Date: 11/26/2010
Today was the first day of EPIK Orientation. I've been in Korea for 1 month and am actually pretty lucky that I get training so close to my actual start date. There are people who've been here for 5 months and haven't had training. That would stink!
I should preface this post saying that I usually don't like training camps like these. I don't like big groups of people and I don't usually do well. Day One's evaluation: A Solid B. Report Card to come!
I got up around 7 am. I have a pretty fabulous roomie from Busan and she sleeps until 8--which was breakfast. We are in a college dorm setting, so the shower wasn't great (hot but very little water pressure). The food, so far, has been a big plus to the orientation. We had scrambled eggs, ketchup, fruit, cereal, actual milk, pancakes (so-so) and coffee (korea style) (which = SWEET--as in sugary, not cool). Then we had some time off until a 10 o'clock class meeting. We are divided into 4 "classes" and about 40 people in each class. I spent this off time walking around Seoul with Scott-the Kiwi from Gunsan that I spent yesterday riding up with.
The class meeting went well. I really like our class leader: Haesol. She is quiet nice, and after talking to her a little bit last night at registration, I wanted a chance to get to know her better. When she was asking for a "class leader" she said that she would be working closely with this person. I volunteered--which makes me pretty much a dork, but I don't care that much. She is a cool person and very nice.
In class, we basically go over the rules, schedules, and get in groups for our Lesson Presentation that will be on Monday.
We head down to the Auditorium and we have an official greeting from a couple "important" people, a musical performance, and the police security chief "talks" to us. He didn't really say much, just handed out a sheet. No warnings--but the sheet was quiet clear: No drugs or prison. I don't have to worry about that. The official lady from the EPIK head off made some comment about how "we teachers might be worried, but not to worry. Korea is a safe place." I think we all raised an eyebrow at that one.
Next, lunch. It was about the same quality as a school lunch for me--except they had salad and ranch dressing. I had lots of salad with ranch dressing.
Then we had A Korean History and Culture lesson by Hyewoo Sin. This has by far been the highlight of the day. This guy is in charge of TalkToMeInKorean.com and is just majorily cool. He tried to discuss four main points in his 90 minute talk: Japan/Korea relationships, N/S Korea relationships, strange questions Koreans will tell you and Learning Korean Langauge. I was most interested in J & K relationship. (Look for a blog entirely about his lecture later on...)
Then we had a 90 minute lecture about "How To Make English More Comprehensible." It was a good course, and I learned a few really good tricks to help increase the understanding of what I am saying and the comprehension of students--but he probably could have compressed the lecture into an hour. Plus, the lecturer, Charles Ko, had the habit of speaking to us like we were his elementary students. Overexaggerated rises and falls, dramatic story telling techniques, and quiet strong intonations. It made me feel like he was being condescending (which I know he wasn't so no hard feelings...) but it left a bit of a funky taste in my mouth. Like, I didn't want to listen to him because he was talking to us like we were 3rd graders, not adults; which is an illogical rebllion and just reinforces the attitude that I would be more like a 3rd grader not to listen to him...but whatever. I wrote down some notes and I learned a few good things from him so it was a good lecture.
Then we had dinner. Another school cafeteria food--which as long as they have the lettuse/dressings and maybe a meat, I will be ok with.
After that, we had Korean Language Lesson. Which, believe me was helpful--but this has been after an 8 hour day (and the class is 90 minutes). I was pretty brain dead. For example, while I now "know" the alphabet (or most of it) I don't think I'll actually retain any bit because I was pretty slap happy. I felt really bad, but the guy next to me (who I will definitely be sitting next to again tomorrow because he made me laugh--his name was Chris) was very funny and sometimes I laughed at inappropriate comments. For example: the word "rain" in Korean is p'E. As in, it sounds like pee. The word RAIN is pee. For my extremely tired mind, this just set me off and I was struggling very hard not to interrupt class. Totally inappropriate, but Chris and I had a good laugh over this one. Maybe you had to be in the moment.
Then there was a schedule Korean movie--don't know if anyone actually went to this. I met with my Lesson Presentation partner Amanda and she actually invited me to eat some pumpkin pie. Believe it or not, this girl (and her husband Tom) live in Seoul and on their way to Orientation they stopped at CostCo (AH!!) and bought a couple pumpkin pies. Their logic: "Well, if Korea is making me work on my holiday, I'm bloody well going to enjoy some pie." (They're from Montana, so I don't know why I wrote down a British accent, but hey...it works). Anyway, so I probably had a moment that I will remember for quiet some time while sitting in the lobby of the dormatory, with about 25 Americans, sharing two massive pumpkin pies the day after Thanksgiving, and thinking, "The American Family. I have no idea who these people are, but we just shared a Thanksgiving."
Then, I was faced with the dilema about if I should go out. There was a group going to get smashed and then there was a group who were going to a noreaban (Korean singing room). I didn't really feel like either. It is freaking cold in Korea and I was tired--brain felt like mush--and so I turned Amanda and went, "So, you like Glee? I was thinking about watching this week's episode."
She turned to me and went, "Are you serious? That sounds perfect!" She had just been mentioning that she didn't feel like going out--too cold, too tired, too many things to do tomorrow. So, on our way up, we bumped into Chris and mentioned that we were going to be silly, stay in, go to bed at a reasonable hour, and watch Glee. He laughed, mocked us (silly Brit) and then, when he revealed that he had never seen Glee, we invited him. Which he immediantely accepted because he too didn't want to go out--too cold, he had been in Korean for 10 days and didn't really feel like getting drunk or doing a Noreaban (those cultural experiences will come in time). So we headed back up to my room and ended up talking and laughing for 3 hours. We never got around to watching Glee--maybe next time--but the conversation was great and the people were fantastic. I now think I have a New Years place to go and made some good friends.
So, now it's 12.25 am (so much for going to bed at a decent time, eh?!) and I'm finishing up my evaluation of EPIK Orientation Day One.
Presentations: A- (would be perfect, but the condescention of that one speaker just left a bad taste)
Food: B- (Only ok. I'll live but sometimes I think my school cafeteria is better)
Activities: B (Lesson Presentation and Korean Class are necessary, but its a lot)
Time Management: C (The space between classes is unnecessary--we don't need 2 hours for lunch and a 40 minute break between Lecture One and Two. If we could have finished everything by 6 (including dinner) then we would have the evening to goof off in Seoul--which would be better.
People: A (All the Korean helpers/class leaders have been super nice. You can tell this is well organized and thought out, and that a lot of effort has been put into this. The Native English teachers are a bit of a hodge-podge, but over all, a nice set of people. You definitely find those who you like and those who you probably don't mind seeing again. It's a bit like speed dating.)
Overall: Solid B.
Time for bed. Out! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment