Christmas movie. It's perfect! I consider Hannah's choices to be less than stellar. Here follows my critique:

1. Live Free or Die Hard

Okay, okay I enjoy this movie quite a bit. But it's desert island, and we already have one Die Hard, which is far superior to Live Free.

2. The Princess Bride

Okay, I really have no complaints with this one. Nice move, Hannah.

3. Sense and Sensibility.

Can't wait to watch this bad boy 2-3 times a week.

4. You've Got Mail

Okay, a Tom Hanks / Meg Ryan feature that encourages people to cheat in order to find true love. Not so sure about this one. Also, I'm not sure that any rom-com deserves to be in your desert island folder. But her choices were her own.

To be continued....

The Beginning

Cue dramatic intro: Contracts in hand, visas procured, and airfare purchased. On August 17th, we (Trevor and Hannah) fly from Omaha to Chicago to Seoul. We'll be spending the next year in South Korea teaching English in a public school.

In some ways, we are not ready for this: We don't speak Korean, we've never been to Korea, we haven't really packed, and Hannah hates seafood. In other ways, we are remarkably prepared: We have a less-than-3-ounces bottle of Maker's Mark whiskey for the flight and Trevor has his Nebraska baseball cap to wear when first setting foot on Asian ground. We believe we have struck a respectable balance in the preparedness department.

We will spending the first 8 days after arrival in Seoul for orientation and training. We will then move to Gangwon province, which we will be calling home:

No, we don't yet know what city we are living in. Or what grade levels we are teaching. Or if we will be at the same school or different schools. Or what our apartment will be like. Adventure, right? Adventure is out there, people! (Although Hannah's quickly-developing stomach ulcer is hoping that these questions get answered asap.)

This blog will hopefully serve as our means to share with people back at home samplings of our adventures and glimpses of our life in Korea. This post was generously written in the first-person plural, but Trevor suspects that Hannah will eventually usurp all blogging privileges and rights. I'll see how... I mean, we'll see how it goes.