A Korean thanksgiving and JEJU ISLAND!

I’ve had several requests for updates on my little blog, and I’m sorry that I’ve been so bad about it!  While I'm writing this, there are about 5 girls surrounding me braiding my hair, so that's cool. Today is our first day of snow in Gunsan, and while it started out as flurries in the afternoon, it’s really coming down now---I heard Alabama beat us to the punch on that one, though! Many of you might be wondering what the final decision was about my contract extension, and, after weeks of stressing out, putting it off, and just being indecisive in general, I finally made the decision to return to the US in February. There are a million reasons to stay, and a million reasons to go, so I guess there was never really a "wrong" decision to make. It was tough, but I’ve come to peace with it, and now am focused on enjoying the rest of my time here as much as I can, along with trying to make some plans for when I get back home!

Obviously a lot has happened since my last post, so I’ll try and hit the high points. As you know, I live in Gunsan city, which happens to be home to the Gunsan International Migratory Bird Festival. In comparison with festivals in other towns, like the Bibimbap festival I went to, or the Dance festival, it sounded kind of nerdy…but actually ended up being pretty cool. Since the location of the festival was out towards my school, I went with some of the students and teachers after school one day. We looked through the museum, saw some live exotic birds, and some performances, which happened to be given by people from South America!  There were several stands around selling trinkets from Peru and Ecuador---I talked in Spanish to the man selling them, and the other teachers were surprised, telling the students I was “Spain talking.” It was a lot of fun to speak a foreign language that I don’t have to struggle through, and speaking with the musical performers from Ecuador warmed my heart, bringing fond memories of my semester in Quito back to the surface. The rest of the teachers headed back to school, and In-yeong and I did some exploring on our own, getting the obligatory meat-on-a-stick, and riding a hang glider attached to a crane, which spun us around and around, giving us a great view of the river and the city in the distance. Originally he wanted me to do it alone, but when the people suiting me up asked if we were going together, I responded with a resounding 네!! And he had no choice but to join me. He screamed like a girl and claimed afterward that he was “not okay,” but I think deep down, he had a good time.

So because I am living alone in Korea, I cook for myself the sort of concoctions that end up falling somewhere between the distinctions of “American” and “Korean” food—but, this month I made something distinctly Korean, and distinctly American. The Provincial Office of Education arranged for all of the TaLK scholars in Jeonbuk to learn how to make kimchi!  If you think it’s a stereotype that Koreans eat kimchi every day, you are wrong--- kimchi isn’t just eaten every day, it’s eaten at every meal, and there are hundreds of kinds. My mentor teacher, Sungmoon, and I went to Jeonju on a Wednesday afternoon and got our hands dirty making “pechu” kimchi—cabbage--- my favorite kind! There are lots of ingredients involved, and I’m not entirely sure what all of them were, since the lady teaching us was teaching in Korean, but I’ve included a picture so you can see. A few weeks later, after telling In-yeong all about the delicious food that we eat during Thanksgiving in the US, I accidentally agreed to cook a few for him and his wife. I mean…just because I eat all of the food doesn’t mean I know how to cook it! And Lotte Mart here unfortunately didn’t have bags of “stove top stuffing” or canned pumpkin pie filling…they don’t even have chicken broth! Or turkeys…The only dish I could definitely make was mashed potatoes, and let’s face it, eating mashed potatoes without turkey and stuffing just isn’t the same. I ended up drying my own bread for stuffing, using beef broth, cooking mashed potatoes, buying some pre-baked chicken, and making a sweet potato pie (homemade pie crust!---now that’s hard work, especially when all you have is a spoon and bowl), which I baked in their toaster oven. 

The dish that they really liked was the sweet potato pie, helping themselves to seconds and not understanding that it we usually wait to eat the pie until after dinner. I’ve found that Koreans associate “good” food with “food that makes your nose run,” so stuffing and mashed potatoes don’t exactly do that…they were excited to eat “foreign” food, though, and were really grateful that I shared the Thanksgiving tradition with them. We ate it "Korean style," with chopsticks, placing all the dishes in the middle of the table, sitting on the floor, eating communally. And, of course, along with the food I made, there was a bowl of ramyon and two different kinds of kimchi. A brown and red meal. But, so delicious.

Since then, I have to say that the most exciting thing I’ve done is sit on Santa’s lap in Seoul!......just kidding. (Although I did take a picture with him). I went to Jeju Island! Korea’s number one vacation destination. The Provincial Office of Education took all the TaLK scholars for our “cultural trip,” and it was just fabulous. The weather was warmer than here, the sun shone almost the whole time we were there, and the scenery was incredible. We went to a glass museum, the famous Teddy Bear museum, the O’Sulloc green tea fields, Mara Island, a horse show about Genghis Khan (in which he was the good guy), and the famous “Love Land”—an erotic museum, pictures of which I will not be posting here ;) It was wonderful to spend time with all of the other scholars in my province, especially in such an amazing place. Mara Island might have been my favorite part---it is the southernmost island in Korea, with a population of 90 people. The Elementary school only has 1 teacher and 2 students!

Only a few more weeks of teaching before I’m off to Thailand for a week and a half! I’m counting down the days!

Mara Island

Mara Island

Horse Show performers

Mara Island

Bonsai  tree

The month of October

So, October happened fast. Here are some highlights: More volleyball, a trip to Busan, the Jeonju Bibimbap festival, an American Halloween, and Moaksan. I'll start with Busan. Even though it is about a 4 hour trip from Gunsan, going to Busan was totally worth it. I spent but one weekend there, and it quickly became my favorite place I've been in Korea. It's the second biggest city in Korea, but it feels more manageable than Seoul (not to mention how much easier the subway system is...), is surrounded by beautiful mountains, and it has the BEACH!!!  

We napped in the sun on Haeundae beach, and then headed over to Gwangalli beach to see the lights on the bridge at night. It was a much more peaceful beach than Haeundae, and the lights were awesome. It was the weekend of the Busan International film festival, so there were lots of people and festivities around, but the weather was great, so rather than see movies, we spent our weekend relaxing on the beach, eating ice cream and catching up with friends. It was just what I needed.

Of course, Korea has no shortage of festivals, so a couple weekends later my friends and I went to the Jeonju Bibimbap festival. Bibimbap is a big bowl of rice, mixed with sautéed veggies, a big ol glob of chili pepper sauce, and an egg that is either fried and put on top, or cracked into the hot bowl of bibimbap so that it cooks in the hot food. Jeonju-style bibimbap is well known throughout Korea as being the most authentic, and the festival was stocked with the delicious goodness. Sara and I got to the festival and, because the two of us stick out anywhere we go here, we were immediately stopped by a university student who wanted to interview us about the festival. It was lucky that she did, because afterward she told us about the FREE bibimbap that they were giving away on the other side of the festival. We had to fight through a yelling crowd of ajummas, one of whom tried to shove me in a ditch, but we got our free bibimbap and fled the scene before things got more violent.

The next weekend I was back in Jeonju (I’m practically Sara’s roommate these days), and after relaxing all afternoon Friday at a coffee shop, Charlie and I decided to tackle Moaksan on Saturday. Moaksan is the mountain that overlooks Jeonju, and it’s the largest mountain in the area. Hiking in Korea, we learned, is much different than hiking in the United States. Koreans don’t bother with curving trails back and forth; no, they just drive the trail straight up the mountain. I understand now why Koreans use those hiking sticks all the time. I could have used some help getting up there, and especially getting down; I had a few graceful falls, but luckily made it down without injury. The hike was tough, the view was nice, and the leaves were beautiful. I think we both could have passed out on the bus ride back to the city. 

That night, almost all of the Jeonbuk TaLK scholars gathered at Sara’s apartment for an American-style Halloween party. After a busy week at school, it was great to spend time with people who understand me when I speak English at a normal pace. Because of the hike, I didn’t exactly have time to get together a costume, so I threw on a devil-themed headband, and luckily my friend Dave and I got some chopsticks, and crafted a clever story about two walruses that got in a fight over cultural differences between England and the U.S. I came out on the bottom, left with but one tusk. The party was a blast, I saw some friends who I hadn’t seen since orientation, and it was great to spend some time with them.

Since this week was Halloween, I decided to share some American culture with my kids. We carved pumpkins, and then trick-or-treated around the different classrooms at school. They had a really fun time, and now keep yelling “trick or treat!!!” at me every day, hoping that I still have some leftover candy.

On Tuesday I went over to In-yeong’s apartment for our weekly Korean/English language exchange and he took me by the outdoor market nearby. What did he buy for a study snack? Sundae (see Wikipedia: Korean Food), pig lungs, and pig liver. Apparently he and his wife really like it. I tried all of it, and I can’t say the liver was my favorite, but the sundae and the lungs weren’t half bad, as long as I didn’t think too much about what I was eating. The next day, I went back over to their apartment expecting to do another language exchange, but he and his wife spontaneously took me to the Iksan Chrysanthemum Festival (Iksan is a town about 30 minutes over). Afterward I took them to dinner to thank them for everything they do for me, and their meal of choice was a big stir fry mix of various meats, including ribs, chicken feet, and pig stomach, mixed up with onions in a spicy sauce. I’ve tried a lot of new foods this past week…

I’ve now been faced with the decision of “should I stay, or should I go?” I have to make a decision in about two weeks about whether or not to extend my contract, and I’m completely confused about what I should do. If I choose to stay, I’ll be back in the States August 1^st, 2012, and if I choose to go, I’ll be flying home February 1^st.  I have a long pro/con list going in my head, and the scales tip one way or the other every day. Being in Korea is so great, but teaching elementary school to children who don't understand 90% of what I say is such a difficult job, and I am still having a hard time getting through to my crazy 3^rd graders. My friends here are great, and the school faculty is so nice, not to mention getting to travel through Korea every weekend. The decision is gonna be a tough one. 

 

Volleyball and the "picnic"

Three weeks have gone by and no word from me----sorry about that. Just take it as a good sign that I’m having too much fun to keep up with my blog.  So much has been going on that I’m not even sure where to start… I’ll start with school. Things have definitely been getting better every week that I am at Napo. The staff and the students have all gotten more used to me, and I’ve gotten more used to teaching. I don’t know if spending less time lesson planning is necessarily a good thing…but at least I’m not stressing out about it like I used to. Discipline is still an issue with some of the students, but that’s just how it goes with language barriers and little kids. 

Students always come over my desk to sing and dance kpop...

Just your average Korean bar snack in jeonju

 Just when I thought I was getting into a groove, something reminds me that I will never really know what will happen next while I’m in Korea. I walked up to school on an average day, went up to the second floor to my desk, and plugged my USB into the computer to try and work on some lesson planning.  The PE teacher, who has become one of my good friends at the school (one of 2 teachers who knows any English…), came over like he always does, and we went down to the school cafeteria for lunch. That’s when I was informed that all of my classes would be cancelled that day so that I could go to the gym and practice volleyball. I was asked “you know volleyball?” I’ve never played on an actual volleyball team, nor do I know the official rules, but I figured all of those times spent at Sewanee on the Lake Cheston courts counted as “knowing” volleyball well enough.  I said I knew how to play, and I was recruited for the team. For the rest of the day, volleyball was the word. After lunch, the PE teacher took me into the gym, which is just a big room full of unicycles and jump ropes (because yeah, almost all of the 5^th and 6^th graders know how to unicycle and are on an intense synchronized jump roping team…).  He threw some volleyballs at me, which I was luckily able to return, and he said “Oh! Good!” For the next hour, I was pelted by volleyballs---and keep in mind, that not having been warned about volleyball practice, I’m doing all of this in khaki pants and a dress shirt. At 3:20, the rest of the faculty on the team come into the gym to practice, and we hit around some volleyballs until about 4:30, at which time I am told “Okay, we play game tomorrow with Jinpo Elementary teachers. We play bad, principal very angry. We win, we get small cow. See you tomorrow!” So my classes were also cancelled the following day so that we could trek it over to Jinpo and kick some volleyball butt, which we did. So I guess we won a small cow? Gotta love rural schools.

This past weekend was another 3-day weekend, and I took a trip up to Cheonan and Seoul. In Cheonan we visited an international dance festival, which was pretty cool, and there were lots of free samples of food. I got to eat CHEESE for the first time in forever, because it is sparse and expensive around here. My body is definitely having cheese and peanut butter withdrawals (both are quite pricey here). I had to buy a jacket because the temperature dropped like crazy after about 3:00pm. The fall weather is gorgeous during the day, but every night as I shiver in the 45-50 degree weather, I am reminded of how rough winter is going to be on me here. At least I’ll fare better than my friend from Hawaii, who has never even seen snow before. Poor Zyna…hope you’re reading this ;)

Cheonan world dance festival

This week I was told that Wednesday would be a school “picnic” in Daejeon, so I would need to arrive at school by 8:00 to get on the bus. As Wednesday neared, I learned that “picnic” is the word that everyone at my school thinks means “field trip.” The picnic aspect was present, in that we did eat outside…but our day was spent at O World, a little amusement park in Daejeon, and was a really fun time to be able to spend with the kids when I was actually able to get them hyped up, rather than trying to contain their absurd amount of energy. Of course, the first ride that the 3^rd graders want to go on is the log flume ride.  A water ride. Sungmoon, my mentor teacher, tells me that I won’t get too wet, but then he promptly went and sat on the side, rather than getting in line.  

O World

As I’m standing in line with my students, thinking to myself about the possible ramifications of this decision, my parents’ advice from past family vacations comes to mind…My mom would laugh, flat out refuse, and say, “Are you kidding me? No way am I getting on a water ride. It’s October.” My dad, always thinking ahead, would say “It’s your decision…but think about how miserable you’ll be walking around the park the rest of the day with wet clothes on…” Then I envisioned what might happen if, after already standing in line with these kids, I were to change my mind: A lot of small voices shouting at me in Korean, screams of “TEACHER NO!!! JENNNNY TEACHHERRRR!!!!,” and then the last resort, actual physical containment by 12 tough little 3^rd graders. I had no choice but to continue on. It was all okay in the end, and I didn’t get too wet…but I definitely took the brunt of the splashing, since I was the only one without a windbreaker on, and of course I was the big fat American human shield while all of the little kids ducked behind me on the particularly splashy parts. I took my revenge on the bumper cars, when I had the notable advantage over my students of having driven a car in real life. Heh heh. In Yeong and I were the only ones brave enough to ride the freefall tower ride, and man was it fun. He played it cool while we were in line, but I saw the terror in his face when we got to the top and I said, NO HANDS!!!

Crazy 3rd graders before O World

O-World was a great day, and all of the kids had a lot of fun, but my favorite part of the day was in the morning, seeing how excited all of the kids were before we got on the buses. My entire 3^rd grade class sprinted over to me as I walked through the school gates. I heard the screams of “JENNY TEACHER!!” before I saw them coming, and they all crowded around me, making it impossible to continue walking up to school. They had these huge smiles on their faces, and one of them started singing the Hello song that I taught them. The rest of the class joined in, and we all walked up to school together, in a haphazard mass, singing “Hello! Hello! Hello, how are you? I’m good! I’m Great! I’m WONDERFUL!!” Just adorable. 

I’ll end it on that story, instead of the one about today’s 3^rd grade class, when I had to forcibly break apart a brawl. Oh, 3^rd grade….

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

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…