Orientation

I'm back in my dorm room now, and I am stuffed full of cabbage. Spicy cabbage, pickled cabbage, shredded, boiled, every which way you can imagine it. Today was our official orientation where all of the TaLKers got to meet the program directors and got acquainted with the people who will be placed in the same cities together. I found out that I will be living by a Korean-American guy named Chris, which will work out great because he speaks Korean! I told Chris that he has been recruited as my own personal translator and "pronunciator" for the rest of the trip.

Since we are currently staying at a Korean University, we are actually living among students. So, each time we eat in the cafeteria, we are eating side-by-side with them. I think cafeteria food is universally sort of crappy, so it isn't the best introduction to Korean food (my Korean counterparts tell me). Instead of silverware, there are metal chopsticks that you use and these are a whole new ball game compared to wooden ones! But most startling was my first Korean breakfast. Salad with some watermelon pieces, tofu, eggs with soy sauce and "bread". Let me explain something about bread over here- it's not bread. Bread here is something akin to like a krispy kreme donut that has been left out a few days too many. I miss my whole wheat 5-pound bread like there is no tomorrow! So I went out in pursuit of cereal only to discover that it is about $7-$10 a box. And cereal over here is all sugary crack for kids. Right now I am eating something called "yum almond flakes", which are delicious but absolutely swimming in sugar. I miss my oatmeal and old lady bran cereal already :)

At the opening ceremony for orientation, TaLK treated us to several performances. First up were the crazy Tae Kwon Do people. The formed human pyramids and were leaping up into the air to break plywood boards with their feet. But the most spectacular stunt was when a man blindfolded himself and still managed to toss two apples up into the air and do a split kick and bust both of them apart with his toes. Whoa.

Next there was a performance by the Korean Chorale, which was adorable since they sang songs from "The Sound of Music" complete with Korean accents. "Doe, a deer, a feMARE deer" There was also a beat box group (The Guinness Boys) who did some snazzy break dancing and beat boxing. To close, there were these three young women who called themselves "The Bloom" who played some sort of ancient instrument. However, they played all modern music including everything from Pomp and Circumstance to Beatles music.















After the performances, we heard some more congratulatory speeches from TaLK coordinators and then were asked to take out the thermometers they gave us when we first arrived. The precautions against swine flu are extravagant. They make us carry around tiny glass thermometers and check our temperatures every day and report them to the school nurse. And since everything is in Celsius here, I'm pretty sure none of the Americans know how to even read the thermometers!

After the orientation ceremony, TaLK provided an incredible banquet outdoors by a water fountain with a great view of the surrounding campus and city. The food was spectacular, very authentic with the majority of the dishes near volcanic in heat. I had about 5 variations of kimchi (spicy cabbage), root noodles, spicy bean curd, raw octopus, kimbap (which is Korean sushi), and these strange little grapes that you had to pop the skin off of and suck out the juice. It's so funny to watch how the Korean-American people eat 10x faster than the people who aren't familiar with chopsticks.
After dinner we all headed back to our rooms to make curfew (which is 11 p.m. on weeknights and 9 p.m. on Sundays!). Walking around alone outside in Korea is completely nonthreatening. I don't feel like I have to constantly look behind my shoulder around here and most of the time when you smile at strangers, they give you a big smile in return. And it helps to be about a foot taller than the majority of the people here. If I were ever attacked in the street, I feel like my chances are pretty good to kick some serious ass. Unless, of course, I happen to run into one of those Tae Kwon Do guys!

So far, Korea is a welcoming albeit strange land. The people are very softspoken and good willed, and all the TaLK participants seem just as anxious and friendly as I am. Although I am constantly at odds with the language barrier, human kindness is the same the world over. I think I am going to like it here over the next few months!