Seoul Pics - Part 2

As I said in the previous post, training was very intense. Since the school is a nationwide chain, they want to ensure that the curriculum and teaching methods are consistent at every location. Plus, their goal is that when a child goes through all of the levels (it takes years), that child will have a near native fluency in English. This is done through a variety of methods. Most schools emphasis rote memorization so, this is a different approach.

Anyway, one really strange thing about training was the obsession with Swine Flu. Specifically, if we have it, what will happen when we get it, and how to prevent us from spreading it to others. I tried to explain that I was vaccinated against both the seasonal flu and against the Swine Flu but, no one cared.

So, there were four big precautions taken against Swine Flu:

1. We were all scatted amongst several hotels. This was done to create ready made quarantine groups, just in case someone came down with Swine Flu.

2. Our temperatures were taken daily.

3. We had to sign a form daily stating that we did not have any symptoms of Swine Flu and that we had not had any direct contact with someone who did have the symptoms.

4. This was the most annoying precaution. While in the training building, we had to wear a surgical mask. They really would have preferred that we always wore the masks but, they couldn't actually require that.

Here are some pictures of Luiz and I in our lovely masks. The masks made me feel like an extra on Grey's Anatomy.