Lets see....My week of orientation at CIFLE was really boring. They told us the same things we already learned at the main orientation. I did get a few new songs though, so it wasn't a total waste.There isn't much to stay about orientation other than the very last night. That night, we had a class on the traditional Korean tea ceremony. We all dressed in beautiful hanbok, and I got to make tea for my friend, Dominic. I didn't actually try any of my own tea, because I was sitting next to our instructor, so she would give me the tea she made.
Another fun thing at orientation was a Korean movie we watched, called "Scandal Makers" in English. It was a pretty funny movie about a guy who had a child when he was really young, but he didn't know about it. Then, when he's an adult, a young lady shows up at his house with a little boy and says that he is her father. The movie made me cry at parts, especially when they get in a really big fight and she says she just wanted a father.
I also enjoyed hanging out with people at the GS25, a convenience store. They would buy beer and drink. I would buy coffee or juice and listen. I got a cute Dooly cell strap with one of my juice purchases. I really like it!
And I got to meet one of my Korean scholars, Chaewan. He's a nice guy. I didn't like him at first, because of my dislike for guys I don't know. But now he's fun to be around.
I don't even want to post about the days between leaving orientation and now. One hard thing after another. First hard thing was trying to find a place to stay until Sat. since the contract for my room didn't start until then. Jina and I freaked out but it worked out. I spent Thursday and most of Friday with YooJin's family in Daejeon, about 25 min. drive away from Gongju. I had a very relaxing time there and I enjoyed being able to speak in English to adults.
Friday night, Jina came and had dinner with us and then Jina and I rode the bus to Cheonan and I stayed at YoSun's apartment. Even though YoSun doesn't speak much English, I enjoyed being at her house because it felt like a sleep-over. Jina picked me up at 4, and then her dad drove us to Gongju. The minute we got here, I had to go to a meeting with one of the supervisors of CIFLE to learn about her church. At the meeting, a woman from South Africa who attends the church talked about stuff. I didn't like her much. Being from South Africa and having the more recent segregation, her atitude and feelings towards Black people was kind of rude. After the meeting, YeonHwa treated us all to Pizza Hut. Joy of all joys.-_- At least it wasn't a weird pizza like the sweet potato pizza I had on Thursday for lunch with the English teacher at my school.
On Sunday, I went to YeonHwa's church. It was TINY! Only 20 people were in attendence. There were five of us who spoke English, with YeonHwa translating. The message was a good one, saying that we are all needed by God. However, I felt a little uncomfortable with the way the church ws ran, since it had a very strong Catholic feel, even though it wasn't Catholic. In the beginning of service, after singing, they read the Apostles Creed together, and then said a prayer together. It's not that anything was wrong with the church. I'm just not comfortable with it.
After church, I met HunYong, and we walked around the river and then had dinner together.
On Monday, the first day of classes, HunYong took me to the International Affairs office. They had no idea what to do with me. They took me over to the Humanities building, where I sat in offices and met with tons of people and they all spoke in Korean, before they told me I could leave and that they would call me later. So I had lunch with HunYong, and then went back to my room. I sat around for a while being extremely bored, before I decided to go to the bank and exchange my money. I thought maybe I could do it on my own, even though I didn't know any bank vocabulary. However, I didn't have to do it on my own, because a Korean TaLK scholar, named Nari,
saw me walk into the bank, so she followed me inside and asked what I was doing. Then she helped me get my money into my account and said she was waiting for her TaLK scholar, Seisun. I waited with her, and then when Seisun and Joy, another TaLK scholar, arrived, we all went shopping at 다이소(DA-e-so, means "We have everything") a dollar store. I bought two notebooks, and some Dooly stickers for my laptop. I really like the saying on one of my notebooks. It says "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."Later, Nari introduced me to her friend HaHyun, who is planning on applying to go to Columbia College next semester. I was very happy to hear that and I hope that she will be able to go, so that we can see each other in Columbia.
After leaving them, I waited until Jina arrived, at which point we unpacked some things and then went out. We stopped at a make-up shop and we weren't there long before a girl named Meok called and said she was my buddy and we should meet soon to figure out my schedule. So we all went to a coffee shop and talked about what classes I might take. She was rather flustered because she didn't really know what classes I should take. She said she would think about it a bit more and that she would talk with Rob, one of the professors in the Tourism major, and see what he said.
We had dinner at a nice place and then, Jina and I went shopping. We were going to go shopping for food, but we didn't end up buying anything. We bought a laundry basket and a Dooly toilet seat (my pick. Jina was going to get a Hello Kitty seat, but I saw Dooly and wanted it). When be got back it was really late. Jina finished putting away everything and cleaned a bit, while I went to bed. Jina really is a night owl. I think she must sleep between 2am and noon every day.
On Tuesday, I was told to go to the humanities office in the morning. I went, and some girls saw me and started talking away. They were very excited to meet me and wanted to be my friends right away. It was kind of funny. They helped me fill out the necessary paperwork and then I sat in the office for a very long time before the professor called Meok and had Meok tell me I could go until we had class at 3. I did laundry in my time between then and class. Class was advanced English conversation class. Meok and Chaewan were both in my class. We had to get into groups and get to know other people. One guy who I was in a group with said he couldn't understand a word I said. I felt kind of bad for him. The class seemed like it was a little too advanced for him. I also gathered from listening to what the professor said to him that he was a trouble maker. For the first class, we had to solve some riddles. The first few were pretty easy but I got stumped on the third one, and the two guys in my group wouldn't help me. Pretty frustrating when you consider the fact that riddles really have nothing to do with the English language, so knowing less is more helpful in that case.
After solving all the riddles, the guys were supposed to tell me how to put together a lego thing. They didn't communicate very well. I think they were uncomfortable being with a native English speaker. I was a little uncomfortable being a group with two guys.
After that exercise, we switched to new groups and I was in a group with three other girls. They were all really sweet and happy to be in a group with me. They all asked for my phone number so I have their phone numbers and names. However, with so many new names, I am not sure who is who. @_@
After class, Meok signed me up for classes (but I think I will have to change them). Then we went to the computer lab (I hate public computers! They feel weird) and stayed there until it was time to go get dinner. We were going to have dinner with some other people from the Advanced English conversation class and Rob, the professor. I thought that was a little strange at first, but by the end of the evening, I thought it was REALLY strange! Before dinner, we met at Lotteria, a burger shop in Korea. My friend Daniel, another TaLK scholar, was eating inside with his Korean scholar and his English teacher. He and his scholar came out and talked with us. Well, Daniel talked with me, and his scholar talked with Chaewan.
Dinner was really great. I had SamGyupSal, Korean bbq pork, for the first time. Everyone was drinking except for me. I got asked a million times why I don't drink. It was fantastic to have soda though. Dinner was made even better by the fact that Rob paid for everyone. There were about nine of us at dinner. There were more of us later when we moved to the next place, Red House, for drinks. That was when everyone got pretty loud, and I thought it extremely strange that Rob was drinking with his students.Jina called me while I was out, at which point Rob wanted to know why she had canceled his class, since she was signed up to be in it. I don't know what she said, but somehow Rob convinced her to come out, even though Jina doesn't like drinking. I also got to see some of the other TaLK scholars who were out eating. They stopped by after they were done with dinner so I got to talk with them for a bit. I think now I've been able to see all the TaLK scholars teaching in Gongju that I know. There are a few others that I haven't seen, but I only know their names.
That's about it up until Wed. I'm too tired now to think about what all has happened today.
I'll post about it tomorrow morning/afternoon.
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