Day trips and peaches

   My trip over to Korea began as an interesting one when, after waking up at 4am, I get to the airport without my passport. Turns out I left it in the printer when I was making copies. As you can imagine, it was a great, stress-free way to start the trip. Luckily my mom was able to rush it to the airport in time. I can confidently say that my favorite plane ride of the three was the one from San Francisco to Seoul, despite the fact that it was more than twice as long as either of the others. From Huntsville to Charlotte, I was constantly worrying about if I was going to make my next flight. From Charlotte to San Francisco, the plane was extremely crowded, and the woman sitting next to me was one of the crabbiest people I have ever met. I somehow became her ally in complaining about nearly everything that was happening; the temperature, the noise level, the number of people out of their seats, the people sitting behind us…..it could go on and on. Her cranky disposition was explained when I noticed that she was continuously popping “nicotine lozenges.” My last flight was a different story. Singapore airlines flight attendants greeted us with warm washcloths and orange juice as we entered the plane, and I ended up with 3 seats all to myself. I watched some movies, then stretched out across all 3 seats and took a very satisfying nap.

View from my dorm room

   When I arrived in Seoul, I was thrilled to find my bags had made it with me! As I was waiting around the luggage carousel, a guy about my age approached me, pointed at my Sewanee sweatshirt, and said “Hey, is that from the Sewanee in Tennessee?” Turns out one of his close friends was a Sewanee grad. It was a reassuring moment that made me feel like I wasn’t really that far from home. I grabbed my bags and realized that I hadn’t even written down where I was supposed to meet the TaLK bus---luckily, when I walked into the lobby, there was a guy holding a colorful sign that said “TaLK Orientation 2011,” and a person next to him who videotaped me walking towards them, lugging two huge suitcases, sweating, and looking more tired than ever. I hope that doesn’t end up in some orientation video…

   We made it to Jochiwon in a couple of hours, and after we were given our room keys and TaLK t-shirts, we were free to go up to our rooms and call it a night. My roommate was already here when I arrived, and our room isn’t bad! Luckily it is air-conditioned, because the hallway isn’t, and feels like I’m working at Camp McDowell in the middle of the summer. 

   The next day, some of us had signed up for an optional trip to Gongju, which consisted of a little hike to an observatory. Rather than telescopes, the main attraction seemed to be the movies we got to watch. One was in 3D, and the other (you aren’t going to believe this…) was in 5D!! Both were in Korean, so the content that any of us absorbed was purely visual. The 3D movie was called “Tree Robo.” It began with soothing music and animations of flowers and deer jumping around…then a robot arm jumped out at us through our 3D glasses, the title “TREE ROBO” came up, and the story unfolded, revealing a heart-wrenching tale of a little boy and a robot, the world being destroyed by bad robots, then the bad robots dying…..The good robot survived, a tree started growing on top of his head, he met up with the little boy (now an old man), and nature flourished once again. At least that’s what most of us gathered. The 5D movie combined an Imax screen with 3D glasses, and chairs that vibrated and shot vapor at us—I jumped out of my seat every time that happened. This movie was a lot longer, and much more confusing, so I won’t try to explain it. The best parts were probably when it flashed forward to “One million years later,” and then the space-surfing scene, complete with beach-boys-esque tunes. After a long lunch of bibimbap, we stopped by a famous suspension bridge held up by a giant plastic chili pepper, then headed back to Jochiwon.

   The next day, we ventured to a Korean Folk Village about an hour away from Jochiwon. We looked into some traditional Korean shops, and saw some amazing shows. The first was a Korean farmers’ dance, and the next was a tightrope performance. Very cool.

   The past couple of nights we have been exploring Jochiwon, which has been great because it is the weekend of the big Peach Festival: http://www.korea.net/detail.do?guid=57165&thiscode=eng010003&mode=popup&TB_iframe=true&height=420&width=700

We sampled the local cuisine of silkworms and snails that we bought from a street vendor, saw what we can only assume was a beauty contest and a singing contest, and then bought a crate of delicious white peaches. Last night we explored further into Jochiwon, and when our friend needed to buy some things at a convenience store, we ended up buying some beer to enjoy outside of the shop. As it turns out, the owner of the store and his wife were sitting outside too, and came over to talk to us. Their English was limited, but spoke to us in Korean anyway while we replied in English. I don’t think I’ll ever know exactly what we talked about, but we sat around the table with them for hours, and whenever the conversation was lagging, we would just say 건배 which sounds like kon-beh and means “cheers!” They were both so nice, and very expressive. He begged us to come back tomorrow, and we tried our best to explain that we were busy with orientation activities. We thanked both of them repeatedly, received several hugs from each of them, and after exchanges of “I love you” and “America, Number one!” we were on our way.

Our convenience store friends

   Today is the opening day of orientation, so we are off to Seoul for an opening ceremony and a scavenger hunt! Hopefully we won't get too lost...