My EPIK Orientation

So I had a 10 day orientation by the EPIK program to help me get familiar with Korea, get useful and some not so useful teacher training and tips, and network with a bunch of other EPIK teachers. It was a very long and tiring 10 days, and the jet lag didn't help either. [lots of pictures in this post]

The orientation was held at JeonJu University, THE PLACE FOR SUPERSTARS...so they say. Other than myself, I really didn't see too many superstars hahahaha just kidding.

The dorm rooms were a lot better and cleaner than what I was used at Albany haha although not to crap on my school dorms, they told us that these dorms have only been used for one semester, so they're practically brand spankin' new.

My bed...actually it's my roommates bed. Mine had a bunch of crap on it and his was nicely made, and they look exactly the same, so yeah haha.

Shower and toilet right next to each other with no curtains or anything = Korea is really space efficient.

Neat door locking system.

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We also went on a trip during the orientation. We went to Keumsan Temple and Hanok Village.

A big rock, stabbed into a bigger rock with two heads.

We had JeonJu's famous BiBimBap prepared in a bathtub sized bowl that fed about 600 people.

And to cap off the day, I saw this fashionable and tasteful hat, so obviously I had to buy it and then pose like someone took a picture of me while I was casually looking into the vast sky but ended up looking like a tanned shigol farmer waiting for the bus....both were acceptable =D

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We also had Korean classes. I was in the intermediate class because advance class was a lot of talking which I didn't want to do, but the intermediate class was actually helpful so win-win-win. The third win is for the great teachers of the class, Sarah and Moon. =D

Sarah and Moon, couldn't ask for better leaders.

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The last day we had a farewell dinner party. Food was good and there was also a show (talent show by the EPIK teachers) which wasn't too bad.

All in all, the orientation was good.

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From JeonJu we all left to our respective provinces, cities, and towns and settle in and prepare to start teaching the young and sponge-like-absorbing minds of KOREA! haha

My Last Few Moments in New York...

Okay so I should have done this a while back but I was being lazy, so here it is now...

So before leaving off to Korea...

The friend send offs I had were great and I'm really thankful and grateful for you guys. Thanks to Greg and Danny for dinner which was extra nice because it was also a send off for Mark JDSN and Rachel. Thanks to KCF peeps for dinner too, especially the ones that came from Albany, but not taking anything away from the city people haha. Thanks to Rob for spending some time with me too even if it was with Dumb and Dumber (Soobin and Steve haha). And thanks and sorry to the girls who tried really hard to give me a special send off but I party pooped on them. So yeah, thanks to everyone.

Hours before heading to the airport I was playing around with my new hand-me-down camera my dad let me BORROW for the trip and I practiced my photography skills. So I took some pictures of my family. (And my dad said I wasn't good and he took some)

So that me and my prettiful mom. I know it's probably an understatement but she really is the best.

And this is me with my brother. We're starting to look more and more alike haha.

Sadly I don't have any pictures of my dad from departure day...that I can post up...because I don't think the world is ready for my dad in his underwear.

So I arrived at JFK about 2 hours before take-off taking care baggage, getting my plane ticket and watching my dad do really weird things while talking like everyone at the airport wanted to hear what he was saying. And then about 30 minutes before take-off some very special people came to say goodbye (and those people know who they are). I really was touched, even if it seemed like I wasn't. They made cookies for my flight, even if some of them burnt. And I really wished I practiced some and took pictures of you guys, but it's okay, because I actually did take a picture...with my heart hahahaha sorry. Oh and by the way, every single one of those cookies tasted like baked heavenly goodness with a whole lot of love and care...actually except for the ones that were burnt, they tasted like they were burnt.

So I went into the area were you wait to get on and sadly waved goodbye to my parents and friends. But not before giving them all hugs of course. Aaaaand from here on its gets kind of boring. I fiddle faddle with my phone, ate some cookies, listen to some music while eating some more cookies, got on the plane, got yelled at by one of the workers for asking which way should I enter the plane, then it took me a bit to figure where I was suppose to sit and figured it out after I put my bag above another passenger's seat, lifted off, the plane ride was horrible (ate some more cookies during the plane ride) and then 14 painful long hours later, I arrived in Korea!!!