Orientation

August 19, 2010

Orientation

Well today was not such a busy day. I skipped breakfast so that I could get an extra 45 minutes of sleep (every minute counts). We had a campus tour at 10:00am and the campus is relatively small so it didn’t take very long. It was EXTREMELY hot outside so we cut it a little short.

*Side note: I thought living in the south (Georgia) would prepare me for the heat in Korea…boy was I mistaken big time! The humidity here is 10 times worse than in Georgia and was completely unexpected. The moment I walk outside my face melts off…not very fun at all.

Our meals are provided for us while we are at orientation and for lunch we had rice, kimchi, spaghetti, soup, and peach tea. Anyone who knows me is well aware of the fact that I am not a tea drinker; whether it be, hot tea, cold tea, sweet/unsweetened tea or green tea I will not drink it. To my surprise, this peach tea was quite good and I had a second cup of it. So, ladies and gentlemen, I am now a tea drinker…as long as it’s peachy…

After lunch we had a couple of hours before the welcoming ceremony started so I got a chance to head downstairs to one of the Family Marts to get some snacks for the room. Then I was finally able to Skype with Cale and catch him up on everything since I was finally able to get my internet working with the help of a fellow teacher (Apple computers need special attention apparently). Cale filled me in on the new Fresh Market that recently hit the Columbus area of which I am very upset that I was unable to see it before I left. The pictures looked awesome and I can’t wait to hit that up when I get back.



The orientation went really well. The 5 Drum Dance was performed by several Korean women (which was so awesome and the music was great), a Taekwondo performance was put on the Taekwondo students (great stunts and board breaking), and the Traditional Fan Dance was performed by several more Korean women (so beautiful and the women were unimaginably graceful!). Overall, it was a fantastic show (hopefully, video of some parts of the show will be posted once I get some editing done) and I can’t wait to see more of this wonderful culture. Apparently the EPIK staff randomly and quite often invite their teachers to field trips where they visit certain famous places and such so hopefully I will be able to tag along on some, if not most of those little excursions.

We then attended a lecture by one of the EPIK teachers that is currently teaching in another city. She was very helpful in terms of what to do and what not to do. She did really well by making us aware of certain gestures and cultural differences that we will probably encounter in our schools. Like, for instance, the Koreans really do not like to disappoint and generally want to make others happy so sometimes they will say yes or agree to something when really they mean the exact opposite. It’s simply because they do not want to let you down or make you unhappy. Because of this, it is best to ask questions to make sure you are both on the same page.

Dinner was more extravagant than anyone had anticipated. There was a white tent set up outside and underneath it were several round tables with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, glass bottles of cokes, and bottled water. The chairs were covered with blue covers and white bows on the back. It was set up just like a wedding reception would be. It was wonderful. The food was awesome! Rice, kimchi, so calbe, kim bop, chicken, chop chae, and more! It was delicious and a perfect end to a great day (aside from the extreme heat!)

My body is still adjusting to the time difference and right now, in Korea, it’s 9:20PM…I’m about to head to bed…I can’t remember the last time I went to bed before 10:00PM but my eyelids are falling closed! SO tired.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I met a lot of people today. Most of the people I have met are from Europe and the west coast of the U.S. I feel a bit more like myself now and I’m finally being social like normal so it’s slowly but surely getting better. Tomorrow is the beginning of the actual bookwork lessons/lectures so we’ll see how it goes! I’ll keep you posted!