"Korean Dreamin'"

Hello Friends! It's currently 12:00 p.m. here, and today was our first day of TalK Orientation! There were so many things today that really opened my eyes to the program I am serving and just how important it is to the people of Korea. I am so grateful to be apart of such an organization that just wants to improve the well-being and opportunities of it's people. 

Let's start with today! It was an early morning as we had to be ready for our first big group discussion at 8:40 a.m. Well, the plan was to get up at 7:00, shower and head to breakfast at 8. However, I discovered the true feeling of jet lag today when I woke up at 3:00 a.m. craving a cheeseburger. Why? It's 12:00 p.m. in America, Lunch Time. Luckily, I was only awake for an hour and was able to fall back asleep. 

We then headed to our Groups. All 211 of us are broken into 8 smaller groups for management and just to create an easier atmosphere. I am in Group 3 with Emilee. It is nice to have someone you know by your side! Anyway, we began with a lot of general information and then had a break. This brings me to my first interesting thing of today, Korean Soda. Outside of our classroom, there was a vending machine. I put 1000 won in, and got a Mountain Dew. Emilee put 1000 won in and got a Coconut and Grape Juice Soda thing. Haha! Here it is below: 

After she took a drink, she told me to taste it. So of course, it being Korean, I did. Much to my surprise it was not only delicious but there were grape flavored chunks floating in the soda. Yep. Pretty weird. However, I assume it's similar to Boba Tea! These were the jellies you can also get in Boba. Emilee just really wanted to see my reaction. It was pretty cute, I thought! What do you all think?

We then sat through another session. We then left for lunch where we found a new surprise waiting for us. We walked in, looking for some familiar faces and saw Laura, Virginia, Kyla, and Brittany and a new girl. We asked her name, and she said, "It's Jamie!" We then looked around, and Laura told us that Jamie was from UCO! How insane is that? There's a group of 7 of us here from our university and all of the sudden we meet a girl half way across the world from our university? It was INSANE! Apparently, Jamie heard about the program and had signed up before we had formed our group! We are so glad she is here! This is some of the UCO group, our friend Alex from VA, and Jamie! Cool, Cool! 

After lunch we headed to another session where we went through all of the handbook and received some valuable info to our time here. Then we headed to TaLK Opening Ceremonies. Opening Ceremonies were one of those things that I wish I could have recorded and watch everyday for the rest of my life. It was nice to understand why we were here and what a role we are playing in this country! We had three speakers and then performances! First, we had a Popular Korean Street Dance Group, Ground Force. Ground Force is a group of three girls and two guys who street dance (think American break dancing) across Korea! They perform and battle other groups from all around the country! They put on such an incredible performance! 

 

Next, we had the K-Tigers. The K-Tigers are a performance Tae Kwon Do Group. SIMPLY AMAZING! These kids are from age five to about fifteen and could kick my hiney any day. So impressive and so wonderful to watch! 

Again, definitely an unforgettable experience! After the performance, we actually went into the lobby and ran into the cute little guy in the orange jacket, in the second to last photo. Embarassing moment of the day? I ran up to his mom and asked if we could take his photo! She responded with Ney, Ney! Which is Yes, Yes! In Korean. So, he doesn't look very happy but I know he so was. Haha! 

After that we had free time until dinner. Laura and Emilee were sweet enough to go with me and to get some Coke Zero from a market down the hill. We then got to dinner. We kept hearing that today was special dinner with westernized food. Oh! How excited we were. Don't get me wrong, I love Korean food! However, I miss cheeseburgers. Badly. We were all hopeful until we saw that the westernized thing we were eating was a simply Chips and Salsa. Still wonderful and a nice reminder of home! For the rest of dinner we had Bulgolgi (another Korean favorite), and Kimchi Cakes. For dessert, we had the closest thing to a PB&J that you will find here, PB&Coleslaw. Yep. Apparently the replacement to peanut butter is coleslaw. Well, we all tried it. Not so bad! Laura loved hers!

Today also happened to be a girl's birthday. Her name was Jane! They called her out at dinner and brought her a cake and we all sang! So much fun! She looked so surprised and SO happy to spend her birthday here with us! 

After that, we all went to the basement of the dorm and hung out with some new friends! We ended the day with some online homework and am now winding down for bed. What a great first day of Orientation in Korea! 

Happy Tuesday! Talk to you all soon! 

Kiyana In Korea