It's been busy at Orientation. Korean language classes started yesterday and I was met with the sobering realization that mastering this language will take far longer than the year I have to give it. The alphabet is fairly logical in it's progression, but the vowels are difficult for English speakers to distinguish. Our teacher often resorts to showing how the mouth moved to make the distinct sounds because, without close inspection, they are identical to those native to English. We have class for four hours in the morning and it's a bit of a marathon – admittedly I am not used to sitting through a class so this is the other side of the coin to reacquainting myself to student life.
An interesting element of international exchange took place since my last post. We went through a health screening immediately upon exiting the plane, but beyond that I haven't given much attention to health concerns. That is, at least, until we were notified on Monday that we had been quarantined by the university. Apparently one of our classmates wasn't feeling well upon waking on Monday and went to the hospital. Due to swine flu concerns, the university restricted our movement around campus. When I think 'quarantine' I think of much more dire circumstances than those in which we were placed – we had a separate room in the cafeteria and were told not to explore campus that day. Things are back to normal now, but I think we got a kick out of the circumstances – though I'll confess that the university's concerns were not unreasonable.
I've signed up for a few extracurriculars – we were fitted for our Tae Kwon Do uniforms today and classes start tomorrow. I'm very excited to channel my inner Bruce Lee. I also go to a tea ceremony tomorrow night and, at some point in the future, I am in a percussion drum and paper art class. Fitting all this in and giving proper attention to the language is a concern, but I could hardly imagine another opportunity to explore this pursuits in the near future.
Yesterday was 'Western Breakfast Day' at the cafeteria. 'Breakfast' is used with a bit of license because it was food Americans would be used to eating at other times of the day – a salad and sandwich material. I didn't argue with semantics, though, and thoroughly enjoyed the fare. Unfortunately today was a return to status quo and I continue to be challenged by the food. I'm starting to wonder if it will match closely the food in my homestay and, if so, how I can sneak peanut butter and bread into my room. I'm going to try valiantly to give this diet a full week, but things aren't looking good. The Dunkin' Donuts right out the back gate of the university is tremendously tempting, but I'm sure I would be at least slightly disappointed in my resolve to experience the culture if I skipped most meals with a coffee, 'cream and sugar'.
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