I am not only surviving here in beautiful, sunny, bustling Seoul, South Korea..... I am actually enjoying myself quite a bit. I have not been sold into slavery (yet), but instead am taking advantage of the 75 degree (F) weather and extensive mass transit systems.

My first few days were a blur. My plane arrived at 5:30 in the morning last Wednesday. I was picked up from the airport, carted downtown to my hotel room, told to change clothes (into something a little more professional), and then taken from building to building to watch training videos and to sit in on and observe classes. Needless to say, around 5:30 PM I stumbled my way (via bus... I have no idea how I found it... beginner's luck, I guess) back to the hotel and crashed...... slept 14 hours and by training day #2, I was fine.
Friday marked my first day of work. I was pretty much thrown into it, but it is such an easy job it is very easy to wing it. I'm just basically having conversations with people; asking them questions and then correcting the grammar and pronunciation in their answers. One of my collegues put it best, "This is the easiest job in the world."

Impressions of Seoul.... well..... it's big. And very Asian. But if you take away all the signs written in gobbel-di-gook, the language, and the foreign food, it's just like another other big city.
Image is very important here. Fashion is huge. Labels are important, but they seem to overlook the label-thing if you have white skin.
Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme are actually fashion statements. Apparently, the idea of a great date is going to Krispy Kreme and Starbucks. Where else is carrying around a box of Krispy Kremes a fashion statement?
Clothes are actually cheap, but everything else is expensive!!! A bottle of Panteen shampoo is $6.80. Yikes.

The food is excellent. Meat, rice, and spice. Plus loads of vegetables. The ever-so-popular kimchi (pickled vegetables) is served at every meal. You get a bowl of rice, a big bowl of meat in the middle of the table, and then like 700 side dishes.
My hotel room is very cool. Very IKEA-ish. Very streamlined and zen-like. I will begin looking for apartments today on my break, so we'll see if the housing is the same. One crazy traditional thing is that the heating is in the floor. I guess because most people sleep on the floor. Dunno.
It was initially very difficult for me to get around. My Korean is quite poor and not many people speak English. I have gotten lost, but only once. The organization I'm working for here pretty much leaves you on your own when it comes to transportation.
Went to the market on Saturday and the Palace yesterday (Sunday). It was very nice. Old ruins in the middle of the city. That's Seoul. Old ruins in the midst of massive high rises. It's pretty cool. I hope to send pictures soon.