What You've All Been Waiting For... and More

An to the nyeong chingoos.

How is everyone? I hope you're well. Sorry it's been a hot second since I updated, but we've been having quite the hopping time here at Jungwon. Today will be another long and unorganized blog, but it's gonna have some good information so get yourself a Dr. Pepper and stick around.

Let's start with the most exciting news so you can stop reading after if you want.

The Big News

My Placement

Last Tuesday we had our placement ceremony in which all us ETAs found out where in Korea we will be teaching! I will be at... 선덕여자고등학교 Seondeok All Girls High School (pronounced sun-duck) in the city of 경주시 GyeongJu (pronounced kyung-ju)! That's right, not only will I not be at an elementary school as I told you last week, but I will be at an ALL GIRLS high school! The more I've been thinking about it, the more excited I've been getting! I am still adjusting to and reflecting on the idea of teaching older students, but I am looking forward to being able to connect with my girls at Seondeok!

Don't have a good picture of 선덕 Seondeok, but in the meantime settle for this picture of my roommate Jason and I at the placement ceremony. I'm looking sweaty and extra large but we good

The city I will be placed in, Gyeongju, is directly east of  대구 Daegu and north of 부산 Busan, the second and third biggest cities in Korea. I am probably less than an hour from each. Fun fact: I am the furthest east ETA in our program. Gyeongju is home of a world famous tap dancing museum, so basically I'll have plenty to do. But actually, it was the capital of Korea's ancient Silla kingdom and is home of 4 Unesco World Heritage Sites. The "museum without walls" should be a fun and unique city to explore for a year!

Find Gyeonju... that's me!

Other Goings On

1. 속초 Sokcho

This past weekend we took a field trip to 속초 Sokcho, a beach city in 강원도 Gangwon Province. It was a great time to relax and get away from our hectic schedules at Jungwon University, although they had scheduled activities for us as well. 속초 Sokcho probably deserves an entire blogpost to itself, but I'm afraid I'm not dedicated enough so you will have to settle for a recap and pictures. 

속초 Sokcho

Probably the best part of the trip was the food! Our first meal there was a delicious bulgogi soup, and being able to eat real, non-cafeteria kimchi was amazing! I never thought I would like kimchi as much as I liked that hotel's. We also went to a fantastic 삼겹살 Samgyupsal restaurant, which is pork belly that you grill right at the table. 

불곡기 Bulgogi Soup ft. Ivy

삼겹살 Sampgyupsal!

Two of our Orientation Counselors

On Friday, we went to 낙산사 Naksan Temple, a famous Buddhist temple in the city. The trip to the temple was preempted with a talk given by a white monk in the Korean sect of Buddhism who had been living in Korea for some time. To be quite honest the talk was a mess and the monk seemed to be slightly racist an ill-informed about some other religions. That being said, the temple itself was beautiful. This was actually my second time to the temple, which I didn't realize until I got there. When I was in Korea last, all of the names ran together in my head and I didn't keep a good record! 

Statue of Buddha at 낙산사 Naksan Temple

Saturday we had the entire day free, and I ended up going to 설악산 Seorak Mountain (pronounced suh-rock) with my friends. We hiked a trail and were treated at the end to a beautiful waterfall and some beautiful 아주마 ajummas (older Korean women) dipping their feet in the water. It was quite the party. (As an aside, 속초 Sokcho is famous in Korea for being the only city where Pokemon Go can be played. We went to the beach on Saturday after hiking, and it was actually ridiculous how many people were playing!)

Entrance to 설악산 Seorak Mt.

The Waterfall! ft. Maggie

Ajummas and us putting our feet in the water

Oh hey look who it is

Statue of a Black Bear at the entrance of the hiking trails

Some idiots (aka my friends) playing Pokemon Go on the beach in 속초 Sokcho

This is from another temple in 속초 Sokcho but Mama 신사임당 Shin Sa Im Dang's hair was looking on point so I took ap picture. Soak in the history 

2. FEP

The week we got back from 속초 Sokcho, the Fulbright English Program began (and is continuing as I write this). This program, shortened to FEP ("feep"), is a camp for Korean middle schoolers from all over the country to come and partake in an intensive English immersion camp for a week. Previous year's ETAs serve as the main teachers for the students, but us current ETAs also get the opportunity to teach and hang out with the kids.

I partook in "night fun," which is basically an amalgamation of activities led by current ETAs. My roommate Jason and I led kickball with some kids, and it was very entertaining.

Yesterday I taught my first class! It was an amazing experience, and my first time teaching in a real teaching environment. My class was only 8 students (5 girls and 3 boys) and I only had them for 45 minutes, but it was fun. I taught a lesson on bad habits and how to break them. At the end, the students invented their own creative products to break some bad habits. I wish I had pictures, but I couldn't take any since I was the teacher!! (In case you want to try and learn some Korean names, my student's names were girls: 채린 Chaerin, 진 Jin, 혜례 HyeRae, 수연 SuYeon, 인아 InA, and boys: 숭준 SeungJun, 보우 BoWu, and 수빈 SooBin)

Kids playing a charades game

Sassy-pants 유민 YuMin in the green is pretty darn cute

These are bad pictures but they're all I've got so work with me 

The kids are cute, just trust me

3. Dumplings

Just tonight I had another fun experience. Apparently there is a group of Chinese students partaking in a Korean immersion camp at Jungwon, and they invited a few ETAs to come make food with them tonight! We made dumplings, and not just a few! It was pretty much all girls, and they were adorable! They didn't speak much English and we didn't speak much Chinese, but it was fun nonetheless. They all wanted to take pictures with us as well since we were foreigners!

Dumpling making time!

If you look closely, you can see my skinny white head sticking out like the Loch Ness monster

Well that's all for now! Sorry it was a lot again, but thank you so much for reading! It means the world to me to know some of you back home are keeping up with my adventure. Talk to you soon!

Annyeong Y'all

Week One or Year One?

Coming at you hot with another blog post. Get ready for more mumble-jumbled madness as I attempt to convey a week of a foreign country to you via text.

Today marks my first week in 괴산 Goesan, (pronounced gway-sahn) South Korea. It feels like I've been here for ages, even with our busy schedule. Orientation has been an adventure, and I will try to sum up some of the most exciting parts and answer some FAQ's.

Fun Times

1. Water? Nah

An important part of my time here so far has revolved around this fact: the water stopped working on our first day at the University and we had no running water (including toilets!) for 4 days. FOUR DAYS! Having to simultaneously adjust to a new culture and location while having to bath out of two water bottles (one being your roommate's who you just met yesterday) is not a fun time. Having to go from my 9th floor bathroom to the 2nd floor of the academic building just to find a bathroom was not a fun time (especially at night). But you know, at lunch today I realized what a blessing the water not working was. We were talking about our experiences to struggle taking a shower and finding bathrooms and laughing like we were old friends. The water situation proved useful in bonding all of us ETAs (English Teaching Assistants) together like no ice breaker could have. (But we have running water now and I'm very grateful).

Our Shower for 4 Days

2. Site visits! 

On Tuesday, we were split into groups and got to visit current ETAs in their schools. I went to 청원 Cheongwon (pronounced Chuhng-wuhn) High School and observed an ETA named Hailey. It was amazing seeing Hailey in the classroom! 청원 Chungwon is in 청주 Cheongju (not confusing at all), which is considered a rural-suburban city. Her school was very nice and had very high level students. Most likely the students I will be teaching won't be on the same level, but it was great to get a new perspective from Hailey. She played games with her classes that included pop culture references to Drake, Beyonce and others. We also got to talk with some of the students in her all girl's class. I talked to two girls about their fear for entering Senior year soon, but I know they will do great.

Hailey's All Boys Class 

Hailey's All Girls Class

3. Going into Town

I finally went into the actual town of 괴산 Goesan (the university is a bit to the Northeast) and get a glimpse at the "big city." It is a cute small city that has the feel of a big city with all the signs and crowded streets... Well really it's one main street but you get the point. I went to eat 팥빙수 Pat Bingsoo (shaved ice) with some friends at a cafe and then we went to a 치맥 ChiMaek (Chicken and Beer) place. While I still don't personally drink, the fried chicken in Korea is bomb and they have coke so I was happy as a clam.

Bingsoo! Shaved Ice!

Fried Chicken Mmmm

4. Another Venture

I also went into town on Saturday with some new friends to work on some lesson plans in a small cafe. We got lost looking for one cafe and ended up in another, but it turned out to be really cute! The owner kept trying to get us to buy drinks and she even gave us a free latte. Her adorable daughter was there as well and was rather intrigued to see a group of four foreigners sitting in her mom's cafe! After we were done, we went to dinner at a place called 마포 갈매기 Mapo Galmegi, which was a barbeque restaurant. It was so good and we didn't set anything on fire, so that's good.

The cute cafe we visited 

Rachel, Katie, Mika and I

Korean Barbeque!

5. KPoppin' Again

This is not too exciting to other people, but as an extracurricular activity during orientation I got to learn another KPop dance! If you didn't know, I've done KPop dance performances at my school for the past 4 semesters. I honestly didn't think I would be learning any more in a group any time soon, but it was really fun! We learned "Cheer Up" by Twice if you wanted to know.

FAQ

1. What are you doing!?

Right now we are in orientation! The Fulbright Grant year consists of 6 weeks of orientation followed by two semesters of teaching as an English Teaching Assistant. Orientation is a time when all 73 of us ETAs are together to learn about Korean culture, education and teaching in Korea, and study the Korean language. A typical daily schedule consists of the following:

8:00-9:00 Breakfast

9:00-1:00 Korean Classes (There are levels 1, 3 and 6. I'm in 3)

1:00-2:00 Lunch

2:00-3:00 Korean Class

3:00-5:00 Teaching or Cultural Workshops

6:00-7:00 Dinner

7:00-9:00 Extra Classes and Office Hours (Optional)

Yes, that is 5 hours of Korean classes a day.

2. Where are you now?

I am currently at 중원대학교 Jungwon (pronounced Joong-wuhn) University in 괴산 Goesan, South Korea.

Here are some pics:

The view from the front of our school

The one main street. I promise it gets nice when you actually go down it!

View from the 11th floor directly out front of Jungwon 

The front of Jungwon University

3. What age will you be teaching?

This has been a large part of my anxiety the past few days. Fulbrighters can either be Elementary or Seconday (middle and high school) ETAs. Up until they announced which we are, I thought I was an Elementary ETA. Because of bad communication, a vague website, and an already set-in-stone structure, I did not get Elementary even though I applied for it. So, I will be teaching as a Secondary ETA. I am still adjusting to this, as I am passionate about younger children and must try to figure out what God has in store for me with this big change.

4. What is the education system like in Korea?

The education system in Korea is VERY rigorous, with High School students gearing up for their big test at the end of their Senior Year. The Sooneung is basically the SAT on steroids and directly determines what college you get into. Students will stay at school until 9-10 PM or go straight from normal classes to a Hagwon (Cram School) to study more.

The schools we might be teaching at can be middle or high schools; all girls, all boys or co-ed; and small to large with varying level students. Co-ed schools tend to have gender segregated classes (all boys or girls classes), but some are mixed.

5. What about everything else?

The simple truth is I just don't know. I don't find out my specific placement until next week. This means I won't know what city I'm in, what my school is, what age I'll be teaching specifically, whether I'm teaching boys or girls, or who my home stay family is until next week. Trust me, I'm more anxious about it than you are! But I am trying my best to remain positive and open.

Kakao Coke on the plane 

A few pictures of regular meals we have

You know what the worst part was? It tastes worse.

Well, that's it for now kids. If you read all of that, I am eternally thrilled that you are willing to keep up with my life while I'm abroad and care about me that much. My community is my support group, and I will be thinking of all my friends back in the states for the entirety of the next year. But for now,

Annyeong Y'all

We Made It, But Why Here?

Well here we are kids. Buckle up because we are about to go on an adventure together. As many of you reading this will know, I have just recently arrived in 대~~한민국 (that would be S. Korea for my non-Korean friends). I am creating this blog to document my time in Korea and to help keep family and friends back home updated.

Yuck, another boring blog about someone traveling to a place I don't care about?

Well, yes. But I'm afraid I can't help that, and hey if you're reading this you're already invested so let's just keep going.

While I am indeed in Korea right now, I thought I would make this blog a bit of a prologue as to why I am even here to begin with.

At Notre Dame, I studied Korean for three years. I also went to Sogang University in Seoul for a short, intensive Korean language program one summer. I have grown to love Korean culture over the past four years, but find that I don't even really know what it's like to live here! Fulbright came along as the perfect opportunity to discover Korea in a new capacity and to work with my other passion, kids! I have taught kids at my church for a few summers now and absolutely love it. That being said, it's more of a camp-esque situation and I mainly just make sure the kids don't stray away.

Being a Fulbright Grantee allows me to reach far out of my comfort zone; develop my Korean language skills via immersion; work with and hopefully have an impact on some kids; build meaningful relationships with my host family, coworkers and others; and learn a lot! My basic goal for this upcoming year can be summed up as: I want to grow. It will be a challenge (little old introverted me is already struggling with 70 new friends at orientation!), but I want to think I am up for that challenge.

This post is very scattered and unstructured, but forgive me as this is my first blog. I will try to be more structured in the future! Check this weekend for an update that is about what I've actually done and not just my feelings!

Annyeong y'all!