Yonsei Day

On Monday morning we dressed in our teaching best and loaded our belongings onto a truck. In typical fashion, my suitcase was so heavy that it fell over and I ripped my suit skirt up the back, trying to catch it from falling. Thank goodness for hotel sewing kits! I fixed my skirt and still managed to grab a cup of coffee with my coffee buddy for the last time during orientation.

After our arrival at Yonsei University, we had a short briefing about our contracts and we signed the dotted line to officially become Fulbright English Teachers in Korea. Next, we all proceeded into a room that was filled with our future principals and co-teachers. We had practiced the perfect walk and bow (insa) during orientation and the procession was flawless. We stood and lined the aisles of the auditorium while Mrs. Shim, the director of Fulbright Korea, read each of our names and schools. When our name was called we stepped out from our line, bowed and waved to our school representatives, who at that point were standing up. Some of the schools cheered when their ETA’s name was called and others some ran and handed presents or flowers to their ETA. My representatives stood up with a professionally made poster that said, “Welcome Meghan Kathleen Manning.” It was adorable and for the rest of the ceremony I could not stop looking at them and smiling because their excitement was radiating throughout the room. I felt like my dad was in the audience because my male representative was taking pictures of me from his seat.

Following the ceremony we were released into a big room to find our school and go to lunch at a restaurant close by. In Korea, first impressions are very important and I was sure to get mine right. I made a deep bow and gave a very formal greeting in Korean. My co-teacher quickly lightened the mood by speaking in English and telling me to call her Young. She then introduced my host father who had joined her for the day because my principal was unable to make the trip. He told me to call him Mark. I couldn’t help but to smile and realize that it really was “my dad” in the audience taking pictures.

The somewhat awkward lunch on the floor was followed with more meetings with Mrs. Shim, many goodbyes and a car ride from Seoul to Cheonan. My host father talked about my future home and told me about his family. He explained that he speaks English because he spent many years traveling to the US for work, but has not used his English since he retired ten years ago. My co-teacher explained that my host mother was nervous about meeting me because she does not speak English. The car ride seemed long and I was nervous the whole time about what the night ahead would be like.