the rest of the first day...

So I didn't actually eat any of the Korean meals served on the plane, because my stomach always feels a bit icky, and I didn't want to make it worse, so today's lunch was my first Korean meal, and it was... gross.

Maybe that's not culturally appropriate, but I'm a little sad, because apparently I'm going to have to buy some food in town. I'm not sure exactly what today's meal was. The rice was the same as all white rice, there was a horrible looking noodle dish which had chunks of what I'm told was potatoes and meat with some kind of dark-brown sauce on it, but it was really pretty gross. There was also what I guess was kimchi (google it), which I didn't like with the sauce but which was at least edible sort of edible, corn dogs (which I normally hate, but devoured), and what I think was fish broth. I ate the rice, a corn dog and the noodles with no brown stuff, and some of the soup. It filled me up mostly, but it was mostly all carbs. Dinner was roughly the same--I ate rice, some of the kimchi (but it was waaay spicy), and that was actually it. I guess I'll probably need to buy some tuna from the store for the protein. I'm committed myself to trying a little of whatever is out everyday, so I'm definitely broadening my horizons, but I also don't want to go hungry. Don't worry, there's a lot of restaurants around, so I should always be able to find food if the day's fare doesn't work for me, but I'd prefer not to spend the money when all three meals are right there.

The Orientation Coordinators say the cafeteria food is the same as all cafeteria food--not exactly top notch--so even if you don't like Korean food here, there's still a good chance you'll like it at your homestay. I hope so... Although, this certainly does remove the excitement that mealtime always had for me. I was way hungry today at noon and dinner, but I actively dreaded my first bite (with good reason).

After lunch we had a business-type general meeting where they went over a lot of immediately cultural stuff. We learned the proper way to bow and got some safety tips (nothing I didn't already know, but I'm sure it will reassure some of you to know I heard them). We talked about Camp Fulbright, which is during the middle two weeks of orientation when 100 4th graders come to the campus where we're staying for an English camp experience, and we each have the opportunity to teach two 45 minute lessons. It seems like a good thing, because it's a chance to design a lesson and practice teaching, so I'm pretty excited for that. We also talked about extracurricular opportunities. For roughly 100 USD, I can have four lessons a week from a world-renowned expert in tae kwon do (henceforth TKD) for the new month. I'm actually really tempted, because I think it would be fun and a good way to meet people, but I don't really want to spend all that money. What do you think? Should I do it?

We can also take a couple calligraphy classes, a couple paper arts classes, and meetings with the on-campus English club. Plus, there's optional special events nearly every night--speakers, discussion groups, or movies. I'm pretty excited about those too. I'm really going to push myself and try to do a lot of different things, rather than veg-ing out in my room. But I've decided that my number one priority for Orientation is to learn as much Korean as possible, because that will be the thing that best increases my chances for having a good time.

So my typical weekday schedule looks like this:
7:00 Shooting to get up early and get online in case any of you want to talk to me at 6:00pm your time
8:00 Jogging/gym, shower, and breakfast
9:00-12:50 Language class
12:50-2:00 Mid-day break and lunch
2:00-4:30 Cultural or teaching workshops
4:30-5:30 Gym, if I don't get up early enough in the morning
5:30-6:30 Dinner
7:00-9:00 Probably some activity, depending on the day, unless I email you and say I'll be online and want to talk to you on the phone at 6 or 7am your time
9:00 Checking email, hanging out, or going to bed early

That's my typical weekday. I got the calendar today in the handouts, and there's a couple of weekends when I mostly free too, so if you want to stay up late and talk to me on a night when you all don't have to get up and go to work early... :)

I knew I'd be jet-lagged tonight, so I laid down at 6pm for a quick nap, setting my alarm to wake me up at 7pm for the little tag sale they were having of extra stuff, and to see if any of you were online, but then I woke up at 11pm, and I guess my alarm never went off, so now it's 12:20am. They warned that we probably wouldn't sleep all night if we went to bed too early, but I'm not that worried. I think I'll fall right back asleep if I go now, and wake up around 6am, which is my plan. More tomorrow. Have a nice day everyone! (It's only 11:20am there). I miss you!

Also, feel free to comment...

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