Catcing Up, Part 2- Jochiwon Orienation

See, I am working very hard to catch everyone up on my happenings here in Korea. So stay tuned, things get a lot better than my long flight here!

Ah, orientation. Glad that's over. Days full of never-ending lectures, medical exam, cafeteria food, and 11pm curfew. But, there were some redeeming qualities about orientation. I'll highlight a few of them here.

1. Tae Kwon Do

One of our lectures was titled "Korean Culture: Tae Kwon Do". During this lecture, we went to a Tae Kwon Do class. Now obviously you can't learn all the moves or even the basics of Tae Kwon Do in one class, but it was still fun-- we got to practice a bit and even learn a self defense move. :P The instructors weren't too bad on the eyes, either. ;)
And my favorite picture of the day is the one I took with the instructor in the middle. I asked him which way we should pose and this was his response....


We made a heart, hehe! This made my day! Nay, my entire WEEK.

2. Fun With Friends (and Tae Kwon Do Instructors)

After lectures, the new friends I'd made and I would often head down to the nearby convenience store, commandeer their benches, and have ourselves a well deserved drink (or two).
Oh and did I forget to mention? A couple of my friends and I saw the Tae Kwon Do instructors at dinner later that day and invited them to come drinking with us! So without further ado...

3. Coordinators

At Orientation, all of the circa 350 TaLK scholars are split up into 6 groups and each group is headed by a Korean Group Coordinator (KGC) and a Foreign Group Coordinator (FGC). These two people are the go-to guys if you have any issues or questions. I was in Group 2, so my KGC was Riley (the sweetest chick you'll ever meet) and my FGC was Kevin (He seems super tough and I have no doubt he is, but he's also a big sweet teddy bear :P). They were always there for me if I had any questions or concerns and that's one of the biggest parts about orientation I'll miss.

In a way, orientation was something that you kinda just want to hurry up and be finished with- partly because you're anxious about starting teaching, and partly because you want the freedom to stay out as late as you want and do whatever. But at the same time, you really should appreciate it because I've had a lot of foreign teachers tell me that when they came to Korea they did NOT get a month long orientation. The day after they stepped off the plane, they were expected to teach with no training/orientation whatsoever. So I'm thankful for all the work everyone put in to help us do our best. I also made a lot of cool friends at orientation. So I think it wasn't so bad after all. :D

Well that's a quick summary of how orientation went for me for the most part. Stay tuned for my post about the Medical Exam as well as English Camp!