Settling in

August 20, 2009

Fighting jet lag is a bitch. I did end up falling asleep around 6 last night, and then proceeded to wake up around 1 am, thinking it was like 8 am. Boy was I surprised to see that it was only 1. Luckily, I was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours, but then got up again around 4, and from that point on, it was a struggle to sleep. I finally gave in and got up around 6:30 or so. It stayed pretty light outside the entire night, which was really strange and kind of annoying.

Anyways, I forgot my toothbrush in one of the bags that I had to leave in storage, so I went down to the 7-11 (yes, the quickie mart store thing), and bought myself a toothbrush! Breakfast was at 7:30 on the third floor of our building, so roommie (Arem) and I went up a little after that only to discover that a lot of people had beaten us to it, haha. The “cafeteria” is extremely nice and brand new, and the food was actually pretty good. Everything seems to be served buffet-style, and we can just pick and chose what we want to eat. Yes, they had kimchi for breakfast, and yes, I did try a little. I can’t remember what else I had for breakfast, but they did have some cereal, but NO, I did NOT have it!

After breakfast, we had some free time until 10, which is when our “campus tour” was. The “tour” consisted of an EPIK employee walking us around to building we had already been to and seen. The tour went like this: “this is the Art Building. This is where you will have welcome ceremony later today. Let’s go to next building.” I mean, I guess it was kind of nice because now I really know my way around the small campus, but it was also really hot and humid (already at 10 am), so by the end of the 30 minute tour, we were all drenched and a little annoyed.

We had free time from 10:30 til 12:30’ish, in which time I was able to go get some things out of my stored luggage and check the internet. Lunch was at 12:30, and it was very very good. Had some pork cutlets (they’re called “tongasa” maybe??), some beef, some KIMCHI, some rice and some potato and broccoli sate or some crap. I’ve been very happy with the “cafeteria” food so far, thank goodness. I had lunch with my friend Jessica, and two guys named Jon and Steven. Jon actually graduated from NC State, haha. And Steven graduated from Berkeley. Steven will actually teach in Incheon too, so it’s good to get to know someone who will be in the same general areas as me. We’re all headed over to our welcome ceremony together soon. This ceremony is going to last a few hours, and we’re all expecting to sleep a little through it, haha. That’s exactly what you want to hear, isn’t mom and dad? I’m just kidding though, we of course won’t sleep through it! Anyways, I need to head down to the lobby to meet them, so I’ll get back to this later.

Just got back from the welcome ceremony and welcome dinner. The ceremony started off with some traditional Korean art/entertainment, which consisted of a professional 5-drum group, a Korean “opera” singer, and then a fan dance. The drum group was amazing, and because we were sitting in the front row, I was able to get some pretty good video of them performing. They played for probably close to 10 minutes, and we were all amazed at how together and in-sync they were. It was truly remarkable. The next two performances were by current EPIK staff, that was pretty neat to see.

After the performances, we were lectured…nothing really interesting there. We just learned about some cultural differences and what to kind of expect as a GET. I won’t bore you with his lectures.

After that, we all walked/ran to the welcome dinner. Unfortunately, as we were walking there, we had a sudden torrential downpour, and we got stuck right in the middle of it without jackets or umbrellas. Oh well, hah. The dinner itself was pretty good. Tons of food. I mean TONS OF FOOD! It was insane. And it was all good. I even tried sushi grade swordfish (I’m 99% sure that means the fish was raw). Have yet to try any local fruits, and I don’t think I ever will, hah. I had a lot more sushi, kielbasa (yes mom, they have KIELBASA here!!), spare ribs, and more yummy stuff. I’ve definitely eaten well here so far, so I can’t complain on that front.

After dinner, we have the night off, so the friends that I’ve made are all going to go out and explore what the night-life is like here in small Jeonju. Apparently there’s a karaoke bar, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we hit that up sometime tonight. We’ll see…

We have the medical checkup tomorrow morning (my group is at 10 AM), and apparently we can’t even drink water after midnight…Hopefully I’m not too dehydrated and pass out when they’re taking my blood tomorrow, haha. Okay, well that’s it for now I guess. I love you all, and I hope you’re enjoying reading some of what I’m going through right now. I still don’t have internet in my room, but we’ve found a computer room that has way more computers than the dorm lobby, so I don’t to wait in-line to use the internet anymore. Now if I could just find a way to post this damn blog from my laptop! Oh well…love and miss you all.