Goodbye Training....

I should probably write entries as things happen, or at least make a list of what to write about later, because time goes by and I completely forget about what That Moment was like.

I did have my first experience of American food in Korea. Near the training center was a McDonalds, and I went with one guy (Andrew, actually - he seems to feature in the adventure that was training). I was really curious as to how they serve American food, as I know that we tend to botch dishes from other cultures (New York style Chinese - that's all I have to say ;)). I had a bulgogi burger, which was a lot like moist pork. Definitely something that is missing from the Mickey's menu in America. It smelled just as bad as American McDonald's though. The other days, I stuck to the kimbop and dumplings place a few blocks down.

The rest of training was a blur. Tuesday night was definitely the worst (well, not counting my breakdown on Thursday night, but thanks to people named Andrew and Ed, it didn't end in tragedy (tragedy in this case being failing training and having to move back to America - yes, I know there are worse things)). Wednesday night, we went through this huge moment of "Screw it," and went to Lotte Mart for Korean bbq supplies. That was the first night I've actually made it to dinner - usually, I was either too busy or done with food for the day. I think all training groups go through that - the first night of complete anxiety because we have no clue what to prep, and then the second night of going, "Eh, we got this".

Fortunately, a group of April teachers cornered their trainer who admitted that unless Chungdahm had a Talk with you, you were in good shape to pass - bar any instances of showing up to final mock day inebriated, or just saying, "Yeah, I didn't prep this - let's talk about bunnies". I imagine that this moment involved a dark corner and boards with nails driven through - if I'm wrong, please don't correct me.

For those who are coming to Chungdahm later this year: the last day just involves being tested on a few class schedules they give you on the last day, and mock teaching the lessons you've been mock teaching all week. Pretty much, I think they're just looking to see if you've learned anything. I'll reassure you now, if you make a huge mistake (like if you do something like not prep the in-class quiz for answer justification.........no, that wasn't me at all ;)) but pretty much show that you have improved from your worst moments earlier in the week, you've got it. The fine-tuning is something that'll happen at your actual school - I've already been over with my Head Instructor the things I need to work on, and from what I've gotten from my coworkers, everyone pretty much sucks their first week, but it's easy to pick up on the stuff and improve.

The actual contract signing was very anti-climactic. My Chungdahm recruiter (who is different from my Aclipse recruiter) sat me down and asked how I thought training went. I was pretty honest (I even said that I wish Aclipse knew more about the training materials so I was better prepared - a small shoutout to Sean :)). Pretty much, I signed the same contract that they issued a month ago, and was told that my taxi would be there in 40 mins. We were all busy signing contracts during that last hour, so there was really no big goodbye.... I was actually the first one to realize it was time to leave..

Long cab ride later, and.....Suji.

Unlike previous promises of annotated picture posts, my day one in Suji post will actually come soon..