First Night

2/21/09

Korean treadmills are temperamental…Running doesn’t work out that well. For some reason the two I tried kept shutting off? I had my medicals today, boring except peeing into a Dixie cup with hello kitty on it while squatting over a squatter toilet!!

Lunch was different. The guy that was sitting next to me was one of the lecturers for our classes that we have the next week. I was talking to him and asking him about the food they had in the cafeteria. There was a stick with some meet looking stuff on it. I asked him if it was tofu and he said, “No it’s kind of like fish.” I said, “It’s kind of like fish or it is fist?” He told me, “Well it’s kind of like the fish equivalence of a hotdog.” Surprising enough I still tried it, I didn’t eat more than that one bight but I did try it. Meetings were in the afternoon and were pretty boring but had some really good information in them.

We went to town tonight, the first time I actually got to see Korea. Being on campus felt like any other campus, not like Korea. We were going to take a cab, then a bus, and then ended up walking. It took us maybe an hour to get to the mall and down town. Seeing down town in even a smaller town like Cheonon was like a Vegas in a different language. There were so many lights, so many street vendors. I truly realized for the first time that I was in a different country. Absolutely amazing!!

A couple of us hadn’t eaten, so we stopped at a place called Warawara. We walked in and got to the seating area, took our shoes off, walked to a table and it looked like a traditional Korean table setting on a short table but there was actually a place for legs other than Indian style. This was our first run in as a group with the language barrier. We pointed at some stuff (food and beer) on the menu that looked good (thank God for pictures). He nodded and then took off with the menus. At this point in time Charlie says, “I’m ready for them to bring out the live testicles!!!” I said, “You mean the live tentacles?” “Yeah, you know what I mean.” A short time later he brought out a huge pitcher of Hite beer and cups for the table and not long after that brought out 2 entrees (we thought we ordered 3, oh well Nicole and I shared it).

When we left there we wondered around looking for a bar. The first one we walked into was a bar but I guess it’s rude to drink and not to eat at Korean bars. They told us we had to order a meal to drink, so we left. We stopped in a place and asked where a “Western” style bar was; he pointed us in the direction of a Western bar with a cowboy theme. We still had to order but they allowed us to order some nachos and then we could have some drinks. A little bit later we moved from the bar to a table with some other EPIK teachers who had been there long before us and had gone through many pitchers; they were non-American foreigners. That was pretty funny listening to everyone and having some drinks.

We left the Western Boy and were heading home when we ran into some other EPIK teachers. They were going to run by this club real quick so we decided to go also even though our curfew was in an hour. It was dark and this guy took us to a table next to a huge stage and started asking for money. Everyone took off except Steven and I so we dealt out 10,000 won per person I think as a cover charge. We guess that that comes with a beer each and two plates of appetizers because that is what we got. We had some laughs, did some dancing, and just watched the culture around us. Being the responsible one I am, I had to drag all those guys off the dance floor to make sure we didn’t get locked out.

We left and got in a cab pointing to an address written in Korean to get back to the dorms. The first cab said no. The next 3 also said no even after we offered one of them 2,000 won…lol, I think we meant to offer 20,000 won, who knows? We stayed away from the black ones because they are more expensive. Finally we hailed one from the other sided of the street that took us home. It was a 2,800 won fare and we made it back at 12:50. Had a blast and wouldn’t have changed anything about my first night out in Korea.

Opening Day

2/20/09

We got a wake up call this morning at 7:30 am to tell us about the day ahead of us. I didn’t go back to sleep and breakfast was at 8:30. I had eggs and soup. Eating eggs with chopsticks are a little odd and soup for breakfast just doesn’t seem right, oh well. Our class meeting started at 10 am. I sat with Dominique and was later joined by a bunch of others including Charlie. We filled out stuff to get our bank account and cell phone and got some words of advice from Eric one of the EPIK leaders. After our meeting was lunch. Once again the chopsticks were odd. Flat chopsticks that are metal are harder to use than wooden, round chopsticks.

After lunch, a friend and I went on a hunt for a store. We ended up at the campus bookstore where they didn’t speak English…no problem the guy at the book store punched the bill into a calculator to tell me how much I owed. At the convenient store next to it my friend (can’t remember his name) tried to give the lady a larger bill. She opened up his wallet that was in his hands and handed the 10,000 won bill back to him and grabbed 2,000 won. On the way out a kid stopped right in front of the door and looked at us like we were aliens or something. We both stepped back a ways and his mom pushed him through the doorway. Next we went for some coffee at Pan Dorothy Café and listened to a guy from Jersey bash Kansas because of evolution. Luckily there was a girl standing on my side of the counter that spoke English so she helped me order.

While waiting for the opening ceremony I was asking Anuschka what kind of music she liked and asked her if she had ever heard blue grass. Later she was asking about it, “What do you call it? Green grass?” The opening ceremony was pretty cool. I got to see Day Break Drums (the sound of the sun rising) and it was pretty amazing. I also got to see Fan Dancing. At the end of the opening ceremony they were telling us about the buffet that we were going to have for dinner. Gary, from Ireland, was sitting next to me. When they said now it’s time for the buffet he said, “Buffet? Is that food?” At dinner I got to try kimchee and baby octopus (cooked).

Last Leg of the trip for Orientation (2/19/09)

My plane ride from San Fran to Seoul was okay. It was pretty long and I only got up twice because I had two seats on either side of me and they were sleeping most of the ride. Also, I had a kid in front of me that spilt water on my feet, no big deal but a little uncomfortable. The kid behind me was spoiled rotten and was whining and crying and loud for a lot of the trip. He was also pretty active, meaning he kept kicking the back of my seat. All in all, like i said, the flight was okay and I would do the exact same flight again to get this opportunity. When we got to the airport we got our luggage and made our way to the EPIK check-in where we learned we had 2 hour bus ride to Dankook University in Cheonan. We got in around 10:30 pm local time. Registration was by first name and t-shirts were in "Korean Size", a large was almost too small. All my stuff made it up to my room that I get to share with Anushcka from South Africa. The floor was very warm on my bare-feet that had been in sandals for the last 30 hours or so. Did I mention it was snowing when I got here?!?! After I got settled in I headed back down stairs where I ran in to Charlie, bought a calling card with 240 minutes for 10,000 won (super cheap), and called my parents. It was almost midnight local time and I think almost 9 am on the 18th. I talked to both parents then went back up to room 509, took a shower, and passed out.

First Leg of the Trip

So, this past week or so hasn't flown by only because I didn't work and all I did was sleep in and watch TV. The last two days were filled with the finishing touches (travelers checks, closing bank accounts, getting anything and everything I needed) and flew faster than I thought they would have. I had some friends over (Bethany, Tamara, Melissa, Chad, Josh, Jason, Jerrad, and Megan) to watch a movie (The Changeling) the night before I left. They left the house around 10:45 or so and after that I finished packing and getting other things done. Before I knew it, Dad was out of bed and we were getting ready to leave. We left the house at 3:00 a.m. and got to the Tulsa International Airport around 5:00. I didn't really have any problems checking in and checking my baggage other than the half pound my largest bag was over on weight. I took out a t-shirt and put it in the other bag... good to go. Flight left on time, arrived on time, and I looking forward to seeing Zach and maybe Malarie and Jodie while I'm here in Denver.