I haven’t had any time since coming to Korea and now that I
have some, here is a basic recap J
I got to Incheon airport on time and without luggage
lost. The bus ride to the Language
institute (where my six day orientation would take place) in Seoul was
interesting. There would be open fields
then arising in the middle of them would be a collection of tall apartment
buildings. I thought it was strange to see random housing but that impression
would soon be a normal sighting in Korea.
It turns out apartments are much more desirable than houses because
people think living in an apartment means you are better off. I would say this is completely opposite for
the majority of Americans.
When the bus entered the city, there was immediate
congestion. Mopeds cruising on the
sidewalks, waves of people crossing the street, big cars trying to fit into
small lanes, that type of thing. As
strange as this will sound (or read :P), Korea feels like home. Even though everything is written in Hangeul,
the people don’t speak my language and there are differences in little things
around me, I find it all comforting in a weird way. Before I left, I had people telling me that I
was building Korea up in my head and I would be disappointed when I got
there. Well to all of you, take that! It’s perfect and I do feel at home here.
Once I got to the language institute, I was given my
materials for the next few days, given my room number and expected to be ready
for the start of orientation in the hour.
I scrambled up to the fourth floor with my two suitcases, two duffel
bags and my backpack and met my roommate.
Surprisingly, she was from L.A. which was a nice surprise, and she was
going to be working in Busan (where I am going), AND she likes kpop!! I knew I couldn’t possibly be the only
American who was into Korean pop culture (Natalie, that’s for you J).
Orientation honestly is a blur now looking back at it. I was jet lagged and thrust into a schedule
that started at 8:50 am and didn’t end until 8:30 pm. That’s not including the extra meetings I put
in at the end of the night because I volunteered to be the class leader so I
had the opportunity to meet with the program coordinators almost every
night. My day realistically did not end
until 10 pm almost every night. With a
16 hour time difference and serious lack of sleep from traveling, I held up
pretty well.
The best day of orientation was the last day where the whole
orientation (about 100 people) all had an afternoon out in Seoul at the Seoul
Namsan Gookakdang (a traditional Korean park with traditional activities). I got to make rice cakes and listen to
traditional Korean music (which was beautiful).
Our group then had the opportunity to practice bongsan talchoom (a
masked dance). We didn’t wear the masks
but we had these long white silk slips that we put around our hands and where
about two and a half feet long. When we
did the moves the head guy told us to do, they whipped and flowed around us,
trailing our hands. It was fun but I
felt sort of like a monkey playing in a zoo because a bunch of Koreans were
taking pictures or videos of all of us trying it. In their defense, I’m sure we looked pretty
comical and stupid so I probably would have taken a video of it as well. Lastly, and most importantly, I wore a
hanbok! I picked the bluest hanbok I
could find since blue is my favorite color :D
I wish I could of taken it home with me.
My impression of Seoul was very positive but I did not have
any time whatsoever to explore the city so what I saw on the bus ride and at
the Korean park is all I can say about Seoul. But now about Busan... ^_^
