Orientation + First Week

For the most part, orientation was more or less your average high school welcoming speech but drawn out over a better course of a week with not too much excitement. I spent my time trying to meet as many people as possible to try to have a sort of a support network over here.

A couple of notable things did happen at my time at orientation though. The first being that a couple of my buddies and I befriended a local undergrad at the university by the name of Shin. Actually, it seemed as if he was the ONLY student that actually wanted to talk to us. His English is actually pretty good and he gave us a tour of the super high tech library that they have. For my Irvine homies, it puts the Science Library to shame.

Orientation ended on Saturday with a lunch buffet of sorts. It was actually really good but we didn't have time to eat it since we had to get on the bus to our respective areas. There we met our co-teachers and their families. My co teacher is really nice! She brought her husband to help lug around my luggage and stuff. I was shown my apartment which, I think, is called an "office-tel" or something of the sort. It's rather tiny. It's sooo different than what I'm used to at home.

I may have mentioned this before but Korea has this massive widespread fear of swine flu. Ever since we got here we were tested, retested, and then tested again. Rumor had it that the reason our tour to Seoul was canceled was because one of us tested with a fever. And actually, some of us, myself included, are not allowed to work just yet just to be sure we're okay. Actually, one of the first thing my co-teacher asked me was what Americans think of H1N1 and I simply told them the facts that I've read on the papers, that the reason why it's so deadly is because no one has an immunity to it and in fact when it was winter in the southern hemisphere is like the normal flu.

First week

My first regular week outside orientation was rather crazy trying to settle in and everything. After my teacher left me at my place, I spent a few hours trying to acquaint myself with my new living quarters, spent a few hours exploring my immediate vicinity, and then met up with some friends in Hongdae at the Hongik University station exit. Needless to say, I got really lost but managed to get myself there. We ate this really good chicken stew type of thing then met up with some other SMOE, did the usual thing, did some singing room stuff, and then we went back home.

Sunday I did some more exploring and got things taken care of, like my Alien Registration card, going to SMOE Head Office and taking care of things there, I actually had to go twice because I forgot my TEFL Certificate the first time around. Once I got my medical clearance, I was THEN allowed to go to school and meet the teachers, get shown to my desk, and all that. On my first day there I was given a tour and I met most of the teachers, many of which I hardly see now that I sit in my office or classroom all day. Friday was when it finally hit me that I'm WORKING and not simply on holiday (I've met a lot of British people since I came here, some words have rubbed off on me). I spent most of the day lesson planning.

Friday night was a night of uninhibited crazy fun on Hongdae again. Saturday I signed up for a gym near my place and went out again at night. Sunday was some good wholesome fun in Gangnam.