Teachers Day

Daw, I got a "skin power solution cleansing moisture cleansing foam special set" from one of my students, Juna for teachers day on Tuesday. I also got a card, a letter, a drink, and some flower clip.

Apparently it's common for students to bring in gifts for their teachers on Teachers Day, which was Wednesday. There wasn't school either so the teachers had the day off. And when I say "day off", what I really mean is there was a interschool volleyball competition against other schools in Mokpo. Regardless, there were no classes to teach so that was kind of nice. The thing is, I really love my kids. I do. I just really don't like to teach them. Individually they're amazing, sweet, thoughtful children. As a group, they are a terror to society. Yep. I said it. It's not true for all classes, but it's true for a lot of them.

So yesterday, for Teachers Day, there was an interschool volleyball competition. Mr. Lee picked me up at 9:30am and we headed to the co-ed high school in Mokpo where the competition was going to be held. So I thought this competition was going to last half a day or something but I ended up leaving around 6pm. A bunch of teachers were there and Tracey was playing for her high school. Sara was there playing for her middle school too! I was there... to take pictures and support my school. :)
It was actually kind of fun. There were some students' mothers there and they had set up a huge picnic like thing in the grass outside the auditorium under the trees. I hung out there eating the food they had prepared (skatefish-the fish that ferments in its own pee, pork, kimchi, almonds, jerky, cherry tomatoes, watermelon). Before 10am even hit, I already had 2 cups of makeoli (rice wine). The teachers kept urging me to drink because they know I can drink. So the competition was an elimination tournament. Once your team loses, you can go home. My school ended up in 2nd place and Tracey's school tied for third. We played her school in the third round. Tracey played Sara's school in the second round. My school lost to Mokpo Vocational High School and they were pretty good. I pretty much got fed on the school's dime the entire day. For lunch, we walked to a nearby restaurant and after we lost in the Finals, we went out for dinner at another restaurant. I was told that we got some cash prize for second place and that was the reason we were going out for dinner, but I think we would've gone out regardless. At dinner, there was one specific teacher who kept telling me "one shot". I was eating and he beckoned me to his table and kept pouring me a full glass and then saying "one shot". I actually did take chug two glasses but on the third one I finally realized he wouldn't stop saying it so I needed to stop doing it. All in all, I will just say that the ahjusshi teachers at my school can drink like sailors. I left around 9pm to meet up with the rest of the Mokpo crew since it was our weekly Wednesday hangouts. It was a pretty long day but fun nonetheless. At dinner with the teachers, I was realizing how much I will miss the teachers at my school. I really do like them and I think they like me too. I think I'm pretty close to them compared to the past ETAs. In fact, I'm going hiking with a few of the ahjusshi teachers tomorrow at 6:30am. As I was taking these "one shoters", one of my favorite third year homeroom ahjusshi teachers told me it was his birthday on Friday and he wanted me to come with him to go trekking. How could I say no? I've built so much 정 with these guys. So, that's my plan for tomorrow. I'm getting up at the crack of dawn to go climb a mountain.
Tomorrow's Buddha's birthday, a national holiday, so the kids get the day off. I guess that explains why my kids were so restless today. They had the day off yesterday and the day off tomorrow so this random day sandwiched between makes them a little crazier than usual. This will be a nice long weekend.

And So Life Goes On

Today is a bullet point, cut-to-the-chase kind of post. It's beyond me why I always wait so long between posts because things just build up and then I word vomit without really saying anything in my posts. Fail.

Three weekends ago was the ETA Fall Conference in Gyeongju. Here were key highlights I want to mention:
-There was cheese. It was delicious. The KAEC staff stocked up on goodies and snacks for us everytime we had a break. There were also apples. Those were good too. -Since the Jellanom-do crew is so big, we took up all but 2 seats on the bus from Gwangju to Gyeongju.
-Upon arrival, we went to the hotel where we would be staying and where the conference meetings would be held.
-At the beginning of conference, we wrote down on a piece of paper what our biggest struggle was and what our biggest fear was. Then we put them on a wall and could respond to each others' posts. It was great to know that everyone was going through similar issues.
-There were Large Groups, a few talks by Mrs. Shim, Korean co-teachers, etc, and Small Group Discussions led by ETAs.
-The Small Groups were probably the most helpful but the one by Sonia about Phonics was the one I got the most out of. I went to it because I want to use Phonics with the NKD students I volunteer with. Their English level is way, way, way below their peers so I'm starting from scratch and teaching them how to read (or trying at least).
-It was really good to see all the ETAs.
-Gyeongju was beautiful. We had a tour around the city (historical sites) since Geyongju was the capital of Korea back in the Silla Dynasty. We saw a lot of random stuff. It was a long day for the tour and there's too much to say about we saw but it was a good tour.

-I got off Friday and Monday from school to attend conference so that was a nice mini-break from teaching.
-After conference ended Monday morning, a bunch of us went to the Gyeongju Rice Cake Festival. There was a large group of us but we all broke off into smaller groups to walk around.

-I got back to Mokpo kinda late on Monday and a bit groggy but it was worth it.
-I bought back Gyeongju bread with me for the teachers at my school. It was pretty pricey but that's Gyeongju bread is what Gyeongju is known for so I decided it would be worthwhile. It was a huge hit at my school. The teachers were all really receptive and really appreciated me bringing back something for them.
-When I gave my principal bread, he invited me to his office to sit and chat for a little bit. He said I was getting prettier and it must be the school. He said that he thinks the school is good for me. HAHAHAH It took everything not to laugh in front of him. Little does he know how much stress and emotional turmoil these puberty-riden kids give me...
-When I came back, one of my second year female students 소명 came in and chatted with me. She's the class captain for 2-6 and has really good English. She's also really good friends with the host sister for last year's ETA, Daniel. She said she hadn't seen me in a while (since I missed Friday and Monday) so I felt the love. It's one student, but it means a lot to hear it from someone. To be honest, I realized I missed my kids. There is something endearing about them.

The week I got back from Conference was a bit weird. I came to school Tuesday, but there was no school Wednesday or Thursday because of School Picnic and School Foundation Day, respectively. I had to put together a "throw away" lesson of sorts for my Tuesday classes. On Wednesday, the 17th, I went to Gwangju's Family Land with the first and third years. Mr. Cho is a homeroom teacher for a first year class so he invited me along. My co-teacher, Mr. Lee isn't a homeroom teacher so I wouldn't have gone otherwise (I would have just had the day off).

So, here are some notes/mentions about the School Picnic:
-The first and third years went to Family Land in Gwangju, an "amusement park". I say "amusement park" in quotes because it's actually like a carnival. It's small as heck and the rides are not at all exhilarating. It really is like a kiddie park.
-The second years went to Yeosu, where the World Expo was held but it was already over so the kids went to the aquarium and stuff. I asked them how it was but most of them thought it was rather boring.
-I was on the bus with Mr. Cho's homeroom class but when I got to the park, I mostly hung out with my third year students since I don't teach the first graders.
-The weather was BRUTAL when we first got there. It was super windy, gray, rainy, and cold. I was only wearing a long sleeve tee and jeans so I was freezing. Luckily my host mom gave me a poncho and that gave me some wind protection.
-The people handed out wristbands to the students and the teachers were supposed to get these tickets where you can go on three rides. The teachers weren't going to go on any rides so they were going to give all their tickets to me. That wasn't necessary since one of the people who were putting wristbands on the kids came up to me and put a wristband on me since I look like a student. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or bad thing. I guess I look like I'm 16...
-At first, I was with the teachers and then they were like, "Go play!" since I was going to go on rides (or so I thought when I still imagined it was an amusement park) so they left me alone. So I wandered by myself for a little bit. Then I would see some kids and they would say hi but it didn't seem like they wanted me to join them. I felt kinda out of place for a bit since I was wandering around for a bit by myself. The thing is, I would see kids who like me (I think) and they would be really excited to see me and say hi and stuff but that's as far as the conversation would really go. I finally found three first year students who always come to my desk to visit and asked if I could wait in line with them for the ride. It was a pretty long line so I ended up walking up and down the line to talk with all of my students. So I realized in that line, my kids like me and want to spend time with me (again, I think) but their English is so limited that they don't can't really have a deep conversation with me. I would ask a few simple questions but didn't want to make them feel like it was an interview. Otherwise, I just stood with them. I was closer to the front of the line and the guy was asking if anyone wanted to sit in the middle (most people wanted to sit on the sides; it was a ship ride that went back and forth). A few of my third year girls were sitting in the middle and yelled at me in the line to join them. So I left my first years and cut the rest of the line. I was the last one walking up the walkway so all my students saw me. I could hear them ooh-ing and ah-ing in the background since I don't think any other teachers have gone on rides with them before. I think they were impressed haha. So I sat with my girls on the ride and it was fun. This is how I know they like me and want to spend time with me. But then right after the ride, they were like, "Bye Teacher!" and peaced out to the next ride. That made me sad. Anyway, I know my students enjoyed my company but they just didn't have much to say.
-Around noon, I went to a building where I was to meet up with all the other teachers for lunch (it was a packed lunch from the school--hence the "school picnic day" part). Afterwards, the teachers lounged about and told me to go back and ride some more "rides" (again, these were kiddies rides, at best). When I was leaving the building, I heard my name being called and I turned to find some other third year girls. They asked me to go on a ride with them (another clue they like me!). I joined them and it was a repeat of the day--I walked the line and chatted with students who were all excited to see me, went on the ride (kids were shocked I was going on a ride), etc. Afterwards, those girls also left me for another ride and I found another group of my girls who wanted me to join them. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

-I realized my girls were a lot more "welcoming" of me into their groups for the rides. This wasn't always true though. I found a group of my boys from the 3-3 class (the class who gave me hell the first month and called me "chicken" at least 100 times a day, until I made friends with the popular boys in the class and now they are GREAT) and I loved hanging out with them. I bunch of them whom I thought didn't like me were actually were excited to see me and chatted with me. Granted, they weren't deep life-changing talks, but it was just nice to see that they actually like me.

-There were a few schools there for their "school picnics" too so I had to seek out my students. They're pretty easy to spot since all my girls and boys have short hair (mandatory). Regardless, I know all of their faces now from class anyway.
-It turned out to be a sunny and beautiful day after a few hours so it wasn't too miserable.
-There was almost NO crowd at Family Land except for the schools. There was a show and there were 5 people in the seats watching. It was almost completely empty. To be honest, it was a bit comical to me.

-The day was fun. It ended well. I saw my kids outside of school, out of their uniforms, and they saw a fun side of me (outside of class and gym). I also realize they like me, or at least there is evidence to prove it.

The next day, Thursday, October 18th was the school's Foundation Day so we also had the day off. When I was at school chapel the week prior to this, I sat down to a teacher who bust out in English. His English wasn't spectacular but we made some conversation. He asked me if I liked trekking (hiking) and I said I did so he invited me to go hiking with him and a bunch of the male teachers on the 18th. Apparently Mr. Cho was in charge of it (go figure). Dan actually told me that Mr. Cho is the cool kid on the block and he's really funny; I guess I share the office with one of the popular teachers.
Anyway, here are some highlights from our hike up 천관산:
-There were 7 male teachers and me. Mr. Cho and Mr. Lee were among the male teachers. The rest were random teachers that I have seen and not seen before. All were sweet though and really inviting as I joined them for the day. -The hike was supposedly gonna take 45 minutes (according to Mr. Cho) so I thought it'd be an easy, short hike. It took 3 hours or so to get to the peak. I'm not complaining since it was fun for me but I definitely think they need to recalculate things in Korea. -It was a gorgeous, cloud-less, clear day so we could see tons of mountains and islands in the distance. It was beautiful.

-At the top, we ate lunch, which is what most Koreans do when they hike. The men had packed kimbap (what they always eat at the top of a mountain), and a bunch of other food, and soju (alcohol is necessary too).

-I realized on this hike that my co-teacher Mr. Lee is kinda the one all the other kids on the block (in this case, the teachers) make fun of. He's the kids everyone bullies but still loves. It's a odd observation since Mr. Cho is the popular kid and I talk to both of them often since they're my English co-teachers.
-After we reached the bottom, I was asked if I wanted to go to the sauna. Apparently, they always go to the spa after a hiking trip but they wanted to make sure it was okay with me since I was the only female and would be hanging out by myself. I told them I'd be down and off to the spa we went. The 7 men went off to do their own thing and I relaxed by myself...next to ajummas. -When we got back, I was told we would have dinner and other teachers would join us. They failed to mention that it would be only male teachers to join us. Dinner was delicious regardless though (we had duck). Long story short, it was a day full of men and me. I must say though, 정 was definitely built. I feel a deep connection to the guys I hiked with.

I taught classes on Friday but all the kids were antsy since they hadn't had school for two days and it was the weekend the next day. I saw my competition kids for the last time. So since the last post, I was training one student from each grade for an English speaking competition in Mokpo. I interviewed all the kids and got to select a kid from each grade to represent their class and our school at this competition. The competition was held on Saturday, October 20th at Yudalsan Middle School. I was planning on going to cheer on my kids so I was gonna stay in Mokpo for the weekend. It worked out perfectly since a bunch of people came to Mokpo that weekend. A bunch of the Gwangju and Naju ETAs were actually judges for the competition and Maggie came down from Hwacheon to visit us. Anyway, I met up with my competition kids in the mornings and helped prep them for the competition. That Friday was the last time I would see them and I was kinda nervous for them. Mr. Lee was the "supervisor" or main English teacher contact for our school so he was also going; he picked me up in the morning and we drove there together. I saw my kids in the morning and gave them last minute tips and a custard cake for luck. Once the opening ceremony was over, the kids were ushered into the main building and none of us were allowed to go in with them. So I told Mr. Lee I would go get treat him to coffee. Long story short, we built a lot of 정 that day. Mr. Lee actually spent a month in Michigan, at University of Michigan on the Ann Arbor campus in 2004. He was there for an English conference for Korean teachers (no joke). It's a small world. He also told me about his family (awkward situation since he said there were some marital problems going on), and random other things. I felt like I got to know him a lot better as a person which is helpful in understanding him as a co-teacher. After lunch, he went to school and I met up with Maggie. My plan was to go home around 2pm since our family had a promise at 3:30 with the neighbors (at least that's what my dad said the night prior). I get a call from Mr. Lee around 10:30am, after hanging out with Maggie for about half an hour, saying that my family said I didn't have to attend the promise. He then asked if I had lunch plans and I said I didn't, so he said we would get lunch together. I didn't think it was too weird since he's my co-teacher but I thought we had already spent a lot of time together in the morning so I was running out of small talk and questions to ask. He drove us to a beef place where we had raw beef (it was delicious) and when I thought we were done, he asked me if I was still hungry and we ordered a grilled beef dish. I had already set in my mind that I was going to pay since I haven't really done anything super special for him as my co-teacher. The bill was HELLA expensive--65,000 won. That's about $30 per person. I was shocked but tried not to give it away. It's a one time deal so it's fine. Like I said, 정 was built so that's all that matters. Anyway, Saturday was a rather interesting day. The competition ended up being awesome. My kids were texting me throughout the day, before they went to tell me what order they would be going in, and after they went to tell me the topic and how they did. All three of them thought they didn't do well. They were wrong. The results came out the following Wednesday. My first grader got bronze. My second grader got gold. My third grader got silver. I was and still am very proud of them!

On Sunday, Tracey and I went with Maggie to Gwangju. From there, she was heading home. Tracey and I went to the Biennale. It was actually really interesting since we got an English tour (for the two of us) and so we actually understood a lot of the art that was being portrayed--which is rare when it comes to modern art since it's so abstract sometimes. We also went back to the frozen yougart waffle place we went to the first time. We were hoping to get some delicious froyo waffles. The problem was, the place stopped selling froyo. We were SO disappointed. It put a damper on our entire day but at least now we know...

I got sick that following week (last week). It's been getting chilly in Mokpo so I caught a cold. Luckily, I went to sleep at 9pm one night and got up at 8am (on a day I was teaching late so I was going into school late). It was a hibernation night but it was needed.

This past weekend, I went to Busan with Tracey. The Busan Fireworks Festival was going to be held on Saturday and we wanted to see that. Tracey and I got in on Friday; she was staying at Payal's and I was at Hilary's. We went shopping in Nampo on Saturday and I must say, I went a little overboard but I don't feel guilty at all. I work really hard for my money--those kids give me a run for my money. I got a leather jacket from Zara (best purchase), a really cute top from H&M, a dress from H&M, a headband, bow clip, and a loose cute top from a smaller shop on the street. I was really happy--retail therapy works. We were planning on hitting up the fireworks after shopping on Saturday. Problem was, it was POURING like none other. While we were in H&M, we found out that the fireworks were cancelled for the night and would be held on Sunday night instead so we wouldn't be able to see them. It was a tad disappointing but I know we would have been miserable if we had stood in that thunderstorm watching fireworks. Regardless, I was really happy with all my purchases so it was a trip well spent. We also met up with everyone who was in Busan (Kathy, Katelyn, Jason, and the Busan ETAs--Payal, Hilary, Monica, Amy Liang, Daniel, Frank). On Sunday, Payal, Hilary, Tracey, and I spent the morning with Hilary's family at a mountain park-thing. Then we went to Costco and picked up candy for our kids for Halloween. It was glorious at Costco--seeing familiar items, tons of American products, etc. It was really nice. Then Tracey and I headed to the bus station. It was a huge traveling weekend for people so Tracey and I couldn't get on the same bus. I got back to Gwangju about an hour after her but we went back to Mokpo together. I got home pretty late, around 11pm, but it was a fun weekend.

That brings me up to today. Now, I found out last week that I will be observed by parents tomorrow for two of my classes, 2-3 and 3-1. I am terrified. Class 2-3 is my ABSOLUTE worst class ever. I would say that 2/3 of the kids in that class do not listen to me, not respect me in any shape or form. I have no idea how tomorrow will go. The other teachers are freaking out too. Mr. Cho asked me to review his lesson plan and I've been asked for tips from all the English teachers about different methods to use and such. I don't think they realize that I'm not certified in teaching... regardless, I'm nervous. My host mom is going to observe my host brother's class tomorrow but she said she would come to my class and observe me too. That just makes things worse. She also told me to dress pretty tomorrow. Oh gosh. I hope it goes well--I'm teaching Conditionals...

So now that I'm caught up on the Korea stuff... it's time to address the elephant in the room (or at least the elephant in my room). My grandpa passed away last week (a little ironic since I did a bucket list lesson with my kids last week...) He was pretty old and I saw it coming for a while now. I actually remember when I was visiting him this past summer before I left for Korea, I thought that it would be the last time I would see him alive. I wasn't wrong. I blogged about it and that memory has still stuck with me. I just had a feeling it was the last time. I was hoping it wouldn't be but reality set in. So I told my co-teacher about it because I wanted to go home but I only got Thursday and Friday off. I would have flown home Wednesday night and landed in New York Thursday morning. Then I would stay for the wake and the funeral (early Saturday) and then have to fly immediately back to make it back to Mokpo Sunday night. My mom and dad both told me not to come. They said it was really expensive and the travel time was long. My mom told me that grandpa understood since she had talked to him about it before he passed. He knew I was going to be in Korea for the year and even he knew there was a possibility of his passing while I was abroad. So... I stayed. I did my own grieving and I don't feel guilty for not going. My grandpa knew I loved him. I did my best to give him all the respect he deserved while he was on this earth and spent a lot of time with him. My grandpa was a great man. I like to think he lived a full life and had a lot of friends. There were a lot of people at his wake, according to my brother. He will be greatly missed.

RIP Grandpa 10-21-12

Time Whirlwind

Be forewarned: this is going to be a long post but I will try to only mention things that stood out to me beyond the routine.

I recognize that it has been a very long time since my last post but I must stress that I have been extremely busy and there have been other priorities. Plus, time has flown by; more than half of orientation is over...

Thursday 7/19/12
A bunch of old/returning ETAs came to Goesan and there was a panel day in which our ETA class got to ask any questions we had. There were three different panel topics: geographic type (urban/suburban/rural/island), school type (middle/high school and co-ed/all boys/all girls), extracurriculars (things outside of our teaching). We split into three groups and moved from room to room. By the end of the panels, I realize that I prefer a suburban/urban placement and want to be involved in a lot of extracurriculars. I was still iffy about middle vs high school because I think there are so many pros and cons to each. I also felt pretty strongly about not being at an all-girls school but other than that, I wasn't sure. There was a previous ETA who learned piano at a piano hagwon and that's actually on my list of goals for this year. I have never learned how to play an instrument (not really at least) and I really want to have that skill.

Friday-Sunday 7/20-7/22/12
So we got a weekend "vacation" trip to Donghae City. Donghae is on the east coast of Korea and we stayed at a hotel called "Donghae Grand Hotel". And surprise, it's a hotel owned by Jungwon University. This weekend trip should have been nick named "Jungwon University vacation" because we also went to a museum on Sunday that was also owned by Jungwon. It was pretty obvious though since everything was still marble. It was actually a really great weekend though and it was a lot of fun. The hotel is right off the beach and has a bridge that connects the hotel to the beach directly instead of having to cross the street. Donghae turned out to be a lot of fun and Mrs. Shim and the KAEC office accompanied us.

On Friday, after arriving in Donghae, we had a Buddhist presentation by a Buddhist monk. From that description (which I was first told), I imagined a Korean monk who had studied English. What we actually got was an American monk who now lives in Korea. It was interesting regardless but I was definitely expecting something different. I have to say the best part though, was after the talk. The KAEC office brought cookies and cheese and crackers. I nearly died when I saw the cheese. I didn't realize how much I would miss eating cheese. There's almost no dairy in my diet in Korea. I mostly get calcium from the ice cream I eat...
Later in the day, we went to visit a Buddhist temple near the base of a mountain. Since we were visiting on a Friday afternoon, there weren't that many people around. I would find out on Saturday, when I went back to go hiking, that it is actually quite a hiking spot for literally hundreds (and probably thousands over the weekend) of people. There was a lady there who gave us a short presentation on the Buddhist temple and its history. The mountain and its surrounding area is really quite beautiful. There is an area near the base of the mountain that you can swim and play in the water.

Most of our evening going-out activities consisted of utilizing the sand and beach provided by Mother Nature. It was actually nice to hang out with some of the ETAs on the beach. There were also fireworks that could be purchased at the boardwalk stores (there was a 7Eleven) and lit up. There were many people on the beach (locals and other tourists I assume) that were blowing them up all over the place. The boardwalk was also pretty cool; there were restaurants, a nordebang (karaoke place), convenience stores, etc. Overall, it was just a relaxing environment.

On Saturday, we got to eat at the hotel breakfast buffet. As a side note, the food during this weekend was delicious; there was even eggs over easy at breakfast. Breakfast, lunch, dinner--it was all good. So after breakfast, we had a free day. We could stay at the beach and have a beach day, go hiking in the mountains, go cave exploring (there's a cave nearby), go to town, etc. The OCT was not to help us beyond directions and we were told it was a "test run" for what our year in Korea will be like when we're off on our own. I decided I wanted to go hiking and cave diving and talked to some other ETAs who wanted to go hiking too. I figured it would be best to go hiking first since the earlier in the day we hike, the better it is (before it gets dark, etc). We took a public bus to the mountain we had visited Friday, the one with the temple. We were intending to climb to the peak of the mountain this time though. It was actually a really long bus ride (40 minutes or so and that excludes a transfer). By the time we go to the mountain, there were already a lot of hikers there. And I believe I mentioned this a few posts ago but Koreans are SERIOUS about their hiking. They have all the equipment and gear... We stopped a guy for directions and he is a good representation of everyone who was there...

We thought it would take only an hour or so to get to the peak of one of the mountains and that's what we were informed. We found out however, it's actually a five-hour hike up to the peak. Our group was around 20 or so people but we had split up into about four smaller groups. The group I was in hiked up and down some of the less steep paths to see the waterfalls. We then decided to find the "real" hike trail to get to the peak. We barely got 1/3 of the way up after about an hour and a half in that direction.

And this was a pretty steep mountain. It was a lot of fun though. We ended up hanging out at this river on a rock. And in our defense, we were pretty high up. We were in the clouds and my camera kept fogging up.

Since we spent the day hiking, not only did we miss lunch (super bummer) but we didn't have enough time to go to the cave. We got back to the hotel in time to spend an hour relaxing at the spa/sauna before a delicious dinner. At night, we hung out in different groups on the boardwalk again. I'm not quite sure what it is about the boardwalk near the ocean but it's relaxing and just a good place to bond with people.

On Sunday, we got ready to leave the hotel in the afternoon so we would have time to stop by a "comprehensive" museum (also owned by Jungwon--go figure) and travel back to Goesan. I'm not quite sure how to describe this museum except for the fact that it is indeed quite...comprehensive. Pictures will probably be a better explanation than words... Keep in mind that all the following pictures are indeed taken at the same museum.

I'm really not quite sure how to describe the museum except with the word, "extensive". We spent some time there and said our goodbyes to Mrs. Shim and the rest of the KAEC office, who are really adorable. Mrs. Shim made a heart with her hands above her head to us when we were on the bus. It was precious.
We then proceeded to head back to Goesan but it took much longer than anticipated with traffic. The most stressing thing about the entire weekend was Sunday night. We had a group meeting and the OCT pretty much unloaded everything onto us. There were two main things:
1. Camp Fulbright (CF) was starting and would be ongoing for the next two weeks.
-CF is a two-week long English summer camp for Secondary Korean students (mostly). It's a pretty prestigious camp in which they can only speak English for two weeks. Past ETAs are Camp Instructors (CIs) and the students are in classes, clubs, activities, etc each day. CF is actually pretty expensive, from what I've heard, about $2000 per student. The student's English level ranges from beginner to advance. This year there are about 100 students enrolled and there are about 8-12 students per class. Each year there is a theme that the camp has. This year it was Hollywood genres (Action, Suspense, Comedy, Historical, etc).
-How this relates to us as ETAs: CF is a way for us to have teaching "crash courses" in a way. We have to teach three lessons during CF to different classes and different levels. We plan lessons, get feedback from the CI we are teaching for, and teach the students while being observed by the CI. Overall, CF provides opportunities to actually spend time in front of real students and teach in a real environment. We also get feedback and can develop our "teaching persona". We dress the part and try to really pretend we're in our schools. The truth is however, CF is nothing like the real thing. The students who attend CF have pretty good English compared to students in our real schools (remember that CF is really expensive and parents who can afford it send their kids here to practice/learn English). Nevertheless, CF gives us an opportunity to get a grasp of what a 45 minute lesson feels like, be in front of real students, etc. We also had to sign up for other things related to CF like Night Fun (an hour long period in which we play games with the campers) and Activity Weekend (we spend a few hours with the students for a different activity... think Olympics, etc).

2. Our placement forms were due on Thursday.
-We fill out a placement form about the things we want, the things we don't want, etc. We write down everything we think would help us have a successful Grant year and we submit it to the KAEC. They then place us in different schools all around South Korea, where we will be teaching for the rest of the year.
-This is pretty much the pinnacle of everything. Our placement dictates a lot about what the rest of the year might look like. I'm sure I'll look back and think this is silly since we will learn to love where ever we get placed, but it is still important nonetheless.
Since there was CF for the next two weeks, there would be no group meetings from Sunday night until after CF was over. Instead of the workshops, we would have supplemental talks that were optional to attend. On days we would teach, we would head up to our classrooms immediately after lunch and that would take up a majority of our afternoon. We would also have to add lesson planning to our list of to-dos, which include our Cultural Adjustment Checks (CACS), our weekly short responses about how we're adjusting to Korea, one-on-ones with an OC, bi-weekly meetings with a member of the OCT to talk about the CACs and other things that are bothering us, studying Korean, etc.
It may not seem overwhelming but at the time of, it felt as if there was a lot to do. And in a way, there was. Plus, we were not mentally prepared for it; we had just gotten back from a beach vacation in Donghae.
I had signed up for teaching lessons a bit later than other people so I was teaching High Beginner Documentary, High Beginner Epics/Historicals, and High Intermediate Comedy. Let's be honest, out of those three, only comedy sounds really cool. And I can't even say I signed up for that because the third lesson is done in pairs and the OCT assigns it. I had signed up so late I was stuck with Documentary and Historical.

Monday 7/23/12
I wasn't teaching until Thursday and almost all of the supplementary talks sounded pretty interesting to me so I have attended almost all of them (so far). The one on this day was particularly of interest to me because it was about North Korean defectors and how we can volunteer to work with them during our grant year. We got some brief history about North Korean defectors, common routes taken to get to South Korea, etc. We also learned about Hana centers, which are centers in South Korea that provide resources for defectors, from psychological counseling to English teaching. This is where ETAs come in. There is a program through Fulbright (started last year) that works with eight Hana centers located all around South Korea. ETAs volunteer and teach English on a weekly basis. They are trying to pair people up so there is a closer bond between an ETA and a student. After this talk, I knew I would at least have this on my placement form. This is something I'm very interested in doing and I want to have an opportunity to work with these students.

Tuesday 7/24/12 There was a K-Pop supplemental talk that I had to go to. I don't listen to K-Pop but I know it's HUGE in Korea. It's actually the number one export out of Korea (no surprise) and it's actually a really fascinating industry. They didn't go into as much depth about background like Amy did a few weeks ago when Tracey and I asked her about K-pop but they introduced us to a lot of groups. Well, the talk was interesting and I'm hoping to at least understand the industry while I'm here so I can relate better to my students.
I also had my one-on-one with JR, one of the OCs where I talked about my concerns regarding placement, etc. Long story short, JR told me he could see me in an all-boys school. When he said that, I actually thought about it and realized I could definitely see myself in that position. I'm not completely sold on the idea but I could definitely image that being a cool environment to teach in.

Thursday 7/26/12
This was the day I taught my first lesson for CF. It actually went pretty well. I taught about personality and dance and linked it to the daily theme of Documentary through a dance documentary clip I showed at the beginning. Something interesting is that no one wants to stick out here. Being seen as different or individualistic is a negative thing. All the girls have the same haircuts, no one wants to say they don't like kimchee or K-pop, etc. Well, the lesson itself went well but there was an activity that I had that was similar to Musical Chairs but requires dancing. The kids would have to dance to the music playing until I stopped it. When the music stop, they would have to freeze. The problem is that if one student wasn't dancing, everyone would stop dancing. I had to either get all the students or I would get nothing. That's something I'll need to figure out when I start teaching too.
The placement form was also due at midnight. I filled it out pretty late, around 11pm and I ended up putting a lot of "no preference" on my sheet. I honestly do believe I can adapt to different situations over time but we'll see what happens. Where ever God puts me, I'm sure there's a reason for it.

Friday 7/27/12 So Friday was my roommate Christina's birthday so I got her a cake from Tour De Jour (a bakery chain in Korea) in Goesan on Thursday. I got our Korean class in on it and we surprised her with it during class. It was pretty cute. Also, our second Korean teacher (our four hours of class are split up into 50 minute blocks with 10 minute breaks with one teacher teaching the first two lessons and another teacher teaching the last two lessons) brought chocolate snacks for her (and the class) to have.
So this Friday was special because we had GLEE Membership Training (MT). So MT is essentially an overnight hangout party at a pension (home you rent). We barbecued, explored, danced, hung out, etc. There were more than a few... interesting moments though. So apparently every year they have a cross-dressing show where we pick boys to dress up and turn into boys. Since the girls outnumber the boys by a long shot, we got to pick the boy we wanted to dress up. There were three teams and thus three boys who were transformed into looking like women. It was pretty interesting to say the least...

We also played Fishbowl, a drinking truth-or-dare game. It was actually kind of crazy but I'll leave it at that. What happens at MT, stays at MT. So there were three rooms in the pension and I have to argue that my room was the best. We had the most people in it and it was gross but it was a lot of fun. Jet was snoring, we were messing around with each other, we stole pillows from each other, we had some life chats, etc. I actually slept between Amy L and Anna because there was no room elsewhere. I didn't even have a pillow! It was a really good time though.

Saturday 7/28/12
After getting back from MT, I had to go to the CF Activity Fun I signed up for (Mental Olympics). I was in charge of Jeopardy and the different groups of kids came and played. It was pretty funny since they are all so different and have different personalities. There were some random things some of the kids said but I can't remember them off the top of my head anymore. I think I'm gonna start a quote book with things Korean kids say...

Sunday 7/29/12
Sunday was the day my "Suburban virginity broke," as Anna put it. Anna, Payal, and I took the bus to Cheongju to watch The Dark Knight Rises and explore the city a little bit. It was amazing. I haven't spent much time talking about Goesan but there's not much here. Cheongju is a suburban area but as I've mentioned, suburban in Korea isn't equivalent to suburban in America. It's actually quite big and there is so much to do. Anna was there to visit her cousins so Payal and I went to watch Batman. Anna met up with us after Batman so we could all go shopping and exploring together. It was awesome--both the movie (though not the best thing in the world like some people made me believe) and exploring Cheongju. There were so many shops and food carts and just things to see. You have to remember that I have been stuck in Goesan for the past few weeks so I felt like a kid on Christmas. The three of us were like bright-eyed, bushy tailed deer. Coming back to reality and Goesan was a bit disappointing though. The minute we got off the bus and walked back to Jungwon, we had went too far to come back down to reality.

Monday 7/30/12
I went to CF Homework Help, which is an optional thing ETAs can attend. I was teaching on Tuesday so I decided I would go and at least meet the kids I would teach. They were hilarious. So for their final project, they are required to write skits. There was one kid who had the funniest skit. His title was "(His name) has 3 girlfriends. He is a player." I kid you not. His skit was about 20 lines long but it was girlfriend after girlfriend telling him they loved him and then finding out about the other girlfriends and bursting into tears. These kids are ridiculous.

Tuesday 7/31/12
This was my second day of teaching and the kids were super calm. I was given feedback from the CI to "fake it til you make it" because I didn't look super confident up there. There was also a mandatory workshop about culture that we had to go to. It was about being sensitive to things we do as foreigners and as Fulbright ETAs since we will be judged very harshly as Americans, etc.

Wednesday 8/1/12
So during orientation, many returning Caucasian ETAs have made comments about how people go up to them at the coffee shop or the bus stop, etc because they are clearly foreigners. Most of the people who go up to them want to use their English or want to know more about them, etc. I remember thinking to myself that that situation would not be applicable to me. I am Asian and I have already been mistaken for being Korean multiple times while in Korea. If I am sitting in a coffee shop by myself, no one is going to take that as a cue to come talk to me because I'm very obviously an American. No one. So there was a supplementary talk about being Asian and how that might translate into our grant year. I'm okay with not being treated like a rockstar and I know there are pros and cons to each side. It's a lot easier for me to blend in on a bad day when I don't want to talk to anyone but it might be harder for me to make local friends. Only time will tell.
Also, our TKD master told us that we only had three days left of TKD. This was new news to all of us. The last two days (Thurs and Mon) would be sparring. Yep... sparring with a real person.

Thursday 8/2/12
FINALLY. My descriptions/explanations about what occurred in more recent days has gotten shorter as this post has gotten longer...
So today was my last lesson. It actually went REALLY well; I think this was my best lesson yet. I taught with Rachel and we taught parody/tricks under the Comedy umbrella. We actually played a prank on them at the beginning and told them we would be teaching Shakespearean Comedy. It's funnier than it sounds because the ETA yesterday taught about Shakespeare and it was a dry lesson. If only I had taken a picture of the look on these kids' faces. They were grimacing and in shock. There were even some audible groans and a student who said, "Why teacher?" One thing to note is that a lot of students have accents so it actually sounds more like "Why Tea-cha?" We even had another slide on elements of a Shakespearean Comedy. Then we told the kids to pull out two pieces of paper and that they would spend the entire period writing their own Shakespearean Comedy based on the elements they learned. The kids looked absolutely miserable and it was hilarious for us. I actually started laughing midway and couldn't stop and had to hide myself. When we finally said we were kidding, the kids were so relieved and they actually paid attention for the rest of the lesson. I think they really enjoyed it to be honest. We also got really good feedback from our CI.
TKD was awesome. Sparring is actually a lot of fun. I got paired up with Stephanie and we both got 1 point from our hits so we tied. We get to spar again on Monday so I'm looking forward to that.

Placement day is tomorrow. It was announced a few days ago that the KAEC was done and would be coming on Friday for the Placement ceremony. It's actually a big deal (I think) since Mrs. Shim and the KAEC office is coming. We dress up in business professional attire. It's crazy to think how fast the turnaround time was for placement. We filled out the forms on Thursday midnight--so essentially Friday, and they placed us by Tuesday (they announced the ceremony date at the mandatory culture workshop). I don't know how I feel but I know I'm anxious. I'm thinking what will actually take place is they will announce my placement location and it will be a name I don't recognize and have never heard before. I will have no idea where it is; I won't know if it's urban/suburban/rural; I won't know how far it is from other cities; I won't know anything. That's probably going to happen since I have only heard of so many places in Korea but it just worries me. I'm going to have to sit in agony for an hour while the ceremony finishes up before I can run upstairs to my room and google my location. That scares me. I know God will place me where He wants me to be but I guess I'm just unsure of what's going to happen tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'll commiserate with my fellow ETAs:

Xena Style

I honestly didn't realize I would be so busy at Orientation. For some reason, I thought we would ease into this whole teaching in Korea for a year thing... that has not been the case. Even my weekends feel busy, with excursions and studying and what-not.

Sunday was ridiculous, in the most epic way. So I signed up for an optional excursion with Anthony and JR. It was marketed as a "Scenic Nature Walk" that would led up to a waterfall where we could jump off of it and swim. Now that I can safely declare I'm alive and well, let me just note that the excursion turned out to be a Xena-style River Adventure Forest Nature Climb. It was unexpected for all of us, even the OCs. I know this because both Anthony and JR were wearing flip flops/sandals. Everyone else in our group was wearing bathing suits under our clothes, t-shirts, shorts, and mostly sneakers. We got onto the bus in town and the ride was supposed to be about thirty minutes. It is important to keep in mind that neither Anthony nor JR have been to this waterfall before so we were walking in blind. Anthony had only Googled it and looked at pictures. So the driver told us to get off at a certain stop (which we would certainly find out he let us off one stop too early).

There was a path at first and it was scenic for sure.

There were a bunch of pretty houses around and a lot of green. We also saw a lot of Koreans in hiking gear. One thing I learned on this trip is that Koreans take their hiking extremely seriously. Every ajumma and ajosshi we saw was super geared up, with hiking boots, hiking pants, hiking packs, hiking sticks, the whole get-up. This path wasn't very hard either. Anthony, being the fluent Korean speaker in the group, asked some people for directions and we followed the path. So what happened was that we were told we needed to cross the river. This is the river that is downstream from the waterfall and the current was actually pretty strong.

So somehow, miraculously, Anthony got over the stream safely. He then broke off a tree branch (quite a large one) and each of us walked over the river one by one. My description does not give enough justice to what actually occurred. Andrea tried to go over after Anthony, before he got the stick, and she actually slipped and started to go downstream until she held onto a rock and Anthony got to her and was able to grab her hand. If that had not happened, she would have been a goner. Actually, Bridget was the only one who made it across (walking-wise) while holding onto the stick. Everyone else held onto the stick and tried to walk over but we got carried away by the current and had to get pulled in through the stick. I'm being totally serious. It was RIDICULOUS BUT AWESOME. I don't want to be dramatic and say I was staring death in the eyes but I think I only feel that way because no one got seriously hurt. Had Andrea actually gotten carried down with the current, I would definitely say otherwise. I mean, it was dangerous in the sense that it could have actually led to some dangerous outcomes but in the end, we were safe.

So crossing the river was hard enough and we thought we were in the green and would reach the waterfall soon. There was a path... for the first ten minutes. Unfortunately however, we found out very quickly that the path ends... so we ended up walking on rocks, on the edge of the river really. By this time, my sneakers and clothing were obviously completely soaked. Luckily, my DSLR kept dry in my backpack (which was thrown across the river). I could tell we were touching things (trees, rocks, bark, moss, etc) and stepping in places (inbetween rocks, on river sand, etc) that no one has ever touched before. We must have walked for thirty minutes or so. Then we saw two guys across the river from us (from the same side we were initially on). They were the first people we had seen in a while. As you can imagine, there was no one else crazy enough to follow our... unmarked path. We yelled for their attention and they said that the waterfall was on their side and we should cross since the current would only get stronger as we walked further upstream, closer to the waterfall. We had to cross the stream again. We had the same drill. Anthony got across miraculously and got a stick for us to hold onto as we walked across.

From here on out, it was 100x easier. There was a real path to follow and it was not strenuous at all. The part that sucked the most, for me at least, was the waterfall. It was so anticlimactic. There were stairs that led to a "scenic" view point of the waterfall... which to be honest, was not that pretty. There was barbed wire at the cliff, where the waterfall begins. It was very obvious that we were not allowed to jump off or swim. I was confused since we were told we could jump off and swim by Anthony and JR when we signed up for the excursion.

I found out later from a local that two guys had died last year at the waterfall (details unknown) so they made regulations to prohibit swimming there now. We also found out from the other tourists there that the bus stop was 15 kilometers away (a little less than a mile) and there was a real path that led from the bus stop to the waterfall. This was a facepalm moment. The bus driver gave the worst directions ever. Luckily, no one got hurt, and had an epic adventure that I thought was fun.

We split up to get food while in town so we all got back to Jungwon University at different times. My group was feeling pretty icky but someone suggested we go to the spa since we could shower there and it would be relaxing, etc. I was hesitant at first but decided it was only $2 and it was a Sunday. Well... the spa was an adventure in itself as well (at least for me). So I'm calling it a spa because I think that's what it's called but it might have a different name. So essentially, there are hot pools, a cold pool, showers, and saunas inside. In the one at Jungwon, there's also a swimming pool attached to it. That's not the part that took me offguard. So since it's gender segregated, everyone goes nude. I went with Kathy, Monica, and Stephanie. Apparently I'm the only one who hasn't experienced a nude spa before... So to make this story short, I got over it. I am a firm believe in thinking that things are awkward only if you make them awkward. And since we're all females, we all have the same body parts so it's not like we haven't seen something before. It actually turned out to be an awesome and relaxing experience. The hot water pool felt relaxing (like a jacuzzi) and the saunas were pretty good too. I felt my skin when we left and it was softer. And it was, oddly enough, a bonding experience for the four of us. We are trying to make it a weekly thing so we can relax and let loose.

The rest of the day was spent studying and attempting to come up with a lesson plan for Camp Fulbright.

Today was the start of another week and it's busy, per usual. Class was four hours, with a quiz at the beginning. We had a workshop (this one was about games so it was a lot of fun since we actually participated in some) and then I had TKD and Bible Study (on Mondays only). It should be noted that we did get our TKD uniforms in and we look super legit.

Hiking

I gave my cell phone to one of my team members, Luis, last night since he is in the business of fixing phones; my 3gs IPhone has a cracked screen from when I dropped it a few weeks prior. I didn’t realize it at the time but I use my cell phone as my alarm so when I was going to bed last night, I freaked out because I have no other way of waking up. Since we were hiking Mount Kenya today and were leaving at 7am, I had to wake up even earlier than usual. And the fact that we went out the night before meant I was sleeping even later. So essentially, I ended up sleep very little and very lightly so I could wake up a few times during the night to check the time to make sure I wasn’t late. When I woke up and the time was 5:45am, I decided to just stay awake since I knew there would be no way I could reawaken myself in half an hour. By the time I got to the dining room at 6:30am, I realized I was the first one there. We didn’t even end up leaving until 7:30am or so since we were still waiting on others. What an epic fail.

The drive to Mount Kenya was about an hour. Emmanual, one of the BLISS graduates was sitting next to me on the van so I had an interesting conversation with him. He asked some unique questions and made some comments that I didn’t know how to respond. His questions were mostly regarding American perceptions and culture. He asked if we (Americans) expected Kenyans to ask us for money; why we ignore friendly strangers when they say hi; if anyone could get into university in America; etc. He then went on to talk about our group specifically and talked about his situation. He graduated from BLISS and tested well enough to go to university but was trying to fundraise money to attend. However, his peers that did not test well enough to attend university were saying things to the extent that our group was giving him money and sponsorships to attend university; they were accusing him of fundraising money to just pocket. He also said that he and the rest of the locals we are working with are very lucky since they have the opportunity to join us in our adventures. Our group is paying for their safari trip on Monday and has been dishing out for other random occasions too; for example, the trip to Mount Kenya was free and at the bar last night, there were 2 drinks on the house, etc. I wasn’t quite sure how to respond or feel, to be honest. That’s something I need to sleep on.

We drove up the side of the mountain, instead of using the typical entrance to avoid potential political demonstrations that would have blocked the road. The three vans drove up about an hour into the slopes and it was supposed to go up even further but the soil and lack of grip caused the vans to stop about 9 kilometers short of the supposed drop off point. One van couldn’t drive up a certain hill so everyone packed into two vans to get further until those two vans were also stopped by the landscape. So we got off and started walking. We had about 3 tour guides with us who live in the town near the mountain and climb the mountain on a daily basis. I was talking to the main tour guide guy and he said he’s been hiking the mountain for the past 59 years. He’s got to be well into his 60’s or 70’s but he’s in awesome shape, which makes sense for someone who hikes up miles of mountain every day. Everyone was going at a different speed so there were clumps of people who were walking up together. I started out pretty fast initially but slowed down as we got deeper into the slopes. We hiked for about two hours and stopped for lunch. Because we had to start our hike earlier than expected, we stopped shorter than expected too. We were at the same altitude as the clouds. It was a breath taking view regardless. Initially, we were trying to reach the bottom of Mount Kenya since we were only hiking on the slopes of the mountain. There was a lake nearby too. However, by the time we finished lunch around 1pm, we found out that it was another 1.5 hours trip to the lake. That means it would take 3 hours roundtrip to get to our lunch location. From there, it was another 2 hours to return to the vans and another hour to get out of the forest/mountain slopes and onto a road. We wouldn’t get onto the road until 6pm and since sunset is at 6:30pm, we would be cutting it extremely close. It is dangerous to be in the forest or mountain any time after dark so we decided against continuing further. We walked back to the van and then drove back to Meru. Everyone and anyone we passed stopped and stared at us. I’m not exaggerating. Every pair of eyes were on us as we drove through the town closest to the mountain.

It is fair to say I got a good share of exercise today, to say the least. It had to be at least a few miles of hiking up and down the mountain. When we got back, I ate a quick dinner and took a glorious shower. I think everyone is feeling tired so we all holed up in our rooms after dinner, even though it’s relatively early. I guess this is how elderly people feel—early to rise, early to rest.