Greetings from Gwangju!

Arrived in Gwangju not too long ago via 3 hour bus ride with the other scholars who will be teaching in the Jeonnam Province. We are in the middle of no-where. The sky is overcast, and it is humid because we are further south. I read that Jeonnam has the warmest weather in South Korea. There is no shortage of rolling hills covered in endles pine trees. It's like Christmas Land everywhere we go.

Lunchtime was overwhelming. They catered a huge buffet, and there was heaps of good food such as kimchi, kimchi pancakes, smoked salmon, 3 different soups, noodles, fresh watermelon / pineapple, etc. It was also my birthday, so everyone in the dining hall sang, and the program gave me a cute ice-cream cake from a local French bakery called Paris Baguette. I shared it with my friends, and then I had to run to get my luggage from where I left it in the basement onto the bus. Everyone's last good-byes were sweaty and rushed from all the bustling, and before I knew it, we were in Gwangju.

For the next few days, we will be attending more lectures and coming up with mock lessons. We are staying in what I think is a place designed for conferences. We are all living in pairs, dormitory-style with our own bathrooms. On Saturday, they organized a mixer where we will have the opportunity to meet our Korean TaLK Scholars (other college-aged people who will be helping us in the classroom a few days per week -- some of us do not have Korean TaLK Scholars which sucks....but luckily I do). We will also meet 4th, 5th, and 6th generation Jeonnam TaLK Scholars (I am 7th generation), who can answer our questions and give us advice. Then we depart on Tuesday and go our separate ways within this province.

Dinner is in less than half an hour, and I am starving. I wonder what the cafeteria here has to offer. Since it is my birthday, they also organized pizza, chicken, and cake later on in the evening. Yum.

All in all, it has been a very dynamic birthday and past few weeks. Orientation has definitely been a blast, and I feel very lucky to be in South Korea as a TaLK Scholar. Applying for this program was a pain in the ass, but all of those struggles were more than worth it. Just based on the orientation, I would highly recommend this program to friends who are interested in taking time off to teach abroad whether it be 6 months or 1 year.

In my spare time, I plan to teach my self how to read and write in hangul. I also want to be proficient in Korean because it sucks not knowing how to say anything besides "hi" and "thank you." It would also help to know what people were saying even if it's just numbers and money. Whenever I buy anything, I always have to look at the screen on the register because I don't know any numbers in Korean....

Till next time!