Day 1 of Orientation, August 2nd

Today, we had classes introducing us to the program and an official welcome ceremony and dinner. We went to an auditorium where we heard speeches from some Korean education dudes with the NIIED and TaLK program. It was a very formal presentation, and their speeches were incredibly motivational. I am so lucky to have a part in contributing to the education of the future leaders of South Korea, which is an incredibly developed and fast-paced country. I am so blessed to be here!

After the formal speeches, we had a presentation from a Taekwondo group. I wish I had gotten more, because this isn't even the most impressive, but check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRiHuEIxheI

(He was blindfolded, if you couldn't see very well.)

(Photo credit goes to another scholar. I didn't get any shots this good from where I was sitting.)

It was crazy cool to see! The boards had some sort of firework-like center that sparked when the boards were smashed. One of the craziest parts was when one of the guys broke several boards by going straight through with the tips of his fingers--like, his hand was flat and perpendicular to the boards. I don't know how it didn't break all the bones in his hand...

DINNER...the biggest buffet line I've ever seen. Here are some of the dishes:

The left is a big pan of roasted garlic. (I've heard eating this much garlic makes you have garlicky body odor, so I didn't consume any of this dish...)

Pumpkin salad of some sort, mushroom salad, fruit salad. (The fruit salad was delicious. As in, normal.)

Kimchi, kimchi-flavored radishes (I was literally dry-heaving after putting one in my mouth, I want so much to like kimchi, but this was out of my control...), and raw beef.

Smoked salmon (it was still raw-ish and floppy)

Pig hocks and jelly fish. I did not partake.

Sushi rolls. I had a shrimp roll that was way too heavy on the wasabi flavor. But the octopus roll with visible sliced tentacles was a little too adventurous for me in this meal.

More sushi rolls (this one I liked a lot) and tofu rolls.

Desserts were normal = yummy.

Fruit. I will have to try the stuff in the center at some point, I'm not sure what they're called. But my stomach was feeling tentative after all the variety, so not today...

One of my plates. Breads and desserts are pretty normal here. Again, that translates into "they're yummy."

Pictures after dinner. The view from campus is AMAZING (but we're kind of covering it up):

A friend in my class (not my roommate, but I need to get some pictures with her too).

Hike to a buddhist temple on campus. Way steep and rocky, but really fun. About a 45-minute hike to the top?

I hope Buddha doesn't mind sweaty/smelly visitors, because, wow...hiking in humidity...wow...

Thanks for reading or skimming these long posts. South Korea is amazing. I'm loving every minute of this. That's a lie. I didn't love the minute when I was trying not to choke on weird spicy kimchi radish. But everything else. :)

P.S. I finally got my blogger back into English. Posting is going to be so much easier from now on!