So, Daniel and I are now in Seoul, South Korea! For those that don't know, we have one year English teaching contracts in South Korea. We'll be living in Suwon City and teaching 7-12 year olds in after school English classes. Currently, we are staying at a hotel in Seoul (the capital) while completing the training program. It's five days of intense learning and testing...so wish us luck! After this, we'll be sent to our school and hopefully, be teaching next Monday (Sunday in the U.S.)!
We had three tests to pass right off the bat...and we just found out we passed them all!!! They turned out to be not that hard, if you had studied. Several people did fail though, but they just have to take the test again tomorrow. So that’s how we spent our first full day here…studying. We actually ate at a Quizno’s that day for lunch and then Burger King for dinner. I told Daniel that I need to ease myself in slowly to all this Korean food, and he is being pretty patient. He actually just bought some nasty fish/seaweed/rice cake thing and ate it whole while I stuck to a Dove chocolate bar haha :)
So, we haven’t really got to see much of the city of Seoul, just around our hotel. I think we’re both trying to stay focused on getting through training. According to some of the other employees that just got through training, its pretty intense and requires lots of preparing and studying the day before.
Today all we did was have a short orientation, take the tests, and then go in for the medical exam. It was an intense physical! They drew 3 vials of blood, gave us a chest X-ray, and complete vision and blood pressure tests. CRAZY! I thought we would never be done, but all that is a requirement for the foreign alien permit that the government issues.
So, after taking the subway back to the hotel, Daniel and I ate at this pizza & pasta place down the street. EVERYONE here speaks at least a little English, so we’ve had absolutely no problem ordering food or finding our way around. Seriously, old to young—everyone speaks some English!
I'm really liking it here so far, though. Everyone is really nice (Koreans and English speaking co-workers alike). Hopefully, once we get pass the orientation I'll have more culture and travel blogs to post...but for right now, its the boring part. Until next time!
