3

Here we go.

Year 3 is beginning in a similar manner as year 2 did. My apartment is not yet ready, because the old teacher hasn't left yet, so I am to spend my first couple nights back in one of the skeeviest places this country has to offer - a love motel. I actually miss the love motel from last year compared to the one this year. My room just feels gross. It also doesn't have internet access, so I'm writing this from a pc room.

Getting over here was awful, but that's to be expected. For my flight to San Francisco I got to sit a row behind a screaming 2 year old. The kid cried and yelled for probably 4 hours of the flight. Everybody was miserable. A crying 2 year old is especially annoying because he can talk and communicate, so you just want to say, "Hey baby shut the hell up," because he'll probably get the point. Nobody said that though, we all just grew angrier at his stupid Dad who just held him there the whole time.

The second flight was better. However, despite my experience with long plane rides, I'm still unable to sleep on them. I tried to watch a few movies but the pickings were rather slim.

When I got to Daejeon I had some trouble finding the person who was to pick me up. I was told to meet them outside of a certain coffee shop. So I'm standing there with all of my luggage waiting for someone to notice the young white guy who clearly just stepped off a plane, but after 5 minutes nobody had approached me. After about 10 minutes a lady comes up to me and I find out she's my boss or something. She says that she saw me earlier but I didn't recognize me from my picture because I'm wearing glasses. I wanted to point out to her that the fact that I'm a young white guy with a bunch of luggage should be enough of a hint that I'm the guy she was looking for. I was tired though and just wanted to sleep.

So, I don't think there's much different from this year compared to the prior two. I'm back in Daejeon, which is the city I lived in the first year. I'll be teaching elementary and middle school kids once again, although there may be more middle school classes this year which might not be much fun.

Given the fact that I can attach a specific crisis to each of the first two years I spent in this country, I think it's understandable that I enter this third year with some trepidation. The first year the crisis had to do with my family. The second year the crisis had to do with me. I don't want to scare anybody, but if you're a friend of mine...you might want to look both ways before crossing the street this year.

There's more to say but this enough for now. I'll write again once I get settled in an apartment. So, check back in often for more The Journey to the East 3, Daejeon 2: Let's Have Nobody Die or Almost Die This Year.