This is me:
This is my country:
This is where I am right now (and will be for the next 6 weeks):
This is how it is going for me so far:
So those are the basics. But for those of you with an attention span of longer than four pictures, here are some details.
I am not actually flying helicopters upside-down in South Korea. Nor am I dog. The comparison was meant to be figurative - I feel how a dog might feel when flying a helicopter upside-down, for several reasons. But I will get to that later.
If I am not flying helicopters upside-down, then what am I doing in Korea, you ask? Well, I have been fortunate enough to obtain an internship there, teaching English to Korean college students in Seoul. I am also a college student. Is a college student technically qualified to teach other college students? I.e. Am I, a 19-year-old with no PhD and no teaching experience qualified to teach other college students? The answer is, I don't know. I begin tomorrow, so I guess I will find out then.
Back to the dog in the helicopter. Now that I am in Korea, I feel like him for several reasons:
1. I do not know Korean.
2. At all.
3. I do not know very much about the actual country of Korea. I am aware that it exists, and that I am currently in it. I am also aware that there was a war that split it into two countries back in the 50's, and that there is a place in Seoul called Gangnam where a man in sunglasses dances with horses, women, and a guy in a yellow tuxedo. And that is the extent of my knowledge.
4. I am jetlagging, so everything is a little surreal.
5. My antidepressants often make me feel woozy and disoriented, much like a dog might feel whilst operating a helicopter upside-down.
6. I'm supposed to be living with two roommates, but they have yet to actually appear in the room, so I feel rather alone and I think I might be going crazy but it's okay I'm fine I swear.
7. Did I mention that I am supposed to teach people and also that I HAVE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE?
Now you know why I feel like a dog piloting a helicopter. Hopefully, as time goes on, I will feel less like the dog and more like the right-side-up smiling human in the picture above. But that remains to be seen.
I will give more details about Seoul and my mishaps there in the next post. In the meantime, you may content yourself with these pictures of dogs who also do not know what they are doing.
And for the grand finale:
