Museum Day

      First I would like to say that I have all my students back. The past few weeks have been test days for middle/high schoolers, so their classes at Chungdahm have been cancelled. This last week testing was over and my older students came back. I haven't seen them since my first week of teaching. Needless to say, I've been used to teaching elementary students; switching mind-sets to teen was a challenge. I have finally got my younger kids to like me and now I have to start all over with teens!?!?!?! My god. I'll let you know how that one goes.
      Second, the staff at the school completed their reports on the students and I have grand news! Grace, the woman in charge of facilitating the English Chip program (two of the classes I teach; the younger ones) came into my classroom, pulled me aside, and told me what she discovered. One of my classes had done the most work in their class books. She said that this is very good and doesn't happen regularly. Also, one of my students, Alex who is new to the school, likes my class. A few weeks ago I had to write a report explaining how he is handling the transition into the school and what his strengths and weakness are. Grace called Alex's mother to inform her of this progress. His mom said that Alex was really nervous about coming to the school and that he heard it was extremely difficult. However, Alex was relieved after starting the program because it wasn't as scary as he thought it was. "He really enjoys going to class." What!?!?! Hope. A student likes coming to class? MY class!?! I couldn't believe it! That has been my goal: making the kids learn something, but doing it in the most fun way I can. Point one Christine. Let's hope that I can keep it up and do even better. :)
       Finally, I would like to share what I did on Saturday. *sidenote:* Currently, I'm sitting on my indoor porch-thing with the window open; letting the cold winter air freeze my typing hands. What a view I have:

On Saturday Francesca and I decided to have a shopping/museum adventure day. We started our day walking to a local coffee shop. The weather was perfect for a hot drink, cold and grey.

Like almost every Korean I've met thus far, the man working there was more than helpful. At the end of the meal he handed each of us business cards with reward stamps on the back and said, "hope to see you soon!" I've noticed that any English a Korean knows, even if it's just "bye," they want to use it. It brings a pride to their eyes. I guess if you were forced to take a language as a child and never got to use it, you'd take any chance you have to show-off your knowledge. VERY opposite of the U.S. Not one person has yelled at me, "learn Korean!" like people in America tell foreigners to "learn English." There's my political plug; I'll leave it at that. 

     Okay, back to the story. With our bellies full we hiked steep hills to the Gangneung Art Museum. I'm not kidding about the hills: like San Francisco hills. Once we made it to the top there were three buildings to choose from. Which one is the museum? We took a wild guess, and thank god we were right. It turns out the other buildings were census offices. Although the museum was small, it only took us about 30-45 minutes to go through at a slow pace, it was a good insight to what Koreans value. Each exhibit was a compilation of local artists. Most of the works were paintings and some photographs. However, most of the subjects were flowers. Even the landscapes had a foreground of detailed flowers. Also, people (friends and family I assume) put flowers under most of the paintings. Most of the bouquets had ribbons with writing on them; which neither Francesca or I could read. At first we thought the paintings were done by people who had died, as some sort of memorial. Then we met two of the artists. Clearly they were not dead; that would have been awkward. Plus, I did not want to use my years of zombie-killing training in public. The two women gave us postcards of their paintings and had us sign their check-in books. Again, both of them pleasingly sweet. I would also like to note, that most of the art wasn't very good. Not to sound like a jerk, but the art wasn't much above a skilled high school student. Alas the experience was phenomenal and we plan to go back. We figured that the shows cycle out about every month or so.    

     The museum also had this small outdoor area where people had painted murals. All of them were of animals and they seemed to be geared toward children.

Remember the steep hills I mentioned? Well, because we were on a hill we got a pretty good view of down-town Gangneung:

 Like I said, the weather was pretty grey.
      We continued our jaunt and went down the hill to shop. The colder weather is heading its way and I needed more sweaters! As I'm sure you are aware girls in Asian are small. Luckily for me huge sweaters are in and I was able to find ones that fit just fine! Besides the sweaters, I bought a hat and some gloves. This part of the day took a few hours. However, we planned on going to the movies; which didn't start till 7 pm. We needed to kill time. What did we do? Got more coffee and food of course!
       There is this place called Princess Cafe. The sign, which I wish I took a picture of, is bright pink. The letters are cutesy and it has a picture of a stereotypical cartoon, girly crown. We were expecting a place that was very girly and glittery, but were pleasantly surprised. The cafe was more like a restaurant that was designed to look like a realistic princess chamber.

The pictures don't do it justice, but it was beautiful. The light was dim because the rooms were lit with small chandeliers and small lamps. My flash killed it really. It is really a place were you could grab a coffee and read a good book for a few hours. The waiters were dressed like shopkeepers with little caps, aprons, and poofy shirts. We ordered some spaghetti with cream sauce. It was very tasty. The spaghetti came with traditional Korean sides though: Korean salad, kim chi, and pickled radishes. Quite odd, but the flavors actually mixed well, the creaminess of the sauce with the spiciness of the kim chi. Nom.

   

  We couldn't finish a good meal in the princess world without some tea, could we? It was divine! Figuring out how to order more though was a bit of a task. Apparently there was a set menu if you ordered pasta. Clearly we did not know this. In fact, we tried to order this:

Now I'm not sure about you, but I have no idea what a "brad" is. I don't believe Koreans practice cannibalism, so we tried to order one. Alas, the menu confusion did not allow us to try a brad. We plan to go  back and figure it out. Our best guess is bread, but the waiter said something about it being with cinnamon. After our tea and our lack of brad we continued our journey to the movies.

     We saw "One Day." It's the movie with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. I'm sure you're asking yourself, "did that come out like a year or two ago?" You are correct. Since it wasn't a blockbuster it came to Korea a bit late. I had already seen it, but I didn't mind seeing it again. It was also playing in English. I do plan on seeing a movie in Korean soon though. I know, I know, I don't know Korean so how will I understand it? I think that is part of the fun really. 

      I would also like to say that I think I'm figuring out some of this Korean stuff. Between body language and the little Korean that I know I've been able to figure out what people are saying to me. Progress, right?

Nice blogging with you!

     <3 Stine

Miscommunications

    This past week can be summed up in miscommunications. My week began with a side trip to CU, a common convince store like 7-Eleven, to buy a coffee. Francesca, my co-worker, and I purchased our items and headed for the door. The woman at the register stopped us, pointed at her phone, and began a conversation in Korean. Neither of us know Korean, so Francesca's best guess is that the woman wanted a picture of us. The woman smiled and began typing on her phone: youtube.com. Our vain giving us the wrong impression, the woman did not want a picture, but rather to show us something. She played a video which was again in Korean, about the Heavenly Mother. It took us a while to figure this out though, I honestly thought it was a ad for an airline. They kept showing people boarding planes and then flying to South Korea. Finally there were interviews of english speakers that gave us the gist, "Korea is where the Heavenly Mother is. It has become a mecca for Christians. Everyone who is truly devote should make the trip." We watched the video for about five minutes before we told her we had to go. Nevertheless she tried to invite us to her church where they, surprise surprise, worship the Heavenly Mother. It was quite a bizarre twist to our plan of buying coffee. When telling our adventure at work, we were told that this happens quite often. People will stop you in the streets to try and bring you to their church. Not sure how well that flies in the U.S., but hey, I'm in Korea, right?
     The second real miscommunication occurred on Saturday night. Aaron and I have been playing on going out for a night on the town then heading to a nori bong (Karaoke bar) with two of our Korean, bartender friends. I'll mention that we were suppose to meet these guys at 3 am when they got off of work. Okay, so we hit the town and met a bunch of Koreans at each place we went. At Bon Voyage (the foreigner bar; which ironically did not have an foreigners that night except us) we befriended the barkeeps and a man who goes by JK. We all had so much fun time together that JK plans to meet us again this weekend and bring his friends so we can all meet. I'm excited because maybe I'll gain some Korean friends to hang out with and they can show me the ropes. After we hit up a place named Clover. Clover is a bar/club. They do about 1 hour of low-key bar and then a half-hour of dance club. It's really interesting and you get the best of both worlds: you don't have to pick between going to a bar or a club. So we befriended the people who work there. In fact, they gave us free drinks which they lit of fire. The owner can breath fire and naturally wanted to lite our drinks aflame. Who wouldn't? On our way out they also gave us free James Bond beer cups; which is great because now I have more cups. By this time it was time to nori bong. We went to meet up with Sun and Cameron and they weren't there! It was only 3:05 am, so either they didn't want to wait or they changed their minds about singing. I have yet to figure that mystery out. Nevertheless, Aaron and I were intoxicated enough to continue our journey. We entered the nori bong.
     You pay per person and you get a room for your group. It's similar to a hotel where each group gets their own room to sing in. The woman working did not speak a lick of English, but we thought, "hey let's just figure it out. How hard could it be?" VERY hard is the answer. They give you this HUGE remote that only has letter in Korean and a song book which is also solely Korean. I pressed every button to try and get the TV to play something, anything, but I failed. Aaron and I worked on this for about 15 minutes, the woman working attempted to show us one button and then quickly gave up on us. It was so frustrating. Luckily, we left the room and I gave the woman my confused puppy-dog eyes and we got a full refund. Moral: next time bring someone who knows Korean to the nori bong. Now I know.
     I do have a highlight from my week though and it has to do with work! My male students are louder and more distracting than the girls, shocking right? They are usually the ones that I have to 'check' to keep class going, but they are more willing to joke with me. The ones who smart-off to me are actually my favorite. One of the boys named Kevin is one of these students. It's nice because I think he is one of the students who gets my humor and isn't afraid to laugh. The other day we were doing something, I can't remember what, but he tried to put a sticker on the wall. "Kevin if you don't take that sticker off you have to wash the whole wall." "But teacher this is my painting. It no sticker. Painting." "Kevin you crazy." "No teacher, you crazy!" "I know teachers crazy, Kevin, but you're crazy too!" Now that class openly jokes that I am crazy and I always say that it is true. Let's be honest, it isn't a lie. Okay, so to my point, at the end of class Kevin asks me if I like the color orange. I say yes because I don't care enough to go into color theories and then he begin rummaging through his backpack. All of a sudden Kevin pulls out a nectarine and says, "teacher for you because you like oranges!" Although it was a nectarine and not an orange, and he asked me about the color and not the fruit, I thought it was the sweetest thing to happen to me since I arrived almost a month ago.
     I can't say that all of my students like me or if I'm even doing a good job, but that piece of fruit gave me hope. One student seemed to like me, so I guess I'm doing something right. Needless to say, it was the best piece of fruit I've ever eaten. Perfect and sweet.

Nice to blog with you!
   <3 Stine      

1st week down!

      I can finally call myself a teacher.... officially. This past week I have had my first full week of teaching my own class. It has been quite an adjustment. We start our day walking 30-45 min. to work around 1:30 pm. Then we teach our first class at 4 pm which lasts 3 hours. We get a 20 min. break and start again. Our night ends at 10 pm when we make the trek back home. Needless to say, it makes for a long, strange day. Luckily, I do get to sleep-in more than I would at home. :)
     Highlights from class? Well, some students asked me if I was married. When I replied, "no," they said, "oh, so you're Mr. Christine then?" I giggled then thought, "I didn't realize how confused I've been about biology all these years. If I'm not married, then logically I MUST be a man." I've been shopping at all the wrong stores..... Koreans are a lot less politically correct than Americans too. Thus far many of my kids (gah, that's so cool to say!) have said something wildly offensive. For example, one student was using his pen to color-in a girl in one of the books. The boy next to him raised his hand and shouted, "teacher! He made his girl a slave. That's funny!" Oh and the examples do not stop there.
       On Friday we had the students write a skit where one person liked classical music and the other pop. They we suppose to convince each other why theirs was better. "Classical is boring. Plus, Beethoven was handicapped." "Pop has Micheal Jackson, and he's African." I don't even know where to start with that one. Anyway, it keeps you on your toes..... and values? It's just a different world. Just where I am, I'm one of the few white people. Korea is not what I would describe as diverse. People pretty much stare at me when I walk down the street.
       One of my favorite perks of my job is three day weekends. Yep, you heard that right. Three day weekends. It's grand. Aaron, one of the other teachers, invited me to go to a city where they have a themed park dubbed Toilet World. I actually really wanted to go, but my funds a bit pinched and I kind of wanted to slug around all weekend. He said it was all we dreamt of. I'm sure I will find my way there at some point. So besides slugging around like a lazy beast, I did go out on Saturday. I spent more time with Matt (another teacher and my new neighbor) which was nice. I can say for certain that he is not a murderer; not that I thought that to begin with, but I didn't know him enough to say otherwise. I also met some other foreign teachers and some of them I re-met. It was great fun.
       It is also planned that the teachers and our 3 favorite barkeeps from WaBar are going to nori bong (Karaoke) this Saturday. It should be quite the sight! Hopefully I'm smart and bring my camera.
      Speaking of cameras, I did try and add a slide show to my blog. However, I don't think it's working. Which is quite disappointing because I took pictures of my walk to work and Amanda's BBQ at the bar! Sigh, if I only knew new technology. Oh yes, I also got my phone! Check me out. However it is a used phone and quite the piece of shit. It's touch screen..... and like I've always suspected, I don't like touch screen. Oh well. Calling and texting will still be really expensive, but my number is: 010-7518-5264
     Also, I'll give you my address. Note that it is my work address. No one is ever in our building to sign for mail, so all the teachers get stuff sent to the school:

Christine Morfit
C/O Chungdahm Institute
185-3 Okchun-dong 3rd FLR
Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do
                            290-010
                      South Korea

Nice to blog with you,
     <3 Stine

My Apartment!

     When you walk into my apartment, there is a two-foot by two-foot area to take your shoes off right next to the door. Then you have to take a step up onto the apartment's floor level. You have now entered my kitchen area:

          There isn't an oven, but that thing on the counter on the right is my stove/burner. I don't have any pots or pans yet though so I can't use it. I've heard that it works though. Also, you can't drink the water here really, so I have to invest in a brita water filter here soon. When you stand in the kitchen with your back to my front door you see my bedroom/main room:

      I have a twin bed in which you can feel every spring in it. I also need to buy a mattress pad. lol. There are sliding doors between each of my rooms by the way. Similar to the paper sliding doors you see in Asian themed movies, but mine are wood and fogged glass. From this view, my bathroom is on your left:

         First off, you have to step down to get into the bathroom. Second, as you can see everything is right there. There is no separate area or curtain for the shower. There is a drain on the bottom of the floor next to the toilet where all the water pools to though. It makes taking a shower pretty tricky. Everything gets wet and the floor is wet the whole day so I can't wear socks into the bathroom. lol. I'm going to try and find a solution to the wetness problem. Anyway, then we go back into my bed room:  

       From this view, you can see the kitchen and the sliding glass doors. The only furniture I have at the moment is a closet/chest, a bookshelf, and an end table. To the left of this view is my laundry room. It is also through sliding glass doors:

         That's my boiler! Oh this is a good example of what I mean when you have to step up or down from the main floor level (look at the sliding door on your right). Those are also sliding glass windows on your left. I'm taking this picture next to my washer by the way. I didn't take a picture of it because I didn't think it was important. Now that I think about it though, my boiler isn't either. lol. Finally, here are two pictures of the view from my window:

Arriving in Gangneung

        Once again I have failed to keep up-to-date on my blog. I'm sure this will just get worse as time goes on, but I'll try and blog at least once a week!
         Last time we chatted I was in the cab. The bad news: my cab driver did not know any English and tried to get directions from me to my school (our final destination). I, in turn, do not know any Korean. Needless to say we drove a few blocks on the sidewalk until we found the place. That's right, the sidewalk. The good news: I didn't have to pay! On arrival to the school I was greeted out of the cab by an assortment of important people who I don't really remember. lol. I know the school director and faculty manager were there. Then they whisked my bags from the cab and led me upstairs. When they asked me if they had all my bags I looked and only saw my one big suitcase that Aunt Lorrie gave me. "Ummmm.... I have one more." I looked in the back of the cab and it wasn't there. In a panic I tried to stay clam. "I'm positive that I put it in the cab." Alas the cab was empty. After a minute of freaking out, one of the men turned and revealed that it was on his back the whole time. Holy shit, thanks fancy suit man.
         Overwhelmed by meeting seven important people outside and thinking my bag was missing, I shakily walked upstairs to the school on the third floor. By this time it was about 7 pm. School was in session. I was led to the teachers lounge and told to wait there. Five minutes pass and all six of the other teachers come bustling in. Everyone welcomed me and tried to make conversation, but they only had 20 minutes before the next class started. At the end of this 20 minute break I watched two classes until the end of school. Sigh, maybe I can finally go home and sleep; after all I began the day at 7 am and it was now 11 pm.
        The teachers and our manager KP carried my bags and drove me to my new apartment. All the teachers live here. I'll explain more about my apartment in another post. After throwing my crap all over my room the other teachers revealed the plan for the night: Dinner then the bar. I thought to myself, "man, I'm going to like these people."
         We went out to eat and I had my first Korean BBQ! It was so tasty!!!! Before entering the dinning room you have to remove your shoes and then sit on the floor next to your burner where you cook the food.

It was an amazing beginning to get to know everybody. In clockwise order starting from the person sitting on my left: Matt, Rachel, Franesca, Aaron, Amanda, and Blake is taking the picture. Amanda is the one I'll be replacing; which is sad because shes a lot of fun. She kind of reminds me of Joy. Anyway, then they took me to the WaBa bar. There is this liquor called Agwa, which we don't have in the U.S., and we finished 3 bottles of it. Needless to say it was a pretty crazy night. The bartenders there (Cameron, San, and Zed) were all really fun and silly. I'm excited to talk to them again too. 

        The next day I crawled out of bed around noon. I should mention that Korea is like Vegas in the fact that the bars never close so you have no idea what time it is. We left the bar around 3:30-4 am! Hence why I crawled out of bed. Most of us went for the lunch to a chicken place where they also cook in front of you; once again shoes off and sitting on the floor. I've been there twice now; it's really good. Most of the food I've had is spicy, but in a flavorful way so it's manageable. Also, almost every meal has some form of cabbage. Fun fact.

       So Saturday evening (aka: 11 pm) we went to a foreign bar called Warehouse. It was nice, but I like WaBa more. Warehouse has loud dance music so it's hard to talk to people; which makes talking to Koreans nearly impossible. However I did make friends with the two Korean men that own a salon a block away from our apartment building. That was pretty sweet. 

       The rest of the weekend was pretty low-key. Blake and Rachel (the married teacher pair) took me to Home Plus which is like if Macy's and Wal-Mart had a child, so I could grab some groceries. Then we went to the movies. Yes, I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but we saw Twilight. Forgive me. It was interesting to see it in a Korean movie theater though. They are SUPER fancy. There is like three feet of leg-room and the chairs are almost like lazy-boy. Pretty cool. Also the seats are assigned, so you can reserve the best seats ahead of time. That was Sunday.

        Monday KP took me to do all the necessary, scary, life-changing, boring stuff. We drove an hour to get to the immigration office so I could apply for my alien residence card (ARC card). It was in some random town next to the ocean, so I got to see the ocean for the first time. There was also some old man there trying to prove heritage or something. For proof he pulled out these scrolls wrapped in newspaper that must have been at least 100 years old. It looked like they were made for papyrus. Amazing. My archaeology geekyness was in full swing. However, our business was done and it was time to leave.

         KP took us back to Gangneung. We headed to the bank where I (really it was KP who did all the work I just signed the papers) created a bank account. Next we went to the National Healthcare Center to apply for, you guessed it, healthcare. Note that every adults coverage is about $75 a month. I know it seems so simple as a write this day in my blog, but man was it overwhelming. 

        It had finally hit me that I was going to be here for a while; paying bills, working, becoming a real adult. No one really speaks English. The language barrier is almost as big as the ocean that separates Korea from the U.S. I was freaking out. The only cure? I walked around, got lost, found a doughnut shop, and then found home. Crisis averted. 

        Today made it all better though. I shadowed Rachel as she taught her classes; the ones I will start teaching tomorrow. Although I'm scared out of my mind to start teaching (with all the teachers and employees watching me on camera), I can't wait to start interacting with the kids. Man they are so funny. One of the classes today kept bringing up ghosts in every example they had to make. I think it might be a strange sign that everything is going to be okay, because you know I love me some ghosts!

Nice to blog with you,

          <3 Stine

              

Boom

                Training completed! By the end of the first day I got to know more people and others a lot more. Everyone was really great; guess I was just tired and putting WAY too much on first impressions. My bad. Hope that I stay in contact with a lot of them. I know it has been a long time since I’ve blogged (information wise), but I have had absolutely no free time. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday have been jam-packed with training. Wake up at 7 am, take subway to training center, start training at 9:30 am, half hour lunch at noon, training till 3 pm, prepare for following day, leave around 6 pm via subway, grab a quick bite on way back to hotel, prepare/study till midnight, sleep. Needless to say, with this same routine for the past few days, the days have all blended together.

                We have been bombarded with information about teaching techniques, methodology, and company (Chungdahm) information. Honestly, I’ve put more effort into this past week than I did with 95% of my college classes. If the time and effort was not put-in it would be impossible to pass training. To sum it up: it’s a lot of work and I’ve started to dream about my training classes! Chungdahm training is not for the weak.  Nevertheless, I have been in Seoul (South Korea’s capital) for the past week.

                Considering lack of free time, I didn’t really get a chance to explore or sit down and take in the city. However, I will try and give you my few impressions. The subways are amazing! The only time they are unfortunately busy is during rush hour; in which case you learn how crayons feel in their boxes. Besides that they are clean, quick, and easy to use. I will say though, that the ads in the actual railcars are mostly for cosmetic surgery. At first I thought this was strange until I learned that Seoul is almost beating Brazil as the plastic surgery capital of the world (hmmm… maybe I’ll get something done...).*

                I should also point out that I know more about Gangnam Style than you. This is fact and you will have to accept it. Our hotel for the past week and our training center has been in the heart of Seoul’s Gangnam district. Really it’s a normal place; it’s just the rich business area. For example, Samsung’s headquarters were a block or two from our hotel. All the people just wear suits, drink coffee, and think they are super fancy. The area itself is much like any other city: busy streets, tall buildings, and beautiful lights at night.

                However, some of the buildings are amazing! Sorry to pull a Ted Mosby, but the architecture in Gangnam and throughout Seoul is fascinating. Many of the buildings don’t differ from that of cities in the U.S., but others are fairly divided stylistically. There are the concrete blocks of brutalism most often seen in eastern European countries with histories of communism and then there are the super modern structures. The modern ones are really cool (no offense to those who enjoy concrete blocks). If I was smart I would have been taking pictures the last week, but I was rather focused on other things; sorry guys. However I will try and use my descriptions to paint you a mental picture. My favorite building was about 80 stories and black. Instead of just being straight up and down it was curvy, similar to how you would draw waves or a slithering snake. Okay, hopefully that makes sense. That wasn’t the coolest part though! At night, each window lit-up blue in random patterns throughout the building. It reminded me of the Matrix. Anyway, it’s great and there were a bunch of cool buildings throughout the area. Ted Mosby out.

                 Now let’s talk about food. Honestly there’s not a whole lot to say at the moment. I tried some pre-prepared Korean BBQ which was good, hard to eat though. I’ve been grabbing a lot of food from Paris Bagette which is a French deli/bakery with an Asian twist. Their food is really good, but I love carbs so that may have something to do with it. Besides that I’ve grabbed Asian rolls/wraps from convenience stores. They’re fast and don’t taste like much since they’re mostly made with sticky rice. Also, the cost of food is REALLY cheap. Even eating out in Seoul three times a day for the week has only cost me about $70. Not too bad, eh?  

                But the time has come for me to leave Seoul. I’m not too heartbroken; I’m just not a big city kind of gal. Today I passed training and am on my way to my school in Gangneung. This is currently being written in the taxi van that is taking me there in fact. I’m shocked that I’m in a taxi though. It’s a three hour drive. I’m banking on Chungdahm paying the bill for this ride. If not, I’m not going to be happy paying for a three hour taxi ride.

                Just as a side note, the weather has been quite foggy and rainy. Don’t get me wrong I love a good grey day, but I feel like I haven’t seen the sun since I left Colorado. I think that’s because the weather, tall buildings, and I’ve been inside most of the day. But really? I need to get some sunshine!

Nice to blog with you,

                <3 Stine

*Need not worry Mom & Dad. I’m not sure I want to look like Bruce Janner as a 22 year-old-female.     

First Day of Training

    Apparently some of my fellow teachers were not use to waking up "early" and leaving at 8 am. That being sleeping-in for me, it was easy to get up and start the day. The first thing on the agenda was our required medical test at KMI (pretty much a hospital). The bus driver was kind enough to drop us off a few blocks away and take off again without any directions. Being the clueless foreigners we are, we went into the closest building. That was a bust. Panicked, we ran around the area in a giant loop before finally finding the KMI building; which had the smallest sign on a third story window I have ever seen.   
    Inside was a hustle and bustle of patients and employees. It seemed like the male nurses wore blue scrubs while the women wore dashing bright orange; however this was not the case. Surprise! We were told to don this attire for our medical exams. We were shuffled about to each testing station looking like escaped convicts. I wish that the whole thing was on film because I don't think any American would be able to believe it. They checked vitals, did x-rays, drew blood, EKG-ed us, did interviews, did drug tests, did hearing tests, did a dental check, and all this happened in a matter of an hour or so! Not to put in a political plug, but if Obamacare continues its path, this efficiency could hit the US in 10 to 20 years. It was all rather impressive. Afterwards we went to the Chungdahm Training Center. *I should also note that one boy is now quarantined from training due to pinkeye...... that sucks
    Orientation answered many of our logistical questions and gave us an insight into what this week will hold. Basically, we should expect intensity. We have roughly three days to learn an entire binder's worth of information. People have done it though, so it can't be impossible. I have also found out that I'll be teaching lower-level students; which means younger kids!!!! I'm so excited. That pretty much sums up what orientation was to be honest. They told us we are going to have a lot of homework, so I'm going to try and get ahead tonight (those of you who went to school with me: yes, you heard me correctly, I'm going to do something before the last minute).      
   We did have to take the subway back from the Training Center to the hotel, and we will be now be doing this as our mode of transport. Although Colorado doesn't have a subway system, and I've only had some experience in Chicago and D.C., I feel more confident than some of the others I'm with. I think that subway is pretty easy to figure out, but it was a big ordeal to get everyone to calm down. Herding cats really. lol. Nevertheless made it and am now sitting peacefully in my room.
   Tomorrow will be the first test of my real subway skills as I head off to training. I'm nervous, but looking forward to figuring out exactly what I'll be doing the rest of this year. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one going to my school. It's also the least populated area anyone is going to. Gangneung is about 200,00 people compared to Seoul which is 20 million. Quite a difference I say! :)


Nice to blog with you,
     <3 Stine
        

My Trip and Arrival

     Well boy howdy that was a LONG flight! It was about 20 hours total of traveling time to get from my house to the hotel. Needless to say I fought to stay up till 9 pm. On my flight from Denver to San Francisco I sat next to a women from Iowa (small world, right?). She was telling me how the last time she was in San Francisco the earthquake happened. Similar to an action movie, she was on the Bay Bridge right as it started to collapse. Her car barely made it off before the destruction hit the bridge. It was an amazing story. Then on my flight from San Francisco to Seoul I sat next to a Korean boy. He is going to school at Harvard. He was very nice and welcoming, but did something rather surprising for a male going to Harvard: read the Twilight series the whole flight! Who would have thought?!?!?!
     Once landing in Seoul a Korean woman gave me her card in case I needed a translator. I don't have a phone that works here, but the gesture was extremely nice. Also, the girl behind me at customs was another Changdahm student. How fate happens, I'm not sure, but luckily she knew which hotel we were suppose to go to; while I forgot to write that down. Thank god for Rebecca! We hit up an ATM where I tried to withdraw $300,000 from my bank account because I was doing the math wrong in my head. Needless to say that didn't work. I figured it out though, so now I have money in my pocket!
     After leaving the airport we took a bus and then a taxis to the hotel (drivers are CRAZY). The hotel is really nice and has a distinct Asian feel. I should be posting pictures at some point. My roommate's name is Sam. Shes actually a Brit from Colorado who took all the same flights as me. I would describe her as if Super Dave and Susan from Frontrange had a British child. Yeah..... I've met a few other people so far and the only one I really enjoy is Rebecca from the airport. This is going to be a long week.

Nice blogging with you,

   <3 Stine     

Pre-Departure

     The day has finally arrived! I leave tomorrow for South Korea where I'll be teaching English for the next year. As I pack I'm thinking about all the things I'll miss and what the future weeks will hold. Besides my friends and family, I'm not sure what I will miss quite yet. However, I do know that I'm plunging into a new world that will give me life-changing experiences.
     Packing your entire life into two suitcases and a carry-on seems relativity impossible; I'm here to inform you that it is not as difficult as it seems! The bags are all set and ready to go. Nevertheless, mentally preparing yourself for the departure is a whole other bag of worms. What should I eat as my last meal in America? The question has been picking at my brain all day. These realistically petty notions actually help in distraction and anxiety avoidance; a tip I recommend for big moves. I'm not sure why I'm acting like an expert all of a sudden, I haven't even left my house yet!
     Once I make those first steps out my door and make my way to the plane I'll let you know how far my own advice will go. Although this first post is small I think it's important to know my mindset before I head out.
     So what am I most nervous about? Well that is a tough question. I guess I'm most nervous about having a new job. Creating a whole new routine is a lot of pressure, and I just hope that I'm a good teacher! That would be really unfortunate if I got fired and sent back home!

Nice to blog with you,
      <3 Stine