R2D2 or the amazing trash can?

these things are EVERYWHERE!!! they work double duty as trash cans and ashtrays... but they resemble R2D2 from Star Wars more than anything... don't you think? it's funny how you notice the little things (well, i do anyway). like this sign for a roundabout that looks like we're supposed to be entering some kind of recycling facility or something...


i don't know if they have signs like this in other places where there are roundabouts (since we don't really have them in Canada) but i can't stop thinking "recycling". Koreans (at least here at the uni) are very into recycling - more so than NA, and we even have to separate the trash in our rooms into "garbage" and "recycling".

so, today we had a full day of lectures. first in the morning we had a course on Korean culture where they taught us about intercultural miscommunication - this is apparently the most important part of our integration since many things that Koreans do would be completely rude in our country. here are a few examples that are in our book:

1. Koreans ask very personal questions when they have just met you. example: how old are you? how much is your apartment? are you married? if no, why? if yes, how many children do you have?
2. Some Koreans assume that all westerners are American and will yell it at you as you pass them by.
3. Koreans do not greet strangers when walking down the street (or anywhere).
4. Koreans will not make eye contact with you during a conversation.
5. Many Koreans shake hands for too long.

just a few examples there, some of the ones we talked about in class aren't in the book and those were some of the best ones. like hawking a loogie and spitting it anywhere... very acceptable behaviour, but kind of gross for us.

Our second lecture was about teaching English conversation in the classroom. we got a lot of helpful ideas and tips on making lesson plans and organizing the classroom for efficient learning - very good - these are the kinds of things i need to learn the most. we were given tons of resources on the net and in books to help us along the way.

after lunch we had our first lesson in "Hangeul" (Korean language) i pick up languages relatively easily so i'm not having too much trouble... i'm supposed to be studying my alphabet right now... but i'm already way ahead of much of the class, so i'm not worried.

our last class of the day was a "question and answer" sort of deal with a teacher who has been working with EPIK for four years... everyone just asked all of the questions that we wanted to. my question was whether or not most apartments in Korea have western toilets or the "squat" kind (similar to turkish toilets)... apparently we shouldn't worry - 100% of apartments have "real" toilets.

well, i guess that's it for today, i'm going to get back to my studying... i will speak Korean by the end of this year... guaranteed!