Orientation was great, and I give EPIK huge props for putting so much effort into our first ten days in Korea. It allowed us to network with other foreigners and make some great friends, and gave us a wealth of information that I use teaching every day. However, there were a few things they forgot...
How to de-bone fish with chopsticks.
At my school, and from the sounds of it many others, there is no knife or fork option. Chopsticks and spoon. I actually prefer using spoons or chopsticks to eat, so this usually isn't an issue. Until the day of the week comes when you find a delicious fried fish on your plate and you can't put a bite in your mouth without getting stabbed with several little bones that you swore you'd picked out.
These are tiny fish with a tiny bone structure. I've tried to watch my Korean co-workers de-bone their fish with their own chopsticks, and never seem to quite catch how they do it. It may be a form of Korean magic. I can usually get the main backbone out okay, but the little teeny bones attached never seem to come with it. So I poke and prod at the thing with my useless chopsticks and try to maneuver these eensy bones out of the fish and onto the side of the plate. At the end of my endeavor I've put about three bites of fish in my mouth, two of wish I have had to subtlety spit several bones out of. The worst part of this is, the fried fish is actually one of the few foods I actually thoroughly enjoy the taste of, adding to the frustration of its inaccessibility.
Meanwhile, my Korean co workers have finished, have all bones in a neat pile with no scrap of meat to be seen, and are looking with eyebrows raised, at my mangled fish.
