"Eat My Foot, Fish!"

Day one of training brought together sixteen of us! I had no clue there were this many CDI teachers in the hotel - I guess we're all just really good at hiding from each other. Training was short - just an introduction to how the rest of training will go, and the taking of The Big Scary Test. Totally passed - despite my panic attack when I realized that I hadn't studied *anything* about the history. Definitely don't blow off that part! The reading portion made me realize why my students hate the FCAT so much - the questions do seem "trick" and you're constantly second guessing yourself. My test looked like a weather map when I was done with all of the circles and arrows all over the place.

That first day is also the day trainees go to the health center for screening. Whomever told me that they didn't have to give blood - well, that has definitely changed! They have an awesome system at the center: there are color coded lines on the floor, and you follow one of the lines to your respective part of the hospital. It made getting lost insanely hard (I still managed to do it, but just once...you know, as opposed to each time I had to go to a different station). I won't call him out too much in this blog, but if you're in my training group - all I've got to say is, Brian with his sample cup. ;)

Typed like a madwoman to get to this part. We all went out to lunch (more like "linner" as it was so late) with each other afterwards. A native Korean in our group took us to this Bibimbap place. I think the waiter was insanely relieved to know that a few in the group did speak Korean (I've given up for now - I'm way too overwhelmed with all of the newness). The food here keeps getting better. Not only do they really showcase the flavors to their best advantage, but also the presentation is so nice. The mushroom and bulgogi dish that I got came in this bowl where all of the different vegetables were arranged like a color wheel with the meat in this neat little circle in the center. Didn't get a picture - at that point, I wasn't comfortable enough with the group to admit that I am definitely *that person* who wants to photograph everything ;)

Afterward, eight of us went to see Dr. Fish. If you're also stalking my gallery, this is where I brought out the camera. The coffee was just as overpriced as in America, but "the rest" ;) was just 2000 won (equivalent of $2). After coffee and a long wait, we were taken up to this platform, washed our feet, and then stuck them into the best foot spa EVER. Well, I make that sound much less eventful than it actually was: after washing their feet, the guys stuck theirs right in - the girls, however, sat for a bit in this awkward position with our feet poised above the water as if we were never going to see our feet again.

Imagine those old gangster movies in which a body is dangled above a piranha tank - the fish swarm around, gnashing at each other as they wait for their meal. Well, replace those scary piranha with a bunch of fish that looked like minnows' relatives, and that's about what it was like. Yes, we were afraid of minnows - I'll say it =p. After sticking in our feet with some awesome facial expressions (totally captured Lydia's and Steve's on camera), these tiny doctor fish swarm around and chow down on all of the dead skin. They were like monsters - and definitely couldn't get enough of our nasty heel crusts. I experienced both tanks and definitely liked the one with a ton of tiny fish better than the one with the bigger fish - the tickling sensation was more pleasant than "ahhh!!". Anna, you will be glad to know that afterwards, we did wash our feet again and treat them with an anti-bacterial rub. For the rest of the night, we were all so incredibly aware of our feet. Totally doing this again :)