Again, I can't take credit for this, I'd seen a few other GETs (Guest English Teachers) blogs that had Korean Bucket Lists and thought the idea was a good one. And do love making list!! So I spent a few days, during my deskwarming hours, to have a good look through my Frommer's South Korea travel guide and pulled a list together. This is the original brainstorming. It has grown since having done more research.
I got my second care package today - yes, that is two since being here - no, I am not spoiled! I'm the baby of the family… we need a little extra love.
All the things I had asked for were nicely packed in the box, but hiding at the bottom, beneath everything I was expecting, was an extra treat!
I will definitely be wearing this to volleyball on Wednesday!
I really do love my family! Now just send Chloe and life will be right!
I do, in fact know where I am, but the days are just unmeasurable anymore. They go by so fast. Things happen, nothing happens, you teach - kids come in/kids go out, then it's the weekend, then the weekend is over and it's all at a lightning pace it makes your head spin!!! Well not spin, but definitely question "What have I been doing with my days?!"
My days this last week weren't too different than the last. I did find a treasure of a secret market on my island. I'm sure I was the only one it was a secret too, it does have arches decorating it's many entrances to be fair. But I'd like to compare my discovery of it to Christopher Columbus discovering America! Just amazing! Last week when I tried to buy vegetables, I hadn't even touched the vastness of the market!! Most of it is pretty standard - vegetable dealers, fish mongers, dried goods, street food vendors, stores selling home goods, a few clothing shops, might have seen a salon-like thing in there, and yet even with a seemingly endless collection of store types, nothing prepared me for the meat section.
Heads - full pig heads - just sitting on tables, staring up at the ceiling. Pig faces, cut in half, piled mountains high, on top of each other. Wilbur!!! :'-( I had to be a horse in blinders to get out of there. Vendors were laughing at me and my squeamishness, but it was unsettling. I've always thought I could be a vegetarian, just never tried, but one more wrong-turn trip down a meat aisle might just be all the motivation I need. Ugh so barf!!
Thursday I got sick. I wasn't even feeling fully sick, just thought my face looked a bit puffy, but was willing to contribute that to the pool-table-like beds that they sleep on here. Most nights the only way to be comfortable is to just be face-planted on the mattress! Forget your pillow, no point! Why make your neck and head cozy, when you hip is one more month away from needing replaced!! So I went to school thinking I just didn't sleep well. At the end of lunch however, the lunch lady points out to a room full of people that I look unwell. And being the ONLY white person in the room/school EVERYONE stops eating, stops leaving the room even! and turns to look at the unwell foreigner. Did I mention this was all happening in Korean?! So me… being completely fluent in the language…. stood there, bobbing my head in agreement! You doof! Apparently it translated to: don't drink the tap water, only if you're going to boil it. Get lots of island air, it's good for you. Right, I will take that in hand.
Being American, and having the shit health care system that we do back home, I'm never one to run to the doctor! Well not for a cold! Breathing will be bothersome for a bit, but then it'll clear up. I'll feel better by Friday! No not better, worse! and Friday night was the big English teacher outing! Awesome. I'm ready. Can I order soup?! and not drink?! and be in bed by 9?! NO?! How silly of me!! The point is to get wasted and stay out late, yeah?! Ohhh… no worries, just a bit sick, nothing big. I can manage!! Can't breathe, but I can drink!
The night was actually a lot of fun. I did get to order soup! My liquid intake was very high!! Which is always promoted for a cold! And I was only out till 1, which really isn't that late when looked at sideways.
Saturday, I went to the bakers, slightly shaky from the night before, to pick up a Soju themed cake for my friend Philly's surprise-beach-birthday-bash. We paired his birthday celebrations with the 41st International Kite Festival. The Festival didn't turn out to be the greatest event, but the beach party was! We huddled up, broke out the drinks, cake, and food, and enjoyed maybe a few hours too many in the chilly, sandy, winds! We took a break to clean up and reconvened out in Haeundae for some proper late night drinks!
Sunday was passed in varying shades of wastefulness. Not that I was an actual waste - I didn't get anywhere near drunk the night before - just generally was unwell. For that, there is no better medicine than friends! Eastern medicine might have its advantages, Western medicine might have its traditions, but nothing is better medicine then mac-ing on food and wander around the streets with a few friends for hours on a Sunday!!
Where we went - I'm not really sure. Where am I - most nights I remember, weekends can get hazy. But I'm really happy I'm here!
I wouldn't say blogging is a chore, but keeping up with it is definitely work!
So to get everything up to date and lead a little into the future, here's how some past events transpired...
Monday night I got dinner with Tom, from Manchester. He's becoming a really good friend. We pick a random restaurant, point at the menu, and enjoy a good few hours eating and talking about anything and everything. This week we discussed sororities/fratenities/British society clubs and the difference in the manufacturing qualities between Korean and Western products.
Tuesday had big plans! Half of which were successful, the other half pure fail.
At school I taught a few lessons and passed the day as I do - deskwarming. In the afternoon I had a 5min lesson planning session, made the skeleton for my PPT (powerpoint as it is always referred to here), emailed it to myself to finish at home on a non-Korean computer, and learned the ends and outs of Facebook. After school I went to Diasco, the Dollar General of Korea! They have nearly everything you could want/need. That place is a gem!! I endulged myself (and apartment) with a 30min shopping spree!! Got all the necessary and unnecessary items a grab-happy person could want! Mat to put in front of the laundry room/bathroom area, bag clips, more cleaning sponges, plates, pretty pink loofa, clothes hook for over the door, some cooking utensils... like I said got all the necessary and unnecessary items!
Loaded up with my home gear, I thought I'd try to buy the ingredients I needed for the night's meal from the street venders. First attempt - bad. Second attempt - bomb. Third attempt - you idiot! Why are you still trying!? You are a foreigner and speak ZERO Korean. Things were bound not to work, but I thought I'd have a try. This slight setback wasn't too upsetting, I'd just go home, drop off the stuff I got at Diasco and head to Home Plus. However, 20feet from my apartment I realize I don't have my keys!! They're still at school on my co-teachers desk!! Brillant! A+ work Meagan! I run into my apartment building, knock on the door of my friend, ask to leave my stuff at his place, while I run back to school to get my keys. Being the nice guy that he is, Phil offered to come with me. We make the walk to school in record time, only to get there and discover the school is locked-up tight! FFFFFFFFFFFFfffffffff!!!!
Keep in mind that I get out of school at 4:20, had plans to meet a friend for some exploring/dinner at 6. I spent ~30mins at Diasco, ~10mins in the street markets, ~15mins to walk home from there, ~10mins to walk back to school, ~5mins floundering around freaked out about not getting my keys AND I still need 10mins to walk back to where I live and ~10mins to cross the bridge off the island and get to the meeting place!! Time was of the essence!!
I call my co-teacher, she's not at school, but she said she'd call around and see if she could find someone to help! Then, in like a knight on his tall, beautiful white horse, my VP walks into the school grounds!! SAVED!!! He bangs on the door (why did I not think to do that!! So basic, so genius!) and someone comes to let us in!!
On the walk home, I'm slightly relieved, can't believe my stupidity, but I at least have my keys now and just might have enough time to get to the meeting place on time!! One block from my place, I'm so startled by what I almost stepped on, I actually scream!! Wiggling and sadly dying on the ground is an eel!! He must have fallen out of the tank when one of his brothers was ordered for dinner! Now,I am an animal lover to the fullest extent, but this situation had me laughing and pulled me completely out of my forgotten-key-funk.
I made it to the meeting place on time, but wasn't able to get any groceries to make dinner so we had Korean-style pizza instead.
The situations I find myself in here are priceless!
The rest of the week should be quieter. Grabbing dinner tonight with friends at an Irish Pub in Haeundae to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Friday laying low, Saturday spending the day with some of my co-teachers, and then getting together with the crew at night!!
Bring on another week Korea! I'm ready!
"When you can think of yesterday without regret and tomorrow without fear, you are near contentment.”
Not like it was EVER a question, but I really do have fairly atrocious eyesight, which has now been proven and confirmed both in North America and Asia!
The glasses I brought with me were probably more atrocious than my eyesight, so… How do you like me now?!
Walked into a glasses store, did a 5min eye exam, shopped around the frames for 15-20mins, picked out what quality lenses I wanted (I went for a middle price range. Cheapest would have been coke bottles, highest would have been somewhat slim, so for not-a-lot-of-Won I got a thickness somewhere in between the two!) 15-30mins later I'm walking out of the store with a pair of lady librarian eyewear! And so cheap too!! America I really don't know WHAT you are thinking!!! Charging upwards in the hundreds for a pair of glasses!!! You silly capitalist!!
I almost forgot about the discount!!! A foreigner's discount!! For being white!! I'm definitely not in America.
Practice. No volleyball game today.
Even though I played horribly the last time and left bruised and tender, I was really disappointed that we didn't compete. Instead we played about an hour's worth of pick-up games just between teachers.
Teams were decided by playing Rock-Paper-Scissors - losers on one side, winners on the other. I was a loser. I didn't know what was happening! They don't count down or say shoot or anything to give warning that you need to make an instantaneous decision about what to show, they just say 'Rock-Paper-Scissors'. So there I was with my hand still in a fist waiting to "shoot" my sign and before I knew that we were playing this game, or even what we were playing it for, I'd already lost. Since I didn't know what was happening the first time, my teacher played it again, but still confused on how the rules go, I didn't have time/know to take my hand out of a fist formation. So rock lost to paper twice.
Without any pressure to perform in a game setting, you'd think my skills were able to relax and shine through. HA! No, still crap. I did do some hitting practice after the game, and I will say, I do think that impressed some of my co-workers.
After practice, Andrew and I did the only healthy, logical thing to do…. we got a burger and fries! :) We're freakin' champions!! Bring on the next team!!
My friend Melt shared this on Facebook. When I read it I nearly peed it's so funny, and true. If it weren't so funny, it'd be a bit sad, but I love it. This is life here in a nutshell, as seen in the first few weeks. Enjoy!
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- Pedestrians share the sidewalk with automobiles and motorcycles...
- Restrooms don't have tiolet paper or paper towels...
- Every child you pass on the street will say 'hello' to you...
- People think you should board the train first before allowing people to get off...
- Cell phones are meant to always be turned on...
- People love to know your blood type...
- Kids and non-smokers are invincible to second-hand smoke...
- You are at risk of being hit by a car the second you walk out of your apartment...
- There are more oscillating-fan-related deaths than shootings...
- Other foreigners fascinate you...
- People think that it is really nice to meet you once again for the 300th time...
- Most laws are merely suggestions...
- All food is "delicious" with no exceptions...
- You never shut your bathroom door for fear of drowning...
- You only hear Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga's names twice a week now...
- The school bell makes you crave ice cream...
- The apocalypse has not arrived... it's just some guy selling fish...
- The smell of kimchi, garlic and soju is an aphrodisiac...
- Everyone is fascinated by their own face and like to take lots of pictures of themselves...
- You need to start making a schedule of your laundry waiting period...
- It makes sense to remove your face mask if you need to sneeze...
- There are only 2 languages ever spoken - Korean and English...
- Little kids traveling alone on public transit is nothing to be concerned about...
- Any decent men's tie should sparkle...
- Animals love to advertise their own consumption....
- Everyone, including 7 year olds, has a nicer cell phone than you...
- Even if you are fast asleep on the subway or city bus, you won't miss your stop...
- At least once a week you crawl across your apartment floor to get something you forgot after putting your shoes on...
- You will buy ANYTHING with English instructions…
- All food comes either in a single serving or a convenient 30-pack…
- No matter where you are standing, you are always in an old lady’s way…
- You’re beginning to think Cass is the taste of Vitality…
- Someone is always watching you…
- All you watch on TV are Korean game shows and K-Pop music videos…
- You are now always ready for anything to happen…
- The only thing Chinese about a Chinese restaurant is the name…
- You wish the country would import cows…
- You hit the switch language button on your keyboard more often than the space bar…
- When the department store opens, the staff will kindly bow to you just before they are nearly trampled…
- Sometimes you feel that the whole city is just a giant school…
- Facebook is the only thing keeping you sane…
- You actually prefer bowing to saying hello…
- People politely start public trash piles rather than littering everywhere…
- You still have no clue how the garbage/recycling system works here...
- You’re already losing your motivation for templestay and learning fluent Korean…
- You actually think you’re starting to blend in…
- You actually believe that you are really handsome/pretty…
- Everyone is very impressed with your chopstick skills and kimchi-eating ability…
- A single bar of soap can kill the bacteria on the hands of 1000 people…
There've been some comments on how certain Westerns wouldn't be able to eat Korean food. And I must admit, there are items that I would be very unwilling to try, but most of the food is simply amazing!! Amazing if you like spicy!! and are ok with most of your meals containing more cold items than warm. Soup is always warm, and most times always spicy. Meat is usually warm, especially if you go to a restaurant that has coal burners in the middle of the table and you do the cooking yourself, BBQ style.
Here's a look at some of the food we had one day (after hiking Mt. Geumjeong-san). This doesn't even show all the food we ate or the meat, but you can get an idea of how many side dishes they bring out for you.
After the meat is cooked you place it in a lettuce wrap and add anything on the table! You can add one item, you can add two, add everything in multiples if you want!! There doesn't seem to be a wrong way to eat a meal like this. And... it's SO good!!
For a more in depth look at Korean food, I highly recommend that you check out Aeri's Kitchen and try to make at least one dish! She keeps it simple - nothing too crazy or scary on her site - she won't ask you to eat octopus! but you can buy it in the fish markets!! Maybe after a few more months I'll give crazier dishes a try! For now I'll stick to what looks and is safe!!
Hiking is a big deal here. With 70% of the country unliveable due to mountainous terrain, it makes a lot of sense. So in an attempt to work on our Korean cultural skills, the crew went for a little hike.
Knowing we had a bit of a climb before us on Saturday, most of us took Friday night off to lay low and rest up.... a few took their chances with Soju. This provided a bit of entertainment for the rest of us!
We meet up along the metro route, and made our way to Beomeosa (stop 133). From there we took a short, crazy, topsy-turvy bus ride up to Beomeosa Temple. Despite being under some construction to renovate the buildings, Beomeosa Temple and grounds were very cool to see.
Beomeosa Temple 1,300 years ago, the Buddhist temple of Beomeosa is one of the most renowned religious places of South Korea. Treasuring some invaluable cultural relics like three-story Pagoda and the main hall Daeungjeon, the temple is one of the top tourist sites of Busan.was built around
After looking around the Temple, we headed off to hike the mountain! Well to be honest, I didn't know we were actually hiking a mountain, I thought it was just going to be a little hillside trail with interesting cultural aspects and a nice thing to do on the weekend.
Geumjeongsan Mountain, Busan surrounding the northern part of Geumjeong district this lush green mountain flaunting several peaks is and home to several popular tourist destinations like Geumgang Park, Beomeosa (Temple), Geumjeongsanseong (Mountain Fortress) and Sanseongmaeul Village.
The origin of the mountain is referred in legendary anecdotes. A divine gold fish while gliding by a multicolored cloud was captivated by the charm of the place and played in the golden pond on Godangbong, the highest peak of the mountain. The valley is streamed by crystal clear flows and covered by thick wood. The exquisite natural beauty of the mountain makes it one of the most visited sites of Busan.
5 hours later I had hiked a mountain!! Getting to the top was a trek for sure!! My legs can walk around new cities, in and out of castles and churches, but they have NOT been asked to climb any mountain, be it small or large, in many, many years. There were times when we were coming down that I feared I would fall due to my shaking legs! For as beautiful and inspiring as Beomeosa Temple and Mt. Geumjeong-san are, it was with a fair amount of relief that we had ended that day's adventure.
Where to start? I haven't added anything for a week now, but so much has happened that it's actually hurting my brain (which is very tired at the moment and isn't helping) to try and think of all that has happened in between then and now.
In brief this past week was spent:
Making dinner with Michael. We made bibimbap (which is actually the correct spelling of the word, unlike the spelling of my blog, but 'bap' is pronounced 'bob' so fair mistake). We cheated on a few of the ingredients, but made a really nice verison for first time foreigners cooking Korean food*.
*If you're curious to try Bibimbab, which is an amazing delicious meal, check out [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19EkHqTQkZg?wmode=transparent]
Some of you were confused as to what deskwarming is. It is this...
Taught my first lessons today, the structure and features of a pyramid, to 4 groups of 6th graders. It probably wasn’t the most excited or interesting lesson, especially considering that they have already learned this concept before in Korean, but I did my part to further their English through conceptual learning. There was a camel race, which I thought was pretty fun. It got a few laughs from the students, so that has to be a good sign, no?
After school I went to Home Plus Tesco, the Target or Walmart of Korea, and started in on some grocery shopping. I didn't make it passed the frozen foods, when I had to abandon my cart, groceries, and friend to run back to my place, meet Andrew and thank-god get the internet installed!! I now have a 15' cord that runs from the middle of my apartment to both ends!! Want to facebook chat in the kitchen? I can do that! At the table?! Can do! While relaxing on my bed!! Yup, I can do all of that now!!!
Once the internet was all worked out, I went back to Home Plus and stocked up on a misfit of items.
Tuesday is a test day for students, so I won’t have any classes. Another day desk-warming, undoubtedly Facebooking, and emailing. After lunch, I’ll do some lesson planning to prepare for Wednesday – a 3rd grade math class teaching the concept - long and short.
Small accomplishments, but I feel proud of me!
Friday I gave out my gifts. A bottle of red wine for my Principal, bottle of whiskey for my VP, beauty gift set for my teacher.
Their responses:
Can no one throw me a bone!?!
Later it was explained to me that recently there was a big bribery scandal in some of the schools, and some educators were let go from their jobs as a result. So it seems somewhat fair that their response were what they were… but honestly!!!
Another day that was not the greatest of my life, but then there is Soju and friends. More Soju than a few friends should and can be able to handle, but our livers are young (some of ours!) and it makes for a good time. Worries and hours just pass by and things look better and better. Most of the night is forgotten though, Soju literally turns your brain to mush. Conversations, jokes, moments - long bits of your life just seems to be erased. Next thing you know you're half way home and realize your house keys are with the rest of your stuff in a subway station locker that is miles away, and you and some friends have to hold up in a motel for the night! Soju fail and loving it!
At first I considered not posting this. The internet is full of loopholes and spies; and what you think is funny and clever one day, is a weapon against you the next. But me… I’m a sharer. That’s why I made this blog – to share with you. So I’m not going to be censoring myself. I’ll just make sure to use choice adjectives when describing unpleasantries. So here are my first few work experiences…
My first day of work was Monday. No one seemed to know what to do with me, so I spent much of the day desk-warming, a term that is and will forever be near and dear to every EPIKer heart. It wasn’t a bad experience though; I was expecting to be manning such duties, and as such, got to spend the morning Facebooking and emailing all by myself in my brightly colored English classroom.
Monday was only a half-day for me though – I got to duck out early to try and take care of some official paperwork. All of which turned out to be a big fail, because my school employment document was not on hand when I got to the Immigration office (which by the way is called KISS = Korean Immigration Smart Services). After that attempt was abandoned, I went with Andrew (my – by “my” clearly I don’t mean mine, it’s just easier to say it that way - TALK scholar) back to my apartment to meet with a guy from the boiler company to fix my heater. Since my apartment had been vacant for some time (and horribly nasty as a result) the gas had been turned off and locked. A simple turn of the screw and this very stylish man, in super shiny shoes, saved me from another night of hypothermia and Antarctic showers.
Tuesday was a national holiday (Day of Independent Movement, like our Independence Day, celebrating their secession from Japan) and all schools were closed. I spent the day sleeping. I woke up, off and on, but didn’t finally get out of bed till nearly one in the afternoon. Once up, I spent the afternoon walking around a bit, before retiring to work on a PowerPoint presentation – that turned out to be useless.
Wednesday was my “official” first day of school. I did a little ‘hello’ on the morning televised announcements, more desk-warming, went to the KISS office in the afternoon (this time successful!) and returned to school to join the Principal, Vice-principal and fellow teachers in a game of volleyball. The volleyball match was a lot of fun! However, I am 87% completely out of volleyball shape! My forearms hurt to receive balls, my wrist were weak when trying to hit, I backed away from digging hits when I should have stepped in to get them. So much for being a tall, white girl who used to play volleyball… these Koreans had their hopes up for nothing! To be kind of fair to myself, by the end of the match I did improve, improved enough to hit a spike right at the Principal, nailing her in the shoulder and nearly upsetting her wig! Why do I like the taste of my foot!!
Following the volleyball match, all of the teachers went out for a Welcome party dinner. Objective #2 – learn how Asians eat so much and stay so skinny!!!! It seems humanly impossible that such an act could occur. Back home you get your main dish and maybe a small side or two. Here you get the main dish, which is HUGE, and about 20 sides dishes to accompany it. And then, there’s another meal!!!!!!!! I promise to be better and start photographing the vast quantity of these meals!! You’re stomach will hurt from the sight of all of it!
No meal is complete without drinks! Endless drinks!! I did a shot of Soju with my Vice-Principal, but I think by the time I did my first he was on his 20th! You’d think after all of this that the night would be over. Ha! Not for Koreans!! After the dinner party it was on to a norabang (karaoke). I opted out of this activity. Singing isn’t my thing, and I had my apartment to clean for the second time. I did manage to clean my cabinets, some of my stove, rewash my floors, and do a little work on my bathroom. I don’t think this place could every score a 100 on a health test, but I don’t think it will fail anymore either!
Tired and sore, I went to bed early looking forward to the next day of school. High hopes were soon murdered. Thursday I spent the morning observing my co-teacher review the Korean alphabet with 3 classes of fourth graders. At the beginning of each class I did a little introduction of myself, told them I’d be teaching next week, and returned to my desk to warm it. Not too bad of a start. I was to observe and see how things work. Except this observing did me zero good since I don’t speak any Korean! But still, I wasn’t too upset by this. I was taking notes on teaching: what I liked, what I didn’t, what I would do differently, etc. Helpful when looked at in the glass is half-full kind of way.
At lunch the Principal scolded me for not finishing all of my meal. It’s not that I didn’t like it; I just didn’t feel well and didn’t want to eat it. Unsure what to do, I looked at my co-teacher for help, received a sad encouraging smile and a slight wave of her hand telling me it was ok to go. Like a beaten dog I was, walking away with my tail between my legs, unsure of what I’d done wrong!
Hoping for better things in the afternoon was just a silly thing to do. Since I have the schedule and know what happens each period, I was not surprised at all when all the students left school and there were still 4 hours left in the day (:-l sarcasm times the universe there, in case you missed it). So what did we do to pass the time?! Dressed up in nice clothes I was crouched down on the ground scrubbing the floor. Must have missed that subline in my contract. Then we mopped. Yup missed that one too! Hmm… I should read closer. Then I stood by and listened as my co-teacher and Andrew had a long talk in Korean. “Oh, yea, so interesting, hmmm… yea.. right…” WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!! I DON’T SPEAK KOREAN YET!! SPEAK ENGLISH, I WORK WITH YOU TOO!!! Not to be the sad, left-out kid on the playground, but it was a bit disheartening. You have me scrubbing floors, without providing me with the slightest bit of information regarding my job, and yet there are still more ways to isolate me further. Awesome. Eventually they did start speaking in English, when I said something.
And then the biggest rug was pulled out from under me. My co-teacher tells me that the Principal and Vice-Principal have suggested that I spend my free time (18 hrs a week) in the teacher’s lounge instead of being able to get a second desk/computer for me in the English classroom. They are willing to put a computer for me in the TL, but not in the classroom in which I teach. At this I had tears punching their way out of my eyes! I am to spend 18 hrs a week in the TL, why?! WHY!!?! So they can see me!!! HONESTLY!! WHAT IS THIS!! I was in such disbelief. I didn’t come to Korea to be seen by my fellow teachers. I came to work with kids and teach! After a few minutes of sputtering and total visual frustration, my co-teacher got the hint that I was not happy with this and said she would be my advocate – she’d tell the VP and Principal that I need to be in the classroom observing, learning, gaining experience. INSTEAD OF BEING A FREAKING COLLECTOR’S DOLL!
Good news of the day, I got my internet installation set up. They’re coming out Saturday morning to get me online. Small steps, right? I’m taking that one small achievement with me into tomorrow and hoping for bluer skies. I’m also giving out my gifts so that can only help brighten things too! Or so I freaking hope!!
I'm a teacher!! Check out the nametag!! We'll skip the part that my name was spelled Meadan on it, and that there are no students in my classroom, I'm still a teacher now!!
I have been in Korea for just 13 days, but I'd like to say that those days have been pretty spectacular!
Orientation was long, at times a bit boring, but it allowed me to meet some really great people! The lecturers kept comparing it to summer camp, but I never went to summer camps, so I'm thinking if summer camps are like what I experienced at EPIK orienation (of course without all the Soju) then send me back next summer!
Our last day of orientation was on Friday (2/25). We were given our placements (mine: Daepyung Elementary School on Yeongdo-gu island (sidenote: is it on or in when speaking about islands? My school is IN Yeongdo-gu island OR My school is ON Yeongdo-gu island... ?!?!) ), signed our contracts, got our pay grade, and were told we'd be picked up by our co-teachers and taken to our apartments/schools. I was one of the first to be picked up from orientation by an older gentleman... wasn't what I was expecting, but I can roll with it... open and flexible!! His car was blocked in, so I start making what I thought was polite small talk - asking him about the school, the grade levels, our class, etc. It would have been polite conversation if that man didn't happen to be my Vice-Principal!! Awesome start!! In a country were honor and respect are top of the list, I'm speaking to my superior's superior's as if he's a regular guy! Good thing I brought gifts for these people!! I'm going to need to rebuild after that!!
Thank goodness for volleyball! Apparently the school is in a league and they are pretty competitive about it... especially the VP!! Phewww! Saved!
After I got my foot out of my mouth on Friday, I was introduced to a few more teachers at school and was taken out to eat with my VP and another teacher. We went to a Japanese restaurant that was very good - got raw fish and an assortment of side dishes, had a beer with the VP... that can only help too, right?!
At ~3 I met my co-teacher, Ms. Jang. She is an extremely nice woman, and I'm looking forward to working with her this year. In addition to working with Ms. Jang, I also will be teaching with Andrew Pek! Andrew is a TALK scholar from Texas. He's Korean-American and a lifesaver. I probably will abuse his Korean skills while we're together. Knowing only 'hello' and 'thank you' is nice, but doesn't help you get food or the items you need from the market! Objective #1: learn some Korean!
The weekend was pretty quiet. I went exploring with Phil (a friend from orientation who also lives on Yeongdo-gu and in the same apartment building as me), met up with some fellow EPIKers for drinks Saturday night, and spent most of Sunday walking around in the rain with Gareth.
Slowly, I'm learning where I live, where things are, how to get around and just building confidence. Knowing Korean would definitely help my confidence, but I've only been here 13 days!! God built the whole world in 7, so me only knowing 'hello' and 'thank you' is pretty much comparable to that pace! ;)
