Hello everyone,

so i joined this site to post updates on my travels and adventures in south korea in addition to my facebook wall which everyone doesnt use

i have been accepted into the EPIK program and have been placed in Daegu
which is the third largest city, 2 hours from seoul, and one hour from busan which is the second largest city where you get the three hour ferry to japan

the epik process is so tedious
i was accepted as a sucessful teacher on JUN 8 but my contract only arrived JUL 27!!!
orientation is Aug 18 so that is cutting it close to get your visa with the five day embassy turnaround. there will be a nine day orientation in a city called Jeonju about 2 hours south of seoul. There are about 950 teachers in the epik program and we are being divided into three groups for the orientation depending on which cities/provinces we are assigned to. i am in the group with the two south provinces, gyeongsang and jeolla

i found out there are two other pakistani people going to korea on the epik program, both from canada, and both going to southern cities, so we will each be 45 mins from each other. also, there are plenty of muslim restaurants in the major cities so i wont starve! seoul even has an arab restaurant street which i will make it to on my first trip to seoul http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MbE4ndz iRU

theres lots of uncertainty about how things will shape up, such as what age am i doing (elementary, middle, or high school), which part of town my school and apartment will be, what the school holiday schedule is? housing is provided free to teachers but its basically a one room bachelor apartment. here is a good video from youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAZyNU0K -d4

the bathrooms do not have seperate shower stalls. instead the shower head is hanging on the bathroom wall and the entire bathroom is the shower cubicle so your toilet and sink are both getting sprayed. i call it the self cleaning bathroom!!! also, you can not wear your shoes in the school, you have to wear indoor slippers. and to make it worse, you have to change to bathroom slippers to goto the washroom. i'm just having visions of my principal wearing slippers and wonder how i'm supposed to take him seriously!!

so i am flying into korea one day early than the orientation. all the teachers are supposed to fly in the same day then they bus us to a campus where the orientations are. i cant fly in after 15 hours, line up for registrations to the airport, take another 2 hour bus ride to a campus, more registrations, unloading baggage, etc. so i am flying in a day early and resting at an airport hotel to get over the jetlag. only problem is my flight arrives 4am so the hotel wants an extra $30 for partial day check in as normal hotel checkin is 2pm.

i have to take my own toothpaste as the ones there do not have flouride and people complain about tooth decay when they come back. also they do not sell deodorant so i have to bring my own. also people are suggesting to bring your own bedsheets, blankets, pillows as the korean ones are all smaller. i'm also packing cutlery as the apartment might just have chopsticks!

also have to make room for presents for the principal, co-teacher who will be helping me, and the kids. you can get lots of maple leaf stickers/pencils etc from the dollar store for the kids. i got maple syrup chocolates and ice wine chocolates for the staff. and some books on toronto and canada.

for clothes we also have to bring our own shoes/pants as it might be hard to find things in our sizes there. i remember buying a large size shirt when i was in china, which is really a 'small' size if it was sold here!

excited about getting over. 45 mins from daegu where i am placed is gyeongju which was the capital for the first 1000 years so has lots of historical sites. also, seoul is only 1 hr 40 mins on the high speed train line, and most cities, the coast, and historical places are easy access on the high speed train and bus network within a couple of hours. we get a three day holiday end of sept which should be in time for my bday. planning to spend the time in seoul, check out the demilitarized zone on the border with north korea, and visit some of the folk villages where people live a traditional way and they even have overnight guest stays in some homes

i'm just sending this test email to try out this site and update people, and will carry on once i get over and have more info on how things are going.
if anyone wants these email updates going to their home email instead of work, or wants to unsubscribe just let me know

ps. i know i stole three good highlighters from work but now theres no sign of them????? :-)