Well, it's Monday, a few days since I posted the first part! I still don't have my schedule in front of me, and I don't want to get up and get it because I'll lose my place at the computer :-) So, I'll just recap the highlights. In other words...To make a long story short (too late!).
I think I left off after the first day of orientation. I'm in the group going do Damyang. Which even though looks like it is pronounced Damn Yang, is really like Dahm-yahng. Anyway, it's the camp closest to where we are now. We'll be there to teach at two camps, ten days each. The first is elementary aged students, the second is middle school aged students. The camp is set up so that the students rotate to two different "booths" each day. There is a total of 12 booths (actually classrooms). So each person in our group is assigned to conduct lessons in a booth, with different subjects like Art, Food, Sports, Science, etc. We teach lessons about these subjects, but it is really to teach students the vocabulary that goes along with these activities. We're told that the students can read and write English pretty well, but they need the most practice speaking and practicing. I'm teaching Clothing for the elementary camp, and Math for the middle school camp. Actually it's called "Fun with Numbers"! haha.
So for the rest of orientation, we had some other English instructors from the Jeollanam-do Province conduct mini workshops on how to teach our lessons. We were divided by the lessons we taught, so we got more small-group instructions. On one day, the JLP (Jeollanamdo Language Program) instructors presented how to teach the lesson, then the next day, we gave a teaching demonstration in front of our small group! For the demonstration, we actually travelled to the closest camp, which happened to be Damyang, the one I'll be at. The camp is pretty cool. It's a university - really about the size of a community college. So that's what we've been doing for training.
After the demonstration day at Damyang, the instructors set up some group dinner plans. One was going to a restaurant that served this particular chicken dish that Koreans ate exactly three times during the summer, and that was one of the times. It's supposed to be cooling and refreshing. The other was to a spicy pork type place. No matter, I somehow managed to miss the bus. So I went into town to the after-dinner meetup point with some other folks. We met at Wa Bar, a more Western-style bar. But the coolest thing was that they had karaoke rooms! We had a huge private karaoke room. Practically our whole group piled in there and had fun sining. It did kind of devolve into insanity at one point, but I won't go into that here...Oh wait, before we got to Wa Bar, our taxi dropped us off at the corner, and there was this talent show/dance competition going on! It. Was. Amaaaaazing. We'd been watching Korean music videos, and this was like the video come to life. The way people dress here is sooooo fabulous, and the dancing, and gestures and facial expressions are so great. It's kind of like backstreet boys pop, I think it's called K-Pop. Anyway, so we watched that for a few minutes, then walked into the downtown area. This area is sooo cool. It's like a pedestrian-only (except for a few cars that come by once in awhile) area, very neon and brightly lit (but again, tasteful!), with tons of shops with clothes, shoes, fake bags, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. Dunkin Donuts seems to be popular (they wear these adorable orange outfits there). The people-watching is the best, though. Everyone is so beautiful and amazingly dressed. And the few nights I was there, it always rained for a bit, a light misty rain, but everyone (except us) had little umbrellas, adding to the cuteness. So that's downtown.
Yesterday (Sunday), we visited a temple/garden area. It was very beautiful! We spent only about an hour there though, so it was very rushed. Which is so not the vibe I wanted at a temple. Oh well. Then we went to a fancy, 8 story department store. This had the real stuff - Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior, etc. Plus, a Starbucks! We've been drinking tube coffee here at the dorm (which we're very grateful for, but it gets old after awhile). So I ordered a latte. I didn't go all soy-hazelnut on them. Then we went all over the store, to every level. Koreans have such great style. They can layer like a champ. I bought this long baggy t-shirt there. Then we got back on the bus and didn't go out that night because there was supposed to be a typhoon! Yeah, and that day I had washed some clothes in the bathroom sink, and hung them up on the clothesline on the roof of the classroom building. Which they lock at night. And with the impending typhoon, I thought my clothes would be soaked and flung around!!! But no typhoon. But there's supposed to be a typhoon tonight!!! Yeah right. We think they're just telling us this so we don't go out at night :-)
I think I've hit all the highlights so far. We've gone out on the town about everyday. The people are great. Basically I think the consensus of the group is:
WE :::HEART::: KOREA !!!
Tomorrow we pack up, have dinner with the governor, then leave for our separate camps!
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