I Told You I Would Blog

As you are certainly aware if you are viewing this particular blog, this is my first post. I intend to use this site to chronicle my thoughts and whatever happenings occur during my expatriation in Seoul, South Korea. Hopefully, it will enable me to keep in touch with my family and friends that have scattered to various places throughout the United States, and to a lesser extent, all over the world. That said, I'll try to keep it as interesting as the experiences I expect to have while in this region, but I certainly am not in a position to guarantee anything.
I've been in Seoul for over one month now, and the adjustment has gone quite smoothly, with the exception of a wicked illness I had for about a week after being here for about two weeks. That was quite incapacitating and unpleasant, but it was to be expected, to some extent. One's system has to have a bit of time to adjust to the food, air, germs, etc. that vary from one region to another.
Teaching itself is exhausting, but it is certainly a needed exercise in patience. In addition to being a good exercise in patience, it's also a way to really examine the nuances present between the cultures of Korea and the United states, and presumably the rest of the Western, English-speaking world. Over all, things are quite similar. Koreans have embraced Western values (and certainly products) to some extent, but they still manage to maintain cultural autonomy from the West, and indeed, from their Asian neighbors China an Japan.
The food is delicious. It is also somewhat inexpensive, especially if you are eating Korean food.
The banking establishment sucks if you are a foreigner. More on that later.
The apartments, at least for my school, are quite nice. They have all necessary amenities and are quite comfortable.
The Internet operates at blazing speed.
Koreans are often intrigued at the sight of foreigners. My beard certainly does not deter from this attention. It is not particularly unusual to experience steady leers on the subway and elsewhere. Outside of the city is presumably more of this type of experience. I've only been out of Seoul once, but that certainly seemed to be the case. The people did seem to be more outgoing than they are in Seoul.
Enough with stereotypes and generalizations. I'll post again, and the posts will be more concrete and less general than this one. I just wanted to have something posted and to say hello to everyone that might be reading this.