Ok, so we are finally updating you and filling you in on our new lives here in Korea. We want to start at the beginning with our first week in Korea. As you know, we came to Korea to teach english, as you also may know, we were not teachers before. - ha - But, as English teachers with our program, EPIK, we were sent to a college campus for 10 days to learn everything we could possibly cram in about Teaching and Korea. Things like classroom management, Lesson planning, task-based learning, Prezi (my favorite), the Korean school system, Korean culture, Korean History, and just about anything else you could think of!
I want to share a few photos to help you take part in our adventure. So, let's do this.
Ok, our 10 day training, lovingly called "Orientation," took place at Jeon-ju University. It is a beautiful campus and we had a great time getting to know this area. The slogan of the University is classic: 'The Place for Superstars." This is, as we have begun to realize, a common Korean trend. Stealing old phrases from english and plastering them everywhere. A lot of
commercials/ads, songs, businesses, people, and yes... universities use cheesy English phrases. It is comical. We just laugh and thank God that we can read something without a Korean-english dictionary.
Ok, so as I said before, we don't have a reliable camera, so there are some shots of us (borrowed from our friends - thanks guys) but not many. So use your imagination a little.
Here is a picture of the dorm that we stayed in on campus for Orientation. Like I said, beautiful campus. We even got to watch some famous Korean movies on the rooftops of one of the buildings. A kind of open air theatre with subtitles in English. We actually loved the movies and are looking forward to getting a DVD player so we can't rent more Korean movies.
During our time at orientation we also got to visit a traditional and historical town Jeon-Ju
Traditional Village. We got to see a lot of cool things and learn a lot about Korean history. I think we went to 3-4 museum type places that was rich with tradition and history. Really interesting stuff.
Jeon Ju is famous for their Bibimbap. Bibimbap is mixed vegetables, with chili sauce, sesame seed oil and some ground beef, all on top of rice. It is usually served cold, as a refreshing lunchtime meal. Korea is famous for it's communal eating. Most meals are shared. Something my family has been doing for years... except that this is a whole new level.
Anyway, I love Bibimbap. This is how you make it for a group of 600 people. Stir it in a huge pot with wooden spoons that look like Ores for a boat.
This was one of the museums that we saw. It has some really cool architecture. One of those things that you have to see in person. But, a picture does help. We were in that group somewhere...
This is at a Buddhist Temple near the traditional village. This was a unique experience. It is crazy to see how their culture has been so much effected by religions. In this picture we are with our friends Colt and Holly. They are from Oregon, but kinda from California too. They both went to APU which is really close to both BIOLA and CBU. One of the other major Christian Universities in So Cal. They are super cool and share a lot of interests... including Settlers of Catan.
Anyway, that is it for now. I need sleep. But, we will be sharing about some other things sometime this week so stay posted.
We love you all and miss you greatly.
Luke and Lindsey
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