They took my blood, urine and breath away...

It's been a while since I last managed to write here.

Of course I've been intending to, and have so much that I've been meaning to tell you about. However, life has been hectic and time has been short.

Since I last wrote here, I've got through the orientation, which included the medical which I was blogging about last. That was a strange ordeal. Hundreds of westerners were lined up like cattle, and herded through a variety of medical tests. They tried to gather as much information about our bodies as they possibly could. Our height and weight was measured; our hearing and blood pressure was tested; our blood and urine was sampled; and our chests were irradiated with x-rays. A few days later we were given forms which told us we were HIV negative and free of syphilis. It's good to know these things! I also discovered my blood to be of the superior O- type. I'm not sure if they have vampires here in Korea, but I'm glad of the high garlic content of the food...

However the day after the medical, they buttered us up a little by taking us to a traditional Korean folk village, in Yongin, just outside of Seoul. Perhaps it was EPIK's way of saying sorry for sticking needles in us the day before, but it was duly appreciated. The village itself was beautiful, with thatched roof huts dotted around, giving a very rustic feeling. Although thee snow on the ground thawed throughout the day, icicles could still be seen hanging from the roof of a hut sitting alongside a frozen watermill. We saw performances of acrobatic drum dancers, who cartwheeled along the dusty floor, followed by a long streamer which hung from his hat. There was a tightrope walker who also kept falling on the rope, and using his groin to trampoline himself back to standing position. Both displays were amazing, and I've never seen anything like it in the west. Lunch was fantastic also, a Korean style hot-pot with lots of kimchi and side dishes. 

Following the folk village, we headed off to a town called Inchon to visit an arts and ceramic museum. We explored the area seeing lots of cute and wacky sculptures and learnt a little about the firing process. Following that, we went into a room to paint something for ourselves. Laid on the tables around us were watered down palettes of green, black, blue and red paint and our task was to take a cup or plate and paint it with the artistic flare which would rival Van Gogh or Bansky (depending on ones style). There were many impressive designs by the teachers-to-be around me. However I was happy with my cup design, containing token bear on the front and Thomas the Tank Engine and a mini Ringo Star on the back. Unfortunately the paint faded a little when the cup was put in the kiln, and a lot of the lines and colouring have faded. However the original design can be seen below.

The day ended with another delicious meal (above) of soup, rice, fish, lots of meats and the regular selection of kimchi. My nightmares of Korean nurses screaming at me, due to removing the swab from a needle wound too early drawing blood were replaced that night. Replaced by sweet dreams. Dreams Korean huts, snow, gorgeous food and... kimchi. Lots of kimchi...

It was a good thing I rested well that night, as the next four days were to be intense. We were bombarded with information and a hell of a lot of it. Information about lesson plans, good activities to use in the classrooms, Korean culture, Korean history, how to handle culture shock and more. On top of that, we had Korean lectures in the evening and by the end of it, all we wanted to do was either sleep or go out and drink copious amounts of soju. On this occasion, with one exception I opted for the former option. I must be getting old. 

However one night four of us decided to go up and see the Korean temple, outside Seong-nam just past the outdoor gym which I mentioned the other day. Lacking time during the day, we opted to hike up at night. Although I took my head-torch up with me, I didn't really need it as the path was well lit and compacted for easy walking. However the path up was steep and we were glad of the mountain spring we found half way up. I filled up my bottle from the spring and the water there tasted sweet and fresh, some of the best water I've ever tasted. The path up to the temple was curiously lined on both side by Chinese balloons, giving an authentic aura as we approached the temple gates. 

We were stopped in our tracks by barking dogs and we had to approach the temple cautiously. Once we realized that the dog noise was actually coming from inside the temple, we were tempted to knock on the door and ask for a cup of tea. However we decided that the poor monks who lived there probably wouldn't appreciate that, and descended back down the hill promising ourselves that we would one day return. We spent the rest of the night with a few beers and a couple of sojus and I learnt an interesting thing. The polite way to call a waiter over here is to shout at them to 'come here' or 'yogio'. The difference in cultural manners over here is constantly eluding me.

Another night we had a good reason to celebrate. We'd discovered that day the schools and level we'd be teaching at. I found out that I'd be teaching high school boys (6th form UK equivalent) in an Eastern region of Daejeon called Daegu. I am now in my apartment there, writing this blog. However it is getting late and I don't have time to tell you yet of how I came to be here. I shall leave that story for another day.

Until next time...

P.S. pictures of the folk village and ceramic museum can be found at:

EPIK Field Trip