I will be teaching in Gyeongju!!

OK EVERYBODY

.

I am going to be teaching elementary in Gyeongju! I have highlighted where that is and where Adri will be for those of you who know her ;)

So tomorrow I leave my safety net of orientation and head out into the big unknown. I will be meeting my co-teacher, who getting along with is crucial to my sanity in Korea. I may also meet my principal and vice principal, so I have to look very sharp. (Not fun in this heat) I finally figured out why Koreans like everything so high necked (ok so this is just a theory)... because when you bow you can see down any other neckline! I'm so smart.

Now for the sad news: I will be losing my free internet. So if I am MIA for a few days, do not worry. I am merely internet-less. And phone-less. I'm sure I'll be able to find a cafe close by though!

Food for thought (slash food for me)

Here is an excerpt on the Wiki page for Gyeongju cuisine:

"The soup is made by boiling soybean sprout, sliced memilmuk (buckwheat starch jelly), sour kimchi (pickled vegetables) and gulfweed in a clear broth of dried anchovy and Alaska pollack.[123]
The east district of Gyeongju, Gampo-eup town, is adjacent to the sea, so fresh seafood and jeotgal (fermented salted seafood) are abundant. There are over 240 seafood restaurants in Gampo Harbor offering various dishes made with seafood caught in the sea, such as hoe (raw fish dishes), jeonboktang (an abalone soup), grilled seafood and others."

Wish me luck!!

Field trip and Orientation

Yesterday we got a nice break from all these classes, which was wonderful. We went to Keumsan temple and saw gorgeous temples and monks. I could have happily stayed in one of the temples for hours. It's amazing how serene it is. There were a few people praying as well, and many bags of rice as homage to Buddha.

We then had authentic (and delicious) bibimbap (as it was invented in this area) in Hanok Village. We walked around the town, which was amazing and got me so excited for this year. We were a few hundred, all in the same shirts, so I am excited to venture my future placement town and get to know the locals as an individual instead of a member of a herd. 

We spent the afternoon doing traditional Korean cultural activities: drumming, dancing, and pencil box making. It was all a ton of fun, although I messed up being the lion's head in dance class. It is very disorienting being in a very hot stuffy "lion" costume while a man is enthusiastically speaking to you in Korean. Speaking of Korea, I am slowly but surely acquiring a little bit of the language. I went to a Walmart type store yesterday and everyone was happy when I could say thank you. I may have bought some mozza sticks from a Korean type McDonalds. Don't judge me; yesterday's dinner was so pickled and so fishy. Speaking of fish, I had some baked flathead today that was so good I got a second piece ! I also am in love with lotus root, which is essentially pretty Asian potato.

Anyways, classes have been on all day today and now it is time for my after dinner Korean lesson. I will have to edit this post later so bear with any errors.

I'm not going to stop being obsessed with these gingkos.

This one's for you mommy

Cool stone pile offerings to Buddha

No blog post would be complete
without some food shots. Note
the piece of squash. So good.

HUGE AMAZING RAINBOW

It is so green and lush everywhere due to the humidity.

Found some pretty fun wall art in Hanok Village.

Medical exam

We weren't allowed to eat or drink anything before the medical exam since before going to bed. It is very hot. After the blood test we were given two treats to make up for this: grape juice, and a hot dog bun filled with very sweet whipped cream.

When I made it back to the dorms, I couldn't agree more with the sign on the water cooler:

Best pure water glory indeed!

Orientation begins

Yesterday marked the first official day of our orientation. It is very organised, and it seems to be an excellent transition into living in Korea. Because I am surrounded by so many other westerners, it almost feels like I am not even in Asia. Especially with our frequent trips to Paris Croissant.

We are staying in Jeonju University. It's a super snazzy university with all new electronic things. The best part about the university however, is its slogan: The place for superstars! How happy is that? As I've said, my room has a gorgeous view. After my last post I was able to watch the sunrise and it was gorgeous.

The place for superstars!!

Sunrise over Jeonju

During our first day of orientation we had a sweltering and sticky campus tour, following by some amazing opening ceremonies. We watched a Korean musical group play four traditional percussion instruments while a dancer swirled an Olympic style ribbon from atop his helmet. Amazing. There we go I googled it and found the real terms :  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samul_nori

Next up we saw the Jeonju University Taekwondo team who performed first a dance to Kpop and then Taekwondo demonstrations. It was amazing. And by demonstrations I mean like crazy flips in the air to crack boards with their feet left right and center. They even had a "fight" scene, and a comic relief skit. I feel hesitant to post  images of these people as I didn't have their permission, but here is a quick clip of the finale of their show which I believe is fuzzy enough to make identification difficult. (please excuse it's sideways-ness. Windows Movie Maker videos are popped out in a weird format so I can't edit it right now) This was followed by some very impressive speeches from the university's President and a Korean ambassador who assured us the taekwondo team would keep us very safe. Our day ended with a tasty banquet, full of delicious things. I sat next to a vegetarian and her plate of sad salad once again confirmed my decision to eat animals for the year.

Today is Day 2 which includes our medical exam. Sadly, this means we don't get any breakfast which is why I am hungrily posting this. The exam includes measuring our height, weight, blood pressure, blood, urine, and an x-ray. Apparently it's basically a drug test. Afterwards we get snacks, and they had better be good. This afternoon we begin our classes! Classes include teaching lessons, Korean culture lessons, and Korean language classes. Should be very interesting! We also will have a final project to present a lesson plan. My two teammates seem very nice and competent; one is even a real teacher!

Gingko Bilboa lined street!! They're actually native to Asia
so they look so much happier out here.

Nice to feel welcomed! 

Jet Lag

I thought I had escaped its clutches in London, but jet lag has finally caught up to me here in Korea. I am up and awake at 4AM after passing out after lunch, waking for dinner, then passing out after dinner again. Ah well.

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. 

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.

Lost in Translation style DeNiro. 

Lunch of good ol classics Dol Sot
Bibimbap and bulgogi. My
roommate can already read
Hangeul which is how we
managed to order anything.

There is a chain of cafes called
"Paris Croissant." I think this
will be an excellent treat when
I am craving non pickled things.

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.

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!

Beautiful view from my room.

Amusing bathroom shoes to be worn when the
shower curtain-free bathroom is soaked post
showers.