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!