Date: 11/30
Last day of Orientation. Whew! It is very exhausting to be a Korean Student. I think they really tried to make the Orientation a snipet of what a Korean middle or high school student would feel like so that the teachers can try to understand why a student could possibly fall asleep in your class. I was getting up around 7. Classes start at 9. 2 classes before lunch, two after. Dinner, then Korean class. And then we had to things to do outside of class: getting the lesson plan presentation together, doing Korean Language homework, etc. They put you quiet the ringer--wringer? Whatever. The students spell better than I do either way.
So: Tuesday went like this:
I got up late (after 5 hours of sleep, you would too, especially since it was the second night in a row that I had gotten 5 hours). Anyway, enough of the whining.
Then, my friend I had made at orientation came and told me some really bad news. My friend, Amanda, found out on Saturday that her dad was in the hospital. But since it was Thanksgiving weekend, they couldn't get a doctor to come in until Monday (aka, Tuesday our time). So, at 7.15 Amanda knocks on my door and says that she's "going home."
It was pretty crushing. I felt horrible for her. Her brother is buying her a ticket home and she and Tom (her husband) were going to fly out that afternoon. So, I take her up to the Office where our class leader, Hae Sol is working. She tells us that we need to go tell the Orientation Director. We find her having breakfast. Amanda tell the director. It was very short and quick. She literally walked up to the direct and said, "I'm going home." The direct took it was good aplum, but it wasn't easy. In our contracts, we do get emergency family leave.
Amanda fully intends to come back, but it will not be an easy time. That is one thing that everyone who comes to Korea has a fear of. It is just about the worst thing that can happen.
I say good-bye to Amanda and Tom in the lobby. Shelby, one of Amanda's best friends, was also there. We both started crying after they left. It was just so hard. I made a remark that I've only know Amanda for 2 maybe 3 days and I'm upset with her leaving. I can't imagine how Shelby was feeling.
So, I basically put that emotion on hold. I had still had to buy the gift for Mrs Lee and I wasn't going to put only my money into the gift so I went around during breakfast and asked people for anything they felt would be appropriate. I had some people who flat out refused to give money, while others were very helpful.
I ran to Starbucks and got a gift card for Mrs Lee. I had about 25,000 won from everyone (Richard gave 5000) and I added another 5,000. I also got myself an extra-venti mocha because I felt after saying goodbye to Amanda that I was fully entitled to an indulgence. And I also got HaeSol a hot chocolate. I rushed back to the NIIED complex because we had another lecturer about "Co-teaching Strategies" and I was late (about 15 minutes).
Of course, once I get there I realize a key stragetic flaw with my plan to HaeSol hot chocolate. It needs to be "hot" chocolate to be good--and she's in front of the lecture hall with all the other Korean class leaders. But luckily I catch her eye and wave her back. I give her the chocolate, which makes her smile and then I ask if I can borrow any tape because I need to wrap the Director's gift. And then I specify that the chocolate is from me--not the class. And she goes, "Oh, the class got me something too?" Which, yes they had. Sort of.
When we went to the traditional village the day before, I had made some origami of little people in traditional clothes and we glued them onto some cardstock to make a card. I basically passed around my card with a pen and had Class 4 sign the back. I have done so many origami things in my life I don't really need another one so it was no big deal--but I had a lot of my classmates really impressed with my "generosity."
During the break between the lecture and the closing ceremony, I run up to my room and wrap the gift card for Mrs Lee. Then I run back to the lecture hall and get to my seat just in time to catch a breath before the closing ceremony starts.
All are teachers filling out an evaluation and then some lady from the HEAD EPIK office gets up and officially starts the closing ceremony. We all clap. Then all four class leaders go on stage (ie, me and 3 other people) and accept the certificates for our classes. Next, Richard and I give our speeches.
We had practiced last night so it went really well. We could play off each other like we were actually friends--not had met for less than a hour. It went well. And then, at the end of the speech, we surprise Mrs Lee. We had not informed her that we were getting her anything, nor had we practiced this the previous night. So, I cheekily call her up on to the stage. Richard knows how to bow better than I do so he hands over her gift. It was really cute, she bows, but quickly grabs Richard in a hug (pretty Un-Korean of her). Then she comes up to me and I got a hug too! There is a back story to this:
This is the second orientation that this lady has directed. The last one had a severe sour note. Some guys had gotten extremely drunk, and uncapped 3 or 4 fire extinguishers on two or three dorm rooms. Yah...they got sent home. But, because of this, Mrs Lee had gone a little over and beyond to make sure that this orientation would go well. While at sometimes this meant she cracked down a little bit (as in, having a curfew--which lots of people balked at) it also meant she thought about a lot of little things (such as having water bottles for everyone at the begin of the day and Western Food for meals).
Anyway, I know a couple people were really not happy with the orientation and they probably gave really bad reviews during the evaluation. But I also don't think people have done a project of this magnitude. During college I organized a Girl Scout Day where 80 troopers came to our college and earned their music badge. That was 1 day (maybe 8 hours), with the help of parents, meals/and/or/lodging not included, and it took weeks of planning. So, it really angered me that people were so critical of the orientation. It was really well managed. Yes, she might have been a bit of a control freak about certain things, but really, it was an excellently managed event that was no small endeavor. I wish some people would think more about things like that before they are so judgmental.
Anyway, after closing ceremony, we are basically free. The people from Busan and some other place had busses waiting for them so they can go home together. Everyone else, which is where I fall in, were free to go. I went to the bank, got some money, clean my room/pack, found Scott--the Kiwi I came up to Seoul with--and head to the bus terminal to go home.
The bus stops at a rest station about an hour into the drive, and Scott and I actually run into another couple from the orientation (they will be headed in-land while we will be headed to the coast). It was neat.
I was not very talkative on the bus. I felt bad for Scott who seemed to be pretty awake, while I totally konked out. But whatever.
I get back to Gunsan around 5 pm. I immediately returned home, and left. I know that doesn't make much sense, but I did not want to be sitting in my apartment, I wanted to get back to my little city of Gunsan. I walked to the phone store to recharge my phone, called Ms Kim to let her know I made it back safely, and had dinner out. I had some sort of spicy, seafood risotto. I won't be having that again.
I went home, started some laundry, tried to figure out what I was going to wear for the next day, really unpacked, cleaned my bathroom (for some reason I just felt like doing this...don't ask why. When this kind of urge to clean hits, I usually run with it because it doesn't come around often), and finally, I passed out around 9.
Considering that I will be getting about twice the amount of sleep last night than I got the past three nights, I feel pretty good. I'm glad orientation is over; I learned a lot of things, but it was basically extremely mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting.
I'm glad that I don't live in Seoul. I mean, I might miss out on a lot of the fun things to do in Seoul, but it is a big city and I am glad that I get a more authentic "traditional" Korean experience in my little port city. There are some good things about having a schedule!
No comments:
Post a Comment