Drinking Games - Baskin Robbins 31

Want to watch me lose a Korean drinking game? Yeah, I thought so.

Day 3 - Key Club, Soju, and Drinking Games

I had my first Korean class today--four hours of Korean reading/writing/speaking/listening, all taught in very quickly spoken Korean. I've never taken a Korean class taught in Korean, so I was really thrown into the deep end. After a while, I was able to shut off all non-essential portions of my brain and just concentrate on what the heck the teachers were saying. I maybe understood 30%. Maybe.

I met the executive director. She gave a speech. That's about it for that.

I met Key Club! The meeting tonight was a lot of fun. We were placed into small groups with the club members and we were supposed to be discussing topic questions about our dreams and goals in life. Instead we really just chatted informally. Since they don't always get to speak with foreigners, I think this was fine because they had to deal with American accents and conversational rhythms. Then afterwards we were invited out to the bars with them!

We went up to the 4th or 5th floor of the building to a private room. It wasn't just drinking--there was maybe a bottle of soju for each pair. It was fun to practice pouring for each other and sharing that piece of culture with kids my age. There was so much food too! For 5000W (about $5) we all got half a bottle of soju and a ton of food. There was fruit, a stew, chicken, fried food, and small dishes of crackers, Korean-style pancakes, and more. It was FANTASTIC. After a few shots of soju we started loosening up and the awkwardness eased. The KNU students were more comfortable with their Korean, and we were more comfortable in the environment. So we discussed drinking games.

I learned a bunch of them. Korean drinking games don't use many props. By that I mean American games use playing cards, plastic cups, ping pong balls, etc. Korean games use the caps on the soju bottles, or nothing at all.

Baskin Robbins 31:
The goal is to NOT be the one to say 31. If you are forced to say 31, then you must drink. Each person playing counts up to 31. They can say one number, two numbers, or three numbers. For example Player 1 = "1, 2, 3"; Player 2 = "4, 5"; Player 3 = "6, 7, 8"; Player 4 = "9" until someone is forced to say 31.

"Guess Game" (that's what they called it at least...):
Players count off sequential numbers, however no two people can say a number at the same time. For example, Player 1 starts by saying "One". Then other players must continue by saying "Two" but you can't say it if somebody else says it at the same time. It makes for a fun game because there's long pauses where you just look around at everybody else, ready to say a number but not wanting to say it if somebody else is about to say it, too. The loser has to drink.

Soju Cap Game:
Soju caps are made of an aluminum-type foil. When you open a bottle, there's a long strip of foil left on the cap, barely attached to it. Each person passes the cap, flicking the strip once per turn to try to break it off the cap (kind of like wiggling a soda can tab until it falls off). Losers must drink, such as women must drink if the men break it off, or Americans must drink if Koreans break it off, etc.

So it was a pretty great day, even if I had to stay up until 1am doing homework. I made some great new friends that I hope to see again soon, especially Song Il and Henry, who sat on either side of me at the bar. After they taught me their drinking games, we played quarters and I told them about flip cup. Now, I need to go find plastic cups for Friday's Key Club Mixer so we can play!

[pictures/short video to follow tomorrow, i.e. when it's not 1am...]

Day Two - Placement, Quarantine, & EMart

Today was the big placement test and I was a little worried. When I found out that breakfast was basically a whole fish about the size of my hand, Cait and I went down to Dunkin Donuts for something a little more familiar. Due to iced coffee and bagels, we were late for check-in (oops...)

Placement took me a little longer than most of the group because the intermediate/advanced placement required an interview. I'm not really great at listening (in Korean, that is), so I stumbled a little with the interview questions. In any case, I'm in the intermediate class; I must not've done that poorly.

After the interviews, the small group still left in the testing room was rounded up and an announcement was made: we were quarantined!

It was really rather unnecessary. One of the ETAs felt ill, so he went to the hospital where it was found he had a fever. Korea's a bit paranoid about swine flu at the moment, so KNU wanted all the ETAs to be placed under quarantine. No big deal, it just means we can't roam around campus and our meal times were changed so that we weren't mixing with the KNU students. He seems to be fine now so they should lift quarantine tomorrow.

A little later in the day, we were placed into 4 person groups to go to Emart via taxi! This was really fun because it felt so rewarding to give the taxi driver the destination and then actually where we wanted to go. We picked up personal items and some snacks for the Key Club mixer, which was moved to Friday due to the quarantine.

Tomorrow is the first day of class and we'll be meeting with the executive director of F*bright, so I have very important things to do. I.e. prepping an outfit.

Dorm Life

Video, as promised. I have a really annoying rise-in-pitch at the end of almost every sentence for some reason. I promise to try not to do that next time.

Update on Day 2 coming soon.

Arrival Day

I made it!

After some fiasco at the airport where my carry-on ended up getting checked (costing me $65) and a weird flight in between a 40 year old man and what I can only assume was his mother, I made it off the plane, through customs, and to the university with all my things. I even got to watch some 4th of July fireworks shows from the plane, which was really cool.

Kangwon National University (KNU) is huge. After a lunch of curry (what?) and some business matters, some of the orientation leaders held a Hangul review. I skipped it and opted for the campus tour that was being given by members of the campus English club called Kangwon English Yard (Key Club).

One of my small group's guides was David, whose English was very good and was extremely enthusiastic about showing us around the massive campus. I'm excited to see him again tomorrow when the Key Club hosts a mixer for its members and the other F*bright scholars.

While in Chuncheon studying Korean and English teaching at KNU, I'm living in the dorms. It's not so bad. The rooms are smaller than the ones at PSU (the double I'm sharing is about the size of a Simmons single, for you Staters that understand the reference). The rooms are alternating boys-with-girls, and almost all the F*bright ETAs are living on the same floor. The bathroom situation is strange, which brings me to Uncomfortable Cultural Adjustment #1: Not flushing toilet paper. In Korea, apparently it's more common to just throw it away in a small trash bin placed in the stall rather than flushing it.

After dinner (fried squid), some of the ETAs went to explore the downtown area, which is pretty awesome. It's clearly a college town, as the entire downtown strip running along the campus is filled with bars, restaurants, PC rooms, and convenience stores. Our little group found Ice Cool, the hang-out of choice recommended to us by the previous ETAs. There, we got a couple bowls of mixed fruit patbingsu (shaved ice with fresh fruit, ice cream, and red bean on top). It was fantastic after a day of sweating through every article of clothing possible.

Pictures and video to follow as soon as I adjust to the 13 hour time difference.

Departure Day!

Today's the day!

I'm departing from Boston at 7:30pm--just a few hours from now--and then my flight to Korea leaves NYC at 12:30am tomorrow.

People keep asking if I'm excited, but I don't really feel anything. I still don't think it's hit me, and I don't think it will until I'm sitting on the plane to Korea. Until then, there's worries about what last-minute items to throw into my bag, making sure I have all the documents, and getting onto the plane in time.

Anyway, a video thank-you to my family and friends, all of whom have been so encouraging and wishing me well. It's cut short for some reason, but I'll fix it when I get there because I'M LEAVING RIGHT NOW!

On Packing

As departure gets closer and closer, it feels more and more as though it's not actually happening. Maybe I'm just in denial that in one week's time, I'll be moved into a dorm room in Korea, settling into a routine, and exploring the city of Chuncheon. I can't even comprehend that. It makes no sense to me.

Anyway, here's what's on my plate lately:

I spent all of last week vacationing with my family. Beaching, renting movies, playing board games, fishing, it was a good time. I suppose I was able to figuratively "pack" some awesome memories during that week.

PACKING

I've got my winter and teaching wardrobe all packed up. I like to think I was good in packing light, but who knows. I might get there and find out that I didn't bring enough pants, or that none of the sweaters are Korea-fashionable. But everything fits, and my bathroom scale says I'm only at 40lb, so I'm not going to sweat it. I laid out some of the winter clothes I packed in that suitcase just so this blog isn't entirely boring with me writing. Note, not included: my entire teaching wardrobe, 2 winter coats, sweatshirts, gifts, shoes/boots, jeans, and a bunch of other things I can't remember to list.

The contents of the other suitcase are sprawled across a corner of my room. As I do not physically own a second suitcase at this time, it is difficult to pack. I should get on that.

TEACHING PREP

I'm a geek, so I don't handle being unprepared very well. I made sure I had a solid foundation in Korean before even applying for the scholarship, I made sure I had my passport/visa/medical paperwork completed as soon as possible. I do not know how to prepare for teaching, though.

I ended up reading a lot of EFL. Apparently, I'm technically teaching English as a Foreign Language, not English as a Second Language. EFL = English outside of an English-speaking country; ESL = English taught within an English-speaking country. THE MORE YOU KNOW.

With the little bit of knowledge I know, I've been thinking about lesson plans and things like that. Halloween, Thanksgiving, those are easy. If you can think of any American culture things, they would be fantastic to know. Idioms, slang, holidays, hobbies, mannerisms... anything. Do tell.

Other than that, I'm just trying to get my act together for Friday. That plane is leaving with or without me being ready for departure.