Last Day in Jochiwon

Today is my last day in Jochiwon! Woke up early to finish packing and had 8:40am briefing as usual. We received our TaLK Scholar identification cards & certificates for completing orientation. Shortly, we will be attending the closing ceremony in the main auditorium followed by lunch in the cafeteria. Then we will all be going our separate ways in South Korea. I'm going to Jeollanam-do (or Jeonnam), which is south west. I think my bus ride will take at least 2 hours. It sort of sucks to be so far south because everyone else is either north or centralized, you know? My Jeonnam orientation will last 6 days and 5 nights in Gwangju, the 6th largest city in South Korea. Not sure where we are staying yet, hopefully in a hotel! I heard that some people in other provinces are staying in a temple for their first night and then relocating to a hotel. We'll see how we go.

Yesterday, we had a taste of what teaching English was like. We paired off and taught two 45-minute lessons and one 30-minute lesson at an English camp not far from here. My partner and I worked with 4 kids, who were 13 years old and mostly played games to encourage them to speak English. I think that the kids know a bit, but can't pronounce the words very well. All we taught them were emotions (i.e., "I feel happy" / "I feel tired") and likes/dislikes (i.e., "I like candy" / "I don't like homework"). It was exhausting, but pretty fun. I wish we could team-teach out in our individual schools!

I'm no longer dying of sickness. I sort of recovered from the worst of it in a day, and now I have a cough. But at this point, everyone has a cough, so it's all the same.

Oh yeah, and it's my birthday today! Two years ago, I celebrated my 20th on a rainy day in Melbourne. Last year, I celebrated my 21st with my Oxy friends (and helped with Oxy's international orientation). And now I'm headed to Gwangju for my 22nd! Exciting times ahead.

Cheers mates!