Challenges Begin

Yo yo yo chingoodeur

Didn't realize how bad that would look spelled out in English but we are sticking with it. (chingoodeur = 친구들 = "friends" for the bilingually impaired)

How is everyone? How's America? Can't be any worse than when I left it. Hope Trump hasn't ruined too much yet. Anyway, let's jump in.


1. End of FEP

*Note: We were told to not post pictures of any of our FEP students, as some are North Korean defectors and may be at risk. Just trust me, they're cute.

Last week I told you about FEP, or the Fulbright English Program. It ended this Saturday, and it was actually kind of sad! I had grown accustomed to having all the kids, and I even got to grow relatively close with some of the students. In Korean school culture, it is rather normal for teachers and students to have very close relationships (even going so far as sharing Kakao IDs, facebooks, etc.). Unfortunately most of these kids were too young to have social media, so I will likely not see them again. It was a great chance to interact with some younger kids before I am whisked away to my high school.

During FEP, us ETAs had to teach two practice lessons. As this blog is meant to keep my loved ones back home updated, I intend to be vulnerable and share my actual experiences in Korea the way I really experience them.

My second lesson for FEP has been my hardest day in Korea yet. For some background, my first lesson was with high level students and went extremely well. The activities were engaging, the students understood the material and they seemed to appreciate me as a teacher and guide. My second lesson was prepared in much less time and was for a much lower level class. Perhaps it was these factors or others that led to the class being far from ideal. My very first intro activity (called the "hook") confused the students and sent them into a downward spiral of distraction and apathy. It was very hard to get the students back on track after that, and I had a few students seem to thoroughly dislike my lesson (which was on Self-Worth in case you were wondering). My roommate Jason taught the lesson right before me and was completely successful, just adding to the pain of a failed lesson on my part. I held back tears as I sat through both Jason and I's thirty minutes of feedback from the course instructor. I skipped lunch and returned to my room where I couldn't hold it in any more.

It is embarrassing, humiliating, and frustrating to admit not only that I failed at my lesson, but also how I reacted to it. As I've been reflecting on that day, I have been trying to understand what being a teacher is and where to draw the line between my feelings and my job. It is natural to be upset and hurt when a lesson doesn't go as planned, but that should in no way affect how I am teaching my lesson or treating my students. I am embarrassed to know how obvious it was that I just wanted that lesson to be over with, and that I didn't give those students what they deserved. I am sorry to 보연, 보성, 준배, 세려, 광은, 진영, 현제, 오래, 준일, and 혜민.

To end this section on a lighter note, FEP was far from bad overall, and I am determined not to let the memory of my second lesson spoil my perception of the program. I got to meet some amazing kids. I grew particularly fond of a boy named 종혁 Jonghyuk. 종혁 was not even in either of the classes I taught, but somehow had a gift of talking to people he didn't know well. I don't even remember where I met 종혁 now, but he had the bravery to go up to an English speaking "adult" and befriend him. I actually really look up to him in this regard, as I would be terrified to do that in Korean! At one point during the second week, 종혁 sat down next to me and said this:

"I really like Americans. I want to go to America one day."

"You should! You should come to Texas!"

"Yes! I will go to Texas, and I will find you. I will ask everyone, 'Do you know Jack?'"

I don't think 종혁 knew how much his very broken English sentiment meant to me. I also had to break the news to him that my name is somewhat common in Texas. Either way, 종혁 and I broke the classic school rule and determined that we were each other's favorites at FEP. I'll miss that kid.

2. Temple Stay

This past weekend, a group of about 25 ETAs went on a Temple Stay! This was a fun and challenging experience. From Saturday to Sunday afternoon we had a micro retreat at the 한마음선원 Hanmaum Seonwon Temple. During this stay, we went to four Seon (basically Korean Zen) Buddhist ceremonies that involved chanting, bowing to the ground (an integral part of Seon Buddhism) and hearing Buddhist teachings. We wore clothes that the temple gave us and were amazingly comfortable, not to mention the buildings had AC (which I was very surprised by). The Dharma Temple itself was amazingly beautiful. It was made of intricately painted and carved wood and had a large golden statue of Buddha in the front. I was amazed at how every inch of the temple was covered in some sort of decoration, whether it was a carving, painting or scripture from the Buddhist texts.

The inside ceiling of one of the temple of the Mountain Guardian 

Cemetery to help the dead continue their journey of self discovery

The spiritual center of the temple, the Dharma Hall

Inside the Dharma Hall

A rather magnificently beautiful fan I painted

A bad picture, but you can see my sporty temple clothes. I wish I could have kept those pants

The hardest part of the temple stay was the monastic meal we had for dinner on Saturday night. Buddhist monks (스님 pronounced seu-neem) eat in total silence, but that wasn't even the hardest part! Our meal was served in four bowls and consisted of rice, seaweed soup and side dishes. A large part of the monastic meal system is leaving no waste behind. At the end of our meals, we poured water into our rice bowl, took a piece of picked radish, and used it to clean the bowl. We then repeated this process, using the same water, with the soup bowl and the side dish bowl. And guess what we did next! That's right, we drank the water! I know it doesn't sound that bad, but the seaweed and miso flavor combined with all the various side dishes and pickling of the radish was not so great. It may or may not have made me gag, but remember this was all in silence so I tried extra hard to keep it down!

The monastic meal (in their serving dishes, not our bowls)

Besides the monastic dinner, the temple gave us some bomb snacks. There were some 아주마s ajummas in a room that pealed three different types of peaches for us in addition to corn (which seemed a bit random to me as a snack but hey it's temple culture I guess). They also had chocopies (a common Korean chocolate snack) and other candies out the wazzoo. Snacks admittedly may have been one of the highlights of the temple stay if we are being honest.

3. Market

Today I went into 괴산 Goesan with some friends to go to the 시장 market (pronounced she-jahng). There's not too much to say but I took some pictures!

Animals at the market. I think they were being sold as pets, but I'm not asking

Sarah and Maggie eating 호떡 hotteok, a popular street food that's essentially a sugar filled pancake

4. Food!

Here is a small collection of pictures of food I've taken, because why not?

You'd be amazed how good the fried chicken is in Korea

School lunch

BBQ ft. beautiful Rachel and irritated Maggie

"How should we garnish our 빙수 bingsoo? I know: put a piece of cake on top"

The aftermath of a 6-person meal

I was not brave enough to try

More fried chicken whoops

Well friends, that about does it for this week. It may have been a bit long winded, but as always I appreciate any amount of reading you completed! Thanks for being the best, and I miss you!

Annyeong Y'all