Moving time

Kpop Dance Lesson

   Hey guys!! This may be a shorter post, because it is getting very late, and I still have to finish packing my bags! Tomorrow is the last day of orientation, and around 1:00pm, we will all be shipped off to our different provinces. I’ll spend a few days in Jeonju, the capital city of the province (Jeonbuk), and then I’ll head to Gunsan, and start teaching!! Scary…

   This past week was another week full of lectures---so, we learned more about teaching lessons using storytelling, the hierarchy we’ll find at our schools, and that kind of stuff. Luckily, a few of the lectures gave us a chance to move around a bit. We had a taekwondo class that was really cool! Unfortunately, for some groups it resulted in some pretty serious injuries…one kid tore his ACL, and another broke his arm (ABOVE the elbow…had to have surgery…poor guy. He’s back with us now, though!). A slightly less dangerous, but equally as exhausting lesson was our Kpop dance class. We all learned the dance to Sorry Sorry by Super Junior. I can’t say I was very good at it, but it was SO MUCH FUN! I’ve included some of the pictures…but you should all definitely youtube the song. Kpop is really growing on me.

   On Saturday, we had another group trip into Seoul, and this time the weather was infinitely better than it was on our last excursion. We watched “Drawing Show Hero,” which was kind of similar to the Blue Man Group. 

Drawing Show Hero

The art they made was incredible, and they did it all so fast---such a fun show to watch. Afterward, we were all given some time for lunch, and 4 of us found a hole in the wall restaurant on a small street nearby. There was no English to be found, so we walked in, took our shoes off, sat on the ground and pointed at something that another table was eating. Turns out it was squid soup! It was really good, but there were some hidden peppers in there that brought a few of us to tears.

Side street of Seoul

   After lunch we had the opportunity to walk around for a few hours on our own, so my friend Sara and I roamed around the streets to do some window/cart shopping. At one point, two little girls asked if they could take a picture with us, because their homework for class was to get a picture with foreigners, so that was pretty cute. However, it was not nearly as cute as the little boy that shyly caught our eye on the street to ask us if he could interview us for an English class project. He was with his mom and his little sister, all of whom were very excited to talk with us. Turns out, his little sister’s English name is Sara, just like my friend’s, so there was a lot of smiling and high fives about that one. They asked to get in a picture with us, then thanked us and bowed repeatedly. More than any of the sightseeing we did, those few minutes are what really made the day great.

Squid Soup

   This week, we worked at an English language camp for a day, and taught three 1-hour lessons. We had no clue what the level of the students would be when we went in, and it turned out that they knew a LOT more English than we had been previously told. So, we had to scrap our original lesson plan, and do a lot of thinking on the fly. Luckily, the group of kids we were working with was really great, so they were easy to manage and loved playing all the games we came up with. Evidently, if you say the word “game” to any little Korean students, they will get ecstatic about it no matter what.

   As I said, orientation is over tomorrow morning, so I’m not sure what the next few days may hold---we haven’t been given any kind of a schedule.  It is sad to be leaving all of the great people I’ve met here at orientation, but we are all excited to keep in touch, share pictures, and visit each other in the coming months.  Jeonbuk, here I come!

Lectures, Buddhism, and Mud

   Well, we are already in our second week of lectures and I never even got around to writing about our first. Last Monday was our official orientation opening ceremony at Korea University in Seoul. Entertainment was provided by the Rainbow Choir—a group of terribly adorable little children from all around the world, each one of them dressed in their traditional garb. 

A musical performance was also given by S.O.S, a Korean girl-band consisting of a vocalist, keyboardist, flautist, and electric-violinist. It was an interesting mix of old Korea and modern Korea---flashing colorful lights and a techno-background added to traditional instruments. 

My favorite part of the orientation was definitely the K-Tigers exhibition: Some awesome little kids with some serious taekwondo moves. There were kids as young as 5 or 6 who could balance on one foot, kick their other foot completely over their head, and not even break a sweat. The older kids were doing handsprings and flips and breaking planks of wood in the air, which was equally impressive. Of course, it is Korea, so the performance was not lacking in flashing lights and kpop music (see the video...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3EWtdZGXGo)

   The orientation was followed by a scavenger hunt in the rain, running around one area of Seoul with our group, taking pictures with various monuments. I have a couple of pictures, but since I didn’t have an umbrella, I was more concerned with finishing the scavenger hunt than taking a lot of pictures…

   Lectures have been tiring---Some have been very interesting and useful, others more just for fun and some a little dull. We have learned a lot about what to expect when we get to our schools, how to deal with the hierarchy of the school system, how to manage a classroom of 6 year olds by ourselves, etc etc etc. It is all a little overwhelming and kind of scary! Luckily, we still have a couple of weeks of orientation to mentally prepare before we set off for our schools. We also did a traditional Korean drumming lesson, made our own Korean fan, and got to watch a magic show!

   This weekend was a holiday weekend, since Monday was Korean Independence Day, so a lot of people in the orientation went to Seoul. Since there are usually 330 of us here, it was SO nice to be one of the few who stayed---a group of 30 or 40 people was much more manageable, and made things around here a lot more calm. On Sunday we went to a Buddhist temple called Gapsa Temple. We saw a Buddhist ceremony that we didn’t really understand---there was a lot of bowing involved over the course of an hour or so, then they ended up burning a giant pile of cardboard. Who knows. It was pretty cool to watch, even if I didn’t know what was going on. There were some awesome hiking trails around the temple, and a friend and I set off to explore for the hour we had before lunch. 

   We hoped to make it all the way up to the peak, but had to turn back before we could, since we didn’t want to be late for lunch. The area was full of streams and little waterfalls---hiking in the woods made me feel like I was back in Sewanee.  

The temperature dropped noticeably under the cover of the trees, and for the first time for my week in Korea, I felt a cool breeze. The only sounds we could hear were the sounds of flowing water and screaming cicadas, and around us everything was a vibrant green. After arriving back at the temple, we had a very spicy lunch of bibimbap, made some prayer beans and some sort of artwork with a stamp/ink, and headed back to campus.  Since there were only a few of us left on campus, we decided to order some pizza from Pizza Myung. After perusing the menu, which included sweet potato pizza, lobster pizza, and kimchi, among many other odd options, we decided on one bacon/vegetable pizza and one “bulgogi” pizza, which is a Korean dish with marinated beef, and they were both sooooooo good. After rice and kimchi cafeteria food every day, we needed a little something different.

   Sunday, we embarked early to visit a Korean Farm. After we all got on the bus, the bus driver turned around and asked, “So, where are we going?” Many wrong turns were made, and holiday traffic was brutal, so after 3 hours of traveling, we made it to the farm. We all got on a tiny little truck pulled by a tractor, and took us to a beach where there was mud as far as the eye could see. What started out as an innocent clam digging turned into a mud fight so intense, that I might still have some in my ears and eyes. It was SO MUCH FUN. There aren’t a lot of pictures, since none of us wanted to destroy our cameras, but I think this group picture accurately conveys how much mud was actually involved. I’m on the bottom left, in case you can’t find me. 

   So, sitting through lectures today proved to be a tough transition from a rousing mud battle, but tomorrow we get to go to a taekwondo class, so that should be fun! I’ll try and remember to bring my camera…

Day trips and peaches

   My trip over to Korea began as an interesting one when, after waking up at 4am, I get to the airport without my passport. Turns out I left it in the printer when I was making copies. As you can imagine, it was a great, stress-free way to start the trip. Luckily my mom was able to rush it to the airport in time. I can confidently say that my favorite plane ride of the three was the one from San Francisco to Seoul, despite the fact that it was more than twice as long as either of the others. From Huntsville to Charlotte, I was constantly worrying about if I was going to make my next flight. From Charlotte to San Francisco, the plane was extremely crowded, and the woman sitting next to me was one of the crabbiest people I have ever met. I somehow became her ally in complaining about nearly everything that was happening; the temperature, the noise level, the number of people out of their seats, the people sitting behind us…..it could go on and on. Her cranky disposition was explained when I noticed that she was continuously popping “nicotine lozenges.” My last flight was a different story. Singapore airlines flight attendants greeted us with warm washcloths and orange juice as we entered the plane, and I ended up with 3 seats all to myself. I watched some movies, then stretched out across all 3 seats and took a very satisfying nap.

View from my dorm room

   When I arrived in Seoul, I was thrilled to find my bags had made it with me! As I was waiting around the luggage carousel, a guy about my age approached me, pointed at my Sewanee sweatshirt, and said “Hey, is that from the Sewanee in Tennessee?” Turns out one of his close friends was a Sewanee grad. It was a reassuring moment that made me feel like I wasn’t really that far from home. I grabbed my bags and realized that I hadn’t even written down where I was supposed to meet the TaLK bus---luckily, when I walked into the lobby, there was a guy holding a colorful sign that said “TaLK Orientation 2011,” and a person next to him who videotaped me walking towards them, lugging two huge suitcases, sweating, and looking more tired than ever. I hope that doesn’t end up in some orientation video…

   We made it to Jochiwon in a couple of hours, and after we were given our room keys and TaLK t-shirts, we were free to go up to our rooms and call it a night. My roommate was already here when I arrived, and our room isn’t bad! Luckily it is air-conditioned, because the hallway isn’t, and feels like I’m working at Camp McDowell in the middle of the summer. 

   The next day, some of us had signed up for an optional trip to Gongju, which consisted of a little hike to an observatory. Rather than telescopes, the main attraction seemed to be the movies we got to watch. One was in 3D, and the other (you aren’t going to believe this…) was in 5D!! Both were in Korean, so the content that any of us absorbed was purely visual. The 3D movie was called “Tree Robo.” It began with soothing music and animations of flowers and deer jumping around…then a robot arm jumped out at us through our 3D glasses, the title “TREE ROBO” came up, and the story unfolded, revealing a heart-wrenching tale of a little boy and a robot, the world being destroyed by bad robots, then the bad robots dying…..The good robot survived, a tree started growing on top of his head, he met up with the little boy (now an old man), and nature flourished once again. At least that’s what most of us gathered. The 5D movie combined an Imax screen with 3D glasses, and chairs that vibrated and shot vapor at us—I jumped out of my seat every time that happened. This movie was a lot longer, and much more confusing, so I won’t try to explain it. The best parts were probably when it flashed forward to “One million years later,” and then the space-surfing scene, complete with beach-boys-esque tunes. After a long lunch of bibimbap, we stopped by a famous suspension bridge held up by a giant plastic chili pepper, then headed back to Jochiwon.

   The next day, we ventured to a Korean Folk Village about an hour away from Jochiwon. We looked into some traditional Korean shops, and saw some amazing shows. The first was a Korean farmers’ dance, and the next was a tightrope performance. Very cool.

   The past couple of nights we have been exploring Jochiwon, which has been great because it is the weekend of the big Peach Festival: http://www.korea.net/detail.do?guid=57165&thiscode=eng010003&mode=popup&TB_iframe=true&height=420&width=700

We sampled the local cuisine of silkworms and snails that we bought from a street vendor, saw what we can only assume was a beauty contest and a singing contest, and then bought a crate of delicious white peaches. Last night we explored further into Jochiwon, and when our friend needed to buy some things at a convenience store, we ended up buying some beer to enjoy outside of the shop. As it turns out, the owner of the store and his wife were sitting outside too, and came over to talk to us. Their English was limited, but spoke to us in Korean anyway while we replied in English. I don’t think I’ll ever know exactly what we talked about, but we sat around the table with them for hours, and whenever the conversation was lagging, we would just say 건배 which sounds like kon-beh and means “cheers!” They were both so nice, and very expressive. He begged us to come back tomorrow, and we tried our best to explain that we were busy with orientation activities. We thanked both of them repeatedly, received several hugs from each of them, and after exchanges of “I love you” and “America, Number one!” we were on our way.

Our convenience store friends

   Today is the opening day of orientation, so we are off to Seoul for an opening ceremony and a scavenger hunt! Hopefully we won't get too lost...

About that time...

   Hey guys---A lot of you have been asking if I’m going to keep a blog about my travels to Korea, so, I caved. Here it is. After one more weekend spent at Sewanee, playing volleyball at Lake Cheston, sitting outside on the stairs at Shenanigans, and lying on the dock at Lake Dimmick under the stars, it was hard to remember why anyone would need anything else. Sewanee sure is a hard place to leave. But I said my goodbyes, trespassed on the Res one more time, and reminded myself that nobody really leaves Sewanee forever.  I took a quick trip to Chattanooga to take the GRE and see ol’ Cheetah Chestnut (aka Chetna), then I was on the road back to Huntsville to spend some time with the fam and get all packed and ready to leave. 

   It is still a little bit hard to believe that tomorrow, August 4^th, around 6:10AM, I’ll be beginning the first leg of a long day of traveling, which, if all goes well, will end with my landing in Korea at 6:35PM on August 5^th. If you want to calculate in the 14 hour time difference, and see how many actual hours of flying and layovers that is, be my guest; conceptualizing all of that is too much for me. Anyway, I’ve never blogged before, so I’m not sure how consistent I will be in posting updates, but at the very least I’ll post some pictures, and try to let everybody in on life in South Korea as a “TaLK Scholar.”

   TaLK is a Korean government scholarship program that brings English-speakers from all over the world to areas in rural Korea to teach English in elementary schools. For the first 2 ½  weeks, I’ll be at the Sejong Campus of Korea University in Jochiwon, then for the last week of orientation, I’ll be in Jeonju, the capital of the province Jeollabuk-do.  My teaching placement is in Jeollabuk-do, at Napo Elementary school in the city of Gunsan, and that’s where I’ll be headed after the last week of orientation. Although the schedule that I just laid out may make it seem like I know a lot about what I’ll be doing, where I’ll be going, and what life will be like in Korea, don’t be fooled. Everything I just said is exactly how much I know. As soon as I know more, I’ll clue you guys in too. Wish me luck!