rice, seaweed, and kimchi.

well friends, I've been here for about 3 full days and it's been a whirlwind to say the least.  There are 400 EPIK teachers here at orientation, and I've been meeting people and attempting to remember their names non-stop.  I've met people from around the world and am absolutely loving it.

the view of Busan from our balcony

the shower/sink.bathroom! (sorry it's sideways...I'm having issues with that)

Yesterday was our first full day where I had a medical checkup in the morning.  By medical check up, I don't mean some little physical that took 5 seconds. No, it was an 8 station set up where they checked me for colorblindness, my hearing, my blood pressure, made me promise I had no diseases, my height and weight, my eyesight, drew blood (in a FREEZING room after we hadn't eaten or drank anything since 9pm the previous night), tuberculosis test, and urine sample.  Um, thorough? yes.

a normal BRIGHT store!

hello, Busan!

Umm, Starbucks, yes please! (I didn't get any, but I was excited!)

After that whole ordeal, I went out for a walk by myself off campus.  I had done that with a group the day before and decided I was brave enough to try it alone and just would stay very close to campus and get coffee or something.  It was fun and adventurous but after about 15 minutes I luckily met up with some others out for a walk and joined them.  We explored the area a bit, attempted to talk to Korean salespeople (entertaining), and just walked around.  Once you get over the initial shock of not being able to read most signs, walking around isn't that intimidating and I'm already getting more comfortable!

Then we had an orientation official welcoming ceremony with speakers and performances of dancers etc. and my favorite part was after dinner going out with a few newly found friends to find a waffle vendor.  Fresh waffles with ice cream? okay!  It was so fun! I talked to this guy Joe from Norfolk who has the brightest red hair ever and is hilarious.  I also have talked to a guy, Stephen O'Reilly from just outside Dublin, Ireland!  Ah, all of these other foreigners make me so happy, not to mention getting to know the Korean "class leaders"!

Today, after braving the shower once again, we began our actual classes.  Today I had Exploring Korea, About the Secondary Schooling in Korea, Co-Teaching, and Classroom Management.  All of the classes were surprisingly interesting and captivating and the lecturers were hilarious. They were frank and honest and just so refreshing.  Plus they give out snacks and juice like we're in elementary school. It's wonderful.  Tonight I had a Korean Survival Class (basic Korean we NEED to know) and I can now say: hello, thank you, my name is...., I'm from... and nice to meet you.  I know. I'm basically fluent.

Let's talk about food. Rice, seaweed, kimchi, spicy sauces, fermented this, fermented that, more seaweed soup, rice with pork, rice with seaweed, kimchi chopped up, mystery meat things, spicy squid legs, warm grape and orange juice, more rice, mini oranges, minimal veggies.  That's about been my selection. I'm trying everything and even the Korean class organizers say we're brave (or just stupid is what they mean) to eat the food here and they say it's waaay better out in restaurants.  But it's not bad at all and everything is an adventure!

Some of you may be thinking, okay this has been a play by play of her days...how is she feeling about all of this? 

Short answer: I'm SO glad I'm here.
Long answer:  I'm still terrified to teach.  I still am searching for a solid group of friends.  I've gotten to know a few solid Christian girls but I'm still desiring to get to know people I relate to well.  The food is quite an adventure every meal, and to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of most of it, but that's life (and maybe just because it's cafeteria food).  I'm loving the culture experiences so far and meeting people from literally around the world and it's still SO surreal that I'll be here a year and will get paid to teach.  But I'm glad. so glad.

Well, I'm still sick with a head cold and am trying to stay awake so I can actually sleep through the whole night tonight, but apparently 10:20 is my limit because I'm fading fast.  I'm sorry about the pictures being sideways, I'll work on that.

annyong hee gay saeyo! (goodbye!)

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
(St. Augustine)