End of Orientation, Awards, Frustration, New Beginning

This was an ongoing post... The first few paragraphs were written last week, with the final paragraphs written today.

Well, orientation in Jochiwon has now officially ended. I am currently in Gwangju, the capital of the province i'll be living in, Jeollanam-do. The last few days of orientation were actually really great, and also kind of sad as a lot of good friends got scattered throughout the country. On Monday, our group got to do a challenge in the town of Jochiwon. We were given 10,000 korean won, roughly $10, and our challenge was to buy the best and most amount of items for kids that we could within that budget. We were able to buy things like playdo, coloring books, some random toys, and a few games. Not too bad, completely on budget. Wednesday, we go to actually go to an "English Camp" that is setup for korean kids to attend during their summer break. We paired up and got to teach in actual classrooms. I did a lesson on music using my guitar, which went really well. That was an encouragement, that's for sure.

Also on monday and tuesday, we, and by we I mean group 6, began filming for our sequel to our ever popular and successful video. The sequel revolved around the story of the lost kimchi and its recovery back to South Korea. Filming was great, and our coordinators were awesome. Check out the video in the post before this.

Now for the really interesting part...  On Wednesday, the TaLK talent show was hosted at 7pm. The show went really well, and the talents were actually really entertaining. However, the highlight was that our video, the G6 sequel, got to actually be the finale for the entire show. And although we didn't win an award, the laughs and shoutouts to our coordinators made it well worth the effort, and the video made quite a splash amongst the scholars. It was definitely a proud moment for Gio and I as well, as we had put a lot of effort into it the night before.

Also, on Wednesday, I was approached by Dave, the Irishman over the entire TaLK orientation. He asked if I would be willing to give a speech as the final farewell to the scholars before leaving for their provinces. I gladly accepted, excited about the offer, but a bit nervous about what to say. Well, I spent most of the night up, writing and re-writing this pretty good speech , if I don't say so myself. The next day, during rehersal, I had to give a practice run of my speach. Half way through the speach, a korean lady stands up, and states that, "My speach could be offensive", and that I shouldn't say those things. From stage, I politely asked why, and if she had something written for me to say. I spent the next two hours deciding how to go about approaching the situation. The original speach was not offensive in any way, from my point of view. It mentioned hanging out at the noraebangs (karaoke basically) and even drinking together at the benches, but nothing over the top, and not by any means offensive. Then, she asked me to stay still, and not to make to many expressions, which really got to me. After speaking with Dave and some of the other coordinators, I decided to go ahead and re-write my speach. The more tame, less funny version of my speach was still good, but it lacked a lot of the flair of the previous version. The reasoning was that the minister of education was at this event, and he was going to be listening. So, for one visitor, I had to completely change my approach, even though the speach was for my fellow scholars. This was my first clash with the culture here, and it ended up just fine. However, it was definitely an eye-opener to be flexible when you are really put into a different situation.

After the ceremony, we loaded up on busses and headed for our provinces. We spent about half an hour saying goodbye to everyone, which was actually pretty sad. We will be seeing eachother in the future, for sure, but having everyone together in the same place is always great. The bus trip down was about 2.5 hours. After we arrived in Gwangju, the capital of our province of Jeollanam-do, we realized that we weren't technicallly "in" Gwangju, but instead about 20 minutes outside of the city. We are in a training facility which feels more like a nursing home. Let me explain. It's very quiet, and if you make much noise, the security guard goes nuts. We still have a curfew, which isn't too bad. But, we are in a very isolated spot outside of the city, so there isn't anywhere to go. Overall, though, it's not too bad, and our coordinator, Joo, is amazing. She just finished her TaLK program a few months ago, so she can relate to us really well. On top of that, she lines up some great meals for us and she helps us out with whatever questions we have, so in that aspect we are a lucky group.

We have been doing lectures during the morning and afternoon, but it has been equally balanced with outings and free time. We had one day when we went to visit a Eco Park, which is like a themepark that is ecologically based? Not rides, but instead paths that go through fields, near rivers, etc... It was actually very pretty, even though the temperature was crazy. It was all the way down in Suncheon, which is right next door to where i'll be living. Then, we went to a folk village, and to finish, we spent a couple of hours in a bamboo forest. For dinner, they fed us meat, lots of meat. We would get plates of meat to wrap in lettuce and mix with all kinds of small sides. It was delicious!

Then, on Sunday, we had some free time. We spent most of the day in downtown Gwangju, exploring the streets and shops. We met a few foreigners, which was great because they have lived here a while and are well connected. We explored some of the different bars around town and those who needed to buy formal clothes and other items were able to get some shopping done. A little bit about Gwangju: Gwangju is the 6th largest city in Korea, and that is fairly big. It was surprising just how big the city was when we arrived. There is a subway system, although it isn't very extensive. The city has a soccer team, the Gwangju Dragons, and we definitely plan to attend a few games while we are here. For more information on Gwangju, check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangju

Tommorrow, we officially finish orientation. We get to meet our principals and school staff, who will then drive us to our apartments. Some of us start school on Wednesday, and some will start later. Overall, i'm pretty excited to get settled into my apartment and see where i'll be working. I will miss my group, that is for sure, but we are all fairly close to eachother, so Group 6 reunions will be happening. I may not have access to internet for a while, but when I am at school I can post and keep everyone updated. Real Korea starts tomorrow!

G6 Sequel

For the talent show at the end of orientation, we, Group 6, released our sequel as the finale for the competition. Directing and editing done by Gio and I. Special appearances by our two awesome coordinators, Marcelle and Bryan.
Enjoy!

This Week in Review

Ok, where to start... I guess this is what happens when you delay posting for a few days. Let's backtrack a little bit and then i'll work my way up to today.

This previous week was intense. We had class every day along with some adventures thrown in the mix. For starters, we had a Taekwondo on Tuesday, which was a lot of fun. The instructors were all very knowledgeable and could perform some amazing stunts. We began instruction on different styles of kicks mostly and were kicking pads before we knew it. Then, we had some instruction that included a quick wrestling match between two members of our group. Well, one of the guys rolled over on top of the other while he was in a very strange position and actually broke his arm. Being a tight-knit group, we were all really worried. This break wasn't any small thing, it was just below his shoulder and was a "spiral fracture", not a hairline. So imagine being in a foreign country with only friends you've known two weeks and then going to a hospital not knowing anything of what's going on? After a day of surgery and a few days of bedrest, he just came back yesterday. We are relieved he's back and ok, and even more impressed that he has decided to stay and fulfill his contract, even with one good arm. So, that was quite an event, and definitely shook up the group a bit.

The next day, we got to meet our Province Coordinators or P.O.E. (Provincial Office of Education). We learned about our schools and also about what to expect upon arrival. Here is what I know of where I am living and working. On Thursday we are heading down to Gwangju, the capital of Jeollanam-do. We will be there for 6 days where we will basically familiarize ourselves with the province and undergo some lecture about specifics of our area. Then, we are off to our different towns to start work. I will be working in a school just outside the city of Gwangyang called Bonggang Elementary School. From 1st to 6th grade is just 46 students, but I am lucky enough to even have a Korean university student as my co-teacher. She will work with me three days a week, but I will be teaching five days a week. I will be mostly teaching in the afternoons, but my schedule is subject to change if needed. The city i'm living in has about 150,000 people, but I'm trying to see if I can stay in the town just west of there, which has nearly 300,000 people. More on that later. If you want to check out my school website, check out the link at the bottom. It is in Korean, so if you have Google Chrome get it translated. If not, look at the pictures.

The city of Gwangyang actually is a fairly notable place. It is the largest steel manufacturing area in South Korea and has it's own professional soccer team. The capital, Gwangju, has a profession baseball team. So, I plan to be busy visiting games as often as I can. Baseball here is insanely popular, and the atmosphere at the stadium is supossed to be top notch. My pal, Jon (Gio), lives just under an hour away, so we will probably see a lot of eachother. Overall, I'm really looking forward to seeing my area and where i'll be living for the next year.

Back to Seoul, then soccer.

On wednesday, we are out playing soccer on the fields here at the university, and one of the group coordinators approaches a few of us and asks if we would be interested in playing for his league team in Seoul on sunday. So, of course we said yes, and he explained when and where to meet him. We would be playing with his division 1 Seoul team, which is pretty decent, and they would pay for our fees and everything if we came on Sunday. More on this later...

We got a group together for another weekend out in Seoul. We got a free ride into Seoul because on Saturday, our program had a field trip to Seoul to take us to the palace there. Then, we could choose to stay in Seoul if we wanted to. This time, we stayed at a different spot in Seoul, and the hostel was quality. We had a room of six bunks to ourselves and the kitchen space and showers were great. After dinner, Gio and I needed to do some shopping for some soccer equipment for the game the next day. We walked around the area, without even realizing that the area we were in was one of the largest shopping areas in Seoul. The shopping centers went straight up and were organized by floor. So the first five floors would be clothing, then a couple floors of sporting goods, then electronics, etc.

That night, we went to a dance club in Gungnam. The club was very expensive, but because of someone in our group with a friend there, we were able to get in for free. We got back to the hostel around 1:30 after some good dancing with a group of 11 or so scholars.

The next day, Gio and I got up and left for Itaweon to meet up with one of our coordinators who lives there. From there, we got a taxi to Seoul University, where we would be playing that day. We were introduced to the team, and they handed us jerseys. This league is a league for foreigners that is made up of three divisions, with division three being the lowest and division one being the highest. Most of the players from the teams were teachers or military personnel that were living there in Seoul. The team we were playing for, the "Harriers", was made up of Americans, British, Australians, South Africans, Canadians, and then one German. Gio and I were a bit nervous playing with people we didn't really know at the highest level around. However, once the game got going we realized we could compete just fine. The game ended with us losing 2 - 1, but it was a very close and very good game. The best part was what came afterwards. Because the team is sponsored by an english bar in town, we all went to the pub for drinks and food after the game. Free beer and fish and chips was the perfect after-game meal. Not only that, but they told us that whenever we like, we can come up on the weekends and play along with free food and a place to stay. So, that being said, we will probably be making trips to Seoul every other weekend or so.

This week is the last week of orientation here in Jochiwon. Thursday, we will be heading out to our different provinces. For me, i'll be heading to Gwangju, the capital of Jeonnam. There are about 37 people in my group. We will be there for a few days before being transferred to our different cities. This week we have to do lesson plans, teach at an english camp for a day, and pack for our departure. This month has felt very similar to the first month of college. There are 300 or so young people with the same general goal and mindset, so we are all getting along very well and making good friends. Now that we are leaving, most of us are excited to see our locations and our apartments, but at the same time we will be away from everyone we know here in the country, and those who speak our language. So, as much as I will enjoy my province, I will definitely miss my time here in orientation. I'm sure, however, that everyone will do plenty of traveling to see eachother during the school year.

As soon as I am in my province, I will make sure to take plenty of photos and post as much as possible to update everyone. Then, once i'm placed in my apartment and school, you can be expecting even more as i'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to share.

Thanks for reading!

Drawing Hero Show in Seoul - Basically an intense display of live drawing mixed with comedy and special effects.

At the Palace in Seoul.

This is what it would have look like years ago.

It is interesting to see the ancient palace in the heart of the growing city.

This is where the emperor would have sat.

Playing with the Harriers. I'm number 6.

After the game, we couldn't get seats on the train to Jochiwon. But luckily the arcade car had some seats available.

Education in South Korea

A topic that we have learned a lot about so far and a topic that is very relevant to my work here in Korea is Education in Korea. The education here is considered by many to be among the top systems in the world. They consistently rank very high in reading, math, and sciences, while the U.S. rarely ranks in the top 10. I have realized, however, that the attitude from the outside and the attitude from the inside is very different. Many Koreans wonder why President Obama mentions the Korean education system as something to admire. Many Koreans also send their students abroad to study simply to avoid the education system here, something that I never knew. I'll explain why.

The system here is very strict and very competitive. Children focus on five main subjects: Korean, Math, Science, English, and History. Starting at early ages, they are pushed to compete and put studies above everything, which in itself is not an issue. However, once they hit middleschool, and especially highschool, the lifestyle becomes very intense. A typical student will study from 7am until 8pm, and then the vast majority will attend some sort of afterschool until as late as midnight. This will go on six days a week, then, on many occasions, will be followed up by afterschool on Sunday. Parents in Korea spend, on average, more money on education than any other country in the world. If your student does not attend a Hagwon or private academy, it can put them at the disadvantage. During their senior year of highschool, all Korean students take a test which basically decides their future. A high score on this test means a good college, good future, and a good marraige. Whereas a low score can be just the opposite and can make it difficult to find a spouse.

More people in Korea have a PhD than any other population. The amount of degrees here is astounding. This means, however, that when 300,000 students graduate with degrees in who knows what, and there are only 30,000 jobs, you now have a lot of very intelligent people sitting around with no job. The concentration on getting the highest degree possible also means that no one is staying back to run the farms or do the blue-collar jobs. So, in a nutshell, Korea has a very large amount of people with PhD that have nowhere to work because of the same amount of degrees out there. Therefore, a lot of Koreans do end up working abroad.

The system does produce some of the brightest students in the world, but it comes at a cost. Parents get concerned about the stress that students receive from the consistent studying and also the lack of extracirricular activities that don't happen due to all of the studying. I know that back in the U.S., we sacrifice studies to play sports or do some kind of club, which is definitely not good, but here, it's nearly the exact opposite. Another small detail, sexes never interact in schools until the college level. That's right, you won't see a coed highschool at any public school in Korea.

A shocking fact that I never knew is that the suicide rate among Korean students is double that of the second ranked country in the world. I forget the statistic exactly, but it is quite surprising to see. Also, parents will send children abroad (many times along with the mother) to study in a less stressful environment. The government now is trying to get families back to Korea because of this. Recently, there was a movement to make it mandatory for schools to take Saturdays off. However, it was realized that parents, in order to keep their students competitive, would just hire private tutors for the free time, making the new law pointless.

Another interesting idea that originated here in Korea is an English village. If you speak good English in Korea, getting a job becomes much less difficult. So, like I mentioned earlier, students would go abroad and learn English in the process. To try and keep students here, the government has created English Villages, which are basically entire towns that operate in only english. Restaurants, signs, medical services, everything is in English. Students can stay for as short as a week all the way up to several months. This provides the unique opportunity to stay in Korea but be immersed in a western culture environment.

I look forward to learning more about the education system here. After learning all that I have learned, I am happy to be teaching younger children rather than the stressful upper grades. As I continue to learn more about how the system works, i'll be sure to post. Until then, check out the links below, especially the video, which has some really good information on the topic. 

This past week

Hey everyone!
This past week has been awesome, and also very booked. I've got a lot to share, and a lot of pictures to post. In the next couple of days i'll try to get everything posted so as to catch you guys up. Just some of the things to come:
Friend in the hospital (He's ok now)
Soccer / Football in the Seoul League
More dancing downtown
Information on my posting in Jeonnam

...Just to name a few.
So keep and eye out for new posts!

An Evening in Seoul

On Saturday morning, we all got up for our physicals. Basically, to get a Korean identity card, you have to get a thorough physical done. This includes urine samples, blood tests, x-rays, and even a tooth checkup. The power went out in the middle of the physicals, putting us back an hour while we waited for the construction to finish. Then, after physicals (also meaning the ending of our fast!), we ate lunch and a group of 8 of us headed to Seoul for the evening. We arrived in Seoul about 1.5 hours later, and that's when the adventure began.

Now, before I continue this story, remember that none of us have cell phones, only one of us speaks Korean, and we have no idea how this city works. Ok, continue.

To get taxis from the train station to our hostel, we obviously had to split up into two groups. The address to the hostel wasn't exactly accurate, so we decided to meet somewhere and then walk to the hostel from that meeting point. Of course, none of us know how to say, "Follow that taxi", so we were at the mercy of the drivers. They both took us to where we asked, which was the subway station nearest our hostel. However, we didn't realize that the subway station had 20 exits. So, we were seperated. After waiting a while, we decided to head to the hostel. We showed the taxi driver the address, only for him to drive us like 400 yards, turn down a back alley, and then say, "Ummm, no hotel here". We got out and walked around and somehow ended up finding someone who knew where it was.

Our hostel name was "Mr. Kim's Friends", and it was exactly just that. Mr. Kim had two very large apartments filled with bunks and he had it completely packed, including floor space. It was cheap, so no worries. The other group did show up about 15 minutes later, and we all headed out for dinner. After dinner, the night began. A brazilian and an american joined us on our ventures, and we headed to the club district known as Hung-dae. Wow, what a place. The amount of neon lights in these streets reminded you of a small Times Square. It kept going and going. We stopped at a place called Club Cocoon, which ended up being like 4 stories underground. Wow, this place was huge. The music was mostly house music, and the sound was excellent. On top of that, the consistent light show made for a great atmosphere. At some point during the dancing, our entire group ended up on stage, and that was quite an experience. Jon took some footage while we were up there, make sure to check it out.

So, after our clubbing experience, we stopped at a classic KFC for some chicken before calling it a night. The next day, we went to some shopping sections of Seoul to see what we could find. We took the subways around town, which was very easy to use and very quick. The shopping experience was different, but not too bad. One of the girls in our group needed some formal clothes for work, but finding stuff in her size (She is about 5'8") was nearly impossible. Then, we turned a corner, and we couldn't find the other half of the group. In the large crowds we got split into 4 and 4 again, and for the second time we had no communication whatsoever. After looking around, my group decided to head to the hostel. When we got there, the other group had already left, so naturally we thought they were headed to the train station. We took a taxi to the station, boarded a train, and got back to the university, just to find that the other group wasn't there, haha. However, they did end up showing up about 2 hours later.

Life in a big city can be tough to navigate, but without cell phones it is just about impossible unless you are basically holding hands the entire way. With huge crowds, losing someone and never seeing them again is so easy, as we discovered this weekend. We are all looking forward to buying cell phones once our identity cards come in, but that isn't for another 2 - 3 weeks. Anyway, that is a very quick summary of our weekend in Seoul. Overall, it was a complete blast and we saw a lot of stuff just walking around Seoul exploring (in the rain). Check out some of our footage and pictures! Jon was our group photographer, so all the videos were filmed thanks to him. Thanks for reading.

Just arrived at the station. Found some other TaLK students there.

Dinner that night.

The boys.

The girls.

The group. Plus Mr. Kim. 

Club Cocoon.

Lunch the next day.

Gas masks at the subway stations just in case North Korea goes berserk. 

On the way to Cocoon with our very multicultural group.

On stage!

The amount of construction is this city is crazy. Take a look.

Drinking in Korea

The Korean culture, or what I know of it so far, it a very community based, socially focused culture. Everything is done in groups and always in public. For example, going to a restaurant by yourself is considered, well, weird. If you go out with friends, you go out, no to someone's house. If you buy something, it is customary to share that something with however many people are in your group. Bonding as friends / co-workers / a couple is very important, and the #1 way of doing that is by going out and having drinks.

Drinking here has some interesting features. First off, refusing a drink is basically one of the seven deadly sins. You  must accept the drink, but you don't necessarily have to drink it. Any empty cup on the table is prone to being refilled at any time. It is customary to have others fill your drink, and you fill theirs. There are specific ways of accepting the drink, and when drinking one must turn slightly away from the eldest at the table, unless amongst friends of the same age. These things aren't hard to get used to.

The two main drinks here are makgeolli and soju. Makegeolli is basically like a wine made out of rice. It is easy to drink, inexpensive, and surprisingly tasty. Soju is a heavier drink, even less expensive (a bottle will run about $1) and taste almost exactly like a slightly watered down vodka. These two drinks can be fine anywhere, along with a variety of local and imported beers. All stores, and I mean all stores, will have coolers with plenty of options and an area outside for you to sit and drink.

Drinking with co-workers will be interesting. When I am placed at my school, I will be invited to go drinking with the school staff. And because of the respect levels of the Korean heirarchy, however much the principal decides to drink is about how much the rest of the staff should drink. So, if he doesn't drink much, then you wait to have more drinks after he has left. If he does drink a lot, then I maybe leaving my cup full at times to take it easy. Either way, being drunk in public is by no means wrong here and you cannot be arrested for it. That doesn't mean everyone is stumbling around, but at the same time, I'm sure it happens.

So, ya, drinking here is a vital part of the culture and goes with the idea of sharing and community that is threaded in their lifestyle. They love to have fun as a group and spend time getting to know eachother. There is a saying that the Koreans drink as much as they work. They work a lot.  

Group 6

For the orientation, we are split into 6 groups according to our provinces. That means that whoever is in your group will be the ones living closest to you during you time working. My group, group 6, has formed a special bond over the days and we have quickly established ourselves as the loudest, most enthusiastic group of the program. Not to mention, we are also the smallest. Well, to celebrate our uniqueness, we decided to make a video last night showing the world just how awesome group 6 really is. Enjoy!

Drumming Class and My Dorm

So, today we had a very interesting class. We actually got to use a traditional Korean drum called a Janggu. Our teacher taught us basic beats along with some traditional Korean chants. It was actually pretty fun and at the same time challenging when having to chant and drum simultaneously.

Group 6 Team 3! 

During drumming class

No problem

Then I went and took a video of the dorm here at the Korea University. This university is a really important school in Korea and getting into this university is really competitive. The campus is really nice, and i'll try to take some shots of the campus when I get a chance. For now, check out the video! Thanks for reading. 

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Some Pictures

Alrighty, here are some pictures of what's been happening here in South Korea. At the bottom are couple of youtube videos, so make sure to check  them out!

Just after arriving, I made sure to indulge myself in some tasty silkworms. Not half bad actually.

This is the Jochiwon train station about an hour south of Seoul.

This is a rail map of the Seoul area. Intense, no?

Downtown Seoul

Seoul

Lunch in Seoul. Really good, but really spicy. 

The Palace in Seoul.

King Sejong. He invented the Korean alphabet in the 15th century. He lives in Seoul now. 

A sundial in Seoul.

This is the man-made river that flows through Seoul. So refreshing.

This is Korean Karaoke or Norebang. The rooms are awesome, and so much fun.

In class during orientation.

Going hard at it. 

Almost done.

My masterpiece. Signed and all.

This is the group SOS at the TaLK Orientation

This is the K-Tigers. These are all kids!

My group in painting class at orientation.

Thanks for reading! More coming soon!

The Korean Language

So, I've started learning Korean, and i've been completely suprised by the language so far. You've all heard the term, "That's Chinese to me". Well, before coming here that was very true. Looking at Korean was like looking at small diddle-daddles written randomly on paper. Now i'm not a stranger to learning foreign languages, but this is my first time learning a totally new alphabet, and on top of that, my foundation in latin languages would not be useful whatsoever. To be quite blunt, I was petrified of even attacking the Korean language or trying to speak it.

Well, after just a few days here, my fears are definitely gone. In fact, they have been replaced with a lot of excitement and ambition. The alphabet was incredibly easy, and within a couple of days I can read most anything in Korean. Sure, I may sound like a kindergarten student and I may not know what I just read, but for only a couple of days, I'm really pleased with my progress. Speaking is more difficult, but still not that bad. Let me explain a little bit about the Korean language.

For starters, the Korean alphabet, called "Hangul" or 한글 has 14 consonants and 10 vowels. The vowels can be paired up at times to create other sounds, and the consonants as well can be double (only the same consonant) to slightly change the sound. One interesting fact is that the Korean language always pairs a consonant and a vowel. You can never live without eachother. And because Korean is a very syllable based language, this means that you get words like this for example: Seth = Se Sa ; Vodka = Vo du ka; Camera = Ka ma ra. So if you notice, even though in English camera is pronounced "Cam Ra", those two consonants side by side won't work, so you add the extra syllable so that it  can be written in Korean.

The way that words work is by syallables. You can use the alphabet in sets of 2, 3, or in some cases 4 to create a sound. You can stack these on top or beside eachother in an almost tetris like form in order to create one syllable. Then, you move to the next space and make a syllable until you have finished the word. Some words are one block, some are many. However, after you have finished the word, you simply keep going, no spaces, commas, or periods involved. This will be difficult for me to distinguish, but i'm sure i'll get the hang of it. So, here are some examples:

제이름은세쓰입니다 = My name is Seth

My name is = "Jeh ee-rum un" = 4 syllables. So, 4 blocks. 제이름은

Notice the small characters in the blocks. It looks like one big character because in western languages the letter always go the the right, and are never stacked. But, each block contains 2 or 3 letters.

ㅈ = "J" sound

ㅔ= "Eh sound"

 ㅇ = "Silent"

ㅣ="ee"

Making the finished product = 제이

Seth = "Se Suh" = 2 syllables. 2 blocks. 세쓰

The final ending shows that it is a formal conversation = "ib nee da" or 입니다.

So ya, that's how Korean Hangul is put together to form an entire phrase. It's not that bad, but it will take a lot of practice to reach a level of fluency that I would like. I know one thing, curiosity has defiinitely kicked in as I am fascinated by how the language looks and sounds. 

The TaLK Program

We have now officially started our orientation for the 2011 TaLK program. The opening ceremony was suprisingly fun. At 8am, we boarded busses and headed downtown to the University of Korea to have the opening ceremony, which consists of speakers from the Korean ministry of Education and then live performances. The performances were incredible. The first group was a choir of 35 international children from different countries singing international songs. It was great, and the kids really got into it. The second group was a group called SOS, which was a group of girls that mix traditional Korean music with modern instruments, like an electric violin. Wow, that was amazing to see. Hopefully I can post of video of it soon. The songs were really intense and the group was very passionate. The third group was my favorite. It was a group of youth, ranging from like six to fifteen years old that specialized in Taekwondo. They did everything to music and dance, but in the middle of all this, they would break boards by doing flips and kicks that make some Kung Fu movies look childish. I'll see if I can get a video of that one too, it was really great. After the ceremony, we split into teams and took of tour of Seoul. A scavenger hunt was setup for us, and we had to take different team pictures in front of the assigned locations throughout Seoul. Although it was pouring rain due to the tropical storm over Korea, it was a blast, and my group was a ton of fun. We had a typical Korean meal in some small backalley restaurant and it was really delicious. Throw in some Soju (a Korean liquor) and the experience was complete.  

So if you are going to be reading this blog, you may need some background as to what I am doing and how I got here. The TaLK program (Teach and Learn in Korea) is a Korean run government organization that pays young graduates to teach english to children in the public school systems in Korea. Because English is such a big deal here in the school system, they want to provide young kids more exposure to native english speakers at a young age. The application process involved essays, references, background checks, and an interview with your local Korean consulate. I applied and was accepted for a one-year contract (6 months is also an option) with an option to extend to two years if I so desire. The program consists of a one month orientation where you learn about culture, language, and teaching strategies. For the orientation we are just outside of Seoul at the University of Korean Jochiwon. There are 320 TaLK scholars this year, with most of them being from the US or Canada and then a few from the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. We will be teaching in after-school programs throughout the country, mostly in somewhat rural areas where the children have little experience to the english language.

The entire program is paid for, including housing, a cultural allowance (to visit other areas of Korea), airfare, and a monthly salary. We will each have our own apartments near our schools, and we are free to choose our apartments upon arrival to our teaching locations. We will be paired up with a Korean university student who will help us with our transition and also help with translating during the classes as well. As you can see, the program is pretty well developed and our class is the 7th generation of students, so i'm sure many of the kinks have been worked out. So that's a little bit about the TaLK program. For more info visit www.talk.go.kr. I'm now off to Korean class followed by some much needed gym time. I'll try my best to post one more time tonight. Thanks for reading!

Landed

Alright, I made it here to Seoul without any issues. I'm at the University of Korea in Jochiwon, about an hour south of Seoul, where we will be staying for the length of orientation. My flight here wasn't bad. It was a 15 hour flight, but the plane was comfortable and the movie selection was great. I landed in Seoul around 3:30pm on Saturday and without any issues I found my group and we boarded the bus to campus. There are 320 scholars this year, making orientation quite a big experience. There are lots of Canadians, British, Australians, and maybe more Canadians than Americans. Although the count isn't official, the amount from Vancouver and Toronto is impressive. The campus here is beautiful, and the surrounding city is very nice. Last night a lot of us went to the "Peach Festival" in town here. It is basically a celebration of the fruit, and surprisingly, there wasn't a whole lot of peaches to be found. However, the shops were all set up in the street, and a huge stage was setup in town showing a beauty pageant. We walked around a bit before stopping and trying some typical korean drinks (more on that later), which was a good experience, and something that will take some getting used to. Today, a lot of the students are going on a field trip, but a couple of us are going into Seoul instead. We will be seeing the city and trying to get some essentials, such as cell phones, converters, and a soccer ball.

In the next couple of days I will be posting more about this program, the staff, and my expectations. But for now, at least I've made it and things seem to be going smoothly.