Orientation

After a VERY long day of flying and busing, I arrived at Jeonju University. We are staying in a dormitory and my room is on the 14th floor with a fantastic view. My roommate is a girl named Laura, who hails from Texas and we get along really well. So far we have been able to take it easy, only having to report for our opening ceremony and a medical exam. The opening ceremony featured Drum Dancers, the University's Taekwondo team, and Fan Dancers. It was all so vibrant and fascinating. The medical exam was less enjoyable. We had to undergo blood and urine tests as well as a chest a X-ray and the typical height/weight, blood pressure, sight and hearing tests, etc. We'll get the results back in a few days and if we don't pass, our contracts will be void and we have to find our own way home. Let's hope they think I'm healthy!
I have met a lot of people here, most of them American and Canadian, but some from England, South Africa, Ireland and Australia. Everyone is really nice and friendly.We have been sorted into groups based on the areas we will be teaching in. There are about 40 people who will be in my town and those are just from the EPIK program. I am feeling much less anxious about having a social life now! We have already discussed having weekly dinners and traveling around the country together. I went out with my roomie and some people from her group last night and tried Soju, the Korean form of Sake. Soju is the first word I was able to read point-blank in the Hangul script! It would be.
Today is our first full day of lectures about teaching methods and Korean 101. It will be an 11 hour day, but we'll be rewarded tomorrow with a field day, which I am really looking forward to. I'll post a bunch of pictures from that! I'm off to breakfast and class now. Ciao!