Excursion to Homeplus.

I decided to go to Homeplus this morning, which is basically the equivalent of Walmart here in Korea. Its within walking distance of my apartment which is nice, though of course I got lost on the way there. I did find it eventually though! Homeplus has everything you could need from groceries to toilet seats, though it is weird in the fact that while you're shopping they're playing k-pop songs about Homeplus on the speakers... I bought a backpack to carry groceries/school supplies in since I'll be walking most places. I also bought toilet paper (the tissues of Asia), detergent, ramen, and aloe juice. I was able to find my way back home thankfully! Now its time to eat ramen and watch the Starcraft channel and rest.

Homeplus!

My apartment building.

The roundabout. Most likely the main reason I get lost every-time I step out of my building.

Yeongju train station.

My new apartment!

Orientation is finally over and I have just been thrown into my new life in Korea. Today my mentor teacher came to pick me up, he's a really nice guy. We first drove about 2 hours to get to Yeongju to drop off my luggage at my new place. Then we went to visit my elementary school which is about 1 hour and 20 minutes away via bus and has only 30 students. The staff were very nice! I took the bus home and almost got lost on the way back, the city is very confusing at first. Now I'm home living real life, awesome.

Immigration and Daegu!

Went to Daegu for the first time today to register for my Alien Registration Card. The immigration office was an extremely busy place, but we were bale to complete our registration in a reasonable amount of time. After immigration we had lunch in downtown Daegu. We had a number of awesome side dishes (including delicious raw oysters) and as a main course we had spicy raw crab. It was pretty much like crab gelatin inside of the shell with spicy sauce, really hard to eat, but tasted good. After lunch we walked back to the buses and stopped by some of the stores on the way.

After dinner we had a K-pop class and at the end we had a competition, my team won 1st place. We danced to a girly song.

One weird place.

So. I just arrived at my provincial orientation where I will be staying for the next five or so days. This may be one of the weirdest places I have ever been in my life. We are staying at the Daegu Gyeongbuk English Village, which is basically an English camp for kids (the kids are not here this time of year though). This place is in the middle of nowhere, no convenience store around, no town, its in the middle of a hilly forest with graveyards everywhere. Cool. More importantly however, there is an AIRPLANE on campus. Koreans spend a ridiculous amount of money in order to teach their kids English, and this is a shining example of how extravagant it can get.

Looks like an airport.

Has an airplane.

Not an airport.

The dorm where I'm staying...yep.

Last night in Jochiwan

For our last night at our main orientation we went to Seoul to walk around, shop, and see a show called Nanta. Nanta was basically a cooking/dance/comedy show. It was really well done and entertaining. Tomorrow we will all split up into our provincial groups and head out to our smaller orientations which we will have for a few days until we start teaching. I'm excited and scared to have freedom (and a real job).

Finished Lectures

I have finished my 8-day long lecture marathon! It was fun. There were a few boring lectures but a lot of fun ones also. This next week we will be learning how to make lesson plans and then we will head out to our provinces for another week of orientation there.

Today we went to a Farm. It was fun but really really cold. I think we went to see what "rural" life in Korea is all about.

Weekend in Seoul

For the first time we had a couple days of free-time during our weekend. Almost everybody in our orientation went to Seoul. This was the first time I have ever actually been on a train that I can remember other than a subway, It was really relaxing and a lot of fun, best of all the trip was only $8!! The train also has a small cafe and noribong in it!! In Seoul we explored and figured out the subway system. We had a few amazing meals and went clubbing. The club that we went to was called M2, it was awesome! Lots of dancing and really good electro-house music. I ended up sharing this hotel room with a few girls, they were all on the bed and I slept on the floor using all of our coats and sweatshirts as bedding, I was tired enough that I fell asleep immediately.

Oh, I also ate a fish eye-ball and got a green tea latte at the Hello Kitty Cafe. Good times.

First week down!

Today was the last day of week 1! We had more lectures on teaching and life in Korea as well as a Korean Paper Art class. Tomorrow we have our mandatory medical check-up and then I am going into Seoul for a night.

Noribang!!

I went to the Noribang with my orientation group for a bonding experience. It was a lot of fun!! lots of drinking and good times. EVERYBODY opened up. I drank a whole bottle of Soju by myself though (along with a bunch of other people) so that probably helped with the atmosphere. Overall it was an awesome experience and I would gladly do it all the time!!

I have a stupid face, but I didn't feel like asking for another picture ;;;

My bottle of Soju.

First day of lectures

Yesterday was my first day of lectures! We had a tae-kwon-do class, a korean history lecture, and a korean culture lecture. I loved the culture lecture because the information was presented really well and it was very practical. After dinner I went out with a small group for one of the Scholars (Michaels) birthday. It was awesome. We went to a cocktail bar that has a really nice atmosphere.

Phone!!

I got a used phone at the T-World store in Jochiwon with a pay-as-you-go type plan. It is adorable.

Seoul for the first time

Today the whole orientation went to Seoul for a "scavenger hunt" and to the commencement ceremony for orientation. The ceremony included a few speeches by former TaLK scholars and important government people and well as performances by a children's choir, a traditional dance show, and a children's tae-kwon-do demonstration. They were basically trying to kill us with cuteness. After the commencement ceremony we got to walk around downtown Seoul. It seems like a really cool city, lots of stuff to do. However, it was REALLY COLD. The temperature was -8 degrees Celsius.

Arrival at Korea University in Seoul for the opening ceremony.

cuteness.

Traditional dancing.

More cuteness.

Seoul.

My orientation team.

I love these streets, very busy and packed together with so many lights and colors.