Whoa, I'm the King of First Impressions.

For 6 weeks our program coordinators tried to relay the message that first impressions are priceless in Korea. I took that to heart and have tried to follow all their suggestions from day one. But somethings you just cannot prepare for in life... I call it the underwear incident.

I ride my bike to school most mornings unless it's raining, and today was a beautiful morning. The problem is, I'm still on the impressions front, so I wear rather formal attire at school. So each morning I arrive about 8am and dry off in my office and then change. Now, today was the arrival of our new Principal since the other retired on tuesday. So I'm in my office with the music blasting as normal procedure indicates when you are 22, have a private office, and no one else even comes to the fourth floor. I decide I'm done sweating, so I start changing, no sooner than when I drop my pants do the vice-Principal and NEW Principal just saunter into my office and stare at me as my sweaty shorts are around my ankles. I assess the situation fast, taking into account the irony of "Stuck in the Middle with You" playing from my speakers and ask them to leave for 2 minutes while I change, but of course they don't speak English, so it must be my ass-crack hanging out that clues them in on the problem at hand.

I put my clothes on really quickly and walk out to meet the Principal. All of a sudden all normal customs slip my mind and I extend my hand for a firm shake. DOH! You bow to superiors! Then I use the informal tense as I introduce myself. DOH! And then I try to make converstaion when it's obvious that a) I really can't speak Korean and b) They want to get the hell outta Dodge.

THEN... my coteacher fails to inform me that we have a meeting in the teachers' office to greet the Principal. So here comes the tardy American into a meeting already started and everyone staring. It was a little awkward. Maybe I'll just invite the Principal to the bathhouse after school and level the playing field...