I am currently at Jeonju University, and tomorrow (well I guess later today) the EPIK orientation starts. At the end of this orientation is when I finally figure what city I am posted to and what age group of kiddies I'll be teaching. Woohoo!!
There are so many people here, and they are all sooo eager, it feels a lot like the first day of camp mixed with frosh week. A lot of people have education backgrounds, so I have yet to find another science nerd. No one got as excited as me (or excited at all) by the squished praying mantis in the bathrooms or the Korean magpie outside the window!
The university we are staying at has really nice dorm rooms. My bed is right up against floor-to-ceiling windows so when I roll over there is a trippy moment of feeling like I am about to fall. It's more pleasant than it sounds. It is unbearably hot unfortunately, and the weather forecast shows no changes anytime soon. I cannot understand how Koreans developed a no-tank-top policy in this insane weather. Our room is a sauna, and the fan always shuts off (to prevent fan death I imagine) so throughout the night we are awoken by stifling stillness and have to turn it back on. Hopefully after a few days my blood will thin. When I say we I am referring to my roommate, who is the same person from the hotel the other night. We got along so well she asked to stay together. She is from Miami and even she is suffering in this humidity.
Anyways, I look forward to this very sweaty but exciting ten days! Tomorrow we get a tour, a welcome ceremony, and dinner. It looks like it will be a full but very informative and fun orientation. I hope to absorb as much info as I can to help with the actual job I came here to do!
Also this amused me: someone tried to convince me that here in Korea it gets so cold (average is around 0 but occasionally falls as low at -12) that if you were to go outside with wet hair, your hair would snap right off! I tried to explain that despite this information being relayed to her by a Korean, it was impossible. After four years of going to high school with soaking wet hair in Montreal (where it gets a fair bit colder than -12) I had yet to experience cold induced baldness.
And now for some pictures! The food is all from restaurants I went to before tonight, because from now on it's gonna be much less exciting cafeteria food.
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| My first dinner in Korea. Pajeon are Korean style fried savory pancakes. They were delicious. My very first time eating tentacles! I also tried a mollusk filled soup. I can't believe how adventurous I'm being in animal eating. Was 100% a good idea to try meat before leaving to reduce the food shock. |
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| Lost in Translation style DeNiro. |
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| Lunch of good ol classics Dol Sot Bibimbap and bulgogi. My roommate can already read Hangeul which is how we managed to order anything. |
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| There is a chain of cafes called "Paris Croissant." I think this will be an excellent treat when I am craving non pickled things. |
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| This is a super weird Korean desert. It involves crushed ice, ice cream, red beans (like actual legume beans) and fruit. I was not a huge fan.. yet. |
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| My welcome to Epik package! I'm so glad I didn't end up packing a towel 'cause I was given a nice big one! |
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| Beautiful view from my room. |
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| Amusing bathroom shoes to be worn when the shower curtain-free bathroom is soaked post showers. |
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