unraveled.: korea rhymes with urea.

i arrived safely in korea several days ago, but have been too busy to take the time to write about my experiences. i left from the central wisconsin airport early on wednesday august 20th. i flew to chicago o'hare and had to wait there for several hours until my next flight. the flight from chicago to seoul was almost 13 hours, but bearable. i suppose after flying to japan, i knew what to expect. i had an aisle seat and sat next to an old vietnamese couple. i was disappointed to find out that there were not any individual tv sets built into the seats. this meant much less entertainment. much longer flight.

upon arriving at the incheon/seoul international airport, i collected my luggage, went through customs, baggage claims, and started searching for the EPIK (english program in korea) information booth. it was easy to find. most areas in the airport do not have handfuls of blonde-haired, blue-eyed people standing around. this is not to say that EPIK teachers are a homogeneous group. as a fairly fair caucasian, i sometimes feel like a minority within the group of teachers here. there are many asian-americans, african-americans, couples, families with children, etc. i think it is great that EPIK recruiting has branched out and attracted so many different sorts of native-english speaking people.

at the airport, i was introduced to scott kim, one of the recruiters from footprints (the recruiting company that i went through). he immediately pointed out other footprint recruits, including rachel and leah. little did i know that these two girls would quickly become my new confidants. if it's not enough that leah shares a name with my sister, she also grew up in madison, wisconsin and went to school at uw-milwaukee and she will be teaching in the same city as me. rachel is from minnesota and will be teaching a few hours away from us, but all being midwesterners, we get along effortlessly.

i've met a lot of other great people thus far into the orientation. names that you may come across in the future include:
* stephanie & josh: a couple from canada who have already taught in korea for two years. so nice and willing to share first-hand knowledge and advice with me.
* nick: curly haired gentleman from maine. loves the same music that i do. we have a special connection (platonic).
* cameron aka cam: freckled boy from the north island of new zealand. fun guy and lovely accent.
* john: friendly chap from england. he gives me as much heat and sarcasm as i give him.
* and many, many more (sorry to those who weren't mentioned, i love you all).

orientation has been full of waiting. i think that i will be a much more patient person when i come home. koreans are definitely not too concerned about punctuality. they always tell us to make sure that we are on time, but everything starts late and has some sort of disintegrating organization. alas, it could be worse. we sit through many boring lectures. there are tidbits of useful information, but most of it can be read independently in the big handbooks that they gave us at the beginning of the week.

any free time (which isn't a lot), has been spent exploring the seoul area, particularly here around konkuk university. i am reminded of the narrow, crowded, neon-lit, street vendor filled streets of japan, but realize sights, sounds, and scents unique to korea. kimchi is one of the more famous korean foods. it is basically spicy, fermented vegetables, generally including cabbage. it is served at every meal. yes, even breakfast. i have never consumed so much spicy food so early in the morning before embarking on this journey. the food at orientation in so-so. it is cafeteria-korean food so it has a ceiling on the level of deliciousness possible.

other adventures thus far have included:
* a trip to a korean folk village. a mock village with traditional korean architecture, dance, music, games, etc. it was informative, but a bit touristy and we spent too much time there.
* dinner at a korean bbq restaurant. i ate a lot of red meat for the first time in ages. i've already decided that i won't be as strict about avoiding red meat. there are too many delicious foods here that automatically include beef and pork. i want to adapt to the typical lifestyle as much as possible.
* a night out at juju bar. a second story bar complete with zebra patterned couches and velour accents. we drank plenty of soju (a vodka type liquor) and cass (popular domestic beer). more to come on korean drinking culture...
* a mini-trip to itaewon. itaweon is known as one of the main foreigner's districts in seoul. there are many street vendors and small shops that cater to the needs/desires of foreigners. also present are a subway, quizno's, mcdonald's, coldstone creamery, and outback steakhouse. i had a sub at quizno's that tasted exactly the same as at home, but perhaps the portion was a bit smaller. this trip required taking the subway which was a great learning experience. i now have a t-money card which will works as a debit card for all transportation around the seoul area. the subways are large, clean, frequent, and cheap! round trip transportation across the city was about $1.50!
* norae-bong, the korean word for singing room aka karaoke! after another crazy night at juju bar, a large group of teachers-in-training and i went to our own private singing room. you pay by the hour and have thousands of songs to choose from. also included for no extra charge, are red and green mini strobe lights. it felt a bit like christmas on acid.

it's already tuesday evening, so i've been gone almost one full week. a couple more days of training and then i will meet my supervisors and be transported to incheon on friday. i am eager to find out where my school will be and what my apartment will be like. stay tuned...