Hello Yeongam! Hello Governor! Hello Room!

So that's me, shaking hands with the Governor of the entire Southern Province of S. Korea. It's customary to hold your elbow with your left hand while shaking hands with your right. It looks funny, although maybe that's because I did it wrong. Either way, the Governor didn't seem to mind. He was a nice man who took time to answer many of our questions.

After the fancy meeting, we said goodbye to fellow orientation members and loaded buses to our separate camps.

On first glance, I am surprised at how developed the area is in Yeongam. I should have known better-- the Korean interpretation of "rural" is much different than the U.S. interpretation. With so many people in such a small country, parks remain the only undeveloped places. I'd delve into detail, but I'm too tired to think right now.

So I'll skip to the details of my room... Remember that time I wrote that I'd have no PC access in my room? Yeah, total lie.

Since this is the first time a camp like this has taken place in Yeongam, none of the participants really knew what to expect. Therefore, the information given to us was based on experiences from past years at the other three camp locations.

We took a risk taking on the unknown, but in the end it proved fruitful. The dorm rooms exceeded my expectations! See my room below:


It has hardwood floors, a closed-in balcony (so I won't kill myself?), it's own tiny bathroom, and a LAN line. As you may see, the view includes a river and a great view of the terrain. Best of all, we each get our own rooms. As an added bonus, I really love my fellow teachers across the hall and next door to me.

Oh, I forgot to mention we are staying at a University. It has speakers placed in every room for people to make announcements. I'm praying it won't blast 50's music at 7:30am every morning like the last place did...

Whatever, it feels great to settle in at a final destination.

The kids arrive tomorrow. We also meet our Korean co-teachers tomorrow. It's going to be a busy day.