Am I the next contestant on the Price is Right??

The last day of EPIK orientation we finally learned where we would be teaching. What the name of the school was and the grade levels. I learned I would be in Gyeongsan, which was really nice. Because it's very close to Daegu. I was happy that I would be teaching 초드학교 which means elementary. I still didn't know what to expect when meeeting my students, co-teachers and principal but I was ready to meet them. That day I thought about what I would say to them when I meet my co-teachers and especially the priciple. I wanted to make sure I make a good first impression. We left Jeonju University and had lunch in Gumi, a city north of Daegu. Gumi was beautiful with many mountains overlooking the sceneary. They gave us an hour to look around the area we stopped at. An hour felt like an eternity to me. 20 minutes passed and I was feeling anxious. I just wanted to meet our co-teachers and go to the place we would be living. After waiting what it seemed like forever, we drove five minutes to a parking lot. There, we proceded to unload all of our luggage off the buses.


We found our luggage and waited again but this time I was feeling more anxious. What should I say? What if they can't speak English? All these thoughts ran through my head but I calmed myself and just relaxed. We waited for about 10 more minutes after the intitial 5 minutes and then I saw a car pull up to the parking lot and it stopped. Finally someone got out of the car and was holding up a sign. I soon realized it was a name. It must be a co-teacher looking for their native teacher. Moments later I saw several other cars pull in and do the same as they walked toward the large crowd of EPIK teachers. about 2 minutes after the initial car pulled in there were several cars pulling in nonstop. It seemed as if there were a crowd of co-teachers holding up signs and yelling out names. I thought to myself, is this a gameshow? I'm I the next contestant on the Price is right!! After seeing many of my friends leave I was anxious to meet my co-teacher as well and finally I did.

There were two women that were holding up a sign with my name and they said, "Are you Daniel" which I said yes I am. I first greeted in Korean to show my respect and they gave me handshake which was nice. I had two co-teachers. One's name was Ji-yeong Kim and the other Park Suja. They would be my line of support at my school so I better remember their names. Anyways they loaded their car with my luggage and we left for Gyeongsan. It was quiet for a little while which was nice but I broke the silence by telling them I have traveled to Korea. I started speaking in Korean and some English. We had a nice conversation and one of the teachers said, "You will be very popular." I had no idea what to expect driving down the highway towards Daegu. But I was ready for anything.