Saturday, February 26, 2011

Throw It Away, Forget Yesterday

Hi Everyone! Well this is my FIRST UPDATE in South Korea! I am currently at a PC Bang, which is pretty much a room filled with computers. It is 800 won for an hour of use (about 75 cents), so sorry if this post seems rushed. I won't have internet at my apartment for a couple weeks.

The following post you can find:
-My adventure, worries and uplifting moments during my flight over to South Korea.
-Some information on my Training and Orientation with EPIK.
-Korean culture and things I found were interesting to share.
-Where I got placed and what level I will be teaching this upcoming year

NOTE: I do not currently have time to upload any pictures (nor am I good enough with taking them) to have any on my blog right now. I will probably look for some and upload them once I get settled in to my new place.

My adventure to Busan, South Korea

So I arrive at the San Diego Airport Tuesday February 15 with my parents and some (amazing) friends who came to send me off. We said our goodbyes and "seeya laters" and I began to think of upcoming 20+ hours of traveling I would have to go through.

My flight went from SD --> LA --> Incheon =(Shuttle Bus)= Seoul--> Busan, South Korea.

As you can see, my flight itinerary was quite intense with transfers to different terminals and airports. When I left my family and friends at the San Diego Airport I was worried that I would have to be traveling alone and figuring things out by myself. Lucky me though, as I met my FIRST friend from EPIK, Tiffany! After we flew from SD to LA we had to part ways because we flew on different airlines. Once again, I was preparing to do things on my own as I headed toward my terminal. After settling into a seat in the terminal and making some goodbye phone calls, I turn around and meet Meagan! Conveniently, she was seated right behind me and I got to know her during our wait in the airport. When we got on the plane I didn't have a seat by Meagan so I figured "Hey, it hasn't been too bad so far, why stop now?" Another blessing arrive in Mary as she was another EPIK teacher that sat next to me the whole flight over!

The airline itself was pretty awesome, it served Korean food, had tv's behind every seat, and you can choose to watch movies, tv, liten to music, play games or whatever on it. It definitely helped the time pass by faster.

Anyways, after arriving in Incheon, we had to rush over and get our bags, find the shuttle to Gimpo (another airport), ride that, check back into the new airport, and board the flgiht to Busan. This all happened real rushed but upon arriving to the Gimhae Airport in Busan we got to meet a big crowd of EPIK teachers ready to shuttle over to our training site at Yukdong University!


Training and Orientation

There are over 400 EPIK teachers that trained here from the USA, Canada, the UK, South Africa, and Australia (there were more but yeah). It was a great time to get to meet a lot of people from all over the world. Most of the group was actually going to my city, Daegu!

In training we learned a lot about classroom management, what to expect in our Korean Schools, working with co-teachers, life in Korea, etc etc. It was all very informative and VERY overwhelming in that the week was just packed with information. Training went everyday from 9AM till 8PM, so let's just say it was fun trying to battle jetlag while sitting through classes for 9 days or so.

One of the days we went on a field trip which was pretty cool. We went to this Steel Factory called POSCO to check out how steel is made. I know it sounds random, but I guess the Steel Industry is flourishing here. After that we went to lunch and then watched an absolutely riveting martial arts comedy performance called "JUMP!" I sat in the front row so it was pretty awesome and terrifying at the same time, since it was live action and they were flying around the stage and palying with swords and stuff. Here is the website for it. http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_2_3.jsp?cid=292737.

At the end of training we had a huge Closing Ceremony and a nice dinner to commemorate our time together as the EPIK crew. It was kind of sad having to leave the people I have met and known for only 10 days to go to our respective cities/schools, but I know that I will one day see them again.
Korean Culture

Here are a few cultural differences that I found interesting:

-Bathroom/Toilet/Sink Combo Showers. Pretty much, the bathroom IS THE SHOWER. I will be bringing this back to the states, it's the best way to clean yourself and clean your bathroom at the same time!

-Confucianism is the driving force between relationships. Respect for elders and people with status, age, etc is engrained into the culture. You won't find people back home bowing to completely random strangers back home who are older than they are.

-PC Bang, Noribang, DVD Rooms. So in Korea there are rooms specifically for PC/game use, Karoke rooms, and private rooms to watch movies with a date (or yourself, ahem). They are generally pretty inexpensive.

I will add more throughout my other posts.
WHERE I WILL BE/WHAT I WILL BE DOING THE NEXT YEAR!

So for the rest of 2011 and going into early 2012 I will be in Daegu, South Korea teaching English at Dukwon High School! Here is the link to their website: http://www.dukwon.hs.kr/site/dukwon/home/index_eng.html?aseq=1477

I am very excited to start this adventure! I think this opportunity will be pretty challenging for me since I will have to be teaching Korean teenagers who will be only 5-6 years younger than me. In South Korea, they really just focus on testing to get into a good University for school and usually English takes a backseat (especially because they usually don't get grades for the class).

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Here We Go, Come With Me

And we are off! By the time I put this post up, it means that I have packed my laptop up and am ready to go!

Before I get started, I just want to give a HUGE shout out to all my family and friends, especially my parents. These past few weeks have just been an outpour of love and support from all of you, and I am truly appreciative for that and eternally grateful. I have the most amazing people in my life. I really want to focus in on my parents supporting me on this journey, even though it is not what they ideally imagine me doing, I really want to thank you guys for always giving me the chance to carve my own path. I know I will struggle, I know there will be failures, but with your guy's love in my life, I will always have that extra motivation to get back on my feet and to try again.

I really wanted to use this year to force myself to reflect and prepare my transition into what my next step in life would be. I have never studied abroad over college and I really want to prove to myself that I am capable of living on my own, so consider this a double whammy. I also thought gaining some international work experience (especially in education) wouldn't hurt either.

I chose South Korea because I would have the comfort of having several friends already in the country teaching English there as well as the comforts of technology and living in a growing democratic society. I also know that with the language barrier I would struggle and have myself adapt to the ways of life. I want to experience culture shock, I want to be challenged, I want to be pushed so I can see how far I can take my own limitations.

I will hopefully come back with an understanding of what having a global perspective is and to apply it to what my next step would be.

With that said, I must go now. The next week or so I will be training so hopefully I have a chance to update sometime during that.

Much Love,

TK