Sha-la-la-land: Orientation...Continued

So where did I leave off?

Well, considering that orientation is long gone I will sum it up real quick and move on to the more exciting adventure of me moving to Ulsan (my province).

We had three weeks of orientation and one week of English camp. We had several days of lectures all day with breaks only to eat. The best part of the day was our "free" time when we would head down the street to little bars and eat fried chicken, yummy honey filled pancakes and shark shaped ice cream. Also, there were a few outings with my new friends, one being the Peach Festival in Jochiwon. The peaches here are huge and very yummy, unfortunately when I did go it was night time and there were no peaches, lol.

roasting a pig at the peach festival

There was a trip to a Buddhist temple so I decided to go. I did not realize what the weather was like, it was hot, very hot. I wore jeans, which would have been okay if I knew that we were going to be hiking. We were not told that we would be hiking, so it was a big surprise to most of us. Most of the others were wearing flip flops or jeans like me. The hike was insane and felt trecherous in the heat. While at the temple we made prayer beads and did an ancient type of painting with special ink.

The opening ceremony for 5th generation TaLK scholars took place in Seoul. It was a two hour journey over there and it was very humid and rainy. Not very fun but we were all very excited to be there. They entertained us and showed us video clips and presentations from the past generations TaLK scholars. Everything was well organized, inviting and exciting for us all. I was especially excited to be in Seoul because I took a Fine Arts Cultural Studies class in my last semester at York called Urban Culture where we watched a documentary on the Cheonggyecheon bridge in Seoul, Korea (click on the link to get information about the bridge I am talking about, it's very interesting!). I told myself that I will go there one day and when I got there to that exact spot I watched in a documentary just a few months before I came to Korea made me feel like I am on my way to accomplishing what I want to do with my life. The first thing that popped into my head was to email and send a picture to my professor who would be very impressed with me (although that wouldn't matter now...but maybe I could get a reference letter..lol who knows)

To finish up the three weeks of orientation we would go to noraebangs (a.k.a. karaoke) and went on one small trip to Seoul with some friends when we had a few days off. Noraebangs were a great stress reliever after a long day of lectures and being Seoul, the nightlife made you feel alive and amazed that you were in Korea and living it up!

from the left: Shayna, Shalini, Erin, Carlie, Nathan, Caitlin, Steven

noraebang in Jochiwon

Our 4th week in Korea was at an English camp in Pyeongchon (which is very close to the DMZ). We stayed at a youth centre for 5 days and every TaLK scholar was responsible for one child. The students came from very rural areas around Korea to give us an idea of what our students would be like. I had a 12 year old boy and he did not want to get along with me. It was exhausting to be with this student because he would throw tantrums in front of everyone out of no where, it was not easy. Eventually, it became so bad I was able to switch with another male scholar. I ended up sharing a female student with one of m group members which was fine. Then our student had a friend and they worked better when they were together. In the end, I ended up experiencing three different types of students. Although it was overwhelming it felt rewarding because I have experienced three different types of personalities and it made me feel a lot more prepared to meet my own students.

Our last days in Jochiwon were spent rushing back from Pyeongchon, repacking our suitcases, attending a talent show, a closing ceremony, meeting our POE (province of education), barley saying goodbye to our friends, lugging our suitcases down a steep hill in the burning sun and rushing on to our buses leaving Jochiwon behind looking forward to another orientation once we arrived in Ulsan. While in Jochiwon, I met some really amazing people, from all over the world. Shayna, from New Zealand, Erin, from Portland Oregon, Steven, Carlie and Caitlin from Kansas, Nathan, from Indiana, and my roommate Laura from Ireland. These are just a few, but they all made my free time and night so much more enjoyable and easy to get through, without missing home as much.