almost there...

PRESENTING A PLAN:
The day before orientation ended we were required to give a group lesson presentation to our peers. This was EPIK's way of making sure our lectures weren't a waste of time. My partners & I weren't stressing about it like everyone else was (probably because 2 of 3 in our group had teaching experience), so we quickly put something together on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning we presented & ended up being voted "best presenation" in our class! Our prize for winning was a calling card. :) I have to give a special thanks to my brother Dustin for unknowingly agreeing to be edited into a girl for the sake of my example picture, haha! Our lesson was on family, and I used a personal family photo as an example, but seeing as I don't have a sister...we decided to be creative!  The result was as follows...

REALITY SETS IN:

Afer all the hustle & bustle of orientation, we quickly came to an abrupt realization. We were going to have to leave what we had just become comfortable with (friends, dorm room, Jeonju city, classes, provided meals, etc.) and venture out on our own! Thursday afternoon was the moment we had all been waiting for...the name of our city & school grade levels were given to us!

I was so anxious to figure out which part of the province I would be in and where my friends would be, that I brought the big map of Korea that they had given us. Turns out everyone wanted to use it as well, so it got slightly torn lol. I highlighted my friends' cities on the map & set out to enjoy my last night with everyone...in the city of Jeonju atleast. We kept it simple & had a couple drinks down the street from our dorm. Being hungover on the day you meet your co-teacher didn't sound like the best idea to us lol.

SAYING "GOODBYE":
The morning of leaving was bittersweet. My roommate had to leave earlier than I did, so we said goodbye in the dorm room. My other friends were in the same province group as I was so we knew we would see each other before boarding the buses. The funny part was, EPIK did not inform everyone that all the buses were going to stop for a break together, as well as eat lunch in the same city. So after saying goodbye in the morning, we said goodbye at the rest stop, then finally again after lunch haha! I think everyone got enough "see ya later's" in to last for awhile. Most of us are no longer than a short bus or train ride away from each other, so we made many plans to visit each other.

TIME FOR PICK-UP:
I was lucky enough to not have to travel any further after lunch because all of the co-teachers picked us up in my awesome city of GumI! Awesome is "ah-sah" in Korean by the way! :)

So our buses pulled into a parking lot full of Korean teachers holding signs with our names written on them. People on the bus were straining their necks trying to find their name before we got off the bus. I wanted mine to be a surprise so I just sat back and waited. Upon immediately getting off the bus, I spotted my name...

See my next post for more!

XOXO,
Amanda