The Children Have Arrived!

A quick catch up: I didn't post during orientation because it was basically the same thing every day. It was ice breakers and team building during the day, hang out and meet people at night. It was good fun, but not all that informative. The last few days of orientation involved getting down to business and getting real details about daily life. This culminated in the staff party the night before the kids arrived. All English staff, Korean staff, teachers, and families were invited to a party in the gym with tons of food, beer, and karaoke. It was a good time, and the perfect end to the orientation. You could tell there was a cohesive group of people in the gym, and it felt good.

Yesterday, we decorated our floor all morning, and students began arriving at 1:30PM. I was a lot more nervous than I thought I would be, mostly for meeting the parents! Everyone arrived by 3:30 or so, and by 4, parents had left, and it was time to get down to business. I can already tell that learning names will be a bit difficult! We have 19 boys between 6th and 8th grade, and room for 3 more. There are three dorm staff members on the floor; there's me (overseas assistant), Jennifer (Korean assistant), and Bryan (the house specialist). So far I've bonded well with both of them, and it's been relatively smooth sailing besides some minor communication with students. It'll be a bit of a learning process, as all three of us are new.

I can already tell who my troublemakers are. Some of the former middle school specialists warned me about who they would be, but I didn't even need to know names. It's typical middle school boy stuff: being rough, swearing, being disrespectful when someone else is talking, some bullying. I think we made it pretty clear that we run a tight ship though. The boys loved that I worked for the Cubs, and during some free time, I even jammed on guitar with one of my students. A small faction of the boys has taken to calling me Mr. Hulk after we did some dodgeball and basketball last night. I think that's a good thing? It's weird enough to hear Mr. Bedell and Mr. Ryan. It makes me feel old.

The wake up calls are the hardest part. We assign student leaders each week to wake up early and rouse their peers. Today, the house leaders were up at 6 (they needed to be up at 7), and were waking people up by 6:30. I attribute it to being excited for the school day. While they're in classes, I'm free to do as I please. At 3, we have a staff meeting, and at 4, kids are out of school. I have Monday and Tuesday off, so those days will be best for me for catching up.

The homesickness hadn't really set in until I saw the kids saying goodbye to their parents yesterday. I really do miss all of my friends at home. I've done a good job of keeping in touch with many already, but I'm starting to realize how far away I am! However, I have this feeling that already this experience is helping me grow. It's reassuring to know I'm in the right place.

It's pouring today, so I went on a sopping wet bike ride, which was fun. My coworker Matt was nice enough to give me his old bike. It needs some work, but Bryan enjoys working on bikes and has offered to help! As soon as my visa goes through, I'm going to look into a car or scooter so that I can really start exploring. There's great rock climbing, hiking, and surfing here on the island. So I think I will have to start getting into all of those!

Anyway, not much else to report for now. Miss you all! Email me at ryanbedell3@gmail.com or rbedell@kis.ac, and we can set up some Skype! Have a good rest of your week, folks.

-Ryan

My First Few Days on Jeju Island

Hello all!

Sorry it took me so long to write a proper post. As you can imagine, the process of settling in has taken a few days. However, I've finally got my room all unpacked and organized, and orientation is in full swing. I'm going to try to recount all the way from leaving Saint Louis, moreso for myself because I haven't had time to journal, so feel free to skip a few paragraphs if you want info about where I'm at right now!

Friday night of last week, my family came over for dinner, and reality began to set in. I ended the night with my closest friends coming over, and then I began preparing myself to wake up early and leave. I was up at 4:30AM scrambling to get myself together, and before I knew it, I was on a plane to Chicago. When I arrived in Chicago, I was told my flight from Seoul to Jeju had been cancelled due to a typhoon on the island, so initially, some panic set in. I was in Chicago for three hours, and then hopped on the plane towards Seoul.

I slept for the first 5 hours of the 14 hour flight, then watched a few movies and stayed awake to try to beat the jet lag. When I arrived in Seoul, my first order of business was to get my bags and then find an Asiana Airlines desk to try to get on standby. As I wandered aimlessly through the airport, I thought I had all the time in the world. I went to an information desk after an hour or so, and the woman pointed me in the right direction. As I was walking away, I overheard the man behind me ask where to go for a desk for Asiana, as he was trying to get to Jeju. He was a middle-aged American man named Tim, and I got to talking with him. At first, we couldn't find the desk that the woman pointed us to, but almost out of nowhere, Asiana came up on one of the screens, and immediately a large hoard of people flocked to the desk. After some time in line, we finally got to the front, and were informed that our flight was in fact still going to Jeju that night, and it left in 30 minutes. I checked my bags and sprinted to the gate with some time to spare. I was rewarded with a first class seat on the plane, and I sat next to a nice Korean high school student named Jeff who told me some horror stories about his own experience in an American boarding school. An interesting start.

When I landed in Jeju, I found my bags (They made it. A miracle) and proceeded out of the terminal where the KIS staff was waiting for me. Several other people from my staff had been on my flight, so we met and all piled onto the school's bus to go back. By the time I got to the school, it was 11PM local time, and I was beat. I went back, set my stuff on the ground, and crawled straight into bed.

The next morning was the first leg of orientation, which basically involved a brief meeting then going to the supermarket, E-Mart. Talk about a great introduction to Korean culture. It was basically a gigantic supermarket crossed with a Best Buy, a Lowe's, and an IKEA. There was K-pop blasting the entire time inside. It was wonderful. I bought some of my necessities and then we went back to the school, where I got set on organizing my room and unpacking my bags. We went to dinner that night at a small Italian place up the road where I had a delicious pizza.

Today, we did some team building activities and then had a tour of the school. The campus is massive and has separate buildings for the elementary school, middle school, and high school. It has several pools, gyms, and auditoriums. It has a putting green on the roof of the high school with an indoor driving range and virtual golf room. There's several weight rooms and teacher's lounges in each building. Needless to say, the place is pretty swanky! We went to dinner at an organic burger restaurant, and then we had the rest of the night off. One of my best friends from home, Luke, randomly had a friend who is living on the island for the month, so I just got back from hanging out with her for a bit! It was crazy to see a semi-familiar face.

Tomorrow, we have orientation all day, and then, a ton of the staff and teachers are going to the local professional soccer team's game, so I am really looking forward to that. My current observations so far amount to this: it is the most humid place on Earth. St. Louis is a humidity infant compared to this place. Also, the free cafeteria food is sub-par, but it's free. I can deal with it. I'm going to love it here. The staff are all really cool, and the island seems awesome. The one thing that's interesting is that there's a ton of bugs. I am going to need to adapt to massive spiders, beatles, and various other forms of insect vermin. It will take time.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Sorry for the novel. From here on out, will probably post at milestones, such as the students arriving, etc. Below are some pictures for your enjoyment. Hit me up via email or Facebook for Skype dates! Au revoir, people, and have a good week.

-Ryan

I'm Here!

Just a brief heads up that I'm at the school and in my room! My room is great, and I will post pictures when I can. I slept about 5 hours of the 14 hour flight, so I'm starting to feel tired. Waking up tomorrow to go to the hospital at 6:30AM, and it's midnight now. I met some of the other dorm staff, and they all seemed very nice. The business staff from the school were very welcoming and gave me a welcome package with a mug, my ID badge (the worst picture of me ever), and some coffee and water. Off to a great start here in Jeju! If I have time tomorrow, will go into more detail.

From the other side of the world,
Ryan

And So On: The Hub For My Happenings

Hello friends and family,

Many have expressed an interest in a continuance of blog posts from what I was doing in Europe as I transition into Korea. I am more than happy to do so, and I am honored that you folks care enough to read up on what I'm doing.

Transition back to America has been busy. I got home to Chicago on June 2, drove back to Saint Louis the next day, spent a few days there, flew to New York, spent a few days there, drove back to Chicago, spent a day there, drove back to Saint Louis, and now here I am. Saturday, I leave for a family reunion in Minnesota. I am so unbelievably ready to settle down and get to Korea.

"And so on." This is a famous line (for any of you Vonnegut readers out there) from Breakfast of Champions, a novel that I quite enjoy. Whether or not Kurt intended it, I kind of have been interpreting it as saying, "There will always be more to say. The skill in writing knows when to continue and when to shut the hell up." It's a brilliant novel, and you should read it. For now, apparently there is more for me to say.

The posts from the Europe trip should still be included in the archives of this blog, mostly for my own safe keeping. I hope everyone who cares to read enjoys, and I will post more as my August 2 departure date draws nearer. Have a great week, folks.

-Ryan

A Whole Lot Of Everything. And Now We're In Istanbul.

For our last day in Prague, we went to the Prague castle and Saint Nicholas's monastery, where they have brewed their own beer to pair with traditional food for centuries. The castle was huge and beautiful, and the beer and sausage was quite good! We went from Prague to Vienna, where we stayed for only one night, but we made the most of the day, going to see the city center and hanging out in the museum district. We then took a train to Budapest, where we stayed for 2 nights. The first day, we climbed a mountain overlooking the whole city, which was a blast, but it wore out Mikey who has been battling some sickness. We went back to the hostel and he went to bed, and I hung out at the ruin bad adjacent to our hostel, eventually meeting up with some girls we met at the hostel in Prague. We went to a dance club and had a good night! Mikey and I then woke up at 10 or so the next day, and we walked to a famous Hungarian bathhouse. We spent almost all day there, moving from warm pools to cool pools to steam rooms and to ice cold pools. It was so relaxing, and I think we both needed the day off. Mikey was still feeling sleep, so when he got back he watched a bit of a movie, the weirdest movie I've ever seen, that the hostel was showing. It was a weird stoner flick from the 70s called The Holy Mountain. That was done at 10 or so, and I stayed up after Mikey went to bed talking to some British people, Scots, and Aussies. All in all a great experience in Budapest. 

We then flew to Istanbul, where we are now. Yesterday we got to our hostel at about 5 and met the Australian girls staying in our 5 bed room. They were hilarious, and we decided to go out with them at night. First, Mikey and I went to watch the USA - Germany game at a shisha bar (hookah), smoking and having some traditional Turkish tea as we watched the game. We had a blast and despite the loss were quite happy. Then, we met up with the Aussies and went out for some kebabs, to walk around Taksim square, and ultimately to a bar where they were playing some Turkish pop and having awesome dancing circles and such. We had a blast.

Today, we woke up and went to the palace on the water. It was massive and had incredible gardens, as well as a museum with artifacts from this area dating back to 10000BC. That number blew my mind. I could literally reach out and touch something that someone made 12000 years ago. So cool. We then walked to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia. The blue mosque was beautiful and is still in use, so we walked around quietly for a bit and really enjoyed the beautiful architecture. The Hagia Sophia used to be used as a church, and was equally stunning. It was really cool to see the Christian architecture right by the more Ottoman-like stuff, and we appreciated all of the history around us!

Istanbul is so awesome, and it's by far the least western of the places we are going. It's something different, and I love it. When we got back from our day out, I spent a half hour explaining the rules of baseball to the cafe owner below our hostel. He then made us some Turkish coffee and we just sat and relaxed and took it all in.

This month has been incredible. It's hard to believe it's almost over. I think Mikey and I will both be ready to be home and see our loved ones in a week, and then I need to start preparing big time for Korea! So many new adventures. I am a lucky man. Thanks for reading, and I will try to get one or two more posts in before we're done!

Miss you all!

-Ryan

End of Rome, Cinque Terre, Padova/Venice, and Arriving in Prague

If you couldn't tell by the title, it's been a few days since I posted, and unfortunately, typing on a Czech keyboard is rather painstaking, so I still must try to keep it brief!

Our last day in Rome was pear pasta, then out to some of my old stomping grounds with Mitch, TJ, and the Sinclair crew to watch the USA soccer game against Ghana. It was a great time!

We woke up early and took a train to La Spezia, where we took a train to Riomaggiore, the first town of Cinque Terre, where we were staying for a few days. Mikey and I hiked to the next town, wearing ourselves out, then took the train back to Riomaggiore to relax for the night. It was stunningly gorgeous and we met some great people at the hostel who we hung out with for the evening, watching the sunset from the bay. The next day, we took the train to the third city, and hiked to the fifth. It was very hard work, but so gorgeous and a lot of fun. Cinque Terre is definitely in the running for my favorite cities in Italy now!

We took a train the next morning to Padova, where we met the parents of my good friend Marco. His parents were far too kind to us, giving us a taste of authentic Italian home cooking and hospitality. It was wonderful. The next day, we went with them to see the islands of Venice, which were stunning. Venice is a city unlike any other. Really incredible to see. We took boats to the islands and spent the day exploring and eating, then when we got home, Marco's mom, la mia mamma Italiana, made us another great meal. Interestingly enough, for anyone who knows I don't normally eat tomatoes, I was eating them like candy. So delicious in her caprese. We then turned in early to catch a plane from Venice to Prague, unable to adequately thank Marco's parents for their kindness.

It was a one hour flight to Prague, and the first two striking things were the exchange rate and the language barrier. It's 22 Czech crowns to every euro, and we speak absolutely zero Czech. After a bus to the city, we wandered for about an hour finding the hostel. It's a beautiful hostel, and it seems like it will be a great few days! It's a beautiful city. We are going to relax and watch soccer tonight, then go out and explore the city tomorrow. Should be lovely.

Sorry for the lack of detail! Thanks for reading, and I will try to write again soon.

Ciao,
Ryan

La Citta Eterna: Home at Last

After a fun last day in Barcelona walking around and exploring the city, we made our way via Ryanair to Rome. We got in Saturday evening at ten, took a train to the main train station, Termini, and then took a cab to meet my good friend Mitch (who lives in Rome) in my favorite area of town, Trastevere, to watch Italy's World Cup game. The game started at midnight, so we got back to the Zone Hotel, where I lived when I studied abroad, at 2:30AM.

We woke up at 9AM, went to the Rome center to see Mitch, and then made our way to Saint Peter's Basilica to catch the end of the pope's noon mass. We saw about a half an hour of his words from the balcony, and then met up with my friends from Saint Louis, Liz, John, Matt, and Mary, who just happened to be in Rome at the same time that we are. So great to see old friends! We spent the day with them, going to the Pantheon, Giolitti gelato, the Spanish Steps, and the Villa Borghese, a giant park above the Spanish Steps, before getting caught in a massive thunderstorm. We were so soaked that we had to go home and change clothes.

After changing clothes, Mikey did a quick work out while Mitch and I caught up over a few espressos. We then made our way to the Colisseum to meet everyone for a special dinner at a restaurant suggested by my good friends the Beazleys, called Taverna dei Fori Imperiali. Mike Beazley made the reservation for us and sent me along with a letter and pictures of his adorable daughter Annie for the staff at the restaurant, who he knew well during his time in Rome. The dinner included me, Mikey, our friend TJ, and the crew from Saint Louis.

When we first arrived and I gave the staff the gifts from the Beazleys, they were overwhelmed. Annie has grown so much since they last saw her! The waitress couldn't hold back tears, and it really was a great moment and connection for us all. We then sat down to the most incredible meal of our lives, which deserves its own paragraph.

The first round was antipasti: an eggplant dish, bacon and truffle bruschetta, roman style pork, and panna cotta with cherry tomatoes and goat cheese. Each one more delicious than the next. The prima piatti included pasta carbonara, pasta alla romana, and pesto cheese ravioli. All delicious, but the highlight was definitely the ravioli. The greatest pasta I have ever had. The secondi piatti was too much to do fully. We all split a plate of wild boar, which was also incredible. We followed this with i dulci, an apple strudle and a strawberry rum cake. Both incredible. We then did after dinner drinks of limoncello and amaro, followed by espresso for all. It truly was the greatest meal of my life, complete with a picture of me and the staff for the Beazleys. We all had a blast, and I think I got some points with my friends for having an in at such a wonderful restaurant!

We then got lost walking to Trastevere to meet Mitch, which was fine! It was a beautiful night and we walked catching up with friends and enjoying the Roman scenery. We finally met Mitch and enjoyed a beer and a chocolate shot in Trastevere before taking cabs home. One of the best nights I have had in years.

As I sit typing this post in the Rome center Information Commons, where I spent six months as a student two years ago, my emotions are very mixed. On one hand, it has been the best few days I have had in as long as I can remember. On the other hand, there's a hint of sadness that I won't be here for a job next year. I am trying to focus on the positives and look forward to Korea, but Rome really is home. I love this city more than anywhere else on the planet, and I think I know deep down that someday in some capacity I will have to be back. It's been strange trying to disassociate the experiences I had a few years ago with the experiences I'm having now. The faces are different; the campus has changed immensely; I don't have my favorite baby Annie here to keep me company! The beautiful part is that despite all that, nothing has really changed. I've caught up with old friends like I was here yesterday. The Coliseum and Vatican are just as I remember them. It truly is the Eternal City. Tonight is our last day here, and after we finish our laundry this morning, we are going to head back out on the town and make the most of the day before a meal at the famous "Pear Pasta" restaurant tonight followed by a trip to one of my favorite bars from when I studied here, the Abbey, and end in Trastevere. Tomorrow we have an early train to the coastal town of Cinque Terre, where we will stay for two days, and I am very excited for that too!

All in all, coming back to Rome was what I needed to turn over to a new beginning. I feel refreshed and ready for what's next. I will try to write another post next time I have access to a computer! A little over two weeks left. It's flying by. Thanks for reading!

Da Roma con amore,
Ryan