Last Day of Camp

Okay, this may be the last update for a while. Today is the last day of orientation. So basically, the last day of camp and fun times with other EPIK teachers. Then it all goes to pot, right?

So, we did our presentation. We didn’t practice it, we didn’t coordinate what we were going to say, we just did our three parts and presented. I think this is the most stressful part so far and the most useful. Because you’re basically evaluated by your peers and the “teacher” on how well you run your lesson. We did our lesson; it went fairly well. Edwin and I need a little more practice speaking slowly. He did better than I did, but he’s a rambler by nature. We get our feedback and sit down. Woohoo, done, right? We won best presentation in the class by our peers! Like I said, the execution stage was a little unpolished, but I think our activities carried the day.

In the afternoon (after having a delicious lunch of Starbuck—haha, I introduced my roommate to Starbucks, which hasn’t apparently reached South Africa yet), we went to the Palace in Seoul on a field trip. I could say something about it, but I’m too lazy: here are some pictures!

(pictures to be inserted later)

Okay, we’re done with the palace. Then they herded us onto buses and shipped us to a theater (theatre). The show was awesome. It was a “cooking” show where the 4 chefs had to have a wedding dinner done by 6 pm. All the music was done with pots, pans, water bottles, bowls, etc. Lots of dancing and slapstick and audience participation. The last part was my favorite. Of course, it was “in Korean,” but it was so well done everyone knew exactly what was going on. I aspire to be that kind of actor IN the classroom. Although, the first drum bang I whipped out my water and painkillers from my bag.

Then we went to an international buffet dinner thing. Which was great. I stuffed myself with tempura, Chinese dumplings, Korean soup, wurst, weird African fruit (litchi- “leeche”; and everyone was like, you’ve never had a litchi?!! Even Edwin, the Brit!), and various other “ethnic” foods. I inhaled four plates and a bowl of soup and a glass of green tea. But it was creepy at the beginning of dinner because we went in and grabbed a table leaving our stuff at the table. We come back from the buffet line and someone else’s stuff is there. No big deal, you know? We can share. So we sit down to eat and this guy comes back and starts making a huge fuss about why his stuff was moved and that was his seat (never mind we were there first). So Nia goes, “We can move over. Sit down with us.” The guy goes, “No, I don’t want to sit with YOU.” O-kay, freak. So he runs off where ever, then he comes back and wants to know Nia’s name, being really intense about it. He wrote it down and everything. For “stealing his seat.” And the rest of us are all raising our eyebrows and making faces at each other like WTF?

Then we had a conversation about “LBH” Losers Back Home. The ones that came over here because they weren’t welcome where ever they came from (I hope that’s not me!). We also chatted about K-pop (Korean popular music; 2pm and Big Bang and T.ara and something 21?). I’ve actually heard the song “Lollipop”—I didn’t realize Big Bang was in it. I’ve have had it on my playlist forever from a FST for Hetalia. So that was cool.

Then we escaped and went shopping. Very glitzy! Edwin and I bought a watch (finally) and I got sparkly fish stickers (I wanted to buy more; I’m such a sticker whore). I looked at wallets to replace mine but the only one I liked had weird Konglish/Engrish on it and a demented bunny. Nia, who continuously cracks me up by saying “it’s so cold” and “well, it is winter” (no it’s not, not yet!) bought a massive scarf, earmuffs, and gloves. It’s very similar to Kansas temperature wise, just a little colder. Then we dropped Edwin back at the dorm (his sense of direction is worse than mine; I fear for him) and went out “clubbing” with a bunch of EPIK-ers.

It basically consisted of loud American music, restricted dancing, strobe lighting, and lots of drunk foreigners. We stayed and danced and talked with people for a while. Then we escaped and did more shopping. I introduced Nia to Cold Stone Creamery. 

Still haven’t found a converter plug. Still haven’t gotten over to KB to exchange my money. But I’m going to pack up and meet my boss today! Then get thrown on the bus and head off to my next year of life. I guess I’m nervous and “excited.”

So I need to get out of bed and take a shower.

I'm on a Boat--

Well, no, I'm not. But for some reason that song is stuck in my head... how appropriate. Let me roll my eyes at my immaturity now.

So I was up until 11 last night working on a mock lesson to teach today in front of a panel of judges and now I’m wide awake at 5 am. It’s even too early to hide in the lobby, so I’m under my blankets and typing softly.

Soooo, where to start? Orientation is crazy. Basically, you start at 9 am and end at 9 pm. Classes are 90 minutes, food breaks are 60 minutes, breaks between classes are 10-15 depending on how early you get out of class. I’ve had some much stuffed in my brain about TR, PBL, PPP, lesson plans, TL, Korean culture, Korean history (which explains so much about why they hate Japan but love the Japanese—I don’t love the Japanese right now, at least not the high schoolers chatting and running through the halls in heels at 10 pm).

Today I have to give a mock lesson to high schoolers about American homes. There are two other people in my group and we’re doing PPP. This is why I was up until 11 making a powerpoint of suckage last night. I am prepared to totally bomb this wonderful, evaluated, in front of the class activity. But hopefully my PPT will look acceptable.

Today is also our field trip. We’re going to some palace-museum with our EPIK tee-shirts. I shall actually take pictures of more than just street food I ate and OTC botox injections in the convenience store. I might actually even have time and energy and light to go find my camera cord so you guys can see these pictures. Deal? Deal.

Other than that, I’ve been networking. Networking, networking, networking. There’s approximately 100-150 of use here, so I’ve been talking with a lot of people. Everyone says they love it/like it here. It’s cheap, the people are friendly, the job is fun, etc. I’ve yet to hear one person say, “I LOVE the food!”

So far I haven’t been poisoned, or constipated, or the other one. I also avoid kimchi like the plague, love the pumpkin, and still can’t get over salad for breakfast (and lunch and dinner). I’ve eaten more salad food in the last week than I have the last year! I bought and ate street food (bean-paste filled fish) and instructed the people with me to “take me to the 5^th floor if I start convulsing.” For some reason they didn’t want to try my lovely little fish. I only wanted to try it because I saw it in a blog. It was really good. I have two left.

I asked for one, but I don’t know Korean for one. I basically pointed (incorrectly, I know now… no pointing with your index finger!) and said “ergo,” which (I hope) means that. The lady thought I meant one for every person (I think—lots of interpretation here) and gave me 3. The other two are stashed in my bag for lunch today in case it sucks. Along with the Pringles and cookies. I’ll buy a coke or water from the vending machine when its light out.

Hmmm, I also kinda know where I’ve been placed. Apparently Anton got an email about me and him being placed in the same town in Gangwon. So at least I’m going with someone else. I haven’t done much talking to Anton. For Hetalia fans, he looks like Germany. Very tall and broad with slicked back blond hair. Great, now I’m going to start calling him Doitsu! In my head. I already keep sprinkling Japanese into things. Today I will at least talk to him long enough to get the name of the town where I’m staying. All I know is its on the coast and the water is infected with god knows what so you can’t drink it (not that I planned to: traveling 101 don’t drink the water—except in Japan, where it was delicious).

It’s funny how the rumor mill works here. Because I learned about my placement from Edwin, who was sitting next to Anton at dinner and told me about it in Korean class. Edwin learned about his placement from a random S. African girl who’s friend he’s replacing. He’s being plopped in a fun, rural spot. Woot. None of us have gotten it from an official source… and we leave tomorrow. Way to go bureaucracy!

In any case, I think I will post this and post my story, the lucky readers getting it two days early. Then it might be a decent time to start thinking about a shower. I’m hungry though, which seems to be common here, and the cafeteria doesn’t open until 8! Two more hours… hmmm, little fish bun…

Over and Out.

Fresh off the Boat

Okay, it’s 6am here and I’m typing in the lobby because I don’t want to wake my roommate up. If you want to know, it’s 4pm back in Kansas. 

There’s so much to type, I doubt I can remember it all. Surprisingly, I’m a little scared to go to my province, but mostly its okay. So far. There’s two other guys going to Gangwon: Anton and Edwin. Edwin’s a nice guy from the UK who got his Masters in English Lit. He’s pretty chatting and in my teaching group. Anton I briefly met but haven’t gotten to talk to a lot. I’m sure we’ll get a chance before the end of the week.

Anyway, my flight in was surprisingly glitch-less. There was a bit of a mix up with my ticket at MCI, but the guy straightened it out without any problems. The trip to San Fran was fine. SFO is a horrible airport. I now see why I needed a 4 hour layover! It took me an hour just to get to the right terminal because apparently terminal A is different from terminal G (which is where I was originally sent) and there were no SIGNS for A, so I had to ask several employees like a breadcrumb trail. And I had to go through security again. Screw that! Anyhow, all the food in there was super expensive (I know, California), so my last meal in the States was a can of pringles and a hershey bar because I didn’t want to pay $10 for a freakin’ sandwich. 

Not much to say about the flight over. I was wedged between an old Korean lady and an old Indian lady. Neither one spoke English. The Indian lady’s eyes were cool though; they were black except the very rim of the iris, which was violet. In any case, she kept saying ‘off, off’ at the tv, but I think she meant ‘on’ and I tried to get it on, but I think it was broken. We both had special meals, so we generally ate at the same time. But I was watching her and she was copying the order that I ate, which was weird. But I explained that the lemon dressing went over the salad and the butter on the bread. Otherwise it was a long painful flight where I watched Twilight (as much as I could stand, although Jane was cool. The wolf CG bothered me a lot and Jacob’s head was too small, LOL), Prince of Persia (okay, but the action was a little over the top), The Karate Kid, some Korean film, and Toy Story 3.

Getting off the plane was fun because I’m suddenly in this sea of Koreans with no idea where to go or what to do. So like any good duckling, I followed them. At immigrations I met with another girl who was going to teach at a Hangwon (private school). So we muddled through Immigrations, customs, and the baggage area together. Then I got picked up by my driver. Who did not speak English. And I discovered who bought Hyundai cars… and that Koreans have interesting driving skills… and scooter boys are scary. The driver got a little lost and frustrated, but eventually I was tossed down at EPIK’s orientation. I lucked out apparently because I got a room with a bathroom (no communal shower!). My roommate, Nia, showed up about an hour later. 

Nia’s really cool. She’s from South Africa. And is having Blackberry withdrawal. Apparently there’s actually a lot of South Africans here. South Africans, Canadians, Americans, and UK. Plus, Irish, NZ, and Aussies. She and I both just got here, which is great, because apparently 3/4s of the people at this orientation have been in Korea for 3-8 months and are just now getting orientation. Which is also good because I’ve been asking a ton of questions and tagging along out into Seoul with them.

In any case, yesterday was classes from 9 am to 9 pm. I ate a huge breakfast (4 eggs, 2 bowls of cereal, an apple, a glass of water, and a glass of juice with a chaser of precautionary painkillers—the painkillers were an excellent idea, as the opening ceremony had high schoolers with drums!). Shuffled through the classes, met a ton of new people, went out into Seoul with a group of people, learned McD’s is the same here, learned a lot of other stuff. Crashed from jet lag right after dinner in the middle of Korean class. I remember the straight vertical line is ‘E’ and that’s about it. Went to sleep at 9 pm and woke up at 6 am… yay! Its just now getting light outside because they don’t have daylight savings.

Who knows what fun I’ll have today? After burning my taste buds out with kimchi (gimchi) which is cabbage and hot pepper, I fear for my life. Other than that, everything else I tried was fairly good/decent. I’m going to be eating a lot of salad—they have salad with every meal, at least so far, including breakfast. I’m hoping to get a converter plug for my laptop (they have western style plugs in the dorms), a watch, and convert some more USD to KRW. I didn’t do it all at the airport because of the fees.

No pictures yet. We go on a field trip Wednesday, so a castle? I think. So maybe some pictures then.

So far, so good.

But the only bit of bad news is my longtime companion, Shadow, had to be put down on Friday. She’d been going downhill for months (although still spry enough to tear through the house). I could tell at the party that she really wasn’t feeling too well and after I left for KC she just got worse, puking, refusing to eat, completely disoriented and unable to recognize people/surroundings. I think she picked her time because she saw the suitcases, and well, the dog knows what suitcases mean. Although I think she knew before that because she was very clingy that last week. She will be buried up on Kerry’s pet cemetery with Bailey, Silver, the rats, and Cher. I’m sad she didn’t let me be there at the end, but I’m happy she lived a long life and was in good shape until that last week or so. RIP Shadow.

Has a working visa and a date

Big thing is I have a visa. Yay! I can legally enter the country now. I'm in the process of getting a plane ticket but I'm not long for this country. Woo.

Saturday was a ton of fun. I woke up and went to the Mule Jump of Pea Ridge. Now, this was basically a tiny town fair type thing. How did I know I was in the South? 1/3 of the booths were sugary treats and lard boats, 1/3 of the booths were for politicians, and the last third was for churches. They also had a beat the truck with a sledgehammer fundraiser booth. And three giant bounce houses. And of course the mules!

One mule decided to take a tour of my neighborhood. Several others choice the worst times to be balky. They weren't big on the barrels for the barreling racing and would shy and snort. This one guy could not get his mule Cooter to go forward at the barrel, so he had this brilliant idea to back him up to the flag. It almost worked, several times, but Cooter got wise to his scheme. But it was hilarious to see the tiny mule with his 3 year old rider chasing the dad across the field at a steady trot while the kid drummed on his sides (or tried to, considering his little legs were sticking almost straight out). This other little girl was maybe 9 or 10 and was riding better than the adults while she bounced in and out of the saddle.

My favorite parts were actually the stick pony races with the kids2-7. They galloped around cluelessly, sometimes doubling back other times missing the poles all together. I was just waiting for one of them to step in a pile of mule poop. I also enjoyed the "hog calling" which basically consisted of grown adults making fools of themselves calling imaginary hogs. The woman from Kansas won for her "longwindedness."

The mule jump part itself was really cool because these mules were literally jumping over their own height. I was rooting for Molly Mae while most of the crowd was calling for Radar. Radar was the biggest, ugliest roan mule I have ever seen. His owner wasn't much prettier looking either. But what was great about Radar was how his owner revved him up. The owner would get to hollering and yanking, screaming, 'go get 'em do it jump it do go go!' while stomping the ground and Radar would start bucking and stomping and lay his ears back. Molly Mae jumped 63" and Radar and Southern Peaches jumped 62". First prize was $500.

Ye-ah, it was totally hick, but it was fun, free, and in the sun. Plus the church booth was selling PIE. Shh, I stole Cara's pumpkin and swapped it with my chocolate.

I also went to the local fish club's auction. And was mostly successful about not buying anything. I only bought 4 plecos to keep my tanks clean while I'm gone and a pair of dwarf cichlids. I suspect I'm going to come back to plecos, dwarf cichlids, and guppies and nothing else. Other business I had there was selling $60 worth of fish. I walked in with $10 and walked out with $62. NOT BAD FOR ME IN A FISH AUCTION. The auction, of course, was really fun and I was jesting with this old guy next to me. He was cleaning the place out. I also got in a bidding war over all of my fish, but the old guy bowed out and the Corey yelled at me, "You're leaving town!" He had a point. I bought the plecos anyway.

Later that night I went to the fish club meeting and just hung out, trying not to fall asleep.

Overall, tons of fun.

Sunday sucked. I think one of the little plague carriers where I volunteer gave me a nasty bug because I was sick, sick, sick. Fever, chills, nausea, the works. I didn't get anything done I needed to.

Then I spent today at the doctor's making sure I'm not carrying any nasty infections. They did a pee test and a blood draw. I shook at the blood draw but did not run screaming from the room like a banshee... or whack the nurse... or sob hysterically. I can't get the stupid band-aid off. I usually tell them not to tape it on. Great, I'll have the stupid thing on for half a week before the adhesive gives up.

And I learned I had several symptoms Marfan's syndrome, which is basically elongated bodies. Apparently I have an increased risk of crushing a lung or cardio-vascular problems. Woot. I also have a dip in my spine, but my blood pressure was up to 110/70. I think that's the highest it's EVER been. Unfortunately, I've also lost some weight.

X-rays are fun. They weren't sure if my liver was enlarged or just elongated because my torso is so long. Eventually they decided my internal organs looked fine, there were no giant tumors, and my upper left colon was "fulla shit." Cue the laxatives. YUMMY.

Overall I seem to be fit for duty. I think. But I might still have Celiacs or hypothyroidism. I live in a world of rainbows, I tell you. Then again, everything could come back find and I'm still just fulla shit.

On a brighter note, I finished almost all of my Korea shopping. Now I need to work on packing. I got the pepto, dental floss, deodorant, painkiller, and long underwear. And dress socks.

So that's all the exciting things going on in my life. Eventually you'll get more interesting updates about Korea.

Changes

Ch-ch-ch-chaaaaaaaaaaaanges... turn and face the strain... okay, I'll spare you guys the David Bowie. But at least I'm being ridiculous and not cliche, right?

Lots of things dumped down on my head this week, much to my surprised and flat-footedness.

The main source of strain is I was offered a position teaching in Korea that starts at the end of Oct. That means I have less than 3 weeks to get my visa, go shopping, pack my stuff, take care of my few bills, eat as much American food as Erinn-ly possible, etc.

The position is somewhere in Gangwon, which is not exactly my first choice because: it's next to North Korea, it's cold (screw Siberia and it's need to share), and it's still going to be 2-3 hours away from Seoul. So a cold, potentially hostile, backwater part of Korea? I'm game as long as they have wi-fi. And I can maybe do some winter sports. On the one hand I'd like to be by the coast, but then I go... whole fish in the soup... with eyes... and eggs... a lot. I need to try some more seafood HERE and find out if I am allergic where there's a hospital near by.

So basically I realized Claire sent my acceptance package to Kansas City (which is fine, if they want to think I'm still in KC, that's fine) and forgot the 14 hour time difference. So the package I was expecting to take 3 days only took "2" due to the time difference. So I had to drive up there and pick it up from Fed-Ex. I got a little lost because I couldn't remember exactly where that particular Fed-Ex office was, but I retrieved it. Signed my contract, ran around getting all the pieces together, and sent the visa paperwork off with the heavy cloud of don't-screw-up over my head the whole time.

It had the added bonus of me being able to hang out with my cousin before she leaves for China. She has to get her visa this week too, so she's staying in DC. If I hand the money, I'd go to Chicago and hand my paperwork over and creepily stalk the person who took it with my eyes. And of course, being fed by my grandmother is always worth visiting KC. Fresh bread, pumpkin muffins, biscuits? Yeah, gluten overkill. But apparently my gut has recovered from it's fall crisis, so I was fine. Plus I got to visit with Mrs C and go to Costco (twice) to get some stuff I'll need in Korea (I have a slight lapse of faith regarding their medicines and pharmacies).

BTW, I now remember that KC drivers are careless and do very poorly. They seem to have issues with 4-way stops and stop lights and merging and parking lots. And I didn't even go to Petsmart or Hen House this time!

I did get a bit giddy with the radio too. So many stations to choose from... that all play the same music... wait... yeah, really, P!NK and Lady Gaga and Bruce Spingsteen?

Now I have to wait for my visa, which will hopefully come back without any hang ups. Meanwhile I need to make a list of things to do before I leave and work through it. I have a class I'm supposed to take through EPIK and I need to figure out what I'm going to do about packing. I also need to sell some of my fish to help make up the $$ deficit. The girls need to go back home and I need to invest in some Pepto tablets.

As a side note, a little less exciting, I've been nominated as a "HubNugget" on Hubpages for my Hamster article. If you would like to vote for me, the link is here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Red-Carpet-Hubnuggets-And-The-Winning-Nominees-Are
I'm not sure exactly what I win... prestige? But contests are cool none-the-less.

I also got a job offer from Wal-Mart as a cake decorator, which had me screaming, WHY NOW? Why not 2 months ago?!! I want to do cake decorating and be a cake boss. I've been told to call the lady back and set up an appointment for an interview just in case, but that really doesn't sit well with me, since I'm 90% sure on Korea. I'd hate to waste her time and energy going through a fruitless interview. But I'd equally hate to not get into Korea until Feb for some reason and pass the position by because I was being unpractical. It's a catch-22 between personal ethics and the real world.

I think that's all the big news. LOL, yeah, that's all. Like it's nothing.