Jeonju Nights

A stranger passing by classroom 209 between 7-8 PM the last few nights might assume that a group of people were dying, or passing nightmarish bowel movements, based on the noises emanating from the room. But no, it was just our class attempting to learn the Korean alphabet and trying to make the sounds of each character. Attempting is the key word, because most of the sounds were so unnatural that we had little chance of repeating them correctly. Nevertheless, we managed to learn how to introduce ourselves in Korean and read a few of the characters after four classes.

After Korean class ended, most of us were ready to relax and/or get a drink, so we wandered off campus and found what we assumed was a bar. We walked in and grabbed our table of choice since we were the only patrons, but realized immediately that the Korean classes had not paid off because we still couldn't read any of words on the menu that was a little sparse in the English department. Gesturing to the owner we managed to get a pitcher of the world renowned Korean beer, Hite, and a bottle of soju, the Korean drink of choice which is like a little bottle of sweet vodka.

The bar slowly began to fill in with other EPIK teachers looking to relax after the long day of teaching as well as Korean students from the University we were staying at. We were amazed to watch the Korean people order food and casually take shots of soju as if it were nothing while all the westerners recoiled at the strength and initial taste. (Not to worry Americans, we eventually did you proud and shamed a few Canadians and British along the way, just like in the Olympics!)

Alas, the night was cut short by an early wake up call the next morning followed by a long day of lectures and preparations for our presentation. Tomorrow we will present our lesson plans to the rest of the class, and then it's off to our own apartment and school in Gwangju on Friday!