But anyways, this past week was extremely exciting and busy- Monday I went to work all day and was busily preparing for the arrival of the children. I did a little bit of translation work (successful only thanks to the Naver Dictionary app on my phone) and then started stuffing the goodie bags for the NSLI-Y children when they arrive. The goodie bags were a Better World tote bag, a Better World water bottle (and I took one of those as well- its glass and mine has a pink cover, its adorable), a fan with some calligraphy/ink painting, handmade soap, a pencil case, and their NSLI-Y T-shirt (which I painstakingly sized- they didn't have t-shirt size on their application so I looked at their height and weight, converted that into kg and cm for the benefit of the rest of the people I work with, looked at the chest and length cm measurements of the Korean t-shirt company we were ordering from, and estimated from there). We tied all of their nametags onto the bag and then put them on each of their beds in the hostel so they were waiting for them when they arrived!
Tuesday I had my placement test at Yonsei and I made the mistake of taking the subway instead of the bus- I ended up walking like two miles and it was super hot and I got super sweaty and gross when I arrived. During the speaking portion of the placement test I asked my interviewer if I could be in the third level and she laughed at me and was like "I love you Tatum, You're so funny" so needless to say I placed into level two. After the placement test I went to the supporter orientation that was being held for the supporters volunteering for the NSLI-Y students. After the orientation I went out to dinner with them and they were super nice and adorable and the NSLI-Y students are going to absolutely love them. They were also horrified when I told them that I spoke mostly in English with my supporter but I'm sure they'll do just fine.
On Wednesday I went to my first day of class (Yay!) and it went pretty well- the grammar we are learning is a mix of stuff I already know and semi-new material so the class itself isn't two hard. The second level is probably the best for me right now since I'm so busy and probably wouldn't be able to handle any more work than I already have. After class I bought my textbooks and then went to work, where I finished stuffing the goodie bags for the NSLI-Y kids and put the inserts of all of the contact information of their fellow NSLI-Y participants in the YES book that they receive upon arrival. I am also listed as an emergency contact so I feel so official. After class I went to Myeongdong to go to a tourist information booth and inquire about some English subway maps for the students to use during the scavenger hunt they do during the orientation to help them learn the subway system. I ended up going to two different information booths and scored 20 subway maps in total so not bad. Myeongdong is super touristy and therefore unbelievably crowded, but it is also famous for it's street food so I got some yakisoba while I was there.
On Thursday I went to class and then got extremely, horribly lost on my way to the youth hostel in Namsan. First, I got off at the wrong station so I ended up walking past three more (closer) stations on my way up the mountain (Unfortunately, Namsan, in the middle of Seoul, is an ACTUAL MOUNTAIN). I ended up walking for like an hour in the humidity and then when I finally sucked it up and got a cab the driver made a U-turn and was like "it's right here...." The hostel entrance is on top of a big hill so I just asked him to drop me off at the top and honestly that $2.50 cab ride was so worth it because I don't know if I would have been able to make it up anyways. Then while my manager and I were putting the goodie bags on the beds of all of the participants my phone completely died so it was a really great day. But actually it was because once the NSLI-Y kids got here they were super nice and excited to meet everyone and practice their Korean. Plus the cafeteria dinner at the hostel was so much better than the year I was there.
On Friday I went to class for two hours and then left early to go back to the hostel for the full day orientation with the NSLI-Y kids. I got off at the right subway station (holla) and then grabbed a sandwich before heading to the hostel. I ended up making it just in time for lunch so I got to eat twice. After lunch the Survival Korea session began, where some alumni and supporters each led a group of five students on a "mission" somewhere in Seoul so the students would learn how to use the subway and reload their subway cards. My group coincidentally got Hongdae so I knew exactly where we were going. Unfortunately, it was raining so hard that we couldn't really look around so I took them to eat patbingsu at Sul bing and we hid in there for about an hour. We took a short walk afterwards because the rain had calmed down and then we just went back to the hostel. I feel bad because it wasn't super fun or interesting due to the weather, but hopefully they thought it was helpful. After Survival Korea we ate dinner at the hostel and then started the Survival Korean session, which I made. Other alums and myself taught them basic Korean phrases and then I sorted each group into a topic and gave them flashcards with which they had to make a skit. I thought they wouldn't be very cooperative since they were all exhausted, but they actually made some super cute, funny skits and I thought it was brave of them to speak Korean in front of a big group like that. After the Survival Korean session we had an Alumni Q&A that I also organized, and then afterwards pizza and chicken was ordered for everyone. All of the staffs and volunteers retreated into the staff room in the hostel and we talked a lot, it was super fun. It was raining but the intern from two years ago and I wanted to go out a little bit so we went to a Korean style bar, but they put us in a booth in a super dark quiet corner so while it was nice to talk, it wasn't super exciting. Afterwards we went to another bar and then I came home and went straight to sleep.
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