My grand intentions of writing in this
blog daily during at least during the orientation leg of my journey
was quickly thwarted by the tornado of a schedule I have endured
since day two. It has been less than ten days from my last post yet
I still have to sit down with a calendar, an orientation schedule and
mass amounts of photos I've taken, just to recall what has happened
to me in the last nine days. I'll try to sum it up the best I can to
avoid droning on and on. Interrupted with pictures of
course...because I've taken only like 347 in the last week.
I'll start with some “highlights”
during orientation. The aforementioned medical exam, that made
everyone on edge, was the first time I experienced the incredible
efficiency of the Korean people. I was the first person to go at
6:40 am. Tired and unable to have coffee I prepared myself for a
long, drawn out procedure - picturing the annoying wait that always
comes with a doctor visit at home. Every American is familiar with
the 30-45 minute wait in the doctor's waiting room (well after your
appointment time), only to be called back to a smaller room to wait
again for the doctor to grace you with his/her presence. This
experience, on the contrary, was extremely efficient. Rows of
doctors at desks awaited us with small cotton partitions between
them. The moved us through like cattle: eye test, hearing test,
colorblind test, weight, height, chest measurement (no idea why, I'm
still waiting for a surprise brassier with my orientation
certificate...”congratulations on joining EPIK, here is your DD”).
They drew our blood, made us pee in a cup and took our x-ray in a
mobile x-ray bus just outside the building. Men could go clothed but
women had to disrobe entirely all because of the fear of our
under-wire disrupting the x-ray machine. We attempted to ask why we
wouldn’t just remove our bras but the language difference made a
logical conversation difficult; so we obliged.
These are buttons for the toilet - I was too afraid to push any.
The day continued with back to back
lectures, a little game of frisbee in between (turns out I'm not good
at frisbee), a milkshake in a pouch (see pictures) and then venturing
off to “down town”, locally known as “the market place”. We
ended up at a place called Yellow Taxi, which was far more foreign
than local, with a foosball table, billards, darts and even Jenga.
Sooo tired during one of the lectures
Milk shakes in a pouch and unfridgerated eggs...ahh Korea.
A night on the town always begins with practicing your Hangul in a 7-eleven, right?
Some of the downtown scene - both western and non.
Jenga and Foosball fun at Yello Taxi
Day four was a full day of lectures
from 9:00 am until dinner time with a break for lunch, back in the
classroom for Korean lessons and then another night out with friends.
During orientation I learned how to introduce myself in Korean,
count to ten and a few other essential phrases such as “Do you have
soju?” and “How much is this?”.
An east meets west breakfast and starbucks.
A Korean fun and not so fun fact - (LEFT) they're technology is incredible, we voted for our next meal using this screen. (RIGHT) the kids are in school until 10-11pm - this picture was taken at 11:22 pm. :(
(LEFT) what we can only assume is a hangover pack and (RIGHT) a friend who was THRILLED to find string cheese. Apparently he eats like four sticks a day.
Day five was our field trip day – a
day of Korean cultural experience. We woke early and headed towards
Jeonju a land of well preserved Korean culture, known for making some
of the best fans and a symbol of Korean pride and resistance to the
Japanese occupation. There, I learned about traditional mask dancing
and how to make a fan. Our fan lesson was interrupted a bit when one
of our group members discovered an email telling us all our official
placements. The teachers attempted to get our attention while we
squealed and mingled about our locations, our level (elementary,
middle or high) and how close we would be to Seoul. I was expecting
a rural placement but lucked out getting into the biggest city in our
province - Cheongju. Transportation and wifi would not be a problem,
something that worried my mother more than myself. And nothing makes
me happier than giving my mommy some peace of mind.
We then feasted together on bibimbap or
비빔밥 (which
I finally learned is pronounced pibimbap) and banchan, including
another little creature with eyes that I forced myself to eat. Not a
fan, but glad I tried it (baby anchovies). Our meal ended with a
cinnamon dessert tea aka SuJeonGwa aka
수정과
served cold, after meals. Congratulations Korea, you have
created the
only tea I have
every actually liked.
After lunch we ventured off on our own
to explore the village. There was an array of amazing food trucks
and cute little shops. It was an experience of cultural observation
for me. I noted how the couples insisted on wearing identical
outfits from the shoes up to the head gear. It was adorable and
nauseating all at the same time. The selfie-stick phenomenon became
increasingly obvious in this tourist spot. I guess it gives you a
better angle for your face, something that is an actual serious
concern for Koreans. One of our group members bought a selfie stick
and I have to admit I was a little jealous – but I still can't
figure out why. I also learned never to assume anything. While
having my ice cream pumped into an incredibly phallic cone, I made
any array of inappropriate jokes to my friends only to have the
“Korean” gentleman turn to me and say “You know I'm Scottish
and I can speak English”.
…
Open mouth – insert foot.
Luckily he thought it was hilarious.
Day six and seven were a blur of
lectures, working on our lesson plan presentations, going out to
downtown Daejeon, getting stared at and photographed by locals and
the increasing feeling that jet lag was going to take me down. For
some reason I became more tired as the week went on. But then again,
it could have been the vast amount of activities - both curricular
and extracurricular - that I've mentioned above. Each night did,
after all, end with our Cinderella-like sprint back to the dorms to
beat our midnight curfew.
More fun out, to the (LEFT) is a small truck selling mixed drinks off the side of the road. (BELOW) is one of the largest pitchers of beer I've ever seen.
Koreans photographing us Mi Gooks (Americans) and Mi Gooks photographing the Koreans.
"The The The" and some smiling girls on the town.
Day six included a lesson in Taekwondo
where I successfully broke my wooden board in two on my first try. I
cannot even begin to tell you how exhilarating it was. We were told
to put a goal on the board before we broke it (symbolizing conquering
said goal). Most people wrote “learn Korean” or “be a good
teacher”...I wrote “ME”.
Day seven was the day I learned that if
you let the Korean man at the restaurant order for you, you're going
to end up eating something you never intended on eating in your life.
A small group of us wanted to escape the westernized cafeteria food
and boy did we. Without a clue of how to read the menu the gentleman
ordered for us what turned out to be Eel (jang-eo or
장어)
and Chicken Feet (daulk bal or
닭
발). Full disclosure,
pure, unadulterated honesty – I loved it. I did have to wrap the
chicken feet in lettuce, at first, because it helped me get past the
visual aspect. But all in all, I would have both again...on purpose.
Convenience is not lost on Koreans - a place for your purse in your stool and some "napkins" ready on the wall.
Hmmm...what should we order? Oh lets have the man pick for us!
Vents that come right down to you...supper efficient and stylish!
Day eight was the big day of lesson
plan presentations and meeting our POE (Provincial Office of
Education) to finally sign our contracts. My lesson plan was very
well reviewed and the assessment was so well liked they wanted to use
it for examples for future incoming teachers, yay me! Meeting the
POE went smoothly as well. We all dressed our spiffiest, bowed when
appropriate and said all the right things in Korean. The day ended
with a feast – more food than I had ever seen in one location. All
of it was incredibly delicious.
Signed!
"Someone" got into selfie mode...Korea will do that to you.
Just a bunch of cool kids hanging out in front of the convenience store. I felt a little like I was in high school again. Except we didn't have to hide the alcohol. And I never actually did this in high school so...nevermind.
Some downtown fun stuff and a goodbye Soju toast.
Day nine we piled into our respective
buses (assigned by location) and headed off to a ceremony where we
would finally meet our coteachers. The process was pretty quick -
drive to Cheongju, sit with our coteachers during a 10 min ceremony,
then head towards their cars to load our luggage and drive with them
to our apartments. Little did they know I was coming with over 200
lbs of luggage.
A goodbye selfie with my teachers who helped us all through the orientation process - Mike and Yuri.
I sat between two women - one teacher,
Yun-a, was leaving the school but would show me around for that day
and that day only. The other woman, Jin-Young was my main coteacher,
who was still on vacation until Sept 1
st and left abruptly
three minutes into the assembly. I was nervous about the hand off
and what I would be doing in the time in between but Yun-a was
incredibly sweet and handed me a notebook where she had written
almost everything I needed to know from bus schedules, to the names
and room numbers of teachers who would assist me if needed, to the
closest place to get pizza. We spent the day together shopping for
things I needed for the apartment (on the school's dime), a few
groceries to get me through the next couple days, a bus pass, and a
trip to the school to meet my principal and vice principal. She even
walked me back and forth from my apartment to two bus stops to make
sure I could find my way. We ended our day with dinner at a local
Dduckbokki (
떡볶이)
restaurant with a lovely couple, Mr. & Mrs. K, who gave us our
meal for free as a welcome. Yun-a had also bought me a cheesecake
that we all snacked on together after our meal. She put in candles
as if it was my birthday and made me make a wish. It was adorable.
(LEFT) Yun-a's incredibly strong mom putting boxes together for my groceries (you have to pay for bags) and (RIGHT) Yun-a saying "pick out your cake!"
Ddukbokki and Korean Cheesecake - spicy vs. sweet.
Mrs. K and Yun-A
Day ten I learned I will be teaching
3
rd, 5
th, and 6
th grade and that I
have a secondary coteacher who wants me to call him Mr. Han. He is
my 5
th grade teacher and was kind enough to take me to
immigration to get my ARC card and then to Citibank to open my bank
account. The bank experience was the first time the language barrier
became an emotionally charged issue for me.
Mr. Han speaks some English but not a
lot and he truly did his best to assist me. But when they handed me
an application entirely in Hangul and asked me to sign it I started
to panic. I insisted on speaking to someone who knew English and
could answer questions for me. This was my money – not something
to be taken lightly. I wasn't afraid of being taken advantage of by
any means, I don't think Koreans even have that in their nature. I
was concerned about being able to send money to my Citibank acct in
America, being charged additional fees I didn't need, etc etc etc.
Finally another customer saw that I was on the verge of tears as
everyone around me said “no no just sign just sign” and stepped
in to rescue me. They found someone in the bank who could not only
speak English but be patient with me as I asked my 20,000 questions.
Immigration and Citibank - check!
Soooo...there was no parking at the bank....so a man instructed us to drive into a giant elevator and take it down to the basement parking lot. I just rode in a legit car elevator. Yep that happened.
Today is day eleven. I met my fifth
grade class and did an introduction on myself. They loved it and
loved me. I pretty sure I have no limit to how many times I can be
called beautiful in a day. I was asked repeatedly if my hair color
was natural and told over and over how amazing my big eyes are.
Gotta love the self-esteem boosters!
I also received my first “Korean
surprise” today. We were warned by Korean and non-Korean lecturers
that things could change on a dime without any warning and we were
just supposed to go with the flow. One lecturer put it best when she
said, “just close your eyes and picture colorful confetti falling
down on you – surprise!!” I sat down after my classes to lesson
plan and a teacher who I have never met before comes into the room
and tells me we need to discus our lesson plan for the fourth grade
classes next Tuesday. She was surprised I didn't have a textbook and
that I had no idea I was even teaching fourth grade. So I am now
teaching 3
rd, 4
th, 5
th and 6
th.
Each grade level has five classes with approx 22-25 students. In
case you're too tired from reading my massive blog update to do the
math, that's 20 classes, and approx 440-500 students. Not to mention
my after school classes on Mon and Wed. Looks like I'll have a full
plate. Quite honestly, I couldn't be happier. Getting in front of
the students today made me realize how much I miss it and how much I
love being a teacher.
Pics of my two classrooms - pretty sweet! The rules need a bit of work tho... :/
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