Orientation Ending

 Friday, February 24th

Ginny and I with Joseph, a fellow Alabamian TaLK scholar

The closing ceremony for the main part of our orientation was this morning. It was good, but also bittersweet because of all the goodbyes. One thing that stood out for me in the closing ceremony was something one of the speakers said. He mentioned that this February has been the coldest in about 65 years for South Korea. He and other staff over the TaLK program were very concerned about this. He said that they had been praying for warmer weather to come, and hey, it came starting last week. He credits that temperature change to prayer. Such a wonderful thing to hear from a government official! It wasn't even in a 'religious' context -- I think that is what made it particularly memorable to me.

This doesn't begin to capture how delightful the food was.

Another notable thing today was the lunch that the cafeteria staff served us. It was AMAZING! It was a lavish spread -- I didn't even try everything, and I had plenty with only a little bit of each thing. There was fried shrimp, mixed seafood (mussels, clams, etc), mashed potatoes, a variety of fruit, fries, gimbap, waffles for dessert... Wow. We were all amazed and delighted by the sight of all of it, and it was delicious. So much excited chatter over food!



Saturday, February 25th

So. Tired. I could only barely keep my eyes open this afternoon in our lecture. We didn't make a lot of progress on our lesson plan, but I did talk a lot with my Korean co-scholar. I was so surprised and delighted to find that I was paired with a Korean TaLK scholar! I had been told earlier that I would not have one at all, but apparently they did some last-minute shuffling and well, here we are.

Tonight there was a meet-'n'-greet for the 8th gen scholars to meet other TaLK scholars who already live in the province. I talked with a few people. It was awfully loud in the bar, though, so my throat is sore just from trying to converse with people. It was okay, but I wish I had whipped out my sketchbook earlier (as it was, I had no sooner taken it out than it was time to leave)... several of us left 'early' (11:20ish). Others... well, let's just say many came back late.

The meet-'n'-greet was so-so, but the cab ride back... Now that's a different story. I was with my sister, who speaks a little Korean, and two other TaLK scholars. We were chatting amongst ourselves and the driver was silent. Then Ginny said "Dokdo-neun hangook ddang!" (Dokdo belongs to Korea!) This phrase was stuck in our heads thanks to the video that our group made at the end of our Jochiwon orientation. (See that video here.) If you don't know about Dokdo... Here's the basics: two tiny islands, located in the East Sea, claimed by both South Korea and Japan. Adamantly claimed by Koreans. I mean, seriously, in Korea? Dokdo belongs to Korea, no questions asked. And it's called the East Sea, not the Sea of Japan. Just sayin'.

So. Ginny says this patriotic phrase with the accompanying fist pump, and to our surprise we hear (and see) an echo from the driver. He loved it! And so ensued a conversation in broken Korean between Ginny and our driver. Korean taxi drivers are crazy, okay? Traffic laws are more like suggestions here anyway, but this is especially true of the taxi drivers. Ginny used the Korean word for 'fast', just as an off-hand comment. Well, then the driver was performing. Zoom, zoom, zoom! We got back safely, though. Tired, but laughing.

Lecture building for our POE orientation