Orientation Part 2, Busan Part 1

The rest of orientation went very quickly. We figured out where the wifi was, stuttered our way through ordering food in Korea for the first time, and figured out how to get into town.

We went on a “cultural excursion” as EPIK called it, where saw other people, Koreans, and Korean things in any large amount for the first time.  We saw the Jeonju Hanok village, which is a historical village, with a lot of older style houses, and a lot of tourism. We made fans and played drums. We ate bibimbap and oddly shaped ice cream…things and visited museums and generally had a good time.

 

We also had to come up with a lesson plan and present it with two of our other group mates to the rest of our group and a judge, who would tell us what we needed to fix afterward. It was a mix of group word, public presentation, and time management, while most of us were still shaking off the jet lag, so it was an oddly stressful addition to the oddly stressful environment of orientation. But the slight nerves surrounding the orientation presentation were nothing compared to the nerves of what followed directly afterward.

We were finally, finally, after months of waiting, of planning and researching and wondering, were getting our final placements. We were going to learn about what school we were teaching in, in what part of the city. We were going to get our school contracts and packets of information that would be it. After that we would have the goodbye dinner, pack our luggage, leave it downstairs and prepare for another big change.

After the presentation, which went smoothly enough and was not really a big deal, I sat in a room with the rest of the people going to Busan, and learned I was going to an Elementary School, in Bokbu, Busan, South Korea. After that, I waited impatiently for the meeting to finish so I could google it.

 

I googled it and was worried. It seemed to be on the very outskirts of the city, it what looked like an isolated little cluster of buildings away from the rest of the city. With the spotty wifi and only my ipod to work off of, I couldn’t figure out if there was a subway stop next to the school or not.

I imaged being stuck in some small town on the outskirts of the city, away from everything I wanted when I decided to move to Busan. I wanted the sea, I wanted to live in a big city, and this school was apparently far away from both. My heart sunk and for a moment I just started at google maps feeling dissapointed, then trying not to.

But after a few minutes, I just kind of laughed at myself. First, maps are deceiving, and Korea is a small country, it probably wasn’t as far away from everything as I thought. Second, I asked myself if it really mattered, and decided it didn’t. I was here, I was finally here, and I was going to teach and everything else was just gravy.

So feeling lighter, I packed up my stuff and the the next day, all of the Busan teachers got on two buses and left.

We drove a few hours to Busan, seeing interesting and beautiful scenery and mountains on the way there. We also got a view of the city as we drove in. It looked like white concrete and glass buildings scattered endlessly in between hills and mountains and rivers. It looked huge and amazing and overwhelming.

 

 

We were dropped off at a middle school in the middle of Busan, where we waited with our luggage to meet our co-teachers. Our faces were set in nervous smiles. I couldn’t stop moving my hands, shuffling from one foot to another. We felt like kids getting picked up from summer camp by our parents. As the co-teachers showed up, we were one by one lifted away to our new lives, full of hope and fear.

My co-teacher showed up with a male co-worker, who was driving. Before saying hello, or anything else after seeing if I was the right person, they put my things in the car, directed me to the back seat, and started driving.

My co-teacher turned in her seat and looked at me with a small smile on her face and said, “You look very young.”  I let out a nervous laugh and nodded saying that that was true, people tell me that all the time.  She turned around and talked to her co-worker, and I guessed my co-worker too, and started talking in Korean with him. I sat in the back, vaguely realizing how surreal everything felt.

In a world wind of action, we went to my apartment, saw my school, and started on all the documentation that had to get down for me to live there. After that, I saw more of the city, taught some kids, and had some fun, but I will talk all about that next time.