YOLO to the Fullest

Since I didn't have any real plans this past Saturday, I decided to throw some caution in the wind. I also realized that I haven't spent any weekends with Tracey in a LONG time. Last semester we traveled a lot of weekends together but since coming back from Nepal, she's been busy with OCT stuff, GRE studying, etc. so we've done our own thing on the weekends. The last time we spent a weekend together was Psy's concert back in April and this past weekend was the last opportunity we'd have to spend some time together before she leaves for Orientation and I leave for America. A few months ago, we also walked by the Ritz Carlton and said we should spend one night there as part of a YOLO experience. So...putting those together, Tracey and I decided we should spend one night in the Ritz Carlton Seoul and make it the point of our weekend. Using Agoda to find a decent deal, we got a room and got Amy T, Hemma, and Maggie to join us in our YOLO weekend adventure. Tracey and I headed up to Seoul late Saturday afternoon and met up with Maggie in Insadong so the two of them could shop for end-of-the-year gifts from their homestays. Afterwards, around 9pm, we went to The Ritz to check in. IT WAS SO NICE. It is a 5 star hotel and it lives up to it. Amy and Hemma were going to join us around 10pm because they were at a concert. We decided to class it up further by grabbing two bottles of wine and some desert before settling in for the night. Tracey and I called dibs on the bathrobes and it was worth it.

It was a nice girls night in...in the most classiest way possible. We chatted, watched movies, drank wine, etc. The good life. Hemma, Amy, and I chatted a little longer until 3am. Unfortunately, Hemma had to leave really early, around 8am but I got up a little later, before the other girls to check out the gym. I mean, it's the Ritz Carlton gym; it's got to be nice. I was right. It was huge and each cardio machine had this touch screen tv/machine control panel. It controlled everything. It set the speed, timing, etc of the machine and it also controlled the tv. You could also surf YouTube and wikipedia on it. RIDICULOUS. The girls slept in and then we did a late check out (to make the most of it) and watched Star Trek on tv while we kicked it. Sarah J and Payal came to the hotel and hung out with us in our room; they were in Seoul for Ultra and had a rager of a time. After lunch with the girls, I headed to the Fulbright building for a North Korea information session since that's where I'll be headed in less than a month! Arthur gave us some logistics and answered questions we had. I'm pretty stoked about going.

Such a good weekend probably explains why Monday was so hard. I have about 4 weeks left (including exams) but about 2-4 classes left with each class. When I told my third year classes, they seem pretty bummed about it. When I told my first year and second year girls classes, they also seemed a bit bummed, but not as torn as my third years, who I've taught two semesters now. When I mentioned it to one second year boys class, they cheered and clapped. Yep, there's a reason they're my worst classes. THESE DANG KIDS.

One Month Left

I believe it's been a month since my last blog but since this seems to be more of a running of my happenings, I guess that's not that bad...

Let's do a quick rundown of what's been going on:

So I went to Wolchulsan with two of my ahjusshi teacher friends and another random ahjusshi on Buddha's birthday (May 17th). So, long story short, I was pretty much bushwacking the entire time up the mountain. I should have thought something was strange when we pulled up into this small village with farms around us and parked. Wolchulsan is a national park so I expected a lot of people and whatnot. We got out and started walking uphill through a nonexistent path. I thought that maybe we were taking a shortcut to the path...but that wasn't the case. There were moments where we were literally scaling rocks and a step in the wrong place would have caused me to slip and fall off the mountain. I'm not even exaggerating. We stopped about halfway up and I asked if there were usually a lot of people because at this time, I still didn't really we weren't on a real path. They laughed and one of the ahjusshis said that it was a secret path and no one takes the path we take. This is when I realized we went off-roading for real. I actually felt my quads cramping up as I was walking up since the slope was so steep. I felt like my pride was on the line so I kept going even though I knew I was pushing it (I would spend the next few days stretching my quad and regretting this decision). Those ahjusshis CAN hike. They weren't even going at a super comfortable pace. In the end, I kept up and they were impressed. They actually said I was awesome and stronger than them (not true). About three hours of uphill and pain, I finally saw a wooden gate. We walked past it and behold, there were tons of people nearby at a rock clearing. When I looked back at the gate, there was a sign posting that it was a restricted area beyond that point and those found would be subjected to a 500,000won fine. That's when I realized these ahjusshis are BAs and I was kicking it with the right crowd. Afterwards, we took the touristy and paved path down towards a temple. We waited in line for free bibimbap (since it was Buddha's birthday, there were tons of people at the temple and there were events and shows and stuff). They had planned to get this free bibimbap all day and it only further confirmed to me that these ahjusshis don't care what nobody says; they do what they want. They're pretty awesome. When I finally got back to my homestay, I was so dirty and in pain (due to my pulled quads). Since we were bushwacking, I got a bunch of scratches on my arms and legs (through my clothing); that's how intense the hiking was. I even grabbed a map of Wolchulsan from the temple and asked them what path we hiked. They pointed to an area of the map that has NO paths nearby. The closest path to the one we took must've been like miles away. Ridiculous but fun. Now I know they mean business.

The day after, I went to Seoul for my second round root canal. They were going to put in the permanent filling and give me a temporary crown. Afterwards, I took the train to Daejeon to meet up with Jonathan to go to a baseball game. Funny thing was that tickets were sold out so I was really sketch and talked to a guy who was smoking through the gate and worked out a deal with him. He gave us two of his tickets he had already used to get in; yep, super sketch but it worked. When we got in, we saw him again and he told us to actually use the seats since his crew was gonna stand around on the floor below to watch the game. So Korean baseball games are extremely different from American baseball games. It felt like a family all-day event. I saw families having picnics on the grass areas right next to the field (they even had picnic blankets). They were eating fried chicken, ramen, etc. Apparently baseball games sell out usually because it's a family day kind of thing. It was cool to watch.

After the game, Jonathan and I went to get some dinner and stopped by a fried chicken place. We chatted and before I realized it, it was 10:30pm and there was no way I was going back to Mokpo that night. I ended up going to Amber's homestay and staying the night. The next morning, I headed to Boseong for the Green Tea Festival. Robyn was also planning on going so I ended up meeting her there. The fields are really long and pretty much look like the pictures online. I got there towards the end of the festival but it was nice to walk around and buy some green tea for my parents back in America. Boseong is a super rural place though; I think it's actually more rural than Goesan...

On May 21-22, my school had Sports Day. So far in my grant year, those have been my favorite days at school. It was so much fun. All my kids participated in different events and it was so great to see them involved in something more than academics. There were running events, team events, soccer, basketball, soccer-volleyball, tug-of-war, jump roping, etc. The third year boys had a soccer competition, the second year boys had a basketball competition, the first year boys and all the girls in all the years played a soccer-volleyball competition. I took a TON of pictures. Different classes had different class shirts or outfits so they looked great. There was one class that straight up had the playboy bunny as a huge logo on the front of the shirt. It was a first year girls class and it's frustrating because they have no idea about the meaning behind the logo. For them, they picked a bunny because they thought it was cute. >.< Regardless, it was a great two days. On the second day, there was a soccer match between the teachers and students. I played in that and was the only female on the field. I'm horrible at soccer but I had a good time and some of my kids actually thought I wasn't half bad. Some kids even thought I was good.

After the first day of Sports Day, that Tuesday, we had a teachers dinner. It was definitely less wild than the one the previous week, the one we had for Teachers Day after we got second place in the interschool volleyball competition. The place we went to was SWANKY. It was right near the water in Mokpo and we had a TON of seafood. There was everything to eat. There was so much food and it was all delicious. I was one of the first to arrive so I just looked out at the water near the window and looked around as more teachers trickled in. I got some validation that the third year homeroom ahjusshis love me since they called me over to sit with them. It was interesting to see how people were seated. It felt like high school again when people sit in their cliques. The first year homeroom teachers sat together, the second year homeroom teachers sat together, the third year homeroom teachers sat together, and the new temporary young teachers sat together. Granted, there were a few exceptions but it seemed to be the general rule they were following. I ate my fill. A few things happened during the night. The "one-shot" ahjusshi from the dinner from teachers day sat across from me. Since he realized I can drink, he insisted that we started the night with at least 10 one-shots... and I don't mean from shot glasses; he was talking legit normal glass sizes. I think I took about 7 shots in the first hour. This guy DOES NOT play around. Thankfully, the third year ahjusshis and young temp teachers had my back. The ahjusshi I went hiking with told me that the "one-shot" ahjusshi was dangerous and to slow down. That gave me an excuse to give the "one-shot" ahjusshi. The young temp teachers also called me over and told me to sit with them for a minute. When I sat down, they handed me a glass of water and told me they called me over so I could take a break from drinking. I was so pleasantly surprised with all the teachers looking out for me. I really love my school. Another strange thing happened--my host dad appeared. He apparently is the head parent of the parents at the school...I'm thinking it's like the President of the PTA in America. It was cool to see my hostdad. He peaced out earlish and I stayed a bit later. Teachers kept leaving so at the end of the dinner, there were a handful of us left. They started singing at the restaurant and a few of the ahjusshi teachers wanted to dance with me; I danced two songs with two different teachers but it was pretty hilarious. A bunch of the ahjusshi teachers at this point had a lot to drink. They suggested we go to the 노래방 so off we went to go sing. I was only there for about 20-30 minutes when I was told I should leave since I looked tired. I was so grateful that someone said this. One of the young temp teachers drove me home. Honestly, my school and the teachers all look out for me. They really care for me and I can't believe how close I've gotten to so many of them in different ways, even though communication isn't always the easiest.

On Friday, the 24th, I headed over to Cheonan for an NKD fundraiser. There was an open mic night at a bar so I went to support the Fulbrighters and the volunteer work they were doing with the North Koreans in Cheonan. There were a good number of us there so it was also nice to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a while. I spent the night at Korena's apartment with a few others. The next morning, I had to get to the bus station early with a bunch of other Fulbrighters to head to Hwacheon for the Hwacheon Peace Forum. Essentially a bunch of us signed up to be paired up to a high level Korean student in Hwacheon to spend two days with them making ddeok, visiting the Peace Dam, visiting the Peace Bell, visiting the DMZ, visiting the Chilseong Observatory, etc. The point is to give the students the opportunity to speak freely with a native English speaker and build a relationship. My kid, 중호 was pretty awesome. He was a sweet kid and had great English, but definitely was a bit on the shy side.

The weekend after that, on May 31st, I headed up to Seoul. Dante, Rocky, Corrigan, and Jenny Huang were all in Seoul for the weekend to play. Dante had been in Korea all week for work and asked to stay an extra weekend. Rocky was in China for summer vacation and decided to hop over to hang out. Corrigan works in Japan so he also wanted to come kick it with us, especially since he hasn't come to see me in Korea yet. Jenny Huang was also spending time in China so decided to hop over. It was a fun weekend. We went out and ate a lot. We also went to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Dante brought me fake Girl Scout cookies too, which hit the spot. A few weeks ago, I was having urges to eat Girl Scout cookies so I messaged him since I knew I'd be seeing him. Unfortunately, Girl Scout cookies aren't in season right now but from an article sent to me by Bryan, I found cookies that taste surprisingly like the original. It's also the same company that makes both cookies, which makes sense. While they were in Seoul, I met a bunch of people. JH has a friend she went to her International high school with who's Korean and lives in Seoul. Unfortunately, JH bought a ticket back to Shanghai for Saturday instead of Sunday so I didn't spend a lot of time with her. Sonia also met the three boys on Saturday.

The week after their visit (last week) was an off week. There was no school on Thursday because it was Memorial Day and my school had a Suncheon Garden Expo field trip the Friday following Memorial Day. My old student, 지수 had sent me a Kakao message earlier that week and asked if I had any free time on Wednesday night after school or on Thursday for Memorial Day. I told her I was indeed free so we ended up meeting for lunch and hanging out for a few hours afterwards on Rose Street. She's a sweet kid and I'm glad I'm still in touch with her. Other than that, I didn't do much for Memorial Day. On Friday, I traveled with Mr. Cho's first year homeroom class to go to Suncheon. Since the garden expo was HUGE, I didn't actually run into that many of my students. I saw a few of them but nothing compared to how many I teach. The expo was really pretty and well maintained. Ben Louis lives in that city and he told me they spent years on it, which is absolutely crazy to think about.
After I got back to school from the expo, I took a bus to Busan. This past Saturday, I went cageless shark diving at the Busan Aquarium. It just so happened that the sand festival was the same weekend so there were a lot of Fulbrighters in Busan at the same time. For the shark dive, I went with Kate and Rachel and it took up most of Saturday but it was super worth it. It's for foreigners and the guy who led it is a university professor in Daejeon. He took groups of 5 at a time (there were 10 total that can sign up) and we were a part of the first group to go. It was pretty awesome. It was less of a swim and more of a walk inside the tank. We were up close and personal with blacktip reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks, sand tiger sharks, Queensland giant groupers, short-tail stingrays, spotted eagle rays, etc. A porpoise nibbled on my finger too! It was pretty awesome. It was also my last big "hurrah" in Korea. It's one of the last things on my Korean Bucket List so now I feel more or less fulfilled about my grant year.

Afterwards, I met up with the rest of the Fulbrighters that hadn't left yet and hung out on the beach. There was an outdoor concert/party going on for the Sand Festival so we hung out around Haeundae. On Sunday morning, I wandered around the beach in the morning looking at the Sand Festival sand sculptures and whatnot. Katelyn and I met up with Monica at Centum City to pick up some Infinite CDs at the Shinsegae. I'm not kidding about being a fangirl. The thing is, I have a pretty obsessive personality and if I'm into something, I get really into it until it fizzes out. I ended up buying three Infinite CDs at the Hot Tracks in the Kyobo and honestly, I think it's worth it. The CDs themselves aren't that expensive (ranging from 9,000won to 13,000won). Actually, speaking of Infinite, I found evidence of Hoya waving at me the second time. ^^ Yep, I'm obsessed. Honestly though, I wasn't looking for it; I was watching some Dream stuff online and came across it. At 1:07, you can see Hoya on the left. He turns to his left and looks at me and my sign (that's where my seat was). Then the camera shot changes but you still see him on stage and you see him wave to me. You can see me holding my white poster sign too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL33F1B30bY
YEP. That's wave #2. I'm pretty much set for life.
OH and I found that Tracey happened to capture a picture of the third wave he gave me when he was leaving the stage! The white sign right at the bottom of the picture is me and he's wearing the checkerboard black white jacket. He's waving to me! That's wave #3. Wow so I've got evidence for all three waves. Brilliant. :)

In other news, I feel very burnt out from teaching. I think it'd be different if I thought teaching was going to be my career. I would probably be better prepared and such but since I knew this was a one year teaching commitment coming in, I'm ready to move on. I think it also has a lot to do with the whole teaching Korean middle school students. There is something about them. All teachers I talk to and strangers even think that middle school teachers have it much worse than elementary and high school teachers. Kids at this age are just... rebellious and there's a lot of hormones going on.
Also, I'm in denial about leaving. Today is June 11th. My last day teaching is June 12th. WHAT. It's already been 11 months in Korea. I'm baffled at it. I've been thinking about how I'll (probably) never have an opportunity to live in Korea again and it makes me terribly sad. I've changed so much as a person and developed and it's crazy to think that this chapter in my life will soon come to a close. I guess I should reflect more on this but reflecting would remind me of how soon I'm leaving...
Last thing to leave on, my pastor from CBC passed away this past week. Pastor Linus Lau really had a heart for God. I became a Christian while attending CBC and he was my first pastor. When I was battling depression as a kid back in the day, he came to my house to share the Gospel with me and prayed for me. He was the one who baptized me. He was the one who warned me about straying away from God in college and gave me my first study bible before leaving for UM. Though his health was deteriorating this past year, I still wasn't really expecting it. Though he's gone, I know he's with Jesus in heaven and I know I'll meet him again.

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.

Obsessed with K Pop

So the Damyang Bamboo Festival two weeks ago was a lot better than I expected. I mean, think about it--how good can a festival centered around bamboo actually be? The truth, pretty darn good. There were two parts to it, a bamboo forest (literally felt like I was walking around in the forest in the movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and the festival itself. Now my favorite part of the entire thing was the bamboo ice cream we had. IT WAS SO GOOD. There was like a woody flavor to it. It wasn't particularly sweet but it was delicious. It was so good I got two cones. After we ate it, we even got popingsu. That's how good the ice cream was. Christina and I met up with Em, the Mokpo mentor, and her non-Fulbright friend from Gwangju to walk the bamboo forest together after we ate lunch. Christina and I really wanted to try a place where they cook the rice in bamboo and then give you the bamboo to eat the rice out of. It was actually pretty cool and the rice had a tinge of sweetness to it. 'Twas a good time.

When I got back on Sunday night, I had to get to Tracey's apartment after eating dinner with my host family. Tracey's school festival was on Tuesday and we were going to perform in it. By Sunday night we were still trying to figure out what we wanted to do. Tracey wanted to sing/rap a song that her students would know. We decided on B.O.B./Bruno Mar's "Nothin on You" because apparently Koreans know that song pretty well. Well, about four hours later, we had made a mash up of "Nothin on You" and Lil Mama's "Lip Gloss". Honestly, it was a lot of Tracey with some small input words from me, which worked for me because it meant less work haha. I mean, it is her festival and we were performing for her kids so she should be the star of the show. On Monday, we had to go to the dress rehearsal and ran through our performance on the stage with microphones. It's a lot harder when you perform on stage and with mics. After the dress rehearsal (after everyone else performed and we kicked out the rest of the students in the gym so we didn't have to do it in front of anyone), Tracey and I realized we had a lot to work on so we went bsck to her classroom and practiced again for a few hours. The festival itself started at 5pm on Tuesday so after my classes finished on Tuesday, Tracey and I practiced again. Her kids' performances and the festival itself were awesome. Apparently the high school festival is a much bigger deal than the middle school one too. She didn't have to teach on Tuesday; instead all the homeroom classes had some type of fundraiser like selling food, doing tarot card readings, selling air fresheners, throwing water balloons at someone's face, etc. I walked around her school on Tuesday and kids were just having fun and it was adorable. They aren't even my kids and I thought they were so cute. The festival itself lasted until about 9:30pm so it was a long show. When Tracey and I got onto stage, her kids were screaming for us. It was cute. A lot of my old students were there too; friends of the students from other high schools come to support their friends and a lot of them were my old kids. It went fairly well I'd say. We just had some fun on stage. Afterwards, Tracey and I went to the flower shop and the bakery to pick up carnations and a cake for our host parents since it was Parents Day the next day.

Tracey's school had sports day for the next few days after the festival. Her kids were running around on the field playing various sports and competing against other homerooms. I could hear the screams of fun from the windows when I was teaching. My students were distracted too and wanted to play, I'm sure. Payal also came to Mokpo Wednesday night. She stayed with Tracey on Wednesday night and with my host family on Thursday night before leaving for Busan on Thursday. She said she had a good time in Mokpo and liked it. She had this perception that Mokpo was a small town, like Naju or Hwacheon, but was pleasantly surprised at how big it actually is. It was kind of funny to see her surprised. She met Tracey's kids and my kids too. She came to one of my really bad classes and also sat in for a little bit in one of my really great classes. According to her, our bad classes are very similar. However, my good class is better than her best class, which was interesting to hear.

On Saturday morning, this past Saturday, I headed up to Seoul for my dentist appointment and for the Dream Concert that night. I started my root canal treatment, which is cheaper to get it done in Korea than in America. It took an hour and a half because of some complications. So there are four nerve things in one tooth and the dentist in Korea could only get into three of them. He took an x-ray and apparently the guy who started the root canal back in America had gotten a small piece of the drill suck in one of the nerve things. YEAH. So he had to work around it and since it's impossible to get it out, he just left it in there and filled it in with the temporary filling. I'm going back next Saturday for the next part of the root canal, which is not exactly what I call fun.
Saturday night, a bunch of us got tickets for Dream Concert, which is the biggest K Pop concert of the year pretty much. There were 22 groups there and we got awesome seats. It was Courtney, Monica, Katelyn, Amy Tseng, Annie, Anna, Tracey, and me. We were seated literally next to the stage. I could see the groups right in front of me. I didn't have to look at the screen at all during the concert really because they were so close.

There were times I could see the sweat flying off them as they were dancing too. It was insane how close we were. So I really like Infinite and LOVE Hoya. He's probably the best dancer in the group and he's a singer/rapper in the group. He's amazing. I first learned about him from 응답하라 1997 (my favorite Korean drama) but have come to fully appreciate him. Anyway, I made a sign for him. Yes, I literally made a sign. It said Hoya (obviously) and "You are my favorite singer" in Korean. So long story short, I was trying to get his attention and he didn't notice me during Infinite's performance BUT when they all came back on stage at the end of the concert, I got three waves from him!!! It was pretty much the highlight of my day. I got a bunch of waves from other groups and other members but I just wanted at least one wave from him (and I got three!). In fact, if you go to this youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG75yiIaHq0) and watch from 0.15 to 0.20seconds, you see Hoya scanning the crowd, nodding, and then waving. HE'S WAVING TO ME. I'M NOT LYING. I was sitting right there and holding my sign up high. I saw him read it, made eye contact, and then I waved to him and he waved back. It made my day. Really. The lineup was: Rainbow, EXO, B1A4*, Huh Gak, Girl's Day*, Boyfriend*, BTOB, U-KISS*, 2AM, Secret, INFINITE*, KARA, ZE:A*, VIXX, EvoL, Speed*, T-ara, 4minute, Sistar, BEAST*, SHINee, Girl's Generation. The names that I put * next to means that members of those groups waved to me. That's how close to the stage we were. It was such a great concert. It's ruined all future concerts for me though because I don't think I can ever sit in the nosebleeds again and enjoy it. I just want to relive it all over again.
I left Seoul early on Sunday morning because it was my host brother's birthday and I wanted to get back to spend the day with the host family. I got back right in time for lunch and then we went to see Iron Man 3 together. Then we did dinner out with the host family. It was a cute celebration; I got my host brother a Messi jersey from Itaewon, which I think he really liked. His favorite team is Barcelona.
Monday morning was such a drag. It sucked to have to come back and teach after such an epic weekend. On top of that, I lost my USB somehow. I taught a class, unplugged it from the computer and put it on the table. I didn't even walk out of the door of the classroom before it somehow disappeared. I don't want to blame the students, especially because the class I lost it in is a good class, but I honestly have no idea where it went. I searched all around the room, and frankly, there's no way it could have gone far. It's a distance of five feet from the computer to the table I put it on. I have no idea where it went. Anyway, the day was just kind of a hot mess.

I keep thinking to myself that everything is coming to an end soon. It's true; it really is. I literally have a little less than 2 months left in Korea. It's an odd feeling. Honestly, I do love Korea. It crept up on me. I didn't fall in love with Korea immediately but it grew on me. Analogy wise, if Korea was a man: it definitely wasn't love at first sight, but after I got to know him, I fell in love with his quirks and the way he was. I didn't even realize I was in love until I realized there was a deadline to the relationship. That's how I feel about Korea at this moment. Sure there are a ton of things I really don't like about Korea but this country is a lovable place. It's changed me and reverse culture shock is going to be really interesting, I'm sure.

The Highs and Lows

Middle School kids. For a middle school teachers, I feel like that phrase in itself is actually a complete thought with emotion behind it. These kids drive me bonkers at times and make my day some days. With a single action, they can affect my mood. I've never felt so bipolar with emotions since middle school. One great class and lesson can make me wish I could renew; the next class go horribly and make me want to count down the days til I go back to America. It's a whirlwind of emotion and it honestly doesn't seem like it will pass until I leave Korea. These kids. The highs are definite highs. The lows are definite lows. A few weeks ago, I had class 3-5, one of my third year girls class. I told them that I was going to leave Korea in July and they told me to stay another year. It actually broke my heart (in a good way). They asked why I was leaving; it was really adorable. I was writing on the board and asked them who was the ETA before me and they said Daniel. Then I asked who was before Daniel and they said Sean. I then asked how long Sean was there; they said one year. I asked how long Daniel was there; they said one year. Then I proceeded to ask how long I would be there (so they would see the pattern); they said one and a half years (because they will graduate if I'm here for half a year longer). I literally clutched my heart, it was so endearing. That same day, I saw my old vice principal (the new high school vice principal) at lunch. He told me to sit next to him. We then proceeded to use broken Korean/English to talk and he expressed to me the school's desire for me to stay another year. He said the school chairman really likes me and Tracey and is hoping that we'll both renew at the school. This too broke my heart. There are honestly some days I think I would be very happy not just renewing, but renewing at my school. However, one of my favorite sayings is, "this too shall pass." I believe that holds true for good events and bad events. That said, the feeling of wanting to renew passes too.

On personal life aside from school, here have been my recent travels:
I went to Daegu on April 19th so I could go to the Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival on the 20th. We joined a tour group which included a visit to an organic market, samgyeopsal lunch, drive to and from the festival, and strawberry picking. Out of all those events, the strawberry picking was by far the best part and made the entire day worth it. The bullfighting festival was kinda cool.

Two bulls get into a ring and they go at it until one of them runs away; the one who runs away is the "loser". Each of the bulls has either a red circle or blue circle painted on his side and spectators can go and place bets on which bull they think will win. Bets can be as low as 100 won (10 cents)--which is how much Tracey bet. >.< I placed a 1,000 won bet ($1) on the blue bull but it lost. Tracey and Maggie placed their bet on the red bull and they won but it wasn't a huge winning; it was a 20% win so Tracey won 20 won (2 cents) from her 100 won bet. Overall, it's the first bullfighting I've ever seen so I'm glad I went. I still must say though, the strawberry picking was the best part of the day though. On Sunday, we shopped around Daegu before we left for our respective cities.
On the 26th, a lot of Fulbrighters came into Mokpo. A lot of them were trying to go to Jindo for the Miracle Sea Parting on Saturday. I met up with them on Friday night to hang out but I wasn't able to go with them to Jindo that Saturday because I had free concert tickets in Seoul. So, on April 27th, I went to Seoul in the morning to make my free Lush concert. I got there in the afternoon to grab some lunch with Lyla and to catch up. Lyla was in the business school with me at Michigan and I didn't realize she was living in Korea until a few days before I met up with her. I saw a picture she had posted on her Facebook about her being on TV and recognized it was a Korean show. I asked and found out that she was living and working in Seoul so we made plans to get together when I went up on Saturday. She's originally from Korea so it wasn't so far fetched that she was living here but last I checked, she was in Spain and trying to find a way to live in New York. She's been back in Korea since last June and wasn't even aware I was living here either. So we grabbed lunch and caught up before my concert. Turns out, she's working in fashion/entertainment now. She told me that she met Song Joong Gi (whom I love) and she kind of killed his image for me because she told me he chain smokes. Anyway, she's trying to get back to New York now. After meeting with her, I headed to the Olympic Stadium where the Lush concert was going to be held; I got a free ticket when I bought a few products from Lush. The lineup was: 딕펑스 (Dickpunks), 더원 (The One) & 몬스터즈 (Monsterz), 에일리 (Ailee), 울랄라세션 (Ooh Lala Session), 백지영 (Baek Ji-Young), and 인피니트 (Infinite). Honestly, I only went for Infinite; I love one of the members, Hoya. It was so worth it. After seeing Infinite, I can understand crazy girl fandom. They were SO good and awesome dancers, especially Hoya. Yep, I'm stoked to see them again in concert at the Dream concert (the concert I'm going to next Saturday). After the concert ended, I rushed to the bus station to grab a late bus back to Mokpo since I didn't want to pay for a place to stay overnight and I was trying to go to the Jindo sea parting the next day.
That Sunday after the Lush concert, on the 28th, I went to Jindo for the Miracle Sea Parting by myself since everyone else had gone the day before. So every year, a few times a year (I think), there's some mysterious force that causes a very low tide between Jindo (one of the biggest islands in Korea) and a neighboring island, Modo. This phenomenon is caused due to the difference in high tides and low tides, which creates a 2.8-kilometer-long road measuring 40 to 60 meters in width. The Jindo Miracle Sea Festival takes place at the same time as this phenomenon. A path from Jindo to Modo LITERALLY appears so people can walk THROUGH the ocean to the island. It's pretty epic. It's like Moses, except we're not as cool. When I was there, it felt like a giant exodus though which was cool. The pictures don't give justice to how many people were actually there.

So low and behold, when I was there, I ran into Robyn, one of my fellow Mokpo crew members. She had gone on Saturday but liked it so much she came again on Sunday but forgot to mention it to me. Anyway, we ended up walking the path together. It was really cool. I got to pick up starfish and met a guy who caught a small crab. I can now say I've walked in the middle of the ocean. While I was walking and taking pictures, all the real Koreans, especially the ahjummas, were digging for clams, oysters, crabs, octopus, seaweed, etc. They were going at it. It was entertaining to see them do it too.

The parting was from 6pm-7pm so we headed back to Mokpo after the festival ended.
This past Thursday and Friday (May 2nd-3rd), my kids were taking their midterms so I didn't have class. I had to go into school that Thursday to insa but left early. Christina came into Mokpo from Gumi and we visited Annie and Sara's school. They teach at an all girls high school and middle school, respectively. I actually saw four of my girls who had graduated last year at Annie's school. I was going up the stairs and I heard, "Ammy teacher!" being yelled. I saw four of my girls running towards me. They were surprised and I was surprised too. They told me that about 25 of my graduated girls from last year now go to Annie's school and she's their new teacher. It was good to see a few of my old students. Seeing Annie and Sara teach was really interesting too because everyone has such a different teaching method. At night, I showed Christina around Mokpo and the fountain area. On Friday, Christina and I headed to Jeonju in the morning for the Jeonju International Film Festival. Lizzie and Katelyn were already in Jeonju so we met up with them to catch a few films.

We watched "My Paparotti" (a Korean film), a few short films in the short film competition, and the closing film, "Wadjda". "My Paparotti" and "Wadjda" were great film; the former is probably one of my new favorite movies but the short films were pretty bad. In particular, the first of the short films was absolutely horrible and disgusting. One of the short films was about 9 minutes long and the theme of this short film was "depth". Within this short film, there were three scenes. The first scene was a guy turning on the camera in a field and then running away from the camera in the field. The third scene had two guys sitting across from one another repeating a sentence back and forth while the camera zooms into the wall behind the table. I leave the second scene description as the last one because it was absolutely disgusting and despicable. It was pretty much a porn scene for 3 minutes. Shot from the angle of a male, it was looking down on a girl as she was giving the guy holding the camera a blow job. Yep, it was graphic and disgusting. Pretty much all the girls in the theatre had their heads down and the guys were watching. It was absolutely disgusting. I never want to watch any short film competitions in film festivals ever again.
Christina and I wanted to do a hanok stay since we figured it'd be a cool experience. We got to walk around the Jeonju hanok village between films and it's a pretty awesome place. There's a lot of culture and it's just very pretty. We stayed in a two-person room hanok that had its own bathroom. It was small but well maintained and pretty nice. Katelyn and Lizzie left that day but Christina and I stayed until Saturday morning (today). We had the famous Jeonju bibimbap for lunch and it was okay. To be honest, I guess I expected something crazy good but it didn't taste like the best bibimbap I've ever had. For dinner we had this famous kalguksu from a place called "Veteran". That place had the best kalguksu I've ever eaten in my life. It wasn't the noodles that were special, it was the broth. It had a bunch of spices and I had no idea what they put in it but I could drink that broth all day. It was delicious.
This morning, Christina and I explored the hanok village a bit more before heading out for Gochang. We checked out the UNESCO World Hertitage Gochang Dolmen sites and the Gochang Fortress.

Gochang is a pretty small town but it was cute. After we finished the fortress visit, Christina headed to Gwangju where she's crowd surfing for the night and I headed back to Mokpo since it was only an hour away from Gochang. Tomorrow, we're meeting up in Gwangju to head over to the Damyang Bamboo Festival. More about that tomorrow!

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.