Almost Done

Second semester is coming to a close. Yes, second semester. In Korea, 1st semester starts in march and goes till July, while 2nd semester starts in August and goes till December. I can't believe I've been here that long. 3 1/2 months. And it flew by. As it stands I have 7 teaching days left, then on the 21st I start orientation. Why they have orientation in December I don't know. By then I'll have been here 4 months. I think by that time I have a handle on kimchi. I've even made my own kimchi. The orientation schedule is part teaching and part Korea 101. Everyone's contract says that they must attend the orientation. Cool. I'm fine with that. But why hold it 4 months after people arrive? By then everyone's been teaching and has started to decide what works and what doesn't. And if you don't have a handle on life in Korea 4 months in then you probably have to re-evaluate some things.

There's also orientation part 2. In February. It covers sightseeing around Busan and Gyeongju, the old capital of Korea. Sounds good to me but oh by the way, its when I'm supposed to be in Hong Kong. My school got a notice saying that it is mandatory and that they need to pay 1,000,000 won (about $850) for me to attend. If I skip it, then I get blacklisted from all of Jeollanamdo Province. Looks like I'm changing my flight plans. My school approved my vacation then I got the orientation notice. I think i'm gonna see if I can leave a few days earlier in January that way I can still do Hong Kong. Granted it'll be by myself, but it'll only be 4 days or so. I think I can handle it.