SMOE Orientation

I never realized how addicted to caffeine I was until this week. Here at orientation they serve what is a poor attempt at coffee every morning. It was maybe originally coffee, but has been watered down until the coffee flavor is barely detectable. They also have a convenient store that sells nearly everything but Diet Coke, which has always been my afternoon fix.

I am dying. I usually have at least a 12 oz. of strong, black coffee every morning and then a Diet Coke pick-me up in the afternoon. This is the first time in years I've had neither, and I feel like a walking zombie and get a withdrawal headache everyday. I know this means I'm an addict and should cut back, but I love both and am not ready to give them up. I've been complaining a lot to my poor roommates who have to listen to me fantasize about a tall dark roast with room for cream.

In my "dong" (neighborhood) there are plenty of coffee shops, so I'm fine at my apartment, but it's been a rough week here at the Hyundai Learning Center. On top of that they have us in sitting in lecture halls all day long listening to speakers. It's good information, but they could have condensed it into 3 or 4 days tops, rather than a whole week.

On the bright side, I've met a lot of really cool people to hang out with. We're scattered all over Seoul and so far no one is in my dong, but like my roommate Holly said, it just gives us a chance to explore more of the city. It's good having positive people around, because I've heard that you can get frustrated and homesick and fed up at times, so I'll need people like Holly to lift my spirits. You should actually check out her blog because she's much better at updating it than I am: http://theadventuresofhollynicole.blogspot.com/

I'll write more soon, I actually have to go give a practice lesson with my other roommate, Josie, who is also awesome and has a blog of her MANY travels you can check out here: http://www.travbuddy.com/bigbluemonster

Peace

Some of my new teacher friends:


Me & Josie working our obliques


Learning traditional Korean dancing


I haven't been a fan of the food at orientation. This is Tuesday night's octopus and seaweed: