2nd post

Last Friday was my first full Friday here, making it exactly one week here. I didn't have class but I was told that there was a "freshman initiation ceremony" and that I will go with them.
Before I go any further, I must say that with coordinating any event in Asia or in any region with a thick language barrier is always full of the unexpected. Luckily I have two other lost white guys here with me.
So, I was told Wednesday that I will go on this "initiation" event. I am told that it is in an old city and that I will stay over night. That is all. I have no idea where, why, of what I will do when I get there. I'm thinking that I probably wont have internet and may possibly be camping out even. And trying to getting further information is usually a task not worthwhile. I am happy with the advanced notice of my transplantation. Thursday I am told that I probably wont stay the night; I will go out "there" for the day and come back Friday night. That was comforting, less of an adventure, but I knew where I was going to sleep.
Friday lunchtime, I talk to Prof. Kim (head of NPU-Sunlin relations, coincidently went to the same church as Mom) to try to get some more info. He told me that we wouldn't leave until 5pm. "We will just go for dinner and maybe a quick speech and then I will drive you guys (3 white guys) back."
I finally got some solid information. I learned the basics about the time of departure, what was happening, and I got the feel that it wasn't as far away as I had thought.
Come 3pm, I talked to Jared. He is 24, from Kansas and has been here for 6 months teaching English. He lives across the hall from me. He told me that he had just talked to Prof. Kim and that we are leaving at 4!
So, I began to get ready. I sensed that it was a casual event by the fact that the event had only been subtly mentioned to me on a few occasions. I put on jeans and a casual shirt and left to see if Jared and the third white guy (NPU Prof. Dalili, Iranian, 55yrs) were ready. Jared was wearing a sport coat; Dalili was casual too. Jared said that after prying, Prof. Kim had hinted that he should wear a jacket.
I had seen this before in China. I got out of my jeans and put on a nice suit and tie. We met Prof. Kim. He giggled and said "noooo" when I told him that I was wearing jeans 10 minutes ago. We drove about 1 hour to an ancient city with many above-ground tombs that turn a field into a series of rolling mounds. Then we drove up to the Hyundai Hotel. Though owned by one of the Korean Chaebol / oligarchs (more later), the place was extremely western and modern -lots of marble and chandeliers. It was right on a man-made lake..beautiful. We first went into a banquet room that the university reserved for our buffet. I got three mounded plates of an assortment of sushi and sashimi, incredible soups, calamari, salmon, pastries, etc... Incredible food, but typical to Korean, no beverage was served. Hidden in the corner was a coffee pot with transparent coffee. Koreans don't seem to have a drink with meals. At least this place had coffee. Instant coffee is easy to find but not the real thing.
After eating, they said that we had better get to the ceremony. Now, the word ceremony could have meant anything. It could've been 5 people presenting one certificate to someone. This wasn't the case.
This event was to celebrate the beginning of the school year and the entering students. The spring semester is the first semester here. And following the Asian value system -education is respected and honored (though not always seen in the Korean classroom).
I walked into a huge convention hall. There were a little over a thousand people, 90% students. A croquet [sic.] of about 10 flowers was placed on me and I was directed toward the stage where there were about 25 chairs. As I walked on stage I met and shook the hand of the local mayor. I grabbed a seat toward the rear of the stage.
I'm glad I did, because a minute later the event started and a large group of spot lights were turned on and the two television cameras did too!
The Sunlin Pres. and mayor gave a speech; there was a flag ceremony, and then they introduced the people on stage. The whole time I can't read or understand anything. But Prof. Kim lets me know when I am introduced and I walk to the front where most took a bow. I received a flattering roar a much louder than the other faculty and returned to my seat.
It was funny to think that I could've been up there in blue jeans giving an American wave and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. When I sat back down, the chair of the nursing department said that I should teach in her department, commenting on my popularity. (I'll talk later about the many opportunities here).
We took a few pictures and as promised, we were driven home.