Orientation Pt. 2

Things are still hectic. The last couple of orientation days were punishing once again. Each one twelve hours of learning. Everything to a schedule. We’ve had lectures on everything you could possibly imagine related to the classroom, but still no indication of what level we’re teaching. I’m not sure we will until we get down to Ulsan.

We’ve been working on these lesson plans for a presentation tomorrow, which has just sucked the free time out of the day. Everybody’s been gradually looking more tired, frequenting the coffee machine more and more. For the first few hours of the day I feel like a zombie until the caffeine kicks in. I’m definitely not trained in this Korean work ethic.

Internet has been shocking around the university grounds, so much so that Michelle and I had to take to the streets to try find some wifi to complete our presentation. We stood outside a café for a good 20 minutes last night, just two out of place white kids with an open MacBook in the middle of a busy Seoul street. In England somebody would’ve probably tried to run straight off with it, but not Korea. You’re never more than 10 feet from a smartphone, like rats! Nice analogy.

I had a very cool thing happen to me today though. Well, two actually. First I had a nap. Probably the greatest nap I’ve ever had. When you’ve had five fairly sleepless, mosquito filled nights somewhere, you need a damn good nap. The next thing was that on my way to a computer room a woman started talking to me, first in very fast Korean. I tried to understand her but struggled, so I laid out my best Korean phrases. She was ridiculously interested in what I was doing at the Korean Open University. I finally got it across to her that I was training for teaching English, but then she wanted to know more. I was telling her about my degree and architecture when she told me she was a department head from the Korean National University for interior and spatial design. She seemed very impressed with me coming to Korea and took all my details, asking if I’d want a job in Korea after I was done. So, I guess I pretty much nailed the international contact making.

Anyway, I’m excited for tomorrow. First Michelle and I can get the presentation out of the way, then we go on a field trip (told you it was like school!). On Monday we’ll be getting ourselves down to Ulsan with three others. I get to sample the KTX, which has to be something pretty amazing to beat the Japanese Shinkansen.