I've Arrived!

Well, after months of paperwork and preparation (and 25 long hours of travelling) I've finally arrived in Korea. Despite being exhausted the last few days, I'm really enjoying it here. I'm training right now at Jeonju University in the Jeollabuk-do region. On our first day here we were able to attend an orientation ceremony in which we were shown some of the traditional historical songs and dances. There was a professional performance group that did an Ogo-mu (Five Drum Dance) that was amazing to watch. Two men sat on the floor drumming out the rythym of the song while women in beautiful costumes danced between their sets of drums drumming and dancing in unison. Then a couple of the girls that are working here at the conference performed as well. One of the girls sang a portion of a Pansori which is a song similar to a Korean opera and is a traditional way of passing down their culture's oral history. The other girl danced a Bucheachum, a traditional fan dance that was absolutely gorgeous. That first day we were also able to take a quick walking tour of the campus and join together for a big welcome banquet which would probably have been more enjoyable if we weren't all drenched from the sudden downpour that started halfway through our walk up the hill. Must be why it's so green and beautiful here! The second day we had our first couple lectures and were able to set up bank accounts, order cell phones which will arrive next Wednesday before we leave for our provinces, and begin our now nightly Korean lessons. But the majority of the day was spent fasting for our medical exams- 6 hours with no food or water in the heat and humidity of the afternoon made walking up hills and staircases to get to classes fairly painful. A couple of people passed out during the day, though luckily I wasn't one of them, and I developed a horrible headache from the dehydration. The medical itself was set up in various stations on a big stage and reminded me of old army movie lineups. They weighed us and took our height, gave us vision and hearing tests, tested for colorblindness, took our blood pressure, drew 3 vials of blood, took urine samples (in little paper coffee cups!) and had us all fill out health questionnaires and speak with a doctor about any health questions or concerns we had. I hope to never again have to read an eye chart through a migraine! I seem to have passed though, so I'm glad it's done now. Today we had our first full day of lectures. I'm not used to sitting in a chair being lectured at for 8 hours anymore, but they were all very interesting and informative. We learned some different teaching styles and techniques that should come in handy, learned about the Korean school system and how they teach the English classes here, how to work with Korean co-teachers, a little about the cultural differences and how to approach them, and were able to look through the books that we'll be teaching from. So much still to learn, but tomorrow we have off for a field trip to one of the historical villages nearby. With lectures all day, Korean classes in the evening, and Korean movies at night they are long days, but I'm enjoying getting to meet other teachers and get a feel for what's still to come! :D