The past week has been a walk in the park. The organization that manages all of the Native English Teachers in our province puts on a new teacher orientation every semester. So a month after I started teaching, they decided they would like to train me on how to be a teacher.
The orientation is set at retreat on the side of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. We new teachers stayed there from Wednesday to Friday morning. The facilities are quite nice, complete with driving range, basketball courts, and even a piano I managed to find on the first day. The toilets are hands down the best I have ever experienced in my short life. I imagined it must be a lot like how The Jetson's live, but I won't go into further detail (it basically felt like I was controlling a spaceship). We had some (what I thought was) relevant and helpful training, and some classes that were more a waste of time. However, I did get to meet quite a few new teachers, and maybe made some friends for the future.
By the time we left the retreat on Friday morning, I was more than a little tired. In a way, I was glad to leave the surreal surroundings of westerners and western food. It was so much unlike reality here that it took me a day or two to get back into the mindset I had before. So, teacher shindig #1 complete.
The weekend weather was gorgeous. It made me feel ambitious enough to go shopping in the foreigner district of Seoul called Itaewon. Many people referred me to this location because there are supposedly many stores there that cater to the larger male specimen in Korea, such as I find myself categorized in. These clothes are in Itaewon because of the large U.S. Military presence there, so many stores are there to provide for them. I had this rare urge to buy some new clothes. Mind you, I'm not a big fan of shopping, and there's nothing I hate more than wandering aimlessly for clothes. However, I felt like making some adaptation to the Korean way, even if that meant buying a somewhat metro outfit. I knew I could still retain my American identity (maybe take some jeans and cut them at the knees when it gets warmer), but I needed that truly Korean outfit for when I went out with teachers or Korean friends. Long story short, the selection was few, and the items expensive. I tried on a pair of size '34' pants in one of the changing rooms (a curtain on a track in the middle of the room, so literally just a small circle to change in while people are walking by you shopping), and I unfortunately busted right out of those pants when I buttoned them (button projectile). So the shopping experience was a failure. Sorry Koreans, you'll just have to accept me for who I am.
This week is the mid-term exam, so the teachers all go out and have dinner together. We went to a very nice traditional Korean Restaurant where everyone sits on the ground. The main course was duck (I'm not sure if I've ever had this before, but tastes a lot like turkey). After explaining to some of the other teachers how we discipline students in the U.S., I made my way to where the principal was seated to offer him a drink (following custom of course, not out of our close personal relationship). There are many delicate rules to follow in this short procedure, and I didn't want to mess up. Just a few rules to mention; younger person uses both hands to pour drink, receive drink, doesn't look superior in the eye, turns away from superior when drinking, etc. I may have poured the principal too much maekoli (Korean rice wine), but he had already been drinking for a while, so I don't think he noticed. After the dinner, I went with the younger teachers (there seems to be a clique of them) to a noraebong (singing room) and bar. They were a lot of fun, and hopefully I'll continue to hang out with them in the future. If only I found that perfect metro Korean outfit, and I'd be the coolest guy at the school.
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