Continuing Orientation

I'm still in the midst of orientation. The fact that EPIK (English Program in Korea) even has an orientation program puts it leaps and bounds above other organizations. It began in a similar fashion to the beginning Gustavus. The annoying greeters were not here but it was still a very structured camp like feel. Arranged meals, lessons, group meetings, being lead around, and all that other nonsense. We have been getting lessons and instruction from different professionals about a variety of teaching subjects and Korean culture. The most bizarre one was the lesson on traditional Korean music. The professor that presented the topic was rather funny but otherwise it was pretty boring. The seats are ridged and coarse so sitting in them for 6 hours a day gets bothersome and hurts.

More enjoyable aspects include the incredibly cheap sushi. While I'm not complaining about the style of the food that I've been given, the quality is cafetira mash. It's just substandard mass produced stuff. We had a giant buffet last night that was a delicous showcase of what the country has to offer however. I did just buy a roll of 12 slices of sushi for $2 so there's no complaint there.

We have to go see a movie soon about two brothers in the Korean war. It's supposed to be good but I'm not holding my breath. The last Korean movie to come to America was Dragon Wars. Bore fest.

Everything here is really cutesy as I mentioned before and I'll address that more in length later. I haven't heard from my co-teacher yet about my placement, but Danny and Tane have heard from their colleagues. They have mentioned that we might even be placed in the same house together. That would be great, but we'll just have to wait and see if that pans out. To rent a house or an apartment, your deposit is often the cost of the entire facility. You get it back in the end, but for a $300 a month palce you may have to pay $10,000 before you can move in. Danny did hear from his person about where I'll be teaching. Apparently, I'll be at the middle of a large island on the south-eastern most corner of the country. I've heard whispers that it's a more disadvantaged area and the children don't have a strong interest in learning. That's obviously something that I'll have to deal with.