Field Trip Fun

Coming back from the field trip with my students, I was on a high. I love my kids and the teachers and the school and had only positive feelings coming back. The trip was three days, two night starting on Monday morning and ending on Wednesday evening. On Monday, we got on the bus went to 부여 and 공주 for some historical site visits before getting to the 양지 ski resort where we would be staying for both nights. On Tuesday, we went to Everland for the day. On Wednesday, we went to visit Seoul National University (if it can even be considered a visit--explanation to come later), and Job World right outside of Seoul, before driving back to Mokpo.

At first, I was really nervous about going with my kids because I wasn't sure if I'd be alone the entire time. The other teachers don't really speak English and most kids aren't trying to hang out with their teachers at an amusement park. I was also the only female teacher on the trip. There were a total of 14 adults: the seven third year homeroom teachers, the Principal, the school career counselor, a morality teacher (who also doubles as the PC guy at our school), a new gym teacher (who, as I found out on this trip, was on the Water Polo Olympic team for Korea), me, and two hired non-teachers (one photographer and one trip planner/guide who was in charge of all the details of the trip). It was pretty much 12 ajusshis, 1 young man (the gym teacher), and 1 young female (me). I know the third year homeroom teachers love me though so I wasn't too worried about them. The problem was the language barrier, which actually wasn't too bad. There was a lot of broken Korean, broken English, and hand gestures but it worked out. In relation to my kids, these are my new third years who were my second years last year. I didn't have the best relationship with a lot of them last year. In fact, all my favorite classes were the third years who have now graduated. The second years gave me headaches last year. Granted, they were going through puberty and now as third years, they've kind of chilled out and their hormones have kind of balanced out now so they're a lot better. Honestly, I just wasn't sure what it would be like to go on this trip with them because I think the indifference was mutual. Luckily for me, I realized on this trip that a lot of them really like me and I also have a bunch of students added to my favorites list. The funny thing is, of my third year classes now, the boys' classes are significantly better. I think because of that, I expected to hang out with my boys a lot more. Plus, my fave second years last year were all boys and they were in my club classes. The way it worked out though, I spent a LOT, if not all my time with the girls.

So on Monday morning, the 3-6 homeroom teacher, Park Yeong Jae invited me to join his class on his bus so I was on the 3-6 girls' bus the entire trip. I didn't really interact with the students on the bus because I sat in the front row, but I did get a chance to get to know Mr. Park pretty well. He's a really sweet older man. He kinda is like a really young and cool grandpa. At 부여, we went to this mountain/park/temple/etc place. It's a historical site where a kingdom was once centered around and also where it fell to the next dynasty. It was where we stopped for lunch and also walked around. Funny cultural difference of Korea and America is that during lunch (the teachers had kimbap), I was given plum wine to drink. I'M A TEACHER ON A FIELD TRIP WITH STUDENTS AND I WAS GIVEN ALCOHOL TO DRINK FROM OTHER TEACHERS DURING LUNCH. THE HECK. Anyway, I found it pretty amusing. After lunch, I started walking around with the teachers but given the differences pace and picture taking, I ended strolling alone for some time. I did stop and talk to some students here and there but I was just enjoying the scenario. As I neared a pagoda thing, two of my girls called me over and I ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the 부여 visit. I found out as we were walking back to the bus that their teacher had told them to make sure I was okay. That kind of killed the thought that they were hanging out with me cause they wanted to (don't worry, the story is better later). I assured them I was fine and that they really didn't have to find me/hang out with me. I think that gave them some comfort. From there, the buses drop to 공주, which wasn't that far away. It's the tombs of kings and stuff. It was a much smaller version of what I saw in Gyeongju. The students weren't into the first day. They kept saying, "힘들어" (tired) over and over again. When we got to the 양지 ski resort, they were so excited, especially the girls. The rooms were HUGE. They fit one homeroom class in two rooms. It was about 14-15 girls per room. Within each room, there are separate rooms, living room, kitchen, etc. It was a nice setup. I felt really bad though because I had my own room and I could tell it was pricey. I told them later that day that I didn't mind spending the night with students so that's what I ended up doing on Tuesday night.

After dinner, I went to the basement where a lot of my kids were playing. There was an arcade game room, a 노래방, a bowling/billards room, etc. I ended up playing some arcade games and even played a game of billiards with three other boys. One of them invited me to play with them (that made me happy). Around 8:30pm or so, I headed back to where the rooms where. My room was way off away from everyone else on the 7th floor but all the students and teachers were on the 3rd and 4th floors. I didn't want to just be alone in my room because the purpose of going on this trip was to spend time with my students and the other teachers. I went to the 4th floor where all the girls' rooms were located. I didn't think it would be appropriate if I, the only young female teacher on the trip, went into fifteen 16 year-old boys' rooms. I visited all the rooms and they all seemed really happy to see me. I jumped from room to room, visiting all the girls and making sure they knew I was around. I ended up settling in one room in particular because everyone in the room was in the living room playing Mafia. The other rooms were more spread out in the sense that different groups of girls were doing different things. I liked the unity in this one room. All the girls who were staying in that room were hanging out together playing games together. When I was visiting the rooms, I would chit chat for a little bit but unless there's something to do, it gets boring real quick. The fact that they were all together and were playing games collectively was awesome. I ended up hanging out in their room for like 2-3 hours playing Mafia and other random games. I even showed them two American games and we played those. There were just some really great moments with those girls. I could hear them telling each other to speak in English because I was there and they were really trying to explain instructions in English or speak in English during the games. They were using English for numbers; it was just really cute. They even shared ice cream and candy with me. I know they respect me too because during a game where you have to direct the person after you, I didn't realize it was my turn because the girl before me didn't point to me, she used her entire hand to direct it to me. I'm not sure if that makes sense but instead of using just her pointer finger, she was using her entire hand. When I said I didn't see her direct to me, the girls in the circle were telling me it was because I'm a teacher. They said they point to everyone else and I could point to everyone else but they were hand gesture to me. IT'S CAUSE I'M A TEACHER AND THEY RESPECT ME. I almost melted. Anyway, it was such a great time. The BEST part, which seemed to be a theme throughout the field trip, was that these girls never really stick out in my class. With maybe two exceptions, most of the girls in the room that I was having such a great time with were either really shy and quiet in my class or chatty and a bit misbehaved in my class. None of these girls were a part of my "favorite students" list.

Around 11:30pm or so, the girls said I must be tired and so I walked around one last time to all the rooms to bid my farewell and goodnight. Little did I realize the night was still young. One of the homeroom teachers was doing a round and he ushered me towards the teachers' room. It was strange because I was fully aware I would be going into an all ajusshis' room. I ended up drinking more plum wine and chatting with them in broken Korean. A few of the teachers were sleeping in the room but there were five of us in the living room. I definitely got to know them so much better and I built a lot of 정. So the reason I know that the third year homeroom teachers love me, besides the fact that they've told me how much they like me and they feed me every time I go to their office, is very specific to the conversation that took place on Monday night. One of the teachers asked me when I was going back to America. I told them that I would be leaving in July because my parents really wanted me to go home and whatnot. I also told them I have a job but I wish I had more time with the students and that I wish I could stay another year. I told them that once I left, another native English teacher would come in August. I said that they were probably really used to it since Fulbright has been at my school for so long (over 10 years). I told them it was like how I came in after Daniel, the previous ETA, left. There would be a new native English teacher who would essentially replace me. When I mentioned Daniel, they had no idea who I was talking about. They even looked around at each other and I could hear them asking each other if the ETA last year was male or female. None of them remembered Daniel, or any other past native English teacher for that matter. I was SHOCKED. I then proceeded to ask them if they would remember me when I leave. They said they would because we were trekking friends. Two of the four teachers in the living room with me were teachers that I went trekking with the first semester. I was SO touched when they said that. They said they would of course remember me because I have been so good to them. See, this is why nostalgia is kicking in and it's making me wish I could renew an extra year and at my school. After drinking for an hour or two, I went back to my lonely 7th floor room. I think Monday night was my favorite part of the entire field trip because I got to spend so much time with the teachers and students. It wasn't even just the time spent but it was the memorable moments.

On Tuesday, we headed to Everland in the morning. I was going to hang out with two girls in particular when I got into the park but I couldn't find them so I figured I could walk around and get my bearings first. After 20 minutes in, I saw a group of my girls standing and waiting for a ride that hadn't opened yet. They told me they wanted to hang out with me for the entire day. I was so happy to hear that. Again, of this group of nine girls, none of them ever really stuck out in my mind because they're not super memorable in class. It was really great though. I did end up spending all day with them, with the exception of lunch.
Around noon, I broke up to meet up the other teachers at a restaurant. The biggest ride at Everland called the Teacup ride, was shut down so that was a little bit of a bummer. After lunch, I remet up with the group of girls and then went on more rides. I did indeed end up spending most of the day hanging out with this group. I even bought them ice cream, which they seemed really appreciative of. I was exhausted by the end of the day but of course, it wasn't over. At night, since I was spending the night with students, I had to keep my game face on. A lot of my students were exhausted too; a lot of them took long naps when we got back to the ski resort and didn't even go to dinner. The group of 9 girls I hung out with all day happened to be sleeping in the same room and so I planned to sleep in their room. I was actually kicking it with the teachers in their room after dinner and I told them if they were planning on drinking, to come get me. One teacher told me they were tired today so there wouldn't be drinking. To be honest, I was pretty relieved because I was exhausted. It also meant that I could shower and relax/lounge about with my students before passing out early. However, right after I got out of the shower, around 11pm, I heard a knock on the door and one of the teachers was looking for me. They were drinking -_-'. So I was already showered, in my pajamas, and had removed all my makeup (I have to wear makeup when I'm around my teachers/students). At this point, I was just tired and didn't care enough to try to make too much of an effort so I just went over to their room as I was. Low and behold, as luck would have it, the principal was there this time. SHOOT ME IN THE FACE. I sat around and drank with them for about an hour or so. One of the teachers told the principal that I drink really well and told him that I drank a ton of soju when I went hiking with them. I also found out during this time that the gym teacher was on the Korean water polo Olympic team. He's JACKED; I Googled him on the spot when they told me. Yes, it was necessary. Around midnight or so, I was really pushing my limits. I was already on low sleep and had been running around with my kids all day so I told the group I was really sorry but was extremely exhausted and was going to sleep. Honestly, at this point, I've kind of gone back to the direct American Ammy instead of conforming to the extremely polite, timid, indirect Koreanized Ammy. I think winter vacation kind of reset me to the person I generally am. I've stopped using "maybes" in everything pretty much. I'm really direct with my coteachers about what I want. It's kind of bad but to be honest, it doesn't seem to have hurt me that much. I'm not sure if they appreciate the directness and honesty or not but they haven't said anything about it. Plus, I'm not renewing so I'm not even sure if it makes a difference this far in the game. I'm still representing Fulbright well and whatnot but I'm just not as indirect as we were told to be. This is not to say that I'm impolite by any means; I buy the teachers gifts all the time and always insa, etc, but I'm definitely more direct about requests.

Anyway, on Wednesday, after a very restless night (girl on my left and right moved in their sleep and left me with very little room to sleep), we packed up and drove to Seoul National University. So, I thought the plan was to get a tour, of any kind: a walking tour, bus driving tour, something. I guess we were low on time or there was some cancellation or something but we ended up driving through campus, stopping at the front gate, taking class pictures, and then leaving. We didn't even really step foot onto campus. It was pretty much a waste of time. The students didn't get much from it and to be honest, I was sleeping on the bus when we drove through campus so I don't even remember the drive around. Afterwards, we drove to get lunch at a restaurant and then out of Seoul to Job World. So... how do I explain Job World? Essentially, it's this huge building complex where kids and students get to explore different career and job positions. There were careers in different fields ranging from art to fashion to business to science. Within each industry, there were tons of jobs. So, the kids pick a specific job, for example, flight crew, and then they go to that station. Each career path or whatnot has a room/station. The students spend the next hour or so in that station learning about that career path, what it entails, the work they do, etc. Then they role play.
The teachers sat around outside waiting about 10 minutes after the students went into the simulation/exploration area. Then we were allowed to go in, see the groups at their stations, etc. It was actually really cool, I thought. I wish I was given the opportunity to go to something like this when I was a kid. My aspirations today might be completely different had I did. After Job World, we headed back to Mokpo. The students all left and the teachers (most of them) gathered for a teachers dinner. It was hosted by two students' mothers.

All in all, it as a heck of a good time. It was probably the best experience I've had with the teachers and students at my school. I mean, this goes back to the "feeling of having to leave hitting me so I feel like I wanna stay" mentality so that didn't help things. I mean, I really do love my school. Granted, there are rough days and problems with administration, etc but on the whole, I think I get along really well with the teachers and students. I know I will be very sad when I have to leave them.

So, today is Friday and I guess reality has set in some, due to some happenings today. I have to be at school at 8am Monday-Thursday and I don't have to teach until second period on Fridays so I tend to sleep an extra hour on Fridays. Today, that was a rookie mistake. As I approached the school, I heard someone on a loudspeaker on the field yelling at students. I thought it was the high school because I didn't know of any event going on today. I was mistaken. As I walked up the stairs toward my school, I saw the teachers and my students on the field. Apparently today is Health and Fitness day where students are getting tested for their overall health and ability. I had NO idea because no one had told me. The best part about all of this is that I decided to wear a skirt today for the first time since like October. So, I walked into the empty and quiet school to put down my stuff and then headed out towards the field. I could tell I was being judged by the teachers (and probably the students) as I approached in my skirt. The principal saw me and looked at me and said, "Oh, skirt? Style?" Instead of telling him I didn't know it was Health Day, I just told him it was hot outside and that was why I was wearing a skirt. Yep. To the other teachers, I just told them I had no idea it was Health Day. I find out through asking around that there are no classes today because it will take all day to record and test all the students. Again, no one told me this. The kids are being recorded on running time, number of push-ups, jumping distance, etc. I walked around among my students to say hi. I stopped at the push-up station where my boys were struggle busing so I did push-ups alongside one kid. I think the boys were kinda impressed, especially as I was in my skirt. I heard a few kids say, "Teacher, good, healthy." It was pretty funny. As I was walking around, a student came up to me and said, "Teacher, miniskirt?" I told him no, it wasn't (the skirt goes up to my knee), and he responded with, "I think so." The kid who said it has a mental disability though and he's a good student so I know he means no harm. Still, it definitely made me feel even more self conscious about wearing it. So today kind of reminds me of how the rest of my grant year has been and how it will probably continue to be,that is, how I don't know a lot of what is going on until the moment it is happening. I know things slip through the cracks and it's definitely not the end of the world, but I just wish my co-teacher or someone would have mentioned this to me. At least it's Friday.

Today I'm heading to Daegu so I can go to Cheongdo for the Bullfighting Festival on Saturday. Tracey, Katelyn, Maggie, Amy T and I are hitting it up together but we'll be meeting up with the Daegu people when we're there. I'm pretty interested in seeing what it's like since it's... a different kind of festival.

The Countdown

I was meeting up with the Mokpo crew this past Wednesday night and a few of us were reflecting on how the year has kind of flown by (expected as the end is close enough to see) and how living in Korea has become our reality. Because it's become our reality, we tend to blog less because we're no longer removed from our situations or thinking about how things are so different here; we just tend to take things naturally and so we tend to blog less because we think we have less to say. On top of that, whatever we're feeling at the time, we tend to think we're always going to remember feeling that way. We fail to really understand that feelings and memories fade over time. If we want to capture that moment, we need to record it. As we were talking about this, I realized it's why I don't blog as much anymore. I take things for granted in Korea. My grant year has been awesome and it's become my "real life."

Anyway, a rundown of the past happenings (non school related first) since my last blog:
I hit up the Gwangyang International Maehwa Festival (광양 국제매화문화축제) on March 24th with Payal, Anna, Kathy, and Tracey. Payal, Anna, and Kathy came into Gwangju on Saturday so we went to the Gwangju Uprising Memorial, which was cool. It's the first "touristy" thing I've done in Gwangju. They stayed in a love motel but I went back to Mokpo and met up with them at the festival the next day. To be honest, the festival wasn't that good. I expected something spectacular, as it is an "international" festival. It was... mediocre at best. Honestly, I can't say it was that memorable because it REALLY wasn't. It fell very short of any expectations. The funny thing is, the same flowers bloom everywhere in Korea. There are tons of those trees in Mokpo and there are actually a bunch of those trees on my school grounds. On the bright side, I did get to see some friends.

The next weekend, on the 30th, I went to see G Dragon in concert with a bunch of people. It was mostly a lot of the Busan girls, Mokpo girls, and some others like Amy T and Amber. That was pretty fun overall but the concert also fell a bit short of expectations. It seemed like GD got tired really quickly and he wasn't even singing half the time. He would stop singing at parts and it would just be the music overlaying in the background. I mean, he was decent and I had a good time but I don't think he was at his best. Also, we were scattered about in different seats so we weren't sitting together. He's definitely an entertainer though. He's got a great persona, which is what makes him GD. That Sunday was Easter so I went to a new church (Anthony's church) in Seoul with Tracey. It's always so nice to be surrounded with a community and fellowship. I really miss that in Korea and I'm really looking forward to it when I get back to America.

The week following was pretty eventful. There was the Fulbright Jeju Conference from April 5th-8th. Most of the Mokpo crew took the ferry (4.5 hours from Mokpo to Jeju) and the earliest one running on Friday morning wouldn't get us to the conference in time. Thus, we took the Thursday ferry instead and I got to miss an extra day of school. The other eventful thing was my birthday!!! I turned 23 (my real age, not this stupid Korean age where I feel older than I am). Anyway, conference was pretty good. I haven't seen the ETAs together in such a long time so it was nice. Honestly, I didn't hang out with that many people but still, it was nice to just be in everyone's presence. It was a different vibe from Fall Conference for sure though. The researchers came too and gave presentations. A lot of them were spectacular and made me want to do my own research. We had a tour around Jeju on Sunday and it was super windy. The atmosphere of Jeju I got is so different from the mainland. Jeju felt more like America to me; in part, it had to do with the obscene number of foreigners there. The way the roads were set up and the general atmosphere just felt more like the States. It was interesting and definitely nothing like the rest of Korea.

This brings me up to this week. I went to Seoul this past Friday night to go see Psy in concert on Saturday. I met up with a bunch of the ETAs who happened to be in town for a night out as Bruce (one of my past Orientation Coordinators) is leaving Korea on Wednesday. After a really late night out, Tracey, Amy T, and I went to Yeouido park for the flower festival. We also strolled about the park, got some Indian food, and did some shopping at the IFC mall next door. Psy's concert on Friday was absolutely amazing. He is a great entertainer and performer; probably one of the best of our time. He knows how to entertain the crowd and he definitely gives the crowd what they want. He actually was on this flying belt thing and he came really close to me. He was like 30 feet above me in the air. It was incredible. He came out to do encore presentations like 7 times. His concert was well done. There were guest appearances by Lee Hi, 2ne1, and GDragon. To be quite honest, GD was better at Psy's concert than at his own concert 2 weeks ago. After the concert, we saw GD in person on the floor above us. His room was on the second floor and we actually caught him as he was leaving. It was crazy. Sunday was a good day too. I woke up early to go to Gwangju so I could go paintballing with a bunch of other ETAs. It was so much fun. Who would've thought that running around while hiding behind trees and wood, and shooting people with paint, could be so much fun? I wasn't super close to anyone who went paintballing but it was great to hang out with people I usually don't see. That's actually something I really like about the ETA community; it's easy to get along with everyone and start conversations with anyone.

In relation to school topics:
I had people video chat/interview with my classes. I started a video call with them and had my students ask them questions and whatnot. I think a lot of my classes had a lot of fun with it and really enjoyed seeing someone else from America through a webcam and computer. Some of my kids were shy around a new person and wouldn't ask questions. Some classes were sweet. Of course, some classes were horrendous. There was one class where I got through maybe 10 minutes and they were just out of control. I stopped the video chat and just punished them the rest of the class.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Seoul with my students. This Monday to Wednesday is a school retreat for my students. All the first years are going to some mountain. The second years are going to some random city. Both of the grades are doing some type of "training" or "boot camp" so I've heard. The third years are going to Seoul to go to Everland (theme park), Seoul National University, and some type of "Job World". I'm joining the third years, which I'm really excited about. I was actually supposed to go with the second years but I kind of begged to go with the third years because it sounds so much cooler and more fun. The reason there was a slight problem was because all the third year homeroom teachers are men. I'm the only female teacher going and so they have to reserve a separate room for me. I offered to room with the female students or even pay for my own room but they said it wasn't necessary. I feel slightly bad but I know they wouldn't have approved it if they didn't want me to go with them. I would actually say that the third year homeroom teachers all love me. Whenever I go into their office, they also give me something (oranges, food, etc) and always joke with me. Almost none of them speak any English so it's a lot of smiling, nodding, and broken Korean but I absolutely love them all. They're a bunch of ajusshis but they're so kind to me. I've gone hiking with two of them. I think I might stop by and grab some coffee for all of them before going to school in the morning to get on the bus to go to Seoul but I have to see if it's possible to carry 8 cups of Americano. Regardless, I'm really excited to go tomorrow.

So at conference, Maggie brought up the fact that we have less than 100 days left in Korea. The countdown has begun officially. I mean, I haven't really started to count down but the idea is there now. The fact that I know there are more days I have in Korea gone than to come, is... paralyzing. That's the only word I can really think of saying. Throughout this year, the idea of possibly renewing or staying in Korea was nonexistent because of the fact that I had a job coming into Fulbright. Now, I think nostalgia is hitting me as I think about leaving my kids, my school, my homestay, my Fulbright friends, Korea. It almost makes me want to renew. If I'm honest with myself, I think I would renew if I didn't have a job or anything lined up for next year. I'm not sure if it's really me talking or like... nostalgia talking. When I mentioned how I kinda wish I could renew, Liam said it was just the fact that the countdown of leaving Korea has begun. It's made me emotional and nostalgic. It makes sense and I'm not sure if he's right or not.

Anothing random thing was that a friend who works at the firm I'm starting at this September asked me to call her last week "to talk". I called her and we chatted about insignificant things before we got to the reason why she wanted to talk to me. The short version is, she was telling me how I should really think about going to the Chicago office instead of the SF office. She gave me a bunch of reasons why the Chicago office is better including the strong class bond of BAs, the access to so many partners and associates, "Super Fridays" where they buy lunch for the office and there's happy hour and networking, etc. The thing that sucks is that she is only repeating my fears. I struggled with the decision to pick the SF office compared to the Chicago office but ultimately, it came down to the fact that I wanted to live in SF. I have a few friends out there now (and a lot of friends who want to move out there too) but my network in Chicago is substantially larger. The SF office has 1-2 other BAs while Chicago is the hub and has over 10 BAs. I mean, it's too little, too late now as I've already sent in my paperwork and it would be headache for them to change my office location this late in the game. I guess, I'm just more nervous than ever now because I will be starting a new job in a new city with a weak support system. To be optimistic about it, I'll just say that it'll be a new challenge.

Vacation and Back

Where do I even begin? Since my last entry, a lot has happened: my parents came to Korea, I went to Tokyo with my parents, I went to Hong Kong and China with my parents, I went to Nepal and trekked around the Annapurna Himalayas with Tracey, I came back to Korea and had my first week of classes, etc.

Since chronological order is important to me, I guess I'll just follow in that order.

My parents arrived in Korea on January 24th. Before they got here, I went up to Seoul and then visited Amy Tseng in Hwacheon. I went back to Seoul the morning of the 24th to check into the hotel and then go to the airport to get my parents. It was actually REALLY nice to see them after so long. Granted, it's only a little bit of more time spent away from them than when I was in college, but so much has changed since I last saw them that it was just really great to see them again. Honestly, I was worried before they got here because I realized I was spending close to three weeks with them in Asia. While I will always love my parents, I also recognize that there is a time limit as to how much time I can spend with them before going a bit crazy. This time around though, things went great. Don't get me wrong, there were moments when I needed to take a break from them but overall, I found that I've learned to appreciate them so much more now as an adult. Now that I've "matured" or whatnot, I noticed so much more about them, their personalities, their habits, their strengths, their shortcomings, etc. It was so eye-opening. Some things I realized, in short:
-My parents are a hell of a lot more fun than I ever realized
-They are funnier than I ever remember
-They both trust me/rely on me and my knowledge and think that I know more than they do; they trust my input (they would make statements, then say, "Right, Ammy?" to see if I agreed or disagreed)
-They really do love each other, even if they show it in unconventional ways
-My dad is getting old and can't walk too long or for too far distances
-My dad is SO chill (I get this from him)
-My mom has a lot of energy (I get this from her)
-My mom walks FAST, my dad walks SLOW (and I walk at a pace somewhere in-between) so I have no idea how they ever dated
-My dad is frugal and cheap
-My mom is picky about food and likes fried foods
-My mom likes the outdoors and looking at pretty nature sights
-My dad doesn't seem to have much of a preference for much
-My dad takes up a lot of space when he sleeps
-My mom hates lines and will cut people in line
-My dad smells, REALLY. I need to introduce him to deodorant.
-My mom likes to drink a little bit and then claims she drank a LOT
-My dad can spot alcohol a mile away, especially when he's on the lookout for it
-My mom takes things to the extreme
-My dad makes a lot of random comments that are hilarious (I get this from him)
-My mom likes to copy me at times
-They act like little kids at times when they argue about things or make fun of each other
-They are very similar in that they both like to be right and act like they always know what's going on (even when they have no clue)
-My dad never admits when he's wrong and has a horrible sense of direction
-My mom likes to act helpless at times but also likes to act like she's a genius at times
-I love my parents A LOT

I spent a lot of time with them. When they got into Korea, I took them to all the touristy places in Seoul (all the palaces and whatnot) for a few days. From there, I took them to Geumsan so they could buy Ginseng. They really liked it there. From there, I took them to Mokpo where they got to meet my hometsay and see my school. The last stop was Busan where we did more touristy things before heading off to Japan. It was kinda cool that I got to do the touristy things with them while they were here because I hadn't done most of them before and now I don't have to do them again. Tokyo was a little overwhelming at points. When they were in Korea, I had a lot of control over what to do because of the fact that I live in Korea now and know how to get around, what to do, etc (more or less). When we were in Tokyo, I was without access to a phone (no internet/maps to look up stuff if I'm lost) and had never been to Japan myself so I was trying to figure it out while leading them. To be honest, I think I was more worried about making sure they were okay, getting fed, having fun, etc than myself. If I was with a friend in Japan or even by myself, I could go at my own pace and do whatever and be okay with it. Instead, I was concerned for my parents' sake. On the first day in Japan, I was overwhelmed with the train/subway transportation system. It's HUGE and rather confusing at first. Since its not operated by the government/central entity, but rather by private companies, there are a lot of different lines and ways to get places. Luckily, we were staying in Shinjuku, which is a major hub and had a lot to do around the area so my parents weren't too bored. We were in Tokyo for 4 days but I think we did almost all of the touristy things within 3 days. Tokyo was fine but it wasn't anything amazing to me; I think the experience of visiting Tokyo with my parents is a lot different than had I visited with friends though. I will note that Japanese people are EXTREMELY helpful and kind though. Knowing no Japanese and not always knowing how to get somewhere, I had to stop and ask people for directions a lot of the time. Everyone I asked would stop and help me. They would even go out of their way to make sure I got there. I remember asking one man who was going in the opposite direction for help; he stopped and walked me in the opposite direction of where he was going to a tourist information office about 50 meters away. Out of all the Asian countries I've been to so far, Japanese people are the kindest and most willing to help foreigners/strangers. From Tokyo, we went to Hong Kong, for a whole 8 hours. Long story short, I had purchased tickets from Tokyo to Hong Kong because my parents told me we had to arrive in HK by February 5th. They had booked for us to go on a tour in China with a tour group that was leaving on the 5th. What I didn't realize was that the tour group was going to depart HK for Shanghai and the tour was for Shanghai and other cities nearby. So why is this a big deal? Well, we had to transfer in Shanghai to get to HK so it was a waste. So what ended up happening was we left Tokyo for Shanghai (where we transferred) and then went to HK from Shanghai. We arrived in HK late at night (delayed flight), around midnight. By the time we got to the hotel that one of my relatives booked for us, it was around 2am. The plan was to leave to go back to the airport by 7am to catch a flight back to Shanghai with our tour group to start the tour. YEAH. It was very inefficient and unnecessary. It left my parents and me in a very cranky mood. I don't remember exactly where we went but I know we were in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, as well as a few other cities. My parents had fun, which was all I was really worried about. The tour was kinda boring to me but I didn't mind too much. The tour group would hit up 1 or maybe 2 tourist spots a day and also a factory where they sold us some product (jade, silk, pearls, tea). Other than that, we spent our time eating (very full and good meals) and sitting on the bus traveling to the next spot. It was also pretty cold in China. It was a five day tour; we arrived back into Hong Kong on Lunar New Year Eve. We went to the Lunar New Year Fair/Flower Festival that night. They sell flowers, balloons, trinkets, stuffed animals, food, etc. It's crazy. It's apparently this huge tradition that HK does every year. They are open until 6am or so or whenever they sell out of all their products. It was JAM PACKED with people. I felt like I was being herded through the entire thing.
The next day, on Lunar New Years Day, we took a bus back to China. We were going to Guangdong, the province where my parents are from. More specifically, we were starting in Enping, where my mom is from, and then traveling to my dad's old home. This was the first time my dad has been back to China since the 1980s when they took my brother back when he was a one year old. I could tell my dad was really excited and happy to be back. I could also sense his fear of the unknown. It was like watching a little kid and it was really endearing. I got to see most of my relatives that are still in China while back and while it was only for a few days, I really enjoyed and cherished the time I did get to spend with them. As I'm getting older, I think my family is getting more and more important to me. My family has always been important to me but I think my appreciation for them is getting stronger and stronger as I mature. When I leave for Nepal on the 15th, I actually didn't want to leave my parents. I found that I really enjoyed being with them and I also realized that this was the last time I would really spend an extended amount of time with them. Once I start my career, I won't have that much time for vacation or traveling with them. Thus, when I left for the airport, I found myself crying a little. There's also this realization that my parents are invincible and they are only getting older. If nothing else, I'm glad I spent some of my vacation with them.

From Guangzhou, I went to Kathmandu to meet Tracey. We were both flying into Nepal (she was coming from Vietnam) to start our planned Everest Base Camp trek. We had booked through Trailblazers online and the plan was to spend the night in Kathmandu and then fly out early the next morning to begin our trek. We had to fly into Lukla to begin our trek to Everest Base Camp. The problem was that the weather was bad and although our original flight time was 6:30am, we couldn't get a flight out. We waited until 2pm to find out all the flights to Lukla were cancelled for the day. From there, we went back to the hotel to stay another night and hope for better weather the next day. We didn't have better luck on the 17th. There were multiple concerns about this: if the weather was bad (snowstorm), it would make it even harder to trek; since we're already delayed a day or two, we don't know if we would be able to make it to the base camp; the potential that the weather could also be bad in a week and we wouldn't be able to get a flight back to Kathmandu to make our international flight back to Korea. So we went to the Trailblazer office and picked another trek--that is, the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek. It was supposed to be a lot less strenuous (it was an easy trek compared to the moderate Everest Base Camp trek). So, due to weather and conditions outside of our control, we started our trek through the Annapurna Himalayas. I do honestly believe everything happens for a reason and that hindsight is 20/20. While it's not fair to say that we wouldn't hated our initial trek or had a hard time, etc, I can say that I did enjoy the ABC trek we did. We walked through Rhododendron forests and mountains. I think we experienced so many different things, from temperature differences (extremely hot and sweaty to bitter and numbing coldness) to different scenic spots (flowers and forests to snow peaked mountains). We also passed by and stayed in mountain villages. Those were interesting. It's literally a bed and a table. The walls are usually a piece of plywood. The toilet is usually outside or inside (if you're lucky) and indoor plumbing isn't available. Showers are interesting too. Some places require you to pay but all the places we stayed at were gracious enough to not charge us. Still, there was a period of 4 days that I didn't shower because it was cold and the pipes were frozen (closer to ABC).
Here's how our journey went:
Start trekking in Nayapool 1100 meters
Day 1: Trek through farmlands and villages to arrive in Ulleri 2073 meters
Day 2: Trek through villages, farmland, and forest to arrive in Ghorepani 2855 meters
Day 3: Wake up and trek to see the sunrise over Himalayas on Poon Hill 3200 meters and get stuck in Ghorepani for an extra day due to bad weather conditions
Day 4: Scale ice before arriving in Tadapani 2630 meters
Day 5: See monkeys and a woodpecker before arriving in Chhomrong 1950 meters
Day 6: See mountain deer, and trek through ridges and mountains to arrive in Himalaya 2873 meters
Day 7: Arrive at Machhapuchhre Base Camp 3700 meters, where we are staying for the night but continue trekking up to Annapurna Base Camp 4170 meters in a white-out-can't-see-50meters-infront-of-me
Day 8: Trek back to Chhomrong 1950 meters
Day 9: Arrive in Syauli Bazar 1300 meters
Day 10: Arrive back in Nayuapool 1100 meters

Here are some pictures from the trip:
It was no doubt one of those adventures I will always talk about when introducing myself to a group of strangers. Not everyone can say they've done a 10-day trek through the Himalayas.

From Nepal, Tracey and I got back to Korea safely on March 1st. We decided to splurge and stay in a hotel instead of a hostel for Friday night before heading back to Mokpo later on Saturday night. I had a dentist appointment that Saturday morning and we also both wanted to go to the hair salon. Tracey got a keratin and straightener treatment while I got a perm. IT TOOK SO LONG. I've never done anything to my hair other than gotten it cut so sitting there for hours was painful. I was really happy with the result though!

I dreaded the beginning of school on Monday though. Even after a two month vacation, I wasn't looking forward to going back to school and teaching. Maybe it was the fact that I knew I would have 23 classes and over 800 students. Or maybe it was the fact that I hadn't lesson planned at all yet. Or maybe it was the fact that the third years, whom I loved, all graduated. It was a combination of things. The first day was a hot mess. I think it had to do with the fact that it wasn't just the first day for but also the first day for all the other teachers and the students, as well. I felt bad asking for anything or taking too much of my co-teachers' time since I knew they were probably really busy as well, prepping for their classes, getting settled, etc. It was exasperated by the fact that I found out my main co-teacher, Mr. Lee is now a homeroom teacher for a second year class and Mr. Cho is now the head teacher for all the first years (head of all the first year homeroom teachers, in addition to being a first year homeroom teacher himself). Between the two of them, I get all my information about the school, my classes, events and happenings, scheduling, etc. Now, I feel like I will be extremely out of the loop because they're both really busy. Mr. Cho even said to me that if I need anything, I'll need to go to Mr. Lee now. Funny thing is, Mr. Lee said that he's really busy now. My first main thought the first day was, "This is going to be a long and interesting semester." Regarding Mr. Cho, since he's now in charge of all the other first year homeroom teachers, he's spent a lot of time in the first year homeroom teachers' office, leaving me to myself in our office. On Friday, two students even moved his computer to his other desk in that office. This past week, I saw him only a handful of times in our office, and it was usually only when he sat down to eat his lunch. He's not there in the mornings when I come in, during breaks when I'm coming back to drop off and pick up stuff for classes, or when I leave for the day. With his computer gone, he has even less of a reason to come by our office. This means, I'm alone in my office, in the corner of the building, where no one comes (unless they have class in the next classroom over). There is no way I'm going to be plugged in this semester. I'm pretty worried about that. However, I do know that the third year homeroom teachers all love me. They're a bunch of ajusshis but everytime I come in, all of them stop and see what I need. They even feed me and tell me to come whenever I want, to just hang out in their office with them. I stopped by to see Mr. Kim, one of my English co-teachers, and though Mr. Kim was not to be found, one of the other teachers handed me two California oranges. Yep, the third year homeroom teachers are pretty awesome.

Other notes:
Seeing the Mokpo crew for the first time in two months was really nice. I didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw them again. I think final parting in July will be really hard.
I missed my homestay family. Although I really, really like them and care for them, and I can tell they care and worry about me, I think they're so chill, to the extent that I'm not sure how much they actually care. For example, when I go out, they don't contact me or check up on me, which is nice, but also a bit worrying. I know they worry though; I was out with Mokpo on this past Friday and came home a little after 1am. The lights in the living room were still on and my host mom and host brother were passed out in the living room. I knew that my host mom had tried to stay up to make sure I got home okay from this action. I shut off the lights for them and then proceeded to bed myself.
I can't believe there are only about 4 months and some left in my grant year. The Fulbright conference in Jeju is coming up (it's on my birthday! :D) so it just feels even more so like this grant year is flying by. Although I don't feel like I have anything left that I "need to do," I feel like I should try to experience some more things before leaving Korea. That being said, if I'm honest with myself, I feel like I am ready to go back to America and start the next step. I don't want to live in the future and miss being in the present, but I can't help but be excited to the next thing right now. I like Korea, I do, and it's been a great grant year, full of adventure and new experiences, but I'm glad I have something to look forward to when I head back home.

A trip around Korea

I'm back to Mokpo after a week and some of traveling around Korea. I went from Mokpo to Seoul to Hwacheon (and nearby) to Seoul to Cheongju to Muju to Busan to Gyeongju and back to Mokpo.

Seoul
Two Thursdays ago, in the morning, I left for Seoul. I had a dentist appointment to get to and I wanted to grab lunch with Tracey and her mom, who had flown in the night before. I got in a little before noon so I picked up Tracey's mom from her hotel and set off to meet Tracey and Andrew, who was also joining us. Tracey is taking Korean language classes so we were meeting her near Seoul National University. After lunch, Andrew and I headed to my dentist appointment, which was set up by Sara through her uncle, who is also a dentist in Korea. The office was incredible, a very classy environment. There were cookies and coffee around too. It felt more like a spa than a dentist clinic. While sitting, we realized it was also a dermatology center where you can get plastic surgery done, which explains the interior design. I went in because I thought I needed to get the rest of my root canal done but apparently it looks good so I'm not really sure what the deal is. There was a girl at the clinic was excellent English who is actually Korean American but there for the year working to gain experience. She translated everything for me. After setting my next appointment to get a crown, Andrew and I set out for Yuchon (near Hwacheon), which is where Maggie lives. Andrew, Katelyn, Adam, and I were planning on staying at the attached "guesthouse" Maggie's host family has and going to the Hwacheon Ice Festival the next day on Friday. We had to do a few transfers and a bit of running but we eventually got there. She really does live in the middle of nowhere. It's more rural than Goesan, and that's saying quite a bit. We got in a bit after 7pm and Maggie's host family was out of town but her host mom ordered some dinner for us. We just lounged about and enjoyed each other's company for the night. It was nice seeing them and just being around them.

Hwacheon/Yuchon
On Friday morning, the four of us ventured out to Hwacheon to get a head start on the ice festival. Maggie was going to join us later after her winter camp was done for the day. So the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival is apparently the fourth largest ice festival in the world so it was pretty big and cool; there were a lot of things to do too. There was a huge ice tunnel with Snow White and the Dwarves faces carved on the outside. We also went down an ice slide for kicks and giggles. Since it wasn't a weekend, it wasn't that busy either. There were a lot of people, don't get me wrong, but Maggie said it was a lot less because it was a Friday and not a Saturday or Sunday. The main attractions of the day started with ice fishing though. There was a tent labeled "Ice Fishing for Foreigners"--no lie. There was even a separate area sectioned off for foreigners to ice fish. We got our "poles", which looked more like fly swatters with fishing string attached and started fishing. The first catch was really exciting. I ended up catching two fish, which wasn't bad considering that we were only allowed to catch a maximum of three fish.

Maggie had met up with us by then. We all signed up to go barehand fishing, which is exactly what it sounds like. There's a huge pool of water where they dump fish and paying volunteers get a t-shirt and shorts to wear while they get into that pool to catch fish with their bare hands. When you catch a fish, you need to stuff it into your shirt because there's no where else to put it. It was SO cold. I can honestly say it is the coldest I have ever been in my life, thus far. I can't explain it other than it was paralyzing. The minute my feet hit the water, I knew it was going to be extremely painful...and it was. I'm not even quite sure how I did it but I ended up catching a fish. There were so many people in the water but I looked down and saw the fish moving around. I looked for something moving, I stuck in my hands and grabbed it. Behold, I caught a fish with my barehands. In the fourth picture, you can see me showing everyone my victory fish. I was really excited about that. I wouldn't do it again but I'm glad I at least did it once.

When we got out of the water, I couldn't feel my feet, literally. I was trying to put on the slippers I had worn to the pool but I could not control where my feet were going. Luckily, there was a tent all the volunteers go in afterwards with hot tubs to put our legs in to warm up. It took a while but I finally got circulation back in my feet. There is no way that experience was good for my health in any way; in fact, it is probably the opposite. Still, it needed to be done. After our insanity experience, we decided to get lunch. We could take our fish and grill it or get it done sashimi (raw) style. Andrew and Adam got one of their fish made into sashimi so I got my three fish grilled. They were pretty tasty. Lunch in itself was an interesting experience too. There was a drunk ajusshi who randomly walked over to our table and grabbed Andrew. He wanted him to take soju shots with him at his table. Sometime after this, I went to pick up one of my grilled fish and when I came back, the same ajusshi was at our table. he was feeding everyone raw minnow.

When I sat back down, of course he had to feed me one too. He picked up one by the tail and hand fed me a live minnow. That was...quite the experience, both the being hand fed by a ajusshi and eating a live minnow, that is. Apparently you're supposed to take the head in first. I don't remember much of it other than chomping down and swallowing haha. He gave us his business card and kept saying "Blue House", which is the equivalent of the White House in the US. We thought he was legit. We found out later, when Maggie showed the card to her homestay mom that he worked at a restaurant called the Blue House. Facepalm moment. After lunch, we decided which events we wanted to do since there was so much more we could have done. We decided on driving ATVs on the ice; yes, that's an actual event. Maggie and I got on the same ATV and Katelyn and Andrew got on the other. Adam took pictures for us. I drove around first a few times and then Maggie took the reins after me. No way this would fly in America. There were kids under 10 on these vehicles driving around without an adult. There was a sticker on the ATV that said "Under 16 not allowed" but looking around, I could see ATVs with two kids on them, whose combined age was under 16. Oh Korea.

After the ATV experience, Maggie, Katelyn, and I wanted to go ziplining. You get a pretty good view of the entire festival and you zipline over the frozen river where people are ice fishing.

We spent pretty much the entire day at the festival and we still didn't get to do everything. They weren't joking about it being the 4th largest ice festival in the world. We did want to check out the ice sculptures before we left though. It wasn't in the main part of the festival so we had to walk through town to get to it. The ice sculptures were incredible. There were ice replicas of famous statues and buildings around the world as well as funny figurines and whatnot.

I had a lot of fun; it's probably one of my favorite festivals so far. I will have to revisit Hwacheon in the spring too since I hear it's supposed to be beautiful when everything is growing again.

Seoul
On Saturday morning, January 12th, we all left in the morning to head back to Seoul. We met up with Liam and Jonathan at the hostel and Maggie and I went with them to a basketball game. Jonathan's birthday was Sunday so we were going to celebrate his birthday early. It was the Orions versus the Sakers. They're part of the Korean professional league but I felt like I was watching high school basketball again. I'm not trying to speak little of them but the level compared to the NBA is incomparable.

We still made the most of it and enjoyed ourselves. There wasn't much of a crowd, honestly. Most of the stadium was empty and we actually got there around halftime. I got a kick out of random things, like the fact that they use a video of the Lion King on the screen when telling the home team fans to scream.

It was a fun experience nonetheless.

Afterwards, we headed to Itaewon where we were going to meet Andrew and Adam for dinner. The four of us got a drink at an American style bar to kill some time. While in the bar, it felt like I was in America. There were almost no Koreans around and everyone was speaking English. It was like I walked out of Korea into America; it was odd. For dinner, Jonathan wanted Nigerian food so we went to a restaurant called Mama Africa (really, that's the name). Low and behold, the owner gave us his card and his name was John Nwosu. He's pretty much Jonathan's twin. At night, we went out in Hongade, per usual. We started at Bar Zen, then hit up Ho Bar, and ended the night earlier than usual (around 3am) at Taco Bell.

The next day, Andrew and I went to Jubilee church for service and then met up with Jonathan, Liam, and Maggie for American brunch afterwards at Suji's. It was a final farewell to each other and a celebration of Jonathan's birthday too. After brunch, Andrew and I headed to Cheongju to meet up with Anna.

Cheongju
Andrew, Katelyn, Anna, and I were planning on going skiing/snowboarding on Monday/Tuesday so Andrew and I were meeting Anna and spending the night in Cheonju with her at her grandparents so we could all head out together on Monday morning to the ski resort. We got in late afternoon on Sunday and got picked up by Anna and her uncle (who is really nice). Her grandparents are really sweet too. Her grandpa attempts to speak English but his vocabulary is limited so it was really endearing. After dinner, the three of us went to see Les Miserables again in theaters (since Anna hadn't watched it yet).

Muju
The ski resort: http://www.mdysresort.com/english/ski/slope_01.asp
The three of us headed out to Daejeon to then transfer and get to Muju around 9am. The plan was to get to the ski resort by noon, meet up with Katelyn, and do a day lift. We got in a little later than expected and had to check in so we actually decided on doing a night lift instead. We spent some time in our room until 2pm when we got our rentals, lift tickets, late lunch, etc. It was the first time Katelyn went snowboarding/skiing so she picked snowboarding to try. The three girls went boarding while Andrew went skiing. The three girls all rented clothing so we all looked like twins. It was pretty funny.

The night lift was actually really enjoyable. The powder was fresh and there weren't that many people. At first, it was hard for me to get used to snowboarding again and I kept falling. I picked it back up after the second run or so though. The next day was more of a struggle bus for all of us. Andrew got sick sometime during the night so was throwing up and having stomach problems. He only did one or two runs but sat out the rest of the day. I was less sore than I expected but the sun was out so the snow was melting and refreezing as ice. Every time I fell, it was extremely painful and my knees were taking a hit. When you watched people fall, no powder would fly out so you knew the powder wasn't very good. It was like falling on ice pretty much. Anna was teaching me to carve left and right so I kept falling on my knees and it sucked. At the end of the day, my knees were black and purple.

I also sprained my wrist from a hard fell on the icy mountain. That sucked. After lunch, we realized there were buses out of the resort to different cities so we all got our tickets and had to plan accordingly. There was only one bus time to Busan (4:30pm) so I had to peace out pretty early in the day. I passed out the entire bus ride. I was supposed to meet with Ben L and one of his students at the subway station to get dinner. I was going to spend the night at his student's house too.

Busan
I got into Busan, met with Ben and Suhyung, one of his university students and got some dinner. Suh (pronounced Sue) was really cool and she's really well traveled. She spent two years in France and a year in Japan. After we left Ben and got to her home, we ended up chatting until 1:30am. Her mom was really welcoming too and oddly, looks a bit like my mom. I realized it when her mom was trying to feed me fruit when I got to her home. I showed her a picture of my mom and even they agreed they had similar facial features. The next morning, we headed out to Ben's class at Busan National University, where I was going to guest teach his university class. There were only about 5 students in the class on time but Ben said most of his students usually showed up late. Based on the interest of the class, we talked about the gender norms in Korea and how the new female Korean president might or might not change any gender norms and stereotypes in Korea. For the second hour, we spent a lot of time talking about Korean dating expectations and how they differ from American dating culture. It was really interesting getting their perspectives because they are essentially our age and have good enough English skills to talk about complex issues. I learned a few things from them and I enjoyed meeting them. The students who were free got lunch with Ben and me before I headed out to Gyeongju.

Gyeongju/Golgulsa Temple
Temple stay: http://sunmudo.net/
I had to get to the temple to check in by 5pm so I left Busan around 2pm to give myself some buffer time for transfers and whatnot. After arriving in Gyeongju, I had to take a local bus about 45 minutes and walk about 10 minutes to get to the temple. I purposely picked this temple for my templestay experience because they practice sunmundo, a type of martial arts and I didn't want to just be cleaning and meditating all day. I figured I might as well do something cool. The templestay experience was...interesting. I can't say I liked it for sure because it was just so different from my normal life. There were aspects that you would expect: no technology, meditation, bowing, a simple diet, waking up early, etc. but there was much more than that. I stayed at the temple three days and two nights, which I think was enough for me. It actually felt like much longer. The facilities were really nice and seemed updated. There was heating in all the buildings so that wasn't a concern. My room had its own bathroom and it seemed like it was newly built or renovated. We woke up at 4am to make it to the 4:30am chanting/meditation daily ceremony. Afterwards, we would do more meditation (walking and stretching and whatnot) and then we would get breakfast. After breakfast, there was sunmundo training (but it felt more like yoga in the mornings) followed by 108 bows/tea time. Then we would get lunch and there would be archery or meditation (depending on the day of the week) and community work (aka cleaning) and then dinner. After dinner, there would be evening chanting followed by sunmundo training (more legit than the mornings) and then we would head back to our rooms to get ready for bed. I also got to see a sunmundo demonstration by the masters. There was usually some free time between these activities ranging from ten minutes to an hour. The things that stuck out the most were the 108 bows, the meditation, and the sunmundo training. I actually bowed 108 times. It was... repetitive. I was having a hard time because my knees were still banged up from snowboarding but I did it anyway. According to the website, there is a reason for 108 bows: "Why 108 bows? The 108 prostrations represent our basic mental sufferings. These sufferings arise through the meeting of the six sense organs. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind and the six sense objects; namely corresponding color, sound, smell, taste, touch and concept." The meditation was pretty hard actually. I mean, I definitely had some thoughts while I was doing it, but the hardest part was dealing with sitting with my legs crossed for so long. They were falling asleep and it hurt so much when I was trying to change positions. The sunmundo training was pretty cool. It was like Taekwondo in some ways but also differed a lot. I was impressed by how flexible the sunmundo masters were though. I did my templestay during an interesting time because there is a summer camp going on and there was also a visiting kids group so there were kids doing these things with me too. They were not taking it as serious as me and the other templestayers but it was kinda amusing having them around.

So all in all, it was a good experience and I'm glad I did it. There were three foreigners who live at the temple and one additional one who has been there the past month as an English teacher for their camp. The three foreigners were all there to practice sunmundo since apparently it's THE sunmundo headquarters (in the world potentially). One had been there for 9 months and is planning on at least 2 years and another has been there for over a year. It was interesting talking to them and seeing how they wound up there. Both of the waygoooks I talked to started out with a two-day templestay and were really impressed by their experiences and decided that it was a life calling to do this. I was kinda shocked a bit when I was listening to them talk about it.

While it was... peaceful in the sense that there wasn't much craziness around me, it also felt surreal. One might argue the point is to feel uncomfortable and to come to peace with that discomfort but the daily routine just didn't sit quite right with me. To be clear, I didn't do a templestay because I'm doubting my Christian faith. I did a zen Buddhist templestay because I was curious and I wanted to see what it was like. I didn't come out more enlightened or at peace with myself. I came out just simply shocked at the contrast in lifestyle they have chosen to live. I'm not even talking about the monks at the temple but even thinking about the foreigners who live at the temple and practice sunmundo everyday. The moment I left the templestay and got to the bus station to take me back to downtown Gyeongju, I noticed the contrast. There were ajusshis smoking around me, traffic coming up and down the road, people on their phones, etc. The world was moving a heck of a lot faster than it was in the temple. Everything was really... zen (I didn't mean to use that word but I can't think of another way to put it). Yet, I felt like I was kind of just wasting time and my life away. I know it's not fair to say that because it is a lifestyle they choose to live and they are living their life the way they want but I just knew it wasn't for me. I felt like I knew the first day in. Before I went, I was a bit nervous about doing it by myself and worried that I would be lonely because of how quiet I expected it to be and so on. When I checked in, I found out I had a roommate who was staying the same days as me. She was really nice but spoke next to zero English. We ended up doing everything together since the schedule is the same for us. I'm really glad she was there. In a way, I got to be by myself because of the fact that she spoke no English but in another way, I had a companion to go through all these new experiences with and to do together.

So while I was doing the 108 bows, I thought about how sad it is that as a Christian, I claim I know the real truth yet it's a struggle for me to pray everyday and read the Bible and even share the gospel with others. Meanwhile, the way these monks live or even Muslims (in the way that they bow multiple times during the day) live their lives, they live our their faith. If nothing else, the templestay helped me examine my relationship with Christ all the more so.

Mokpo
I left Golgulsa around noon on Friday the 18th, after lunch to head back to Mokpo. I had to travel a bit over 7 hours because there are only buses to Seoul, Busan, and Daegu from Gyeongju. There is a bus to Gwangju but they only run two times a day and I wasn't willing to wait a few hours for that bus. I first went to Daegu and then went to Gwangju and then back to Mokpo. I got back to my homestay around 8pm. It felt really nice to get back, unpack, shower, and lay in my bed. It felt refreshing. Granted, the reason I came back was for a wedding, but I think I would've had the urge to come back at least for a few days, had that not been the case. On Saturday, I went with a bunch of teachers from my school to the school nurse's wedding. The school nurse likes to practice her English with me and she's pretty good at it so I go to her office and hang out with her every few days during the last semester. She was getting married in Gwangju so we headed out about an hour and a half beforehand. A lot of teachers were there and I even ran into the school chairman, my old vice principal, and my new principal. Three of my third year girls were invited to the wedding too so it was nice to see them. Unfortunately, one of the girls looked different when I saw it and I had the instant realization that she got double eyelid surgery sometime since I last saw her at the school festival. It was a bit unnerving for me for a few minutes when I first saw her. So much for my beauty lesson.

I don't think I'll ever really get Korean weddings. It was held in a wedding convention hall and though I've been to a Korean wedding already once, it still surprises me. There are multiple floors with different rooms so there are a few weddings going on at the same time. Each wedding takes an hour. The ceremony itself is only 30 minutes and then it's 30 minutes of pictures. Then immediately, they usher in the next wedding party. It's insane. The wedding convention center hosts maybe 20 weddings in a day at least (assuming there's 5 floors and they do weddings during the day for 4 hours). People don't even go to the ceremony; they go straight to the buffet reception on the other floor. There's this huge buffet of food in this huge reception hall and you get a meal ticket and go eat. I would say about 95% of the teachers didn't actually go to the wedding ceremony (or at least I didn't see them inside); they got there, saw the bride, said their hellos, and then headed to the reception buffet hall to eat. It's INSANE. What happened to weddings being parties? I definitely get that it's an American concept but Korean wedding culture is just so bizarre to me.

To go to the wedding, Mr. Lee (my coteacher) picked me up in front of my homestay apartment to go to the school to meet up with the other teachers heading to Gwangju. In the car ride, he told me that the English teachers had all met the day before and they wanted me to teach all the classes--that is, grades 1-3. That means I'd have 23 classes in total. I wasn't sure how to respond to that. All I know is that next semester will be an interesting one.

Since the wedding on Saturday, I've been bumming around my homestay today and probably tomorrow. I went on a run outside today since the weather was pretty nice (only 48 degrees Fahrenheit). The plan was to visit Amy T in Hwacheon this week since she's back from Taiwan but that's not a plan set in stone. My parents are coming to Korea on the 24th and we are headed out to Japan together on the 31st before heading to Hong Kong on February 4th. I might do a hanok stay sometime between now and when my parents get in but that's also up in the air. It's been a fun and somewhat eventful break thus far. I'm excited to see what else happens next.

And Like That, A Week Into 2013

Well, 2013 has already started to move faster than I'd like. It's already more than week in...

Highlights of the beginning of 2013:
New Years Eve: I trekked up to Seoul with some Mokpo crew. We met up with some people and got lunch and then we left for Bridget's gathering/pre-game. Bridget's cousin has an apartment in Seoul but he was traveling with his wife so he left it in Bridget's hands. There were some appetizers, wine, music, and good company.

Afterwards, we split up. I was part of the earlier group who wanted to make it out to Hongdae before midnight. We met up with another ETA group at Bar Zen and that's where we rang in 2013. Some of Tracey's Rice friends were also there; two of them were visiting Korea from America. A bit after midnight, we went to the club, Harlem. Around 2:30am or so, I saw some of Tracey's college friends so I knew she was around. I was told she wasn't feeling well (too many drinks too fast) so I went to the bathroom. I ended up switching on and off with Jaeyon throughout the night watching her, holding her hair in the bathroom, etc. Around 5:30am, the remaining ETAs (minus Jonathan, of course) decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel. I half walked, half carried Tracey back and by the time I showered and passed out, it was 6:30am. Definitely a more party-toned New Years Eve, to say the least.

New Years Day: We woke up around 11am (not bad for sleeping at 6:30am) and met up with a bunch of ETAs for American brunch in Itaewon. Afterwards, most people went their own way but a few of us (Nic, Liam, Lizzie, Tracey, and me) went to the Korean War Memorial Museum, which was pretty cool. Afterwards, Tracey and I had to meet up Payal and Anna because Payal's family was in town and she wanted to introduce me to them. We met them at a restaurant while they were eating dinner; soon afterwards, they headed out to Incheon because they had an early flight back to the States the next morning. After we met them, Tracey's Rice friends met up with us again and we went out to dinner with them. At this point, other people started diverging as well. Nic headed back to Gumi, Payal and Anna went to Payal's hotel to plan some travel stuff, two of Tracey's friends left for their respective homes in Korea (one is also a teacher in Korea). I went with Lizzie to her hostel to pick up my bags, which I had dropped off earlier that morning so I didn't have to carry it all day. Afterwards, we (Lizzie and I) met up with Tracey, Eric (one of Tracey's Rice friends), Payal, Anna, Jet, and Vlad (Jet's brother visiting from Japan). From there, we planned on staying up all night until 7am, when Eric would have to go to the airport and head back to America. Our first stop was to a bar; it was a chill bar where we sat around with our drinks and just chatted without any loud music blaring. From there we grabbed some drinks from a convenience store and hit up a 노래방 where we sang for a few hours. Eric introduced a new drink to us--soju and coffee. It's actually pretty tasty. At this point, it was around 4:30am and I was starting to get hungry so we hit up the Taco Bell. Unfortunately, chalupas were not on the menu so I stuck with a grand crunch supreme (yes, these are important details for this blog). It was delicious. Payal and Anna were tired and Payal wasn't feeling so hot so they headed back to their hotel. Tracey, Eric, and I were planning on going to a DVD 방 where we could watch a movie before heading to the airport but we ended up going to a cafe instead. There were a lot of people up and awake surprisingly. There were at least a few other groups in the cafe too. Seoul is definitely an interesting place with insomniacs. Around 7am, we headed back to Eric's hostel to pick up his stuff and then we hailed to Seoul Station where he would be able to take an express bus to the airport. From there, Tracey and I headed to Payal's hotel, where we were gonna pass out for a few hours. I ended up passing out around 7:30am or so and then waking up around 11:40am to make it out in time for checkout at noon. What an interesting two days of 2013.

January 2nd, 2013: I can't remember much of what we did--probably cause we didn't do much that day. Anna left really early, before I even woke up, because she needed to spend time with her grandparents. Payal, Tracey, and I went to Myeongdong 명동 and got some lunch. Then we sat and chatted in a cafe while waiting for Lizzie to find us. Payal had to leave for Busan to pack before going back to America. We shopped around and Sarah Joo joined us too. After dinner, I left with Sarah to stay at her aunt's place for the night. The plan was to meet up with Tracey the next morning to go to Daejeon and spend a day or two there. I was also planning on meeting up with my host family since they were in Daejeon hanging out with my host dad who's starting a new travel agency office there.

January 3rd, 2013: Sarah and I headed to Seoul station early in the morning and met up with Tracey to take the KTX to Daejeon. When we got there around 2pm, we met up with Jonathan and got a late lunch. Then they took us to Yuseong Spa where I got scrubbed head to toe by an ajumma for 16,000won. It was so worth it. I felt so clean afterwards. From there, Nina met up with us for dinner at a burger place. The day was really relaxing and I definitely felt like I was on vacation since all I did was eat, sit in a spa, and eat. I didn't get any more productive after dinner either. We went to the center of downtown and waited in line at this club/bar thing. We must've waited for an hour and change. We weren't even sure if we'd get in because they don't let foreigners in usually. This was THE bar though and Nina said they play 80s and 90s Korean music with a few other songs mixed in. She didn't sell it well but it was actually a lot of fun once we got in. The DJ plays some chill music in the background and every group has their own table or what not (like a restaurant set up). There is a huge dance floor in front of the DJ though. Then every 15-20 minutes, the DJ darkens the room and plays dancing music and almost everyone hits the dance floor. After another 20 minutes or so, he goes back to the chill music and people go back to their tables and eat, chat, etc. It was a good time. The Koreans were definitely getting into it. Around 3am, we all split and headed our ways. Tracey and I were staying at Sarah's homestay place for the night. She's got an interesting set up. She's one of the few ETAs who lives in a home and she lives on the first floor while the rest of her homestay family lives on the third floor. She has her own apartment, if you will. Even when Sarah asked her homestay mom if it was cool if we stayed with her, her mom told her to do whatever she wanted because it was her apartment.

January 4th, 2013: I ended up not meeting up with my host family in Deajeon because they were far away at a mountain and it was going to be a hassle to get to them. The three of us ate lunch with Sarah's homestay family, who are really cool. They're a very dynamic and funny family. I actually think I could fit in really well with their dynamic if they were my host family. The host mom is a hoot and jokes around with her daughters, etc. It's hilarious and crazy to watch. After lunch, Tracey headed back to Seoul and I went back to Mokpo. It was nice to get back to my room and bed after a week of hostels and staying in other peoples' homes.

January 5th, 2013: I bummed around. That's about most of it. There were only a few Mokpo people around and they were busy so I just hung out with my host family, which consisted of laying around, watching TV, watching movies on my laptop, etc. I definitely felt like I was on vacation.

January 6th, 2013: After lunch with my host family, I went to Gwangju to meet up with Jaeyon. I had to take a bus out of downtown to meet her closer to her homestay in Suwon. We walked around Lotte outlets and saw the movie, Life of Pi. It was a pretty decent movie--very philosophical and thought-provoking. Liam was going to join us for dinner since he had soccer camp until 4pm. We met him at U-Square and went to TGIF's for dinner. Yes, I realize it's very foreigner of us. Afterwards, Jaeyon had to go home to bake cookies for her winter camp the next day. Liam and I went back to Mokpo and grabbed a drink before heading home. It was nice to just kick back and chat.

January 7th-9th (today), 2013: So the original plan was to meet up with Kathy on Monday and go snowboarding and hang out until Wednesday. I tried to reach her on Sunday night but she wasn't responding so I figured something might be wrong. She Kakaoed me on Monday morning saying she had gotten sick and had to go to the hospital. So my plans fell through on that. I ended up hanging out around my homestay. I've pretty much been the definition of a bum. I stay in my PJs a lot of the day and watch movies. I feel like it's not that bad though since it is vacation and I'm allowed to do this for a few days. It's not like this is going to be the rest of my vacation so I might as well make the most of it. I've met up with a few Mokpo kids and even gone to piano academy.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Seoul in the morning to make it to lunch with Tracey and her mom (who's visiting Korea for 10 days) and to a dentist appointment. Afterwards, I'm heading up to Hwacheon with a few other ETAs to go to the Hwacheon Ice Festival and visit Maggie. Then I'm gonna go back to Seoul on Saturday for a basketball game and a night of raging for Jonathan's birthday. On Sunday, I'm gonna go to Cheongju to stay with Anna for the night before we go snowboarding on Monday and Tuesday. Next Wednesday, I'll be in Busan and helping in Ben's Busan University's English class. Then I'll head off to Gyeongju for a temple stay in Golgulsa (it's a martial arts Buddhist temple, holler). Then I'll be back in Mokpo on the 18th to make it to the nurse's wedding on the 19th. It's gonna be a busy week and a half starting tomorrow. I'm excited. I'm sure I'll have a lot to blog about next time around.

Other random things: people keep getting engaged. Serena got engaged to Cole. It happened the day before Christmas, I think. I talked to her about it yesterday on webcam and she seems happy so I'm happy for her.