Adventure Korea

So I just signed up for my first booked tour in Korea! Adventure Korea is group that does trips every weekend to different festivals and historical sites in Korea. The one that my friends and I are doing is in April to the DMZ, and weather permitting we will also be bungee jumping!! I’ve been assured that the tour is extremely safe so no one panic! I wont accidently stumble into North Korea, I promise!!

Here is the agenda for the trip, I would link to the website but it’s just www.adventurekorea.com and none of the links have specific URLs so it may be difficult to find. But if you want to check out some of the other trips they go on/I may go on feel free to look at it!

Destination	:	2nd Tunnel,Odaemi village in Cherwon,Gangwon-do
	Departure Point	:	Hongik Univ. Subway stn(Line.2 Exit 1)/ Express bus terminal stn(Line 3,7,9 Exit 8)
	Includes	:	Transportation,3meals,accommodation,entrance fees(Security tour), all experience fees(except Bungee)
	Description
	There will be a very special trip to Odaemi Village, which is in the northeast region of Gangwon-do, and is settled next to the southern demarcation line. The area of Odaemi Village was one of the fiercest battle fields during the Korean War. Today, in the border region, the North and the South are still confronting each other. There, we will have a chance to visit a different DMZ site, at the centre of the Korean peninsula. During the DMZ tour we will be visiting the 2nd infiltration tunnel, Unification observatory, Wolcheongri Station and the Labor Party Building in the northeast part of South Korea. The 2nd Tunnel (so named because it was the second one found by people in the South), which was made by North Koreans to invade South Korea, was discovered on March 19th, 1975. This tunnel is 3.5km long and sits 50~160 meters below the surface. The observatory overlooks the Iron Triangle Battlefield, hence the name. It is the area that connects Gimhwa, Pyeonggang and Cheorwon. This area had the highest number of casualties during the Korean War, especially in the Baekmagoji and Oseongsan battles. The Iron Triangle Battlefield was the headquarters and frontline of the North Korean Army. This area had the unique natural advantage of being a difficult target for Allied forces to attack, so remained an easy area for North Koreans to defend. Woljeongri Station (Cheorui Samgakji Observatory) is the last stop before reaching the DMZ. With the sign ''''''''The iron horse wants to run,'''''''' there are remains of a train that used to make frequent trips to North Korea. It is located at the spot where the fiercest battle was held during the Korean War, this train marks the partition line of the Korean peninsula. The Labor Party Building, a three-story building located at Cheorwon-eup was constructed in 1946 and used as The House of the Labor Party until the break of the Korean War on June 25. Many people who were here during the anticommunist movement were later tortured and killed. Behind the building lies remains of people, bullets and iron chains can still be found even to this day. All of the area we are visiting during this trip is close to the boundary line in the demilitarized zone. Even if you have been to the DMZ in Paju on the west coast, we strongly recommend that you visit this region of the DMZ in Cheorwon for a different view. We’ll also stop off at the only bungee jumping site off a bridge in South Korea.Feel the freedom of falling with the safety of a rubber band tied to your ankles. At night we will be staying in a traditional style guest house a mere six or so kilometres from the DMZ. It is clean, and has a shower room and western-style toilets. For dinner we’ll enjoy true traditional Korean cuisine. After dinner, we huddle around the campfire site and get to know our fellow travellers better. Make sure to bring marshmallows with you. On the second day, we will go to Baekmagoji Battlefield, which was one of the hard-fought battelfield during the Korean war. We will receive a briefing from a soldier guide and also get a view of the North Korea.  After that we will learn how to make a Tofu(두부) in a traditional way and will taste it with Makeoli(막걸리)-Rice wine as well. You’ll also get the chance to ride a bicycle. This trip will be another fantastic way to learn something about Korean culture and customs. Please don’t miss this great opportunity to see the countryside at its most beautiful and get away from the hustle and bustle of city life.  So sign up now!!
	What to bring	:	Passport(or Alien registration card), Lunch for Saturday, toiletries, camera, comfortable walking shoes, sandals, cap, sun-block cream, extra clothing, sunglasses
	Schedule	:	Day 1(Saturday 28 April) 08:00am Depart from Hongik Univ. station( Sub line 2, Exit 1) 08:30am Pick up at Express bus terminal station( Sub line 3,7 Exit 8)- Infront of Shinsegae department store.next to main road. 11:00am Visit the Goseokjeong War Museum and have lunch (Lunch is not included) 12:00pm Security Tour (The 2nd infiltration tunnel- Woljeongri station- Unification observatory where you can get a full view of north korea) 15:00pm Visit the Nodongdandsa(The labor party building) 16:00pm Bungee Jumping!! 18:00pm Arrive at the Odaemi village and go to our accommodation to drop off our bag 18:30pm Dinner together 20:00pm Campfire and freetime *Make sure to bring a marshmallow Day 2(Sunday 29 April) 08:00am Wake up and have Breakfast 09:00am Riding a bicycle! 10:00am Lets visit a Baekmagoji Battlefield 11:00am Lets learn how to make Tofu 12:30pm Lunch together (Buffet style Bibimbop) 13:30 Free Time 15:00pm Leave for Seoul 18:30pm Arrive at Hongik Univ. station 19:00pm Arrive at Express bus terminal station

That’s all for now!!

xox

Lazy Weekend

This weekend I decided to take a much needed break from city hopping. Okay, so I went to Gwangju on Sunday but only for the day!

Friday night I noticed a dresser sitting, unattended, in my hallway. Our apartments come furnished with a wardrobe, dresser, TV, and fridge and it was the same model as the dresser in my room so I assumed the landlady was just moving furniture around. However, after a few hours of watching it sitting idly outside my door I decided to call Joo and ask her if she thought it might be up for grabs. She told me to wait another hour or so and if it was still there, it’s all mine. I waited patiently and after exactly 60 minutes I went outside and dragged it into my room. After that, I left it sitting in my front hall for the night and went to catch up on some sleep!

I spent all day Saturday cleaning my apartment, getting the smell of cigarette smoke out of my new dresser, and rearranging my room. Now my room is fully equipped with 2 dressers, 1 wardrobe, 1 fridge, 1 bed, 2 foot-high tables, and a chair that sits on the ground. My furniture makes me feel tall.

Sunday I broke my vow to have a relaxing weekend and not go anywhere by going to Gwangju to meet up with my English coteacher. Her name is Justina and I assist her class on Tuesday and Friday. She is a traveling English teacher so she has another nearby school that she works at Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I met her around 4 and she took me downtown and showed me some cheap places to shop! This didn’t end well for my bank account but I did have a lot of fun!

After that we went for “sam gyup sal” and soju. Sam gyup sal is pork belly (looks a lot like bacon but doesn’t taste anything like it) that you grill on your table. You grill the pork and different vegetables in front of you and when they’re done you take scissors and cut everything into bite size pieces. Then you take leaf lettuce and sesame lettuce and put beef, sauce, vegetables, and rice in the middle and wrap it into a little pouch. Once you have everything bundled up you literally shove the entire thing in your mouth. I wouldn’t recommend sam gyup sal for a date or anything but otherwise it’s absolutely delicious!  Justina told me that Koreans also say sam gyup sal and soju go very well together so we split a bottle between the two of us. Basically you take a drink of soju and chase it with this sam gyup sal pouch. If you happen to really dislike the taste of soju this is a great chaser because you have to focus so much on eating the food that you forget about the soju.

Once we were done with dinner she brought me back to the bus terminal and I headed home.

Pictures of my rearranged room, sam gyup sal, and me and Justina in a photo booth are at the end of my Life in Mokpo album. I’ll repost the link below:

 Life in Mokpo

Today, I had an exceptionally good Monday. I woke up and it was sunny, my busses were on time, and all my children behaved! Good Mondays are always a good sign for the rest of the week! Also, I rode the bus from Shijong to Yeongam with 3 of my 6^th grade boys and they did a great job at speaking English on the way! I was so proud!

Now I’m going to hang up my laundry and attempt to get to sleep a little early tonight!

xox

Why I love Koreans

Today is my day off so I explored Mokpo for a bit. I found the immigration office and picked up my ARC (Alien Registration Card), made my way to Daiso and got some more cleaning/school supplies, and then headed to E-mart for some groceries.

Between the immigration office and Daiso I passed a park where it looked like a school was having a small field trip. There was a teacher standing next to the park passing out snacks to hungry students and as I walked by I heard him yelling after me “teacher, teacher!” It took me a few seconds to remember that if he were calling one of his own teachers he would say “san sang neem” instead of “teacher”, but once I realized he was addressing me I stopped and turned around. He looked at me and said “teacher, thank you!” then handed me a bag of Korean animal crackers and waked back to his students. It’s things like this that happen every day that really make me love living here.

Now I’m about to clean and organize my apartment and then lesson plan for the rest of the week!

xox 

More Shenanigans

 Hello, hello! Time to play catch up again! I always tell myself I’ll write posts every few days but it comes down to being too tired during the week and never home during the weekends. C’est la vie. Last week quite a few noteworthy things happened so this entry is going to be a little sporadic, bare with me. 

On Tuesday I learned how to use Gmarket, Korea’s online shopping. This will likely be devastating to my bank account, but extremely useful for me. They sell literally anything I could need and deliver it to your door within days for little to no delivery fee. So far I’ve bought a table for my apartment, an Ethernet cord, a dress, a mattress pad, and a futon-type-thing. The futon ended up being out of stock and the mattress pad was actually a mattress pad cover but overall I think this website and I will get along just fine!

Wednesday was my day off and I got a chance to explore Mokpo a bit. Okay, so it was an inadvertent exploration, but exploration nonetheless. One of the first nights in Mokpo one of the 7^th gen girls took a group of us to a store called Daiso. Basically it is the Korean version of Dollar General, which is extremely useful when trying to fill an empty apartment on a budget. Wednesday I decided that it was time I bought some cleaning supplies so I wandered knowing the direction I needed to go in and not much more. After walking for about an hour I found my bank, but no Daiso. I decided it was time to give up and hail a cab, luckily I did remember the street it was on! Turns out I was about a 2 minute cab ride from where I needed to be but I know I would have never found it on my own so I think the cab was a good decision. I am glad that I got to wander around Mokpo a bit though. I think I’ll do the same thing this Wednesday, I have a feeling that Wednesday’s are going to be my new favorite day of the week.

On Thursday I invited the younger teachers, who live in Gwangju, to an Irish pub downtown for St. Patrick’s Day. Since Korea doesn’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day I needed to explain the holiday to them. I then realized all I knew about it was wear green, drink green, and see leprechauns. Even after looking it up I’m not entirely sure who St. Patrick was so now I’ve probably just confused my teachers with this made up holiday!

Friday was slightly frustrating and by the end of the day I was definitely ready for the weekend. I found out that my class is being moved once again, this time to the homeroom classrooms. This decision came about because earlier in the week Principal had come into my class just as Rosemarie had gone downstairs to grab pencils for some of the students. I had 5^th graders in my room at the time and they are probably the worst behaved class in the entire school, however at the time, they were actually behaving pretty well! At least they were all in their seats and mostly doing what I asked them to do, which was decorate/make nametags. Anyway, he was really unhappy that I was without my translator so he decided that now I will be in the homeroom classes so the students are better behaved. This means I basically have to kick the homeroom teachers out of their class for a period so I can use their computer for powerpoint, ect. It also means I don’t have a place to put any of my stuff so I have to carry everything from room to room. On the up side, it does mean I get smart boards (touch screen white boards), so I guess there’s a positive to everything.

Saturday I went to Gwangju and had the most amazing Italian dinner EVER. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been craving Italian or because it was just that good but either way I was thrilled. The meal included soup, salad, garlic bread, spaghetti with Bolognese sauce, a calzone, dessert, and a bottle of Merlot. It added up to $50 so split between 2 people we each paid about $25. For $25 it was DEFINITELY the best Italian meal I’ve ever had!! After dinner we went to an Irish pub called Speakeasy and met up with about 20 TaLK scholars! I love that Korea is so small that we can all get together even from different ends of the country!

This week I’m reviewing the English names I gave to each student last week and going over emotions so they can answer “How are you today?” when I see them in the halls!

Album of my students with their English names!

Oh and I just got the best care package ever from my Mom with everything from a Dove Easter bunny to toothpaste. Literally, it had everything in between. See below:

Now, since I have tomorrow off, I’m going to take a break from lesson planning and catch up on some TV shows!!

xox

Oh, Korea...

I feel like every day something in Korean culture just makes me laugh. Today, it’s Korean matchmaking. Since I take 4 busses every day I have about 10 different bus drivers, 2 of which speak or understand English.

Today from Shijong to Yeongam I had the bus driver that can actually have pretty decent conversations with me. He was asking me questions like what grades I teach, how often I work, what city I live in ect. It’s always nice to see how much Korean people want to practice their English so I work hard to be patient, speak slowly, and find easy ways to explain my answers.

On my way off the bus he shook my hand and I told him I would see him next time, ect. Then I went the convenient store to grab a snack and when I came out I heard “Korean, Korean, Korean, Korean, Ah-mahn-dah (because that’s how Korean people say my name haha) Korean, Korean, Korean, Korean, Ah-mahn-dah… ect” between my bus driver and the other bus driver that speaks basic English but understands pretty well. Clearly they were talking about me and a minute later I heard “Ah-mahn-dah, AH-MAHN-DAHHH” so I looked over, smiled, and said “hello” to the group of middle aged men who then giggled, yes giggled, and went back to talking to each other.

Another minute passes and then the 2 bus drivers that speak English come over to talk to me. The one that speaks basic English points to the bus driver who drove me today and goes “Him certy-pour (thirty-four), shingle (single), you-him be couple!” I couldn’t help but start laughing because Korean people tell me on a daily basis I should have a boyfriend. I then had to politely decline saying I’m 23 and too young to date a 34 year-old, trying not to say he’s too old to date a 23 year old. He persisted for a few minutes and then finally gave up and told me which bus was about to leave for Mokpo so I could go sit down out of the cold.

I’m going to try to start recording more culture clash things like this because I find them really entertaining even though it’s getting to the point where I almost don’t even notice when they happen!

xox

First Day Teaching!

Today was the first day teaching a class by myself and I have to say, it went pretty well! This week I’m letting all the students pick their own English name and then I had them make and decorate nametags. I also took pictures of each student holding their nametag so hopefully I can memorize at least their English name!

Since I was bringing my camera to school anyways I decided to do a whole day of pictures, from leaving my apartment in the morning until when I get home. This morning I left at 8:40 and I got home at 7:00. Even though I only teach a few hours each day it ends up being pretty exhausting. Luckily I managed to get Wednesday’s off so I only have to commute 4 days a week now!

This is my “final” schedule. I say “final” because Korean’s tend to change things whenever they want. I’ve had about 5 schedules so far but since I’ve actually started teaching I’m going to assume this one is the last:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
11:00-11:40	6-1 (A)	3 (A)	Off	5 (A)	---
11:50-12:30	6-2 (A)	4 (A)	Off	---	6-1 (A)
12:30-1:20	Lunch	Lunch	Off	Lunch	Lunch
1:40-2:20	---	5 (A)	Off	2 (T)	6-2 (A)
2:30-3:10	4 (T)	---	Off	---	1 (T)
3:20-4:00	6-1 (T)	3 (T)	Off	5 (T)	6-2 (T)

The grades in red are the one that I lesson plan for, the rest I just assist the homeroom teacher with pronunciation.

Below is the link for the pictures of my day. It is bed time for me now, enjoy!

 Life in Mokpo

xox

Reconnected

I officially have my own internet!! It’s funny how disconnected I felt with only a week offline. With my new Korean cell phone and now my internet connection I am back in the loop!

This week is my first week at school but I haven’t started teaching my own classes yet. I am technically an afterschool teacher but since the kids already have so many afterschool classes the administration is having a hard time figuring out where to put me. The homeroom teachers teach textbook English to the students during regular school hours so for 9 hours a week I’ll be assisting and the other 6 I’ll be teaching my own lesson plans.

Now that I have internet I should be able to keep this a little more up to date!

And since I didn’t get a chance to post my albums before I’ll add them here:

Mokpo Apartment

Goodbye Jochiwon/ Hello Gwangju

TaLK Orientation

Until next time!

xox

P.S. Add jellyfish to the list of strange foods Koreans have fed me. We had them for lunch and I just assumed they were noodles until Rosemarie told me otherwise. They weren't bad though!

New Address

My new Korea address is:

Amanda Marsh
530-823 전남 목포시 상동 784-7
신일포유드림 302 호
대한민국

or in English

Amanda Marsh
530-823 Jeonnam Mokpo-si Sang-dong 784-7
Shin-Il For You Dream apt. 302
Republic of Korea

*Note my apartment building is called For You Dream. I love the random English translations all over Korea...

First Few Days In Mokpo

I’ve been in Mokpo for 5 days now and I absolutely love it. It is however, about 2 hours and 2 busses from my school.

So Thursday night my school called my landlady and told her that I actually didn’t need to be at school on Friday and to let me know (my landlady doesn’t speak English either so she relayed the message to me through Joo). I was pretty excited that I was going to get to sleep in since Jochiwon I had to wake up every morning around 6:00 and since I still have a cold I’m trying to sleep as much as possible.

Friday morning rolls around and my school calls Joo at her office, she works for the office of education as our coordinator. My principle is frantic because all the teachers are going out to lunch and he’s afraid I’m going to feel left out if I’m not there. He then asks Joo to BRING me to school by 12:30.  A few problems with that, for one it’s around 9:45/10:00 and I don’t have a phone for her to call and tell me I’m going to school. For another, she’s at work about 45 minutes from our apartment…and she can’t just up and leave her job. So she tells my principle this and he hangs up the phone and calls her supervisor and asks her if she can leave work to come pick me up and her supervisor is like “Joo, go now!”. Then Joo calls Nari, another girl in our building, and has Nari come knock on my door and explain that I need to get up and dressed right now because Joo is coming to pick me up. Also, when I say “pick me up” I mean she’s riding a bus back to the apartment because she doesn’t have a car. 

Joo gets to my apartment just before 11 and we rush to the bus station to figure out how to get to school since neither of us have gone that route before. My school on a map is about 20 minutes from Mokpo but since it’s in the boonies no bus goes directly there which is why I have to switch busses at the county bus terminal. We get on the first bus to Youngam-eup (the county is Youngam and eup means like the downtown part) and it takes about an hour to get there. As we get further and further into the middle of nowhere Joo is like, “did you make the decision to live in Mokpo or did I? Because I’m going to feel really bad if I’m responsible for this”. But no, I made the decision and I’m sticking to it, I would much rather live with people and have to commute than be by myself most of the time. We finally got to Youngam and switched busses taking the next one to Sijong. Joo told one of the older ladies on the bus that I’m going to the elementary school to teach and she made the bus driver stop in front of the school for me so that was really nice. I think we’re going to make flash cards with the cities I need to go to in Korean and things like elementary school and teacher to just show the bus drivers so I get to the right place.

When we got to the school the principle gathered up the teachers and we all went down the street to the nicest restaurant in Sijong. It was raining and I had a small umbrella but an administrator gave me a really nice one as a gift. We all sat down at 3 long tables that were absolutely covered in food. There was barely room to put your glasses it was so filled. I got to sit next to the principle, which is kind of an honor, and he made a short speech and then had me stand up and say a few things and let Joo translate for me. It was really nice having Joo there because even though Rosemarie translates for me, her English is a bit rusty so it’s hard for her to communicate everything. Then we ate and I swear my school is just testing me to see how much weird stuff the foreigner can handle. They had a bulgolgi soup, which is normal. It’s just beef and carrots and cabbage in a stew and it’s actually really delicious. They also had congealed cows blood soup and raw beef. Those, not so normal. Joo asked me if I was going to be okay eating them and I told her I can’t pass up a challenge so I’d eat anything they asked me too, and sure enough they gave me a big block of cows blood and told me to try the raw beef. I tried each one and gave them the thumbs up to show that I liked it, which really, the raw beef was pretty good in the spicy garlic sauce you dip it in. The congealed cows blood was okay, it kind of had the texture of a harder tofu and apparently it’s a good source of iron so I ate the whole thing.  They also had Soju for lunch so we did a few shots together. At Jochiwon they taught us a lot of the Korean table manners like pour drinks with two hands, never pour your own drink and always check to see if other people have empty glasses, turn your head away from the most important/oldest person at the table when you’re drinking, ect… I was trying my very best to follow all the rules and Joo was helping me if I forgot one so lunch actually ran pretty smoothly. She said that they were talking about how impressed they were that I already knew a lot of the Korean rules so I think I’m making a pretty good impression. After lunch, Joo and I headed back to Mokpo. I’m so lucky that she went with me because now I pretty much know the bus route there and back so Monday won’t be as intimidating.

Friday night a group of us went to Daiso, kind of like a dollar general, and picked up stuff we all needed for our apartments. My apartment is actually getting close to finished. I think I’m going to look for a short table that folds up that I could use for eating but right now I have a cardboard box that’s working just fine. Also, on Thursday two guys delivered my bed, which came in pieces, but they literally put together in less than 5 minutes. I wish I had taken a picture but I was so mesmerized that I didn’t even think about it.

Saturday I decided to go to Gwangju, the biggest city in Jeollanamdo, to get a phone. My friends Emma and Sarah both live in Gwangju and so does one of the Korean co-scholars that I met so I had them all meet me at the bus terminal. I was really excited that I got to my bus terminal without a problem, bought my ticket and made the right bus on the first try. The bus ride was about an hour long and the ticket only cost about $5. Transportation in Korea is better and cheaper than any other country I’ve been in.

When I got there we also met up with Emma and Sarah’s boyfriends, Matt and John, and then we found Gilbert, the Korean co-scholar. Gilbert took us to a nearby mall with a lot of telephone companies and I picked out a used phone and got a pay as you go plan. It’s really hard for us to get phones because a lot of places make you give them your ARC card for information but we won’t get that until the end of the month. Luckily I got a temporary paper with my ARC number on it and the phone guy used that. I can’t activate the phone until Monday afternoon when the phone companies open back up but it’s just reassuring to have one.

We also checked our bank accounts in the mall and our airfare reimbursements came through, which was a giant relief to all of us. Gilbert took us to a Korean restaurant after that and we had chicken and noodles, which was delicious. We also went back to the English breakfast place, which apparently serves lunch and dinner, for desserts of key lime pie and hot brownies and ice cream.

Today it is Sunday and all the Mokpo girls are meeting up for lunch at 1:00. After that hopefully I’ll find a café with wifi so I can do some lesson planning for next week!

Apparently my landlady noticed how many foreigners are in her building now and she’s trying to make it so internet is included in rent and is in every room. If everything goes according to plan I should have internet by the end of next week!

Until next time!

xox

Catching Up

I know I’ve been MIA on here for a few weeks but I’m finally settled into my apartment and should have some free time!!

I’ll attempt a recap of orientation since my visit to Seoul:

During the week we had lectures from 9:00 to 5:40 with an hour break in the middle for lunch. It seems like that should be a long day of just doing lectures but they were always so interesting and useful that the days seemed to fly by. At night we would eat dinner in the cafeteria and then meet up in the girls lobby and head out into Jochiwon to find a place to hangout. We had an 11:00 curfew so we usually left around 10:30 and then spent an hour or so in the basement connecting the guy and girl dorms. Then we would all pass out from exhaustion and start over the next day.

The second weekend we had a field trip to a Korean farm on Saturday morning. It was freezing but really interesting, I learned how to make tofu (and tried it for the first time…and the last). We also flew some traditional Korean kites and wandered around the farm. When we got back to Jochiwon in the afternoon about 25 of us went to a smaller version of Seoul called Daejeon. We ate at a fried chicken place and made friends with a table of Korean university students and a table of Korean army guys and then headed to a club called Cocoon. After the club we split up into groups, half went to motels and the other half went to a Jimjilbong (Korean spa/place where you sleep on the floor). I stayed in the Jimjilbong and for $6 a night you get what you pay for. You find a mat and a place on the floor and pass out with about 50 other people. It was a cool experience but I will probably spend a little extra and get a motel next time.

Then we started our last week of lectures, which consisted of reading, writing, listening, speaking, games, and teach-a-skill workshops. That Thursday was my birthday and I’ve never had a birthday celebrated SO much! I think I was sung happy birthday at least 4 times by over 50 people each time. I got 3 cakes, some balloon animals, and a chicken/pizza party at the second orientation. Since I turned 23 on the 23^rd it was my “golden” birthday and I don’t think I could explain it any other way.

Finally came Friday, our closing ceremony. For lectures we had been split up into 6 groups divided by what province you were being placed in. Each group had to choose 2 people to be awarded at the closing ceremony, one for Excellence and one for Congeniality. My group and coordinator choose me for our Excellence award so during the ceremony the president of the Ministry of Education awarded me with a certificate and a $50 gift voucher. I was really an honor to be recognized for this award and probably the highlight of my orientation.

After the ceremony it was really sad because everyone had to go to their own provincial orientation and all but a few of my friends were split up. We’ve already started planning trips to meet up but without cell phones or steady internet it’s been hard the past few days to keep in touch.

I got really lucky because my provincial coordinator was a 6^th gen and remembers what it was like to go from the big orientation to provincial so she made it as easy for us as possible. My province is Jeollanam-do or Jeonnam and it was about a 3-hour bus ride from Jochiwon. That night we had a pizza/fried chicken/birthday cake party and all got settled into our rooms. This orientation was only 6 days and 5 nights so it flew by. Saturday we had a lesson-planning lecture but I had a really bad cold and ended up staying in bed most of the day. I knew the lesson-planning workshop would be useful but I didn’t want to meet my principle and mentor teacher a sick mess.

Saturday night we met some of the previous TaLK scholars still in the province. It was really reassuring to see that there were so many other foreigners in our area that are just from our program. Like I said, Joo (our coordinator), is awesome. She knew how important meeting each other and networking will be to staying sane in a foreign country.

Sunday we had a free day and so most of us went into the city to explore. We ate at an English breakfast place, which was amazing. I had bacon, eggs, toast, and hash browns. I don’t even like breakfast foods but after eating enough kimchi and rice even the foods I don’t normally like, I love. Then we went back to the dorms and I slept the rest of the day, still trying to get over my cold.

Monday we had mock classes where we presented the lesson plans we made on Saturday. One of the kids in my class had a Korean co-scholar who couldn’t make it that day so I just jumped in on his lesson and we won third place. Monday night we had another chicken and pizza party with noraebong (Korean Karaoke) added. I sang a few songs with what little of my voice I had left and then went to bed.

Tuesday we had a field trip day! We went to tour one of the scholar’s schools to see what to expect and then we went to a museum-like place dedicated to traditional Korean dyes. They gave us white scarves and we got to choose between pink (bug guts) and yellow (onion peel) to dye them in. I chose pink and ended up with a pretty awesome scarf.  Then we went to dinner at a vegetarian buffet, which was interesting, not bad though.

Wednesday was like dooms day for us. Sure, we’re excited to meet people from our schools and start teaching but this month of orientation was way too much fun for any of us to want it to end. We all brought all of our luggage down to the lecture hall before breakfast and said our goodbye’s and then had another closing ceremony. We each had to go up on stage and say our names, what school we’re teaching at, and a little about us. Then representatives from our school stood up and we joined them. From that point we were theirs, no more talking to other scholars it was all about the schools. We ate lunch with them and then packed our bags into our school’s car and went to our town.

My principle and mentor teacher came to pick me up and on our way to the school we picked up the principle’s wife in Gwangju (the big city we were outside of).  Then we went straight to the school and they started figuring out my schedule and apartment. Originally I was supposed to live in an apartment right next to the school but during our provincial orientation I learned that most people in my county were living in a city called Mokpo. Since I’m the first TaLK scholar at my school we’re figuring out the kinks as we go along. I sent Rosemarie a message on Sunday asking if they could move my housing to Mokpo to be closer to other scholars and when they picked me up on Wednesday my principle talked to some other principles to find out where everyone in Mokpo was living and literally got me an apartment by that afternoon. Koreans are amazing, they do everything quickly and decisively.

While they were figuring out my housing and when I was going to teach, Rosemarie gave me a tour of the school. It was huge for only 127 kids! The main classrooms all have touch screen white boards, which apparently is common in Korea. My room is probably going to be in the music room, which hasn’t been renovated yet but they still have a TV where I think I can show powerpoints.

After they figured out my housing (around 3:00, we got there at 2:00) my principle, his wife, Rosemarie, and an administrative guy, and I all went to Mokpo to register for my Alien Registration Card (ARC). The ARC is pretty much necessary for everything like getting internet, phone, ect. I think Joo told my school that they had to use their business ID to get my internet since I’m the first scholar and she can lie to them though so hopefully I’ll have that soon. Then finally we went to my apartment! It’s called Shin La and there are a total of 5 8^th gen scholars, 1 7^th gen, and 1 6^th gen (Joo) living here. The apartment itself is really nice and huge! It’s about an hour and 2 busses from my school but living with other foreigners is definitely worth it. I want to learn about Korean culture and I really want to learn the language but living in a small town with no other foreigners would have been too much culture shock even for me. After they showed me my apartment we went shopping for some essentials (blanket, pillow…my mattress is supposed to arrive today, Thursday). We get a settlement allowance of $300 at the end of March but they gave it to me to buy stuff for my apartment, which was nice. After we dropped my stuff off we went to dinner and ate boiled eel soup. That’s right, boiled eel. It was super spicy so I didn’t really taste the eel and I ate as much as I could. The whole time we were at dinner they were telling me that I looked like a doll because I was so beautiful and my face was so small. The administrative guy was really funny, Rosemarie had to translate everything for me. He kept asking if my eyelashes were real. Apparently fake eyelashes are a big thing in Korea. My principle also told me as soon as I met him that he got the most beautiful TaLK scholar. Koreans are very complimentary haha.

Anyways, they finally dropped me off at my apartment and I got settled in. I immediately posted photographs and the paintings I did at orientation on the walls, might as well make it my own!

Right now it’s Thursday and I’m waiting to go grocery shopping with the other scholars. Joo is going to show us how to use the bus system and help us carry back some of the essentials we need for our apartment. Then maybe go out for dinner after that. Tomorrow I’m going to the school in the morning just to meet the other teachers and get to know the kids a little and then I start actually teaching on Monday!

I’ll post the links to the albums I have on facebook below:

xxx I'm posting this on sketchy wifi that I'm picking up in my room so I can't get to the albums but I will post here as soon as I get a better connection xxx 

Hopefully from now on I’ll have more free time to update this! Until then …

xox