A few things:
- Someone said there's a typhoon coming to the Busan area? I don't know what effect that'll have on us here, but it was quite stormy today. Windy, rainy, and thundery. I love it!
- Next to the elevator waiting area on each floor is a bit of an open reading room. This evening, I overheard a fellow Canadian (well, he's from Toronto, lol), Ali, a zealous Christian, talking with another scholar (I didn't see his face) about why one should believe in Christ. You should pray, perhaps this is a turning point in that young man's life.
- Today's dinner.... Normally, I'll try things once, just to have an open mind. However, today's dinner was probably my least favourite of them all. On the menu was rice (a given), what looked like onion straws, spicy chili sauce meat dish (now with more tentacles!), and of course, kimchi. I usually take a tiny bit of everything, just to try it and then if I don't like it, I don't feel bad about wasting a lot of food.
However, upon closer inspection, what looked like onion straws was in fact, not onion straws. Onion straws don't have eyes. So my guess it was either a worm sized yellow fish, or a worm. Either way, I had one but that was it.... I just can't bring myself to eat something's brain :(
The meat dish had octopus and squid in it, so I tried to eat some. It's actually not that bad, it's sort of like eating clams in clam chowder, but the whole episode with the fraudulent onion straws sort of put me off seafood.
- This morning, one of the coordinators addressed our group. Apparently, a fellow scholar from the program fell ill and went to hospital for surgery. We were being let known that a donation drive had started for this scholar, and we could give money if we felt so inclined.
However, upon talking with another fellow scholar (aka, not a coordinator), the real story is that this girl got appendicitis and of course had to go to the hospital for emergency surgery. However, since she went to the hospital, she is missing lectures and technically cannot complete orientation, which means she's breaking her contract. Since she's "breaking her contract", the program is reneging on paying her medical bills/insurance costs, as well as her entrance and exit allowance (i.e. flight ticket money). Last I heard, she was heading back home to America. This is really shameful.
- Today is a public holiday, unbeknownst to anyone here :) It's Korean independence day, when Korea was finally able to say it was free from the occupation of Japanese rule. You're supposed to display the Korean flag at your house. As well, I believe it's the Google doodle for today (Google.com, not .ca)
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Orientation: Tuesday
Today was a really good day of lectures:
The first one was about classroom management and was very practical, very relevant. I thought it was excellent.
The second one was about incorporating magic tricks in your lesson. I thought this was awesome!
The third one (after lunch, when I skyped Josh) was about English as a global language and the assortment of Englishes around the world.
The last one was, in my opinion, the best lecture of today and probably the whole week. It got off to a really bad start though--the coordinators screwed up the schedule and placed 100 people into a room designed for 50. The worst part is that they didn't fix it. All day. My colleagues noticed that it was a simple error that could easily have been resolved by switching the room listing on today's schedule. However, nothing was done about it, and there were thus 4 separate groups of 100 people crammed into a hot, sweaty room for 50 people. When asked about it later, the coordinators said there was nothing they could do.
I digress.
Why was this lecture the best one? Well, first, let me tell you the topic. The presenter was speaking about theories of education and how to not just teach your students but to educate them, in the purest sense of the word. I thought the lecturer was inspiring, engaging, right on the money, and passionate. She really taught me a lot and inspired me to be the best teacher I can be. During the lecture though, I thought, "wow, I bet some people will find this really boring."
Sure enough, when I got on the elevator to go back to my room after the lecture, the person next to me said, "Wasn't that the most boring lecture ever?" To which I replied, "That was the best lecture ever!"
I had asked the instructor if she was teaching at Cheonnam National University, so I could take one of her classes, but she said she was teaching at a graduate school in Seoul. Oh well. However, she told me I should look up the works of... get this... Stephen Krashen! Apparently, he was her PhD chair! (Stephen Krashen is a big name in the world of ESL Education and linguistics) She said I should read things by him and people that he's cited, since there's "a lot of misinformation out there." Not sure what that means, but I'll take her words to heart. Benkyo narimasu.
After lectures, I went into town to visit the bank (eunheng) and get some money for this weekend. I still get scared crossing the street here, so I try to cross with a native Korean if at all possible.
After dinner, I went to Korean class, then went to HomePlus with some people afterwards. HomePlus is owned by Tesco, the British retailer. I bought an IU (she's a Korean singer) CD and some chicken strips lol. Here's an embarrassing picture:
That's it for tonight!
The first one was about classroom management and was very practical, very relevant. I thought it was excellent.
The second one was about incorporating magic tricks in your lesson. I thought this was awesome!
The third one (after lunch, when I skyped Josh) was about English as a global language and the assortment of Englishes around the world.
The last one was, in my opinion, the best lecture of today and probably the whole week. It got off to a really bad start though--the coordinators screwed up the schedule and placed 100 people into a room designed for 50. The worst part is that they didn't fix it. All day. My colleagues noticed that it was a simple error that could easily have been resolved by switching the room listing on today's schedule. However, nothing was done about it, and there were thus 4 separate groups of 100 people crammed into a hot, sweaty room for 50 people. When asked about it later, the coordinators said there was nothing they could do.
I digress.
Why was this lecture the best one? Well, first, let me tell you the topic. The presenter was speaking about theories of education and how to not just teach your students but to educate them, in the purest sense of the word. I thought the lecturer was inspiring, engaging, right on the money, and passionate. She really taught me a lot and inspired me to be the best teacher I can be. During the lecture though, I thought, "wow, I bet some people will find this really boring."
Sure enough, when I got on the elevator to go back to my room after the lecture, the person next to me said, "Wasn't that the most boring lecture ever?" To which I replied, "That was the best lecture ever!"
I had asked the instructor if she was teaching at Cheonnam National University, so I could take one of her classes, but she said she was teaching at a graduate school in Seoul. Oh well. However, she told me I should look up the works of... get this... Stephen Krashen! Apparently, he was her PhD chair! (Stephen Krashen is a big name in the world of ESL Education and linguistics) She said I should read things by him and people that he's cited, since there's "a lot of misinformation out there." Not sure what that means, but I'll take her words to heart. Benkyo narimasu.
After lectures, I went into town to visit the bank (eunheng) and get some money for this weekend. I still get scared crossing the street here, so I try to cross with a native Korean if at all possible.
After dinner, I went to Korean class, then went to HomePlus with some people afterwards. HomePlus is owned by Tesco, the British retailer. I bought an IU (she's a Korean singer) CD and some chicken strips lol. Here's an embarrassing picture:
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| Chicken strips and K-pop. The evenings of a TaLK scholar.... |
Monday, August 13, 2012
Weekend: Korean War Memorial
Hi Everyone,
So yesterday I went to Seoul to go visit the Korean War Memorial. I was going to go with someone else from orientation, but it was raining and by the time we got to the station she was soaked and asked to be excused from the trip. I said that was perfectly fine, and then I was on my way.
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| My destination |
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| I took a much slower train than these KTX trains |
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| I think this may also be part of the plot of the popular SK movie Taegukgi (wikipedia link) |
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| This is my favourite photo of today |
If you\re thinking of visiting the war memorial, give yourself at least 3 hours. It's huge! There are many exhibits and quite a few stairs.
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| The Canadian flag with Namsan Tower in the background |
Now, unbeknownst to me, this museum is not just about the Korean War, but about conflict in Korea throughout history. Therefore, it covers ancient history all the way up to modern history. Quite comprehensive.
Speaking of modern history, for those of you who keep up with current events, you'll know that not too long ago, a South Korean warship (the Cheonan) was torpedoed by a North Korean submarine. That's what an exhibit in the main hall was all about:
To start the tour of the facility, one must walk through a passageway. It's a calm, peaceful place called "Stars of National Defense", which commemorates those who have given their lives to protect South Korea and in doing so become eternal stars of national security. After you walk through the passageway, you enter a dark room with candles along the sides and a roster of all the names of those who died in the Korean War. If you make a donation, you can light one of the candles, so I made one and lit a red candle in honour of all the Canadian soldiers who died on Korean soil.
Here's a video of "Stars of National Defense"
After the hallway, you move on to an exhibit room that symbolizes the creation of Korea, and then down a spiral hallway which has more exhibits about the ancient history of Korea, including these stone age weapons:
And then there are more exhibits about key ancient battles in Korea's history, such as this diorama about "The Great Victory at the Salsu River" (I have no idea what this was, but the display was cool)
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| General Eulji Mundeok routes 300,000 enemy troops in 612AD |
After that you get to see some other cool things about fortresses in ancient Korea, armor, more weapons, and lots and lots of maps. There was this one movie type thing (it had a button for English, so I pressed it and watched) about some general who was going to lead his troops to war. Apparently it was a key battle and the odds were stacked against this general, so his wife was very concerned for his safety and for the safety of the nation. In fact, she was so concerned about the enemy conquering the land and enslaving the people that she begged her husband to kill her and her children before he went off to fight! In the video, the English dialogue was really awful, so choppy and unnatural, but they totally played this part up with a gross slashing sound as the husband killed his family.
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| This is Hwacha, and I can't remember if you can use it in Age of Empires, Rise of Nations, or Civilization |
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| These are some cool spears |
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| This is a replica of a famous Turtle Ship which Admiral Ii Sun Shin used to defeat the Japanese and prevent them from occupying Korea at one point or another |
Finally, after a long time, you can walk through the Korean War exhibit halls. There are displays, movies, dioramas, and documents that you can look at about the conflict.
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| This was a video depicting a battle on the Han river. The allies blew up the bridges so the enemy could not advance. |
It seems kind of strange that I didn't take more pictures about the conflict, because the next photo skips right to the end of the war :P
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| A South Korean soldier hoists the Taegugki over the government building in Seoul, symbolizing South Korean/UN control of the city. |
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| A record of the UN forces contribution in the Korean War. Go Canada! |
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| I had to take this picture, I felt very nationalistic at this part :) In the lower left-hand corner is a model of the Canadian War Monument located here in Korea. |
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| This piece includes the ID tags of South Korean and UN forces who died during the Korean war. It is called "The Drop". |
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| The plight and hardships of Korean refugees |
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| More plight |
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| Did you know South Korea contributed soldiers to the Vietnam War effort? This is a model of the tunnels used by the Viet Cong. |
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| "The Republic of Korea Armed Forces Serving the People" |
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| I like coming to Seoul and remembering that there are missiles pointed at the city :S This display tells us what the impact would be if a nuke such as Little Boy (left) was dropped in Seoul. |
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| The bridge of a Korean frigate.... ROK King Sejong? I forgot :P |
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| You can look at some of the equipment used by South Korean and UN forces |
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| Namsan Tower in the background |
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| B-52! You could climb the ladder and look at a mannequin pilot inside |
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| Warship Chamsuri No. 357, which was used in the First and Second Battle of Yeonpyeong (different incident than the shelling of Yeonpyeong) |
After I visited the war memorial, it was raining pretty hard. By this time, Bo and I had made plans to meet up for coffee, so I headed back to Seoul Station to meet her. We toured Lotte Mart and saw this unique element of Korean culture: Lotte Mart grows its own lettuce for you to purchase!
When it was the appropriate time, I got back on the train and headed back to Jochiwon.
I took some videos on the train. If you listen, you might be able to hear the other foreigners on the train talking loudly (faux pas, especially in English) about how they got wasted this weekend. How embarrassing!
Leaving Seoul Station: http://youtu.be/2UrJ1Z6tHk0
Going over the Han river. You can see "63 Building" (63 floors) in the background, it's golden: http://youtu.be/93kSFLKWFJg
I stopped by the Peach Festival on the way back and listened to another concert. I really like this singer, but I have no idea who she is! Does anyone know her name?
Sorry this post is so long, I don't know how to be brief :(
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Orientation: Weekend!
Today is the start of an exciting weekend. However, it didn't start off well.
This morning, everyone had to do a medical checkup for the program. That means 300 people would have to take a urine, blood, vision, auditory, and blood pressure test as well as a chest x-ray and measurements. Everyone was split into groups and given different checkup times, but my group got the very last time slot possible :( When I arrived for the checkup along with everyone else in my group, they were already an hour behind, and it took us 3 hours to get the whole thing done. There were quite a few people who missed their trains to Seoul because of how bottlenecked it was (they told us beforehand we would be done by 2pm, but most people were done by 3pm) so they had to reschedule or lose their ticket's value (it's about $8).
Needless to say, some people were very disappointed in how long things took (keep in mind all 300 people have been fasting since 9pm yesterday until the end of their medical exam) and that they had to change or cancel their plans. We're hoping we can convince Caleb (our group leader--apparently he sucks at Rock Paper Scissors which is why we went last) to buy us pizza for our trouble.
After medical checkup, I went with some friends into town to try and get any sort of refund for their now missed train ticket. We stopped by the annual Jochiwon Peach Festival on the way and saw lots of booths, tried some peaches, took some cool photos, and watched a dance competition!
Here's a video of one of the booths; it's a girl getting hit by her friends with water balloons:
http://youtu.be/f64M0Zgkvyo
Here's a video of the dance competitions. Koreans are fantastic dancers!
Does anyone know they song they're dancing to?:
http://youtu.be/K7xIP0cnc4Q
After hanging out at the peach festival, we headed off to the train station. When we got there, the people I was with found out they couldn't get a refund for their missed tickets, which is too bad :(
Afterwards, we went into downtown Jochiwon for supper (since the cafeteria was closed by this point). We were deciding what to eat, and we came up with sandwiches. Unfortunately, sandwiches aren't as big in Korea as North America, so we had little luck finding a reasonably priced sandwich. However, I remembered we have a Lotteria ("law-ttay-reeah") in town (a take on McDonald's by the Lotte corporation), so I asked some locals where it was and we went there. It was a little bit funny, a little bit embarrassing that we went to Lotteria because the stereotype is that North Americans only want hamburgers when they travel abroad. Well, I guess the stereotype is a bit true ;) We really wanted hamburgers :) So we got some! We even ordered in Korean to boot.
Wait, it gets even better!
After Lotteria, we went to Dunkin' Donuts for dessert! Lol, tonight was a bit of a binge. We've been eating Korean cafeteria food all week, it's nice to have something familiar.
Finally, on our way back from dinner, I stopped again at the peach festival to watch some more of the concert. This time, they were showcasing Korean Trot music, which is pretty folksy and very Korean. It's sort of like Japanese "Enka" style music if that rings a bell.
Here's a video of one of the night performances:
http://youtu.be/ohaA3ovJ3M4
And here's a video of one of the Trot performances:
http://youtu.be/uKjAXVTaDC0
Have a good night, wherever you are!
This morning, everyone had to do a medical checkup for the program. That means 300 people would have to take a urine, blood, vision, auditory, and blood pressure test as well as a chest x-ray and measurements. Everyone was split into groups and given different checkup times, but my group got the very last time slot possible :( When I arrived for the checkup along with everyone else in my group, they were already an hour behind, and it took us 3 hours to get the whole thing done. There were quite a few people who missed their trains to Seoul because of how bottlenecked it was (they told us beforehand we would be done by 2pm, but most people were done by 3pm) so they had to reschedule or lose their ticket's value (it's about $8).
Needless to say, some people were very disappointed in how long things took (keep in mind all 300 people have been fasting since 9pm yesterday until the end of their medical exam) and that they had to change or cancel their plans. We're hoping we can convince Caleb (our group leader--apparently he sucks at Rock Paper Scissors which is why we went last) to buy us pizza for our trouble.
After medical checkup, I went with some friends into town to try and get any sort of refund for their now missed train ticket. We stopped by the annual Jochiwon Peach Festival on the way and saw lots of booths, tried some peaches, took some cool photos, and watched a dance competition!
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| Welcome to the Peach Festival! |
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| We each had this photo turned into a badge that we wore the rest of the day |
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| You could take a pottery class |
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| Whose peaches will be the best in show? Whose peaches will be MVP (Most Valuable Peach)? |
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| The winning peaches. |
http://youtu.be/f64M0Zgkvyo
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| Dance competition - Korean style! |
Does anyone know they song they're dancing to?:
http://youtu.be/K7xIP0cnc4Q
After hanging out at the peach festival, we headed off to the train station. When we got there, the people I was with found out they couldn't get a refund for their missed tickets, which is too bad :(
Afterwards, we went into downtown Jochiwon for supper (since the cafeteria was closed by this point). We were deciding what to eat, and we came up with sandwiches. Unfortunately, sandwiches aren't as big in Korea as North America, so we had little luck finding a reasonably priced sandwich. However, I remembered we have a Lotteria ("law-ttay-reeah") in town (a take on McDonald's by the Lotte corporation), so I asked some locals where it was and we went there. It was a little bit funny, a little bit embarrassing that we went to Lotteria because the stereotype is that North Americans only want hamburgers when they travel abroad. Well, I guess the stereotype is a bit true ;) We really wanted hamburgers :) So we got some! We even ordered in Korean to boot.
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| Mmm delicious stereotypes |
After Lotteria, we went to Dunkin' Donuts for dessert! Lol, tonight was a bit of a binge. We've been eating Korean cafeteria food all week, it's nice to have something familiar.
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| Totally worth it |
Here's a video of one of the night performances:
http://youtu.be/ohaA3ovJ3M4
And here's a video of one of the Trot performances:
http://youtu.be/uKjAXVTaDC0
Have a good night, wherever you are!
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Orientation: New Experiences
Today we had our first lectures in the orientation. We learned about Korean culture, society, and superstitions. As well, we learned about cool things to do in the area.
After lunch, we had a Taekwondo class! Everyone was drenched in sweat because we were totally working out in 30+ weather (yuck!) but it was a lot of fun! I'm hoping Gwangju has a Taekwondo class I can get in on.
After supper, I went to a Beginner's Korean class, along with 100 other people! The poor teacher, I don't think she expected the incredible amount of people who don't know Korean.
After lunch, we had a Taekwondo class! Everyone was drenched in sweat because we were totally working out in 30+ weather (yuck!) but it was a lot of fun! I'm hoping Gwangju has a Taekwondo class I can get in on.
After supper, I went to a Beginner's Korean class, along with 100 other people! The poor teacher, I don't think she expected the incredible amount of people who don't know Korean.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Orientation: First Day
Today was my first day of orientation. I woke up and went to breakfast, which was... haha... "Western style". By that, I mean it was hamburger patties and fries. Mmmm! Masshisoyo! (It's delicious!)
Afterwards, I went to my first meeting in my group (people are grouped here according to which province they will be teaching in. We learned each other's names and were prepped for today's activity: a scavenger hunt in Seoul.
We had lunch at 10:30 (early!) and then got on the buses to go to Seoul. This time, our bus was permeated by cigarette smoke, probably still lingering in the frilly purple curtains hanging from the windows. Regardless, our bus driver was.... similarly excited to get us to Seoul as fast as possible.
In Seoul, we went to the headquarters for the Ministry of International Education (our benefactors) to attend a welcoming ceremony.
Speeches.
Then they gave us a cultural program! We watched a performance of pangut (I don't know the translation) and you can watch one too with this YouTube video link:
Pangut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XFVA9GA9LM
The next performance was by the "Rainbow Choir" which was a bunch of little kids from different ethnic backgrounds. To be honest, it was kind of like "It's a Small World" come to life. They even danced a little bit. It didn't look like they were enjoying the performance though, none of them smiled, they all sort of just went through the motions :S
Rainbow Choir (last year)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAV1bnDSn2A
The final, and most amazing performance of the day was done by a Taekwondo group called "K Tigers". It was mindblowing, they were so good!! They were chopping boards and flipping and screaming and punching. Such coordination!
K Tigers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqs9rZf0ZCE
After the opening ceremony was over, we went on our scavenger hunt. We were split into teams, given a map of a district in Seoul, and told to go take pictures at certain checkpoints. Luckily, we were going around Gwanghwamun, Insadong, and Jongno (which is where Bo took me :P) so it was easy not to get lost. TaLK gave us each a 10,000 note and told us to go eat somewhere nice. Our team decided to eat at a place called Shinpowoorimandu, a dumpling restaurant (Mandu is the word for dumpling). They were SO delicious, and cheap too! It only cost 3,500 ($3.50) for a steamer basket of dumplings. You could easily eat well for $5.00 here.
Finishing up, we came back to Jochiwon (same driver, this time he absolutely floored it coming home and we were the first bus to arrive for 10 minutes :)
------------------------------------------------------------------
I forgot to mention! I've got some good cultural stories.
- The other day, Bo and I were in the subway station, when harabojii ("grandfather") came up to me and asked, "Canada?" To which I answered affirmatively. He then proceeding to say "Vancouver! Montreal! Toronto! Ottawa!" and then talked about "Indian" and made a gesture towards the top of his head. I thought he was talking about East Indians, but then he started to make a war chant, so I knew he was talking about First Nations people.
- Today when we were walking around Gwanghwamun, I saw a truck drive by with a giant screen on the side. "Ooh a mobile commercial. How clever." I thought. Then I saw what the truck was advertising was not a product at all, but it was a video of dogs being cruelly mistreated in Korea's food industry (yes, they sometimes eat dog here). The advertisement claimed "Dogs are friends not food."
Afterwards, I went to my first meeting in my group (people are grouped here according to which province they will be teaching in. We learned each other's names and were prepped for today's activity: a scavenger hunt in Seoul.
We had lunch at 10:30 (early!) and then got on the buses to go to Seoul. This time, our bus was permeated by cigarette smoke, probably still lingering in the frilly purple curtains hanging from the windows. Regardless, our bus driver was.... similarly excited to get us to Seoul as fast as possible.
In Seoul, we went to the headquarters for the Ministry of International Education (our benefactors) to attend a welcoming ceremony.
Speeches.
Then they gave us a cultural program! We watched a performance of pangut (I don't know the translation) and you can watch one too with this YouTube video link:
Pangut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XFVA9GA9LM
The next performance was by the "Rainbow Choir" which was a bunch of little kids from different ethnic backgrounds. To be honest, it was kind of like "It's a Small World" come to life. They even danced a little bit. It didn't look like they were enjoying the performance though, none of them smiled, they all sort of just went through the motions :S
Rainbow Choir (last year)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAV1bnDSn2A
The final, and most amazing performance of the day was done by a Taekwondo group called "K Tigers". It was mindblowing, they were so good!! They were chopping boards and flipping and screaming and punching. Such coordination!
K Tigers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqs9rZf0ZCE
After the opening ceremony was over, we went on our scavenger hunt. We were split into teams, given a map of a district in Seoul, and told to go take pictures at certain checkpoints. Luckily, we were going around Gwanghwamun, Insadong, and Jongno (which is where Bo took me :P) so it was easy not to get lost. TaLK gave us each a 10,000 note and told us to go eat somewhere nice. Our team decided to eat at a place called Shinpowoorimandu, a dumpling restaurant (Mandu is the word for dumpling). They were SO delicious, and cheap too! It only cost 3,500 ($3.50) for a steamer basket of dumplings. You could easily eat well for $5.00 here.
Finishing up, we came back to Jochiwon (same driver, this time he absolutely floored it coming home and we were the first bus to arrive for 10 minutes :)
------------------------------------------------------------------
I forgot to mention! I've got some good cultural stories.
- The other day, Bo and I were in the subway station, when harabojii ("grandfather") came up to me and asked, "Canada?" To which I answered affirmatively. He then proceeding to say "Vancouver! Montreal! Toronto! Ottawa!" and then talked about "Indian" and made a gesture towards the top of his head. I thought he was talking about East Indians, but then he started to make a war chant, so I knew he was talking about First Nations people.
- Today when we were walking around Gwanghwamun, I saw a truck drive by with a giant screen on the side. "Ooh a mobile commercial. How clever." I thought. Then I saw what the truck was advertising was not a product at all, but it was a video of dogs being cruelly mistreated in Korea's food industry (yes, they sometimes eat dog here). The advertisement claimed "Dogs are friends not food."
Orientation: Arrival
Yesterday, I was by myself since Bo had to go to school in the morning. I decided to go back to Gwanghwamun to get some stuff done. I think it's interesting, the contrast between being a tourist in a place to being one who wants to get stuff done in a new place. I wanted to go to a cellphone store and get a SIM card for my phone, and go to the bank to open a Korean bank account.
First, at the KT Olleh (Korea Telecom) store. I had memorized how to say "Do you speak English?" in Korean, but when I approached a female clerk, I completely forgot it. Instead, embarrassed, I mumbled something along those lines in English, which made it even more difficult to understand me :( Either way, she was able to tell that I didn't speak Korean, and went to find someone who could help me. In Korea, instead of making long queues, you can go to a number machine, press a button, and get a ticket. They'll ring a bell when it's your turn. My turn finally came around (30 minutes), and they sent me upstairs to go talk to someone with limited English. Nevertheless, I was able to get my phone setup and now I can send text messages and call 119 if I have an emergency!
The second place was the bank. Originally, I wanted to go to Citibank, because they seem to cater to foreigners. However, when I went in, the clerk didn't want to open a bank account for me, since I don't have my ARC (Alien Registration Card) yet. However, in order to get an ARC, you have to surrender your passport for processing, which takes 2 weeks! Dissatisfied, I left Citibank and went to Shinhan Bank. At Shinhan, they had another ticket machine, but this one had options (all in Korean). I picked a random one and soon my number was called. I felt sorry for the clerk, since he probably wasn't expecting to deal with a foreigner that day :) Regardless, we were able to open me a bank account, and we got by on a few words of English. He apologized for his lack of English skills, but I emphatically said, "Kokjong hajima!" Which means, "Don't worry!" We opened the bank account, I put some money in, and I got a Korean debit card. I asked him to show me how to use the ATM, and so he did. In Korea, they don't use envelopes if you want to put deposit something, you put it in a slot and the machine counts it for you. As well, there is a giant touchscreen where the keypad is.
Finally, when all my chores were done, I went and got my luggage and left for the airport, to catch the free shuttle to Jochiwon (The orientation venue). I was waiting for the airport bus along with some other Korean travelers, when suddenly a taxi van pulled up, labeled "Incheon Airport" on the side. Out popped a Korean man who was very excited to get us to go with him. The other travelers jumped on the opportunity, and one Korean gentleman with suitcases motioned for me to come along (he gave me the sign for "number 1", whatever that meant). Instantly I thought, "this is a major security risk..." but I gave in to the pressure and went in the van. They made me sit in front, and let me tell you, there were several places during the trip where I thought I was close to dying. The driver was really aggressive and wanted to make sure we got to Incheon as fast as possible.....
Eventually, we arrived at the airport, and I got on the TaLK bus (Teach and Learn in Korea, the name of the exchange program I'm participating in) and we headed to Jochiwon. I arrived at the dorm and unpacked my stuff and met my roommate for this month. His name is Caleb and he reminds me of Aaron T. from PRBI. He's from Wisconsin (sorry, Wiskansen) and will be living in Pohang.
By the time we arrived from the airport, it was late and we missed dinner. I went to go find a convenience store in the area and met up with another TaLK student named Eddie, from San Bernadino. We had ramyon (instant noodles) together.
First, at the KT Olleh (Korea Telecom) store. I had memorized how to say "Do you speak English?" in Korean, but when I approached a female clerk, I completely forgot it. Instead, embarrassed, I mumbled something along those lines in English, which made it even more difficult to understand me :( Either way, she was able to tell that I didn't speak Korean, and went to find someone who could help me. In Korea, instead of making long queues, you can go to a number machine, press a button, and get a ticket. They'll ring a bell when it's your turn. My turn finally came around (30 minutes), and they sent me upstairs to go talk to someone with limited English. Nevertheless, I was able to get my phone setup and now I can send text messages and call 119 if I have an emergency!
The second place was the bank. Originally, I wanted to go to Citibank, because they seem to cater to foreigners. However, when I went in, the clerk didn't want to open a bank account for me, since I don't have my ARC (Alien Registration Card) yet. However, in order to get an ARC, you have to surrender your passport for processing, which takes 2 weeks! Dissatisfied, I left Citibank and went to Shinhan Bank. At Shinhan, they had another ticket machine, but this one had options (all in Korean). I picked a random one and soon my number was called. I felt sorry for the clerk, since he probably wasn't expecting to deal with a foreigner that day :) Regardless, we were able to open me a bank account, and we got by on a few words of English. He apologized for his lack of English skills, but I emphatically said, "Kokjong hajima!" Which means, "Don't worry!" We opened the bank account, I put some money in, and I got a Korean debit card. I asked him to show me how to use the ATM, and so he did. In Korea, they don't use envelopes if you want to put deposit something, you put it in a slot and the machine counts it for you. As well, there is a giant touchscreen where the keypad is.
Finally, when all my chores were done, I went and got my luggage and left for the airport, to catch the free shuttle to Jochiwon (The orientation venue). I was waiting for the airport bus along with some other Korean travelers, when suddenly a taxi van pulled up, labeled "Incheon Airport" on the side. Out popped a Korean man who was very excited to get us to go with him. The other travelers jumped on the opportunity, and one Korean gentleman with suitcases motioned for me to come along (he gave me the sign for "number 1", whatever that meant). Instantly I thought, "this is a major security risk..." but I gave in to the pressure and went in the van. They made me sit in front, and let me tell you, there were several places during the trip where I thought I was close to dying. The driver was really aggressive and wanted to make sure we got to Incheon as fast as possible.....
Eventually, we arrived at the airport, and I got on the TaLK bus (Teach and Learn in Korea, the name of the exchange program I'm participating in) and we headed to Jochiwon. I arrived at the dorm and unpacked my stuff and met my roommate for this month. His name is Caleb and he reminds me of Aaron T. from PRBI. He's from Wisconsin (sorry, Wiskansen) and will be living in Pohang.
By the time we arrived from the airport, it was late and we missed dinner. I went to go find a convenience store in the area and met up with another TaLK student named Eddie, from San Bernadino. We had ramyon (instant noodles) together.
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