Chuseok weekend

   WOW, I've already been living in Gunsan for 2 weeks now, and it definitely doesn't feel like it. Part of that might be because of the holiday that we just had in Korea: Chuseok. Everybody here compares it to "Thanksgiving" in the US, but there was no sign of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pilgrims, or Indians. There was, however, a lot of rice cake, and heaping piles of delicious pan-fried food. Chuseok was celebrated on Monday and Tuesday of this week, giving us a long weekend, so on Saturday I hopped a bus to Iksan (about a 30 minute ride) with Zyna and Sarah, and we met up with some other TaLK scholars that live there. It was great to be reunited with our friends, and we wandered around the city a bit during the day, having a giant feast at the Lotte Mart cafeteria, and then sitting in a coffee shop, telling stories about our schools and students. Afterward, we all needed a looooong nap, and we did just that back at Christina's apartment, before heading out to explore a new area of town. 

More TaLK scholars joined us, and we all ate dinner together---I wish I remember what our meal was called...but it was delicious. Afterward we went to check out an arcade down the street (yes, very nerdy). It was full of high-school aged Korean boys, who didn't even glance up from the game screens to notice the foreigners who had entered. There were these mini-norebangs there, kind of like a singing phone-booth just big enough for 3, and we practiced our singing and Korean-reading skills as we belted out the lyrics to 내가 제일 잘 나가. 

The next day, Christina and I went to the bus station and bought our tickets to Jeonju. Christina's aunt lives in Jeonju, and Charlie's host family invited me to go stay with them for Chuseok, so we decided to take the bus over together. We heard the guy in front of us in line ask for a ticket to Jeonju, so we followed him to find the terminal, and watched him until he got off of the bus, so we would know if we were at the right station----maybe a little creepy, but I don't think he noticed, and at least we ended up in the right spot!

I made my way to Charlie's host-family's apartment, having absolutely no idea what to expect. Luckily Charlie's host-brother speaks English, because his parents don't know much, and my Korean language skills are still so low that besides "hello," "thank you," and "I'm from America," I can't make much conversation. Though it was a bit overwhelming at times, overall it was a great weekend. His host-parents were so welcoming, and the whole weekend was full of those funny moments that only arise through lingual and cultural barriers, and at any given time, I understood 30-60% of what was going on. Kyooho (host-brother, who is awesome) took us to Maisan, a famous mountain outside Jeonju, where there is this temple with stone pagodas that were built by one Buddhist man, by himself, over the course of 30 years. Pretty amazing. And through rain, wind, and storm, not one rock has fallen.

The next day, we celebrated Chuseok in the traditional way, traveling to the burial site of the family’s grandparents and great-grandparents. The burial mounds for this family were in a beautiful spot, on the side of a mountain overlooking a river. The day started out cloudy and hazy, but cleared up in the afternoon, and the view was amazing. Charlie and I watched as the family set up the ceremony, placing different foods on a table in front of the graves, and a mat in front for us to kneel on. I didn’t understand all of the ceremony, but Kyooho talked us through how to pour the correct amount of rice liquor for the grandparents, how to tap the chopsticks on the table (though I accidentally did this upside down, much to the amusement of his family), and 

then bow two times. It really was a cool experience getting to have a “real” Chuseok.

I would write more, but I’ve got to get to school. Overall, the long Chuseok weekend was great, but tiring, and now I have enough kimchi in my fridge to last me for months (Charlie’s host-mother was very worried about me living alone). Yum!

First impressions of life in 군산 시

Lotte Mart, in all it's glory

   I am now writing to you all from my apartment in Gunsan! It’s a cosy little room, complete with bed, fridge, kitchenette, TV, and a small wardrobe for my clothes. The bathroom is a good size compared to most others in these types of “one room” apartments, and there is a closet where my washing machine is stored. It is small, but one person doesn’t need that much room anyway. Since arriving, I’ve equipped my place with a fan, rice-cooker (essential in Korea), chopsticks and spoons (no forks, of course), and a few pots and pans. The location is pretty nice, being in walking distance to Lotte Mart (the Korean equivalent of a Super Wal-Mart), but there is a LOT of construction all around me, since this is a newer part of town, so I’m up early every morning. I’m conveniently located directly above “Miwon Chicken” restaurant, so if I leave my windows open at night, my room starts to smell like fried chicken…the good news is, the fried chicken smells great. The bad news is, it makes me REALLY hungry. I haven’t run downstairs yet to order any chicken, but I’m sure once cooking for myself gets old, the scent will overcome me, and Miwon Chicken will be my go-to. 

2nd floor, open window. That's me!

I moved to Gunsan on Tuesday, after my mentor teacher, Sungmoon, picked me up from orientation in Jeonju. He is so nice and very helpful, and even though he is already extremely busy and isn’t getting paid any extra money to help me, he is still putting so much effort into making sure I’m doing okay. He went shopping with me to furnish my apartment, took me to the immigration office to apply for an Alien Registration Card, and tried for over an hour to help me get a cell phone, but unfortunately I have to wait another couple of weeks for my ARC to get back before I can get one…So for now, I’m just asking people on the street for help if I get lost---Just as I did last night when trying to meet up with the other TaLK scholars in Gunsan at a Pizza Hut. I walked around for hours trying to find the place, asking random Koreans where Pizza Hut was. I definitely felt like a big fat pizza-crazy American, but I didn’t want to just give up. Finally this guy looked it up on his smart phone for me, and pointed me in the right direction.

   I started teaching at Napo Elementary on Thursday---I take 2 buses to get to the school, which is located outside of Gunsan in a farming village. I teach every day from 1:00pm to 4:00pm, but have to leave my house a little after 10:00 to get there on time (because of the timing of bus transfers), and get home around 5:00. There isn’t a bus that can take me back from Napo, so I have to wait for one of the teachers to take me home every day. The time after class and before heading home is good for studying my Korean. I wish I could remember her name right now, but this one teacher is very sweet and took me home on Thursday and Friday. She speaks very little English, and I very little Korean, so conversation is pretty limited, and relies a lot on gesturing and miming; as Sungmoon said, though, what matters the most is body language. That said, I’m doing a lot of bowing and smiling these days.

Napo Elementary School

   My students don’t know as much English as the kids we worked with at English camp during orientation, since I’m just the 2^nd TaLK Scholar to come to Napo. They know some words, and a couple of kids can communicate with me, but most of them are pretty lost in class. This lack of communication has made discipline difficult, and my first two days, the kids were running around the class, hitting each other and yelling, and when I’d get one group in their seats, the other group would start running wild…and even when I spoke to them sternly, or told them to stay in their seat with their head down, they didn’t understand. This weekend I’m going to try and think of a discipline system that can work with their level of English. We’ll see! The kids are really funny though, full of energy, and once I get to know them better, I think things are going to improve.

   The only other teacher at the school that speaks any English is the P.E. teacher. All of the conversations I have with him and Sungmoon have motivated me to study Korean a little harder. They both put so much effort in trying to effectively communicate with me, that I wish I could do the same for them in their language. The disconnect results some pretty funny conversations. After lunch on Friday, I was sitting in the Teacher’s Room with the P.E. teacher, and he looked up at me and said “You look very…strong.” I responded, chuckling to myself, “Oh…really?” He said “Yes. It is true?” I wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that one.  On another occasion, after I asked Sungmoon about my Korean Co-scholar, he said “Your co-teacher. He is mad.” I became a bit worried, wondering if I had done something wrong already, before I’d even met him. Then, Sungmoon corrected himself, saying “Oh, no. Your co-teacher is a man.” Man, not mad. Phewf. Though, I still haven’t seen hide nor hair of this “man,” so there is no telling if he really does exist. Maybe I’ll meet him this week, and he can help me discipline my class…I can only hope.

Bridge on Eunpa Lake

   I spent last night and most of today walking around Gunsan and exploring my area a bit more. I always feel more comfortable in a place once I’ve walked around, gotten lost, found my way back, and walked around some more. Last night was the great Pizza Hut fiasco, and today was Eunpa Lake. I looked at a rough map that I found online, and ended up finding the lake without any problems. It was about a 30 minute walk from my house to get to the lake, and once I got there, I realized there was a path that goes all the way around. It seems like a pretty cool place to hang out---lots of families with little kids splashing in the water, couples sitting on benches, and old men walking around arm in arm, as many do here in Korea. I think it’s pretty cute.

Living alone has been quite a change from living with 300 other foreigners during orientation. I’ve found that it only gets lonely if I don’t keep busy, or if I stay inside for too long. Today I was walking around the town for most of the day, returning waves to Korean people who yelled “HELLO!!!!” at me on the streets, and high-fiving babies when their parents held them up to me and said “high five-uh!” with the biggest smile on the face. A man did this with his baby in Lotte Mart today, and the little girl just stared at me. I tried to inch away, but the man inched towards me, smiling ever wider, because I guess he really wanted his baby to get that high five. In the end the kid ended up crying and turning away from me, and I made my escape. I guess my very non-Korean features were too much for her to handle. 

Eunpa Lake

Tomorrow I’m going work on some lesson plans for this week, and try to memorize my students’ English and Korean names. I really like my school so far, and I think that I’m going to have a good amount of freedom with my lessons, which is exciting. Once I settle in a bit, and get to know the rest of the staff (despite the language barrier), and get my kids under control, I think things will be just peachy.  

Flowers by the lake