Our days started at 9 (we'd leave a little before 8). We learned the structure of the memorization classes, how to use the various activities we'll be teaching, and mock teach the different parts. We did that until 11:30, got a 30 minute break for lunch, then did the same thing for the reading classes until 2:30. After that, we would have additional training until about 3:30. Then we'd head back to the hotel (subway!) to watch additional training videos and prep lessons for the next day's mock teaching. We would crash in bed about 9 and then wake up the next morning to do the same thing! Yay!
Friday, we had our final exams. For both memorization and reading we had a written test over the class structure and then we had evaluated mock teachings. We all got to training early to do some last minute studying.
We ended up finishing the final mocks at 3pm. Then we sat around to sign contracts and hear about how to go about finding housing. We finally left a little after 5. We were SO hungry! We walked up the street to a little store that some girls told us sold great kimbop (like unto sushi... though this one had no fish) because Kendra wanted some. I tried some of hers and wished I'd gotten some. It's pretty good. :) Then it was back to the hotel.
We finally got to the hotel around 6. We wanted to do something to celebrate, but most of the other teachers were going out to drink and, well, we didn't feel like sitting around with people who were getting drunk when we wouldn't be drinking ourselves (LDS, you know). So, we headed out to find some food. We walked around forever but couldn't find anything that looked appealing and since we weren't in the mood for a Korean ordering adventure (sooo tired and hungry...) we stopped at the Burger King. It was great.
I think we were just so sick of ramen bowls that anything with actual food in it would have sufficed. Did I mention that since we are kind of tight on money and we're in a hotel (and have not yet purchased pots or pans) that we've been living off of cheap ramen and snacks? Yeah. That giant lettuce piece was the first real veggie we'd had all week. It was awesome.
Saturday was super lazy. TV online, grocery store visit (ice cream and more ramen... aren't you glad to hear we're eating healthy?), and attempts to procure cash from an international ATM. That was it. Wonderfully lazy.
I did end up being able to get cash today. I don't know what the heck was going on with that stupid ATM yesterday. I'll need to get more cash for tomorrow to pay for the realtor and (possibly) rent deposit if we are able to find apartments.
Today was great. We went to church!! We found out that the church, while being about an hour away from our hotel, it's only two stops away from where we will be living! Yay! We did get a little turned around but another American took pity on us. Gina saw us standing in our Sunday best and asked if we needed help. Turns out she's in our branch! Lucky for us because I don't think we would have been able to find the church building otherwise. We met a lot of really nice people and I really look forward to being able to make some good friends. One girl, Jessica, lives in Mokdong and so hopefully we'll get to see more of her outside of church. Also, there's a single's activity this next Saturday about Korean culture. Fun! I'm glad I like our branch. :)
On the subway ride back to the hotel, we met some interesting peoples. There were these two older men that talked to us. From what we could understand, they are ex-marines (Korean marines) and they parachuted in Cambodia and *maybe* Vietnam. They offered us seats on the subway because they wanted us to have a good first impression of Korea. Sweet. Then there was the guy that was less than sober that struck up a conversation with us. Told us we were very good girls. I think he thought we were missionaries because he said, "You're Mormon, yes?" I don't know how he knew... we weren't talking about church or anything and it's not like we were particularly dressed up or anything. Kind of weird. But, like I said, we was less than sober and kept repeating things. I think he was just really excited to be practicing his English and after a few shots of soju he wasn't as clear as he would have been otherwise. As it was, we were rather glad to get to our stop and find out he had a few more stops to go. Oh, good.
And that's been my first full week in Korea!! Wow, I can't believe it's only been a week. This week has been so crazy that it just feels longer. Tomorrow we're going to go look for apartments and then meet with our supervisor at our school. Probably get our textbooks, see our classrooms, stuff like that.
Love you, everyone!
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