Top Secret Meeting

Last Tuesday I travelled to Jeonju to take part in creating exams for prospective teachers in North Jeolla province. I wasn't really sure what to expect but was told that I would be spending three days in a hotel from which I wouldn't be able to leave, fearing that the teachers creating the exams may leak the questions to the exam-takers. I also would not be able to phone anyone nor use the Internet. It was a well-planned operation, meant to stump the most ardent cheaters. The first trick they played was to keep the final location from me. I assumed since the education office was in Jeonju and Jeonju is the most central location in the province, that the meeting would be held there. Instead I was driven to the outskirts of the province to Namwon, about an hour and a half south of Jeonju. Once I arrived I was immediately escorted into the hotel and shown my room. I was informed once again that I couldn't use any phones or the Internet and that all of the doors to the hotel were locked and I would not be able to leave. Since I didn't plan to leak any information, the isolation from the outside world didn't bother me a whole lot, with the exception of the boredom. In all I spent a total of about five or six hours over the next three days working on the exam, which gave me 50 hours to kill. Unfortunately other than an eating hall there was nowhere else to go in the hotel except to our rooms and to the roof to get fresh air. I went up to the roof twice but found no way to escape from the five-story building. I ended up filling the time by reading a book, a newspaper, and watching too much TV. It was a bit of a letdown after all the security and trickery. I was hoping for leaks, conspiracies and men in black masks rappelling down the side of the hotel, but in the end it was all very quiet. We finished off our time, got onto a bus which let us off on some dark street in Jeonju, and dispersed into the night.

On a completely different topic, my wife and I each got our top left wisdom teeth taken out yesterday. The total cost for the removal of two wisdom teeth with Korean medical insurance: $14