orientation adventures. (and the upcoming adventures)

As of now, days have been filled with classes that have all been surprisingly helpful and full of useful resources for teaching and practical knowledge for living in Korea.  Monday we were able to take a day off from sitting on our bums all day in classroom chairs and instead spent most of our day on a bus that took us to Pohang, South Korea, which is about 2 hours from Busan, where orientation is being held.  

Adventure1: a Steel Factory!! (yes, what an adventure!)

We toured the POSCO Steel Factory which is the 3rd largest steel manufacturer in the world.  Impressive, yes, but why would we drive 2 hours to receive a bus tour that we could barely understand and get out for 5 minutes and see steel flattened into sheets (that part was actually really fascinating)? We don't know why.  Apparently because POSCO has played such a huge part in the advancement in Korea they wanted us to see.  Anyway, I was glad because it got us out of the classroom.

first furnace - and the only place we could take pictures at the factory.

the bus was decked out.

 After POSCO we had an amazing lunch at a place back in Busan - it was so delicious and we were able to walk around and see a different view of the city than Pukyong University (where orientation is being held)

Busan Bridge.

near the place we had lunch

Adventure 2: Jump!
Our second main adventure of the day was to see a performance called Jump! It was basically a martial arts comedy and was so impressive and entertaining!

the Jump! stage

Jump Promo Video

This is the promo for the show we saw - the quality isn't great but just imagine the fun! :]

Adventure 3: Exploring Busan and using what little Korean we know!

So after the delicious food at lunch, we didn't want to ruin our palates by eating cafeteria food for dinner, so we (me and 2 girls who I've been getting to know, Stephanie and Holly) ventured out for some Korean BBQ.  But first matters first, we went to get our nails done.  Now, I don't know how much experience you have with communicating with people who don't speak your language very well (or you there's practically at all!) but it is entertaining and a challenge to say the least.  The ladies laughed at our nails - I guess they were bad or something haha - but it was so fun and a good time! While the other girls were getting theirs done, I went for a short walk alone because I figure I should start small and gain confidence as I will be on my own from Friday on!

main street by Pukyong Uni at night

crazy parking garage!! the building goes straight up...how do they do these things?!

 With beautiful nails, we found a Korean BBQ place and ordered by pointing at a picture.  We had NO idea what to do and just tried to watch other people and ask the other group of foreigners in the restaurant.  Most of it was delicious and it was a good price!

Let me explain Korean BBQ (or at least the one we experienced).  They give you hot coals, a grate, raw seasoned meat and a TON of side dishes like sprouts, kimchi, large pieces of lettuce, random veggies, garlic cloves, etc.  You then cook your own meet right at your table and when it's done you either wrap it in the pieces of lettuce and eat it or order a bowl of rice and eat it with that instead.  It's absolutely delicious. New favorite for sure.  They also put like a scrambled egg mixture around the outside so you eat that too as it cooks. ingenious.  A side note about the food here - it's so fresh.  They say if you eat korean food all the time you will lose weight because it doesn't have preservatives normally and is just so fresh.  If only I wasn't sick of rice already. haha  Here are a few pics from our meal:

cooking the meat.

Stephanie (Left) and Holly (Right)

yummm!! I'm a master with metal chopsticks now too!

The last two days have been filled with classes yet again and preparing for our lesson demonstrations which are tomorrow.  For these we had to come up with a lesson plan for a certain topic/age group in teams and will present 15 min versions for our classes. woo.

Okay, I'm going to switch gears a bit now.  Tomorrow is a BIG day.  Tomorrow is the day I will find out what grade I will be teaching and meet our Provincial Office of Education (POE) bigwigs basically.  They will be the ones taking us to our areas on Friday and connecting us with our head co-teachers.  We're going to all be dressed in our business best - well as best as we can look with slacks etc. right out of suitcases.  It's starting to become real that I'm here for a year to teach.  These classes have been such a rollercoaster of emotions.  Half of the time the information freaks me out and makes me nervous for what is to come while the other half I'm thinking "yes. I can do this." I know I can, but it's scary.

So in conjunction with the thought of being scared, I've decided that this year is a year for God and I.  I want to grow in Him and learn to have to rely on Him and His strength.  I know I will feel lonely at times, especially in the next few weeks where Internet will be limited in my most difficult season of the year - but I want to learn to turn to God for the strength that I always want to provide for myself.  I've already had some wonderful interesting conversations with others here about God and I want them to keep coming.  I've also decided to view my time here as less of a "job" but as a service opportunity.  Teaching in Korea is my new Kidder. Just with electricity, less horses, more buildings, less English, no Auqaglide, less ants, and no Etna....okay, okay, it's very different from Kidder, but you get the concept.  I get excited when I think of this place in this way.

If you're inclined, here are a few specific prayer requests:

• Confidence as a teacher and my abilities, in my ability to live alone, and to attempt Korean
• Solid friends who have similar beliefs as I do
• A church I can get plugged into in Daegu
• A wonderful head coteacher who is extra helpful and I click with
• Calm and ease of nerves while attempting to trust God with this huge transition.

 Thanks friends. :] it means a lot.  I'm loving your comments, encouragements and updates on your life.  I'll try to do another one of these soon, as usual.

One who fears failure limits his activities.
Failure is only the opportunity to more
intelligently begin again.
Henry Ford