EPIK Orientation Day 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8

This is the first update I have posted in almost a week. I had the bad luck of getting sick (really sick) last Sunday (Orientation Day 4) when we spent all day out in the cold at a Korean Folk Village. Anyway, I am feeling better now so I thought I would do a quick rundown on the past week. 

Korean Folk Village (Day 4)

Early one morning we jumped on a bus and were taken to a traditional Korean Folk Village about 2 hours away. 

The first thing we saw was some traditional dancing. I wish I could tell you more about it but I don't even know what it is called. 

Then we went to watch a guy in his 60's walk across a tight rope and do some kind of crazy things (see the second video below). I would have liked to take some longer video footage but my hands were freezing cold. 

Then (drawn by the sound of Gangnam Style blaring over some speakers) I stopped to watch some stunt men.

I then had a bit of free time so I wondered around the village and took some photos of the traditional houses.

North Korean traditional village building

South Korean traditional village building

South Korean traditional kitchen

Some crop fields in the village

In the afternoon we spent some time with a Korean culture master to learn to play a traditional game known as Jaegi, or better known to you and me as hacky sack. 

Korean Culture Master

Day 5 and 6

Nothing too exciting here. Just more lectures (all of which were very good). 

Lesson Demonstration and MOE meeting (Day 7)

We had to do a lesson demonstration in front of our home class and a guest lecturer in the morning. My demonstration went fairly well (considering I was still sick) and I got some good feedback from the lecturer. In the afternoon all the new Daejeon teachers met with the Daejeon MOE supervisors and we finally found out where we would be teaching. I think I am really lucky. I have been placed at a middle school in a good part of town.  

Meeting our co-teachers (Day 8)

We were peppered with "Official EPIK Announcements" from about 6:30am until I caught my bus at 9am with all the other Daejeon teachers. Once on the bus I was no longer EPIK's responsibility. The bus took us to an auditorium where there was another opening ceremony and we met our co-teachers. After the ceremony the two co-teachers that came to meet me drove me to my Apartment. The apartment is quite old but I am happy with it. It is almost right next to my school and only a 15 minute walk to the subway station. I have been too sick to explore the area yet but I have already spotted a Taekwondo and Hapkido club within a 2 minute walk of my apartment.