Dan Scheidecker: Orientation

I have been in South Korea for two weeks now, and they have been jam packed. I can't decide if it feels as if I have been here for just a few days, or a few months, things have been intense.

Orientation was incredible and it made me thankful that I applied through EPIK to teach at a public school rather than being thrown into a Hagwon (private English school). The orientation site was held at Daejin University, which is located in a beautiful area of the country, with picturesque mountains and lush vegetation surrounding the campus. It even has a reconstructed temple site located in the same vicinity, which was incredible to explore. I made many friends at orientation, and was able to share a dorm room with Alan, who I have developed a strong friendship with as well.

The orientation schedule was hectic at times, but was filled to the brim with high quality lectures, fun activities, and enormous amounts of useful information. Everyone was given a thick couple hundred page orientation manual that correlated to class-style lectures, and it's a powerful reference guide that I am thankful to have. For me, what truly stood out above everything else was the passionate leaders of the orientation. I was fortunate to be chosen as a class leader for the sub-group I was a part of, and was chosen alongside one other girl to give a speech at the closing ceremony of the orientation. I used the opportunity to retell my humorous story of getting lost, while attempting to parallel the inert kindness I received in that situation with the passionate work of those involved with the orientation. Here is the speech, courtesy of my fellow teacher and friend, Alfred: