Time to Get Real!

We've just about reached the end of our time here at the Dankook University. Our week of training and orientation is nearly complete and tomorrow we hop on buses and head to our final destinations, where we'll be teaching and living for the year.

We were assigned our locations today and Brent and I didn't get assigned to the same district, but the districts we were assigned to are right next to each other, so that's cool. There's also a few people that I've met this past week that are going to be in my district too, so I definitely won't be out there on my own or anything. I'm going to be teaching at a school called Dukdu Elementary School in the Buk gu district. I know, how funny is it that I'm teaching at Dukdu in Buk gu? Anyway, I looked it up on the map and it looks about as far away from the beautiful beaches of Busan as you can get without actually leaving Busan. It's okay though, I don't mind. I'm still in the city.

The last few days have been pretty busy and tiring, with lectures practically all day. The week's worth of training all led up to a group presentation we had to give this morning, where we simulated a lesson plan. I think what I learned from the last few days of lectures is pretty much, "you're going to have to wait and see what happens." There was so much information given that was always dependent on something else. We keep hearing how "dynamic" Korea is, and you can't really count on much to stay the same here or go the way you planned. That's leaves me a bit uneasy for sure, but experiencing this culture is all part of this adventure for me, so I'm doing my best to prepare for it.

We learned all about eating out with our fellow teachers from the school, including how to act, what to do, what to say, etc. I sure can't wait to sit Indian-style for two plus hours. That's going to be great. Communal eating is the norm here in Korea, which I should have known from my Korean barbecue experiences at home. Speaking of which, listen to this! One of our lecturers was talking to us about how at dinner, there's usually a big pot of soup that everyone eats from. No, you don't pour soup from the pot into your own bowl, you all take your spoon and dip it into the pot and eat it. So anyway, the lecturer says to us, "Yeah, so, some people are afraid of getting hepatitis. But don't worry, it won't kill you." Ha! Can you believe that?! I'm honestly not worried about it, because it's not like I'm in some third world country or anything, but still, probably not the best idea to say that to a room full of people totally new to Korea. Everyone kind of just gasped at his remark.

It seems like the one thing that can really make or break this next year is going to be who my co-teacher is. This is the person who basically takes care of me for the year, along with helping me teach English to the kids. I meet whoever this is tomorrow and he/she will take me to the school and to my apartment and be the one to kind of break me in to living in Korea. Job one for him/her is going to be helping me figure how to get the Internet installed, because after tonight, I have no idea how long it will be until I have the Internet again. Maybe after that I'll have him/her translate the washer unit for me, so I can make sure I'm using hot water for my whites. Believe it.

Lucky for us, Brent and I were assigned to the same classroom for the group presentation and were able to be in a group together. We also were able to pair up with a friend we made here, so the group dynamic couldn't have been better. We were also very lucky in that we had a teacher who wasn't very strict or who had an "it has to do be done like this" attitude. We heard about what some of the other people were having to do and I definitely felt for them. Our teacher let us choose our groups, topics and how we were going to present. It was great.

As soon as the three of us convened to discuss what we were going to teach about, my mind of course went straight to sports and they agreed it would be a nice, easy lesson for sixth graders, which was our target age group. I think we put together a pretty solid lesson plan if I do say so myself, complete with learning games, total physical response activities and a fun power point. I thought we presented pretty well and got some good feedback from the teacher and the class. We weren't graded or anything, but I would say it was a solid B+ or A-.

I've held up pretty nicely with the food situation over the last few days. I haven't had any repeats of the squid incident on the first day, so I'm happy to report that. The funny thing about Koreans, is that they don't seem to differentiate between what is a breakfast food and what is a lunch or dinner food. No joke, on the breakfast menu has been cold hot dogs, vegetable soup and tuna sandwiches ... and of course kimchi. It's definitely no stereotype that they eat kimchi with everything. Anyway, as far as breakfast has been concerned, there has always been an option for cornflakes, which has been nice.

I have a new favorite quote right now that a South African girl so perfectly coined for me at lunch the other day. Brent and I were having lunch with her and we were joking about English soccer fans and how they're known for their hooliganism. Anyway, Brent made some joking comment about them being not-so-tough or something and I said something like, "Dude, some of them probably just overheard you in this cafeteria and are on their way to beat you up." Brent responded with, "Whatever," to which our new South African friend said, "What a typical American response that is, just put your baseball cap on and say whatever." I about died laughing. Us Americans just put our baseball caps on say whatever. So great. So, "Put your baseball cap on and say whatever" is new my favorite quote. Thanks South Africa.

Tonight, we attended more traditional Korean performances here on campus, which didn't very too much from what we've seen already. More drumming with ribbons on heads and more fan dancing. I must say, the drummers are pretty amazing. It really seems like they could drum for hours if they wanted to. Their performances always last so long and always draw the loudest and most animated applause from the crowd.

After the performances we had our "farewell" dinner, which was very similar to the "welcome" dinner we had on the first night. Plenty of good eats served buffet style is cool in any country. We also received our cell phones today. For anyone wondering, we pretty much all got the Samsung SPH-W2900. Samsung is a Korean company, so it's pretty prominent here, as are Hyundais and Kias. They're all over the roads. Anyway, it's a pretty cheap deal, like $12 a month or something like that. Speaking of cheap, a bottle of water here is only 500 won, which is equivalent to 33 cents. So awesome.

Well, it's time for me to start packing for the four-hour bus ride to my new home tomorrow. I also need to practice my Korean for when I meet my principal and vice-principal tomorrow night. I've been told that I have to bow, say "Hello Principal/Vice-Principal" in Korean, wait for them to give their hand for the shake, use two hands to shake, but don't give a firm handshake. They don't do that here apparently.

Like I said before, I don't know when I'll have an Internet connection again, so since I actually start teaching on Monday, it's likely my next post will have some more information on my school and the kids and everything. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. Wish me luck!

Folksy!

Today we went to a Korean Folk Village, which is akin to Colonial Williamsburg or something similar. I've attached some photos if you're interested at all. It was definitely interesting to walk around and sort of experience a bit of Korean history and culture. The only frustrating thing was that it was so difficult to understand our tour guide. Really it's no fault of her own. She was obviously doing the best she could. I've noticed that most Koreans here who speak English struggle to get across what they're wanting to say. It's actually pretty funny, because almost all of us are left pretty confused after we're given directions or have something explained to us.

Anyway, we had a chance to see some traditional Korean housing and architecture, and also watched some traditional performances. To be honest, the performances really weren't that exciting. The first one was a musical/dance number consisting of drums and gongs. The cool thing about this performance was that some of the guys wore those long ribbon things on their head and made designs with them by moving their heads around, which I've never seen before. Usually you see stuff like that in the Olympics when the female gymnasts do a dance routine or something, but they don't wear the freaking ribbon on their head. One of the guys actually changed hats to one with a huge ribbon and did some cool moves with that, including break dancing. I'm not sure how traditional the break dancing was, but it was still cool to see nonetheless.

After that we saw a couple girls fling each other into their using a teeter-totter, then an old man do some tricks on a tight rope. Finally, we watched some guys ride horses around in a circle while they did little tricks like jumping on and off them, standing on them, etc. Like I said, all in all it was just okay. Sorry if you're offended Roy.

The funny thing about the folk village was that off in the corner there was a kid's amusement area, which looked like any old carnival. Brent and I found this on our own after we ate lunch and agreed it was probably the coolest part of the village. It included such favorites as bumper cars, the swinging dragon, cotton candy and a simulator ride that didn't explain what it simulated. Literally, on the outside hull it just said "Simulator." If we had more time, we may have actually gone on to see what it was. I'm going to be really pissed if I find out later that it is some sort of American fighter jet mission during the Korean War, where you get to save a South Korean village from the villainous northerners!

Speaking of our lunch, we were given 10,000 won  by EPIK to order food from the food court-type area they had and luckily everything was written in English. EPIK also gave us a sheet beforehand with some recommended dishes for foreigners and instructions on how to order. We both opted for a pork skewer and potato pancake. The pork skewer pretty much tasted exactly what it sounds like. The potato pancake, we found out, was basically hash browns, which was totally cool and filling. The pork skewer was definitely not enough to feed a grown American male.

On the bus ride back from the Korean Folk Village, our class leaders explained to us in their best broken English that the head honchos of EPIK were getting upset about a lot of things that were going wrong with the teachers. See, they laid out some pretty solid rules for us when we got here. Guys aren't allowed in girls dorms and vice versa. You're allowed to go into the city, but you have to be back by 1 a.m. No alcohol in the dorms. Things like that. Well, apparently there's been some people here just flat out ignoring everything. The dorms that we are in are brand new, having just been built in November, so we're the first tenants and understandably they don't want these rooms trashed. I guess some people are just tearing up their rooms, including a guy and a girl who pushed the two beds together for a little adult fun and scratched the floor! They also said that there was a group of people who went to a bar last night, came back completely wasted, didn't get back until after curfew and stood outside banging on the door to be let back in. It was so lame to hear all this stuff and to have to be told all these rules again on the bus. Some of the people here really do seem like they came to party, and it's just so strange. From day one, I've come across certain people and have wondered, "Why are you here?" or "How did they let you come here?" It was just sad to hear and I think it sucks that those people are making us all look bad. They're probably the Americans that are here too, which sucks even worse.

Oh, I've got kind of a funny story. Yesterday I finally received my piece of luggage that was delayed getting here. One of my class leaders is Stella (That's her English name, which most Koreans have and choose) and she was basically the main one helping me to get my luggage. She was the one calling the airport and the airlines and arranging everything. On our first day, we learned that Koreans are big on gifts. They like to receive them and they like to give them. For everything and anything. So, I thought it would be a nice gesture to get something for Stella as a thank you for everything she did in helping me get my luggage. There's a little convenience store on the first floor of our dorms, so I went there and bought her a Snickers candy bar and another Korean candy bar that the cashier recommended. Right next to the store is the cafeteria where we have all our meals and I saw that she was sitting in there with all the other class leaders, so I was like, perfect I can give this to her now. Well, I walked up to her and handed her the candy bars and said thank you for all your help with getting me my luggage back. Holy crap was that the wrong place and time to do it. The whole table of mostly Korean females erupted in "Ooooooooohhhhs," causing the entire cafeteria to look over at the table to see what was going on, and poor Stella is trying to explain to them I'm not like hitting on her or something. Oh my gosh, it was so embarrassing, but I could tell even more so for her. I pretty much got the hell out of there as quickly as possible, basically leaving her embarrassed with a table that no doubt continued to make jokes. You try to do something nice and boy oh boy.

Anyway, tomorrow starts the first of a few days where things get pretty serious. We've got full days of lectures coming and then have to prepare our first lesson presentation, which I'm pretty sure we have to present to our class. I'll be sure to let you guys know how that goes.

I'm in Korea!

Hey everone!

I made it. After almost 16 hours of travel by air and by bus, we got to the Dankook University late Thursday night to start our week of training and orientation.

To say the last few days have been emotional is an understatement. It's one thing to talk and think about leaving and saying goodbye to everyone, but I'm not sure you can be fully prepared for how difficult it really is. Granted I haven't died or anything and I'll be in frequent touch with everyone, it was still tough to say goodbye to people that I'm accustomed to seeing on a daily/weekly basis.

The flight from San Francisco to Seoul was great. Singapore Airlines easily is the best airline company I've ever flown with. The service was truly amazing. They were so friendly and it felt like they were coming around with a drink or snack like every 20 minutes. We were given hot towels as soon as we were in our seats and again later in the flight. Everyone had their own t.v. screen with the option to watch movies or television shows and play games. There was even a language learning game, which I utilized to learn how to count in Korean! The whole experience was really great. To make a 13 hour flight feel as comfortable as they did was really a great way to start off this trip.

When we got to the aiport and got off the plane, there was a Singapore Airlines hostess standing there with a sign that had my name on it. At first I thought it had something to do with the EPIK program, but when there was noone there with Brent's name, I figured it had something to do with my luggage. That was confirmed when she told me I needed to go to baggage claim and talk to one of the employees down there. It didn't end up being that big of a deal. Basically one of my bags didn't make the flight, so I still had the main bag I packed with all my clothes and toiletries. I'm still waiting for my other bag to show up, which I was told should be today.

We were greeted by snowfall as we left the airport and it's snowed on and off yesterday as well. Man, it's freaking cold here! I'm told that it won't be this cold in Busan however. Anyway, we hopped on a bus and drove for 2.5 more hours to get to Dankook University where we're going through orientation and training. Sitting on that bus was honestly the last thing I wanted after sitting on the plane for so long. Plus by the end of the bus ride I had to pee so bad!

When we got to the university, we registered, got our room assignments and were given a welcome bag with a couple training books, outlet adapter, EPIK t-shirt, croissant and a tangerine. Brent and I were able to request a dorm room together, avoiding either of us having to awkwardly share a room with a complete stranger, as everyone else had to do.

The room itself isn't bad. Actually if my apartment is anything like this dorm room, I'll be pretty happy. It's small of course, with two beds, two desks and two wardrobes for each of us. The bathroom is of the "all in one" variety, but it's okay. The shower section is far enough away from the sink and toilet that it's not really a problem. The only thing that sucks is that the entire bathroom floor gets competely wet. The beds in the room are not exactly the most comfortable, but they're getting the job done. I've attached a couple pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. You can see the view from our dorm room as well. It's not much, but there's a lake right outside, so it's kind of cool. The dorm looks Ikea furnished, but I don't think it is. The name of the brand that I see on all the furniture is "Neoce." My guess is that Mariana and Troy are probably the ones who cared to hear about that part.

Our first couple days of training have been cool. We attended an opening ceremony last night and had medical checkups this morning. We also set up our Korean bank accounts and signed up for Korean cell phone service yesterday. The food has definitely been different. I can feel my stomach trying to figure it out, but it hasn't been bad or anything. Just different. This next bit of news will excite some of you. During lunch yesterday when were getting our food served to us, I asked the Korean lady standing by one of the dishes what exactly a certain type of food was. Well, she thought I was asking her to serve me, so she grabbed the big spoon and lopped a bunch of this noodle-looking stuff on my tray. When we sat down, I had Brent try it and he said it tasted like spicy nooodles. So, of course I thought, "Oh cool, no problem." Well I ate it and it was good, then came to find out it was dried squid. Fantastic. I didn't even make it past lunch on the first freaking day!

We've met a lot of cool people so far. So many of them have done stuff like this before in other countries and you can tell they just love to travel. It's really inspiring. I can officially say I have friends from England, New Zealand and Canada. How cool is that? There's a pretty big group of us here that are going to Busan, so it's nice to meet everyone here and then be able to reconnect when we get there. It also looks like I'm going to have to finally break down and start a Facebook account. Everyone here has it and are starting to form groups on there so we can all be in touch while we're here. So for those of you that have been on me to get one, your wish is about to come true.

Anyway, I realize this is getting pretty long now, so I'll stop here. I'll try and update this thing in a few days and share more of my experience. We have a field trip to a local Korean folk village tomorrow, so hopefully there will be some interesting stories from that.