Membership Training

Membership Training, or "MT" as it is called in konglish, is a time where labs or departments go off and bond.  Traditionally, there is no actual "training" involved.  Usually, it is a time for students to get together and bond without professors, and there is lots of alcohol involved.  Our lab is very very odd in that the professor actually wants to get to know his students outside the lab, and that he does not drink alcohol.
When he decided that our lab should have an MT, the Koreans in our lab had no idea what to do.  We found it amusing because there are hundreds of little team building games that we could use, but the people planning had trouble thinking outside the traditional "MT" box, especially when they learned both our professor and the new research professor wanted to come along and participate in the games.  Having fun with your professor is a scary thing for some people.
We also needed to have a different MT because two members of our lab are Muslim and don't drink, and one of the guys brought his wife and 1 year old son with him.  It was a lot of fun having them around, and the traditional MT wasn't going to work.
We ended up going to a "pension" (a large, rent-able vacation home) in a very beautiful part of Korea.

The view behind our pension.

Behind the pension was a giant mudflat full of oysters.  When you walked on the path between them, the oysters would squirt at you.  It was a drizzly day, so the clouds looked amazing!
There I learned many new things about my labmates.  First of all, the Korean guys like to dance to k-pop (even dances done by girls).  Secondly, Koreans are afraid of moths because their mothers told them that the dust from their wings are toxic (NOT TRUE!).  And last, singing is a common talent.  We ran out of games and switched to a talent show.  Everyone either sang or danced except me (I played spoons).
The next day we went to the shore and saw a famous rock feature while playing in tidal pools.

Dr. Yim, Irfan, and Riley in front of the famous rocks.

Then we ate tons of clams and went home.  It was really nice.  Even though this was a different sort of MT, I think the Koreans still had a good time.  Our professor is trying to change the culture of the labs one person at a time!