And The Winner Is .....

I'll be teaching elementary students!! As of now I have only been posted in one school, but we shall see if that lasts - that is my main school but more could be added. It seemed like there were pros and cons to every group so I came in with no real expectations and liked what I got.

I'm not too far from my friends either, and I have a few in key spaces (the Munhak Stadium, City Hall which is in the downtown area, and some others around the north side). We leave tomorrow morning, so for tonight all the Incheon'ers will be hitting the town!!

My school is located in Songdo, the technical area of Incheon - looks like the building above, among other photos. It is the really really advanced area of Incheon and they are pouring in tons of money to keep it updated. Their plan runs through 2020. This building, the Songdo Conversia, is actually about 2 blocks away from my school. This is just a small sample of all the net things.

By the way!

The beautiful Emily mentioned a way in which my followers would get an email update about new posts. I dont' know how to set this up, Any help?

Last Full day at Orientation

Whelp..

My time here in Jeonju is coming to an end, and being surrounded by all English speakers will soon cease too. My feelings are similar to the way I felt before the flight. The one good thing is is that I feel a little more prepared and am armored with an idea of what to expect. My class layout for those who don't know (which is everyone except my dad):

I will teach a given class ONCE a week, classes lasting roughly 45 minutes.
I will probably have over 700 students total since I will be going from class to class.
My 40 hour work week will be divided into no more than 22 teaching and the rest set up for planning.
I do have a good amount of vacation days - However, it's not always easy to arrange them given the Korean style of administration. Supposedly the conversation will go like this...

September/October
Evan: Can I take off the week of Christmas
Administration (If they like me, here's to good first impressions!): That should work
November
Evan: Can I take off the week of Christmas, are you sure? I need to start making arrangements
Administration: That should work
Evan: It should work or will it?
Admin: It should
December
Evan: I'm really hoping to get that week off in 2-3 weeks, any update on whether I can use my vacation days then?
Administration: That should work
two days before my break - Administration: You can, or, you can't

The good thing is I can at least expect to have this type of communication, everything is spontaneous and on the moment - which usually works great for me but in some circumstances it's nice to have some forward knowledge!


Random Updates
- I find out in a few hours which schools I will be teaching at, and which grade!!!
- Tonight all the people going to Incheon will be going out, so that should be a lot of fun
- I leave tomorrow for Incheon, at around 8 AM (6 PM your time, if you want to send good vibes)
- Class starts this Monday for me, Sunday night for all my State-side peeps.


Thinking about you guys all the time, Hope all is fantastic in the US of A!

I have my Korean cell phone!!

The EPIK'ers got there cell phones yesterday at the end of class. We could have either gotten "the most compact phone in the world" or a Samsung model (we got a really stellar discount to boot too). I went with the bigger one, assuming I'd lose the smaller one. The phone has internet, texting and calling, an mp3 player and free television!! It's all in Korean of course but I can't get over the antenna that is double the size of the phone. Iphone users eat your hearts out! The one problem, however, is that to begin with I wasn't very phone savvy and to add to that all the buttons are in Korean. So lets all cheers to me learning sooner rather than later!

Classes

We officially started our classes today, and the rythm of going to lectures is taking me back to the good ol' days of college. Outside of tomorrow (our field trip) we will be having 2 lectures in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, all lasting 90 minutes each. They have been a lot of fun and the activities that we are being shown to incorporate into our teaching is really eye opening. The creativity and apparent effort that goes in to each activity is something I have enjoyed witnessing. I can't wait til I get to start planning my own lessons too (famous last words?).

We did have our first "Surviving Korea" class last night, and another one starts up in about an hour. These were not quite as exciting as the normal lectures, and they are optional, but I know I need to go even though the rooms are not air conditioned, the instructor doesn't speak English, and most of the class consists of counting minutes. We were working and will continue to do so tonight on Hangul, the basic Korean alphabet. It is actually fairly easy to pick up, from what I've been told. I heard that if I set aside a few hours to memorize it I should be alright. However, a few hours is something that isn't easy to come by - my reigning theme for this blog.

Through classes and the night life, I have been fortunate to meet tons of people. We have EPIK people from the States of course, from which I've found some LA friends, a Boston roommate, and a fellow Austinite (is that what we refer to ourselves as?). In addition to that, there are a lot of Canadians, some people from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and even South Africa. The different perspectives has been indescribable - and I say that literally because I spent about two minutes looking for the right adjective.

Anyhoo, I actually put a "hope all is well" kind of message in the post right before this so I find myself in an awkward state of sorts. So... uh... Hope all is well!!!


You are all on my mind at all times, and as fantastic as this experience has been and will continue to be, it will remain bitter sweet by leaving those I love in the States.

Orientation thus far

Hi all! I wanted to make a quick post and update you guys before I leave on a field trip tomorrow. I'm guessing that after tomorrow I will have some good photo ops since we will be traveling around more "Korean" or traditional locales. In the morning we will be going to Jenju Hanok Village, and in the afternoon we will be visiting the Keumsan Temple. In the middle of our day out we will be eating a huge quantity (supposedly served in something larger than a bath tub) of bibimbap; a serving of rice with egg, meats, and vegetables. It is supposed to be favored by foreigners, especially Americans.

Getting out will be nice too since I will be able to leave the safe haven of Jeonju campus, which seems like a safe haven between the US and Korea in regards to language and food. For example - at lunch today they were serving all the traditional Korean stuff (like kimchi) along with french fries. I actually passed up the french fries in favor of kimchi radishes (atypical of general Evan tendencies). I might have to pause and let that sink in for some of you who know me well.

Last night I was able to overcome my persistent jet lag and hit the town. For all the adults out there, I tried Soju for the first time, which is basically a watered down (20%) version of vodka. I don't think it will become my beverage of choice. I was fortunate enough to coax the manager of the bar/restaurant we were at to try soju with me, so I guess that'll be an experience I won't forget. Later that night, I went down the street to one of the many, many karaoke bars. I did NOT sing, and I don't see myself performing any time soon, but it is a really cool atmosphere. Rather than a stage and one singing to everyone, it is broken up into a series of rooms. There was plenty of Bon Jovi to go around.

I apologize to everyone for this only being my second post. It has been incredibly hectic trying to find time to write with everything going on (plus a shaky internet connection that got fixed about 10 minutes ago - hooray!), but I want to keep anyone interested with my experiences in the loop. I do intend to pick up the pace a bit as I gather some more free time. I have a feeling that if I don't stay consistent with it I am going to get overwhelmed and fall behind, so I will make writing a point of emphasis.

On a quick side note, I am uploading most of the photos from my trip to my facebook account. If this doesn't work for certain people let me know and I will find a more accessible site for them. The game plan is to figure out how to upload them directly on here though, but I haven't had the time to sit down and actually do it (I'm sure it's beyond easy though).

Hope all is well with everyone, I would love to hear from you all when you get a chance to send me an email!! No word on my address or who I will be teaching, I believe I find that out this coming Thursday.

From Austin to Seoul in More than a Day

The trip to Korea was definitely an exciting one. I flew out of SA to San Francisco, got to hang out for a few hours before hopping on United's 14 hour flight to Seoul. There was not a lot of leg room, and I am quite the lanky fellow so the flight was a bit of a challenge. I don't think I have a tailbone anymore either. I tried to sleep but mostly watched 17 Again, X-Men; Wolverine Origins, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past about 100 times over. I'm almost positive these movies came out of the "Academy Award Winners" catalog.

Arriving in the Incheon/Seoul airport was pretty exhilarating. It was the most fun I have had in an airport by far. I had some time while we were waiting for a shuttle (the orientation is 4 hours from Incheon at Jeonju University), so I was able to socialize a bit with some fellow teachers. Everybody is a lot of fun, and the EPIK people have been fantastically helpful. The care and effort that goes into herding the large pack of English speakers is incredible. I made a few stops along the way to the University and ended up arriving at 1:00 AM Korean time. All told, the trip was just about 30 hours. I left Spring Branch for the airport a little before 6 AM on the 18th and arrived in Korea at 11:00 AM by US time on the 19th.

It was hard to get straight to bed upon arrival, with so much to unpack and figure out about the dorms. The mattresses are like rocks (which I love) and the bathroom is unique too. The shower, toilet and sink are all within about 6 feet of eachother and nothing separates them so when the shower comes on the whole bathroom gets wet (pictures to come soon).

On a side note - If my writing is incredibly dry and boring people need to let me know since I am new to the blog world!! Hope to keep people relatively entertained. I'll get some pictures up a little later and post soon about orientation thus far. Hope all is well with everyone!!