Orientation - opening ceremonies

            The first day of orientation has felt like it’s contained an entire week. I lied about the jet lag – it hit me like a tidal wave the moment I left the cafeteria from lunch and I’ve been in a fog ever since.

I started the day off a weird shower:

I've used this kind of shower before at my host mom's in Spain so it wasn't entirely unfamiliar but still a bit of a challenge keeping my pile of clothes drive since you pretty much hose down the whole bathroom. Oh, and here's the rest of the dorm:

We're messy :/

            First thing this morning was our tour – in my usual style, I barely skidded into the midst of my group before they departed. They started by separating the vegetarians from the rest of the group to get special stickers put on our nametag – a strawberry with the Korean word for “eating disorder” written on it for all I could tell. During that time, I met Eilidh from Scotland who I’d talked to a little bit online beforehand.  We made jokes about them singling out the vegetarians so they could send us home first.

The tour went fairly quickly since there were only two buildings to show and, afterward, I attached myself to Eilidh and a girl from London, Ayesha. We wandered down the streets until we came across a nice little coffee shop and ducked in. It was nice to relax a bit before lunch since we have a long week of classes to look forward to. Ayesha is a Pakistani from London and comes from a Muslim family so it was interesting to compare the similarities and differences between our religious backgrounds. Part of the conversation dipped into UK politics and vacations to neighboring countries – all of which was over my head. They were surprised to hear that I’d only been outside the country 3 times and that most Americans don’t own a passport. Ayesha is mildly cynical and prefers sitting in the corner smoking cigarettes and judging passersby over surface-level mingling. I decided I liked her. Eilidh is more of a social butterfly but in a genuine and quirky way. The more excited she gets, the harder she is to understand. On our way back we found this rad spider:

Not an awesome picture - he was camera shy

We went to lunch together and sat outside afterwards so the other two girls could have a smoke.  After that I was inadvertently adopted into the UK clan when a few other English kids gathered round. I somehow felt the need to keep my mouth shut so they wouldn’t catch on that there was a Yank in their midst. When I got over my insecurity and was asked where I was from, I told them Utah. They had no clue where that was so I told them "Breaking Bad". Close enough and they all nodded knowingly.

The opening ceremonies were after lunch and involved a very cool Taekwondo presentation. I took one picture (and not a very good one):

 and then got sucked into the show. These kids were doing backflips while breaking multiple board with a  series of kicks and all sorts of crazy moves while playing drums and dancing to hip-hop. I felt like a slug next to them. Then we heard from Walter Foreman, a Canadian who’s lived and worked in Korea for over 15 years and talked to us about some of the cultural differences we might encounter, after which we were hearded off to our classrooms.

I met a few of the guys from our group. They were really funny and we exchanged some US vs. Canada banter. I’ve met more kids from Toronto than anywhere else here. Our class was entertaining mostly because the Gangwon kids are such a lively bunch. Our class president wasn’t elected like all the other classes but, rather, strutted to the front of the class upon hearing there would be a class president, gave his election speech, and sat down to some confused but enthusiastic applause. We may have a dictator on our hands.

Our teachers are two very sweet Korean girls who struggle a bit with English so we really have to strain to understand them. They explained that the most commonly spoken language in the world is “broken English” and we’d better get used to it since we were about to become a part of that community.

            I ate dinner with Eilidh and David from Manchester, England. Halfway through we all kind of shut down from the intense jet lag and agreed that we should all call it an early night since we have medical exams in the morning. I might not blog much til I get to Gangwon since it’s going to be a busy week (maybe not even then since I won’t have internet in my apartment for about a month).  Good night!

EPIK orientation - Arrival

            Quick entry before I go tour the campus for orientation so I can get this blog going.  14 hour flight – not so bad. Going two days with no sleep and emerging in a new country where I know very little language – not so bad. Jet lag – not so bad. I woke up at 4 in the morning but managed to go back to sleep and wake up at a decent hour. We missed dinner last night so we were ravenous this morning. Breakfast was kimchi, rice w/ mushroom soup, and cocoa puffs. It was different but also not bad.

            I sat by an Oceanographer from San Diego and a transfer student from Daejon on the plane. The oceanographer shared some apples from the farmers market with us since he wouldn’t be able to take them through customs and told us all about his upcoming voyage from Busan to Hawaii to measure… the ocean and things, I can’t remember. He told me I should move to Antarctica when I’m done in Korean because I would meet the most interesting people there. Not sure if that was a round-about way of calling me an ice-queen or if he was being genuine but I might consider it.

            There are zero Utahns at orientation -  the closest thing I could find was a band of Canadians from Toronto so they’re my people now. They’re crazy-friendly. My roommate, Shankary, is from Toronto as well and if anyone asks her she tells them she’s Canadian, but she’s definitely Indian with the cute accent and everything. She’s a tad shy and forgetful but very nice. We bonded over trying to “translate” TV shows on our little TV last night.

            I haven’t taken a single photo yet but I’ll try to get some for my next entry.

            Everyone here is really fun, I talk to a new set of people everywhere I go. The Toronto kids and I spent last night helping people with luggage and chatting. We met people from New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, Canada, and a couple of Americans. A lot of the teachers here have already lived abroad in places like Spain and China before this or have been in Korea for a while. One guy had a massive bag that was about 3 ft wide and 7-8ft long. He told us we had to guess what it was… I’m going with Kayak or a strange Japanese instrument. I guess we’ll find out.

            Anyway, Korea’s great so far – people are really friendly and it’s hella humid. I’m pretty sure it’s more humid than Atlanta was in the summer. It’s also monsoon season so it’s been really rainy and that doesn’t help the humidity thing. My hair had gone curlier than ever. I’ve seen the most beautiful mountains and rivers though and a couple little temples and shrines from the bus. The lady in the convenience store downstairs doesn’t speak any English so we get to practice our Korean when we go to buy snacks. She’s constantly got her Korean Dramas going too so sometimes we’ll hang out and watch a bit. Man, I’m so nervous about the language barrier. I’ve never been in a country where I speak so little. I had a lot of random people approach me in the airport and ask the most random questions. I’m not sure if they were practicing English or if I just looked super lost but it was entertaining.

            More to come and hopefully some pictures!