I think that I can honestly say that I have finally settled into my new life in Suncheon and Gwangyang. I have found my role in the family and in the school. I feel more confident navigating my way around the city which gives me a better sense of independence which is definitely a plus. When I first arrived, my homestay family and co-teachers did almost everything for me and it was frustrating, but certainly necessary. Of course, they are still absolutely critical to my new life, but I feel like I can at least function properly without their presence for at least a short amount of time. It is pretty difficult to be as reliant on people as I am here, but I am learning how to do it.
School continues to be awesome. The students are all friendly and shouting "Hi Teacher!!" whenever they see me in the hallways. Most of them put a lot of effort into lessons and try their best to put the words together, but a lot of my students have very low level English abilities so there is only so much they know how to say. I have to use a lot of pictures and acting. The new lesson this week is about romance and love letters. We've been discussing personality, appearance, and introductions the last few lessons so this seemed like a perfect way to tie all of them in together. I have to use a pretty strict template/fill in the blank letter so 1.) they will be able to write the letter and it will make sense and 2.) so they can't write anything too crazy or inappropriate! I'm going to send their letters to a couple of the all-girls schools that two of my fellow ETAs are teaching at and we will exchange letters at our fall conference in Gyeonju (spelling?). They seemed pretty excited which makes me excties so it should be good!
This past weekend I stayed in town. I was going to go to the Booseong Green Tea Fields with some of the Naju & Gwangju crew, but the rain forced us to postpone :( There was a pretty nasty typhoon that hit Jelloanamdo (my province) on Monday. So much that school was actually closed for students! The teachers had to go in, but since I only teach and don't have all of the paperwork that the other teachers do, I got the day off too!! I love typhoon days haha. But it was actually a little unnerving sometimes since I live on the 15th floor. The wind was definitely super loud and I thought the windows were going to blow in a few times!
I think I mentioned briefly in my last post that I joined a cross-fit gym. It is actually really fun and the people are very friendly, but it is sooo difficult! The only excerise I really ever did was running long distances so this is brand new to me. We are doing arms, back, legs, everything! Yesterday we did these pull-ups where we had to grab the bar above us and then pull our knees up to our elbows 10x then we had to do 15 pushups. And we did as many rounds of that as we could in 12 minutes. It was pretty brutal. My arms are definitely not strong at all. I'm sticking with it though. It's nice to have an activity outside of school and the house. I feel like I have to be "on" all the time at school and home, so it's good to have a little time where I can just do whatever.
This weekend I am heading back up to Seoul to meet some Fulbright peeps. We are going white water rafting!!! I am super stoked. I haven't been rafting in a long time so I can't wait to have a little adventure again. The water is going to be freezing and probably going crazy because of all of the water from the typhoon, but that definitely doesn't stop me. After rafting, we have the option of going...bungee jumping!!!! I am planning on doing it so I'm also amped about that. I've always thought about it, but never had the chance, so I have to jump at this one while it's here (no pun intended...). But seriously, I can't believe I am going! A bunch of my friends are going on the trip too so it'll be great to see a lot of them again. I'll let you know how it goes!
This was a pretty good blog I'd say! I almost didn't do it and just caught up on the news instead, but here I am feverishly typing away. I don't know why I find it more difficult to blog here than I did at orientation where I was like 30x busier. Oh well! I will do my best to keep at it.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Finally a looong Update!
I'm back! I have been pretty terrible about keeping this blog. 2 weeks have gone by. Oops. Well a lot has happened so I will give all of my patient readers a nice lil update.
Week 1
I started teaching! Yay! My first lesson was an introduction lesson about meeting people and all of that since I am meeting all of them for the first time. Bascially I showed a nice lil slideshow of myself and friends and family and stuff like that and then we played a Jeopardy style game with random facts about me. It was a nice fun lesson, but I wished I could somehow get the students talking more. With the next lesson, I was able to do that a bit more.
This week we also said fare thee well to our principal. Every 4-5 years, the principals and teachers have to change schools in order to spread all of the really good teachers around to all of the schools and make it fair, I guess. Most teachers don't want to teach in the really rural far out places so they just takes turns I suppose. I'm not 100% sure how everything works but I don't have to worry since I won't be here that long. So all of the teachers had a lil dinner to say goodbye to the principal and everything. The dinners are quite different from what I have done in the states. Nearly all of the teachers crammed into the restaurant and sat around to eat and drink. Drinking is a fairly big part of Korean culture, especially men. However, I mentioned to my cooperating teacher early that I don't really drink very much and she kept this in mind as she quickly took me away to the table with all of the young female teachers who also don't drink. Sometimes the prinicpal comes around and offers beers or shots of soju, but that didn't happen at our table since no one really was interested. This was totally fine by me! It just seemed like a very awkward dinner, but apparently is somewhat common.
Afterwards, some of the teachers I was sitting with went out for coffee and I tagged along. It was pretty fun. They were all trying to speak English with me and they were pretty decent for the most part. The grammar and all of that was definitely not perfect, but I could usually understand what they were trying to tell me, which, in my opinion, is the most important part. We wanted to try and get a workshop class for the teachers who were interested in learning more English, but it doesn't look like the schedule is going to work out this semester.
So school was great. I also was able to do some things with my homestay family and even on my own! On Saturday, we went to the city of Jeonju. It's about an hour and 20 minutes or so away and we went to a Hanok village that had a bunch of old historical homes and even one of the old palaces. All of the buildings looked really cool and many of them were all decked out inside too. Some of them were converted to museums like this one fan museum. There were also a ton of shops and restaurants. We went to a bibimbap restaurant because Jeonju is famous for its bibimbap. It is essentially a dish with a bunch of vegetables (carrots, onions, green things that I don't know) and it has some sort of meat (usually pork or duck) and then you dump a bunch of rice in it too. Add a lil (or a lot) of hot sauce and there is your bibimbap. It tasted like the other ones that I have had so I didn't really see what the big deal was about Jeonju's but then again perhaps my bibimbap palette is not as refined as it should be yet.
Around 4 or so, my host family left and I decided to stay in Jeonju to meet another Fublright ETA, Kelly. She teaches there along with a few other ETAs and I really wanted to meet some since I haven't been able to see any of the etas yet. Luckily she was free so I waited around while she was on her way. I was waiting for about 15 minutes and lo and behold I see someone! I kind of just stare at him for a little bit and he just looks back at me. then I realized that it is indeed the one and only Andrew M! I was pretty shocked because he lives in Iksan, which is 30 minutes away! And I live in Suncheon which is nearly three times as far! It was a really weird but totally awesome coincidence that we ran into each other. He and his co-teacher joined Kelly and I later to go out to this great place to have some really good food. We had everything from pig's feet to squid. I also tried some Makgeoli, which is like a sweet Korean rice wine. The place was such a great find and I can't wait to go back. Andrew's co-teacher was totally awesome to and kept us laughing the whole night. It was so nice to finally be able to see some familiar places and use English normally. At school and home, I usually have to talk very slow and with easy vocab but it was nice to talk like I naturally do for a little while. And, of course, it was just amazing to be able to see my friends again.
Week 2
I continued teaching! Yay! I finally moved on from just an introduction to getting into different topics. I chose personality to be my new topic. I think personality is pretty important to talk about and learn about so it worked well. I am doing an activity where there are photos with the word (ex. friendly with a smiling person) and students have to write it down beside the corresponding pic. I also did an activity where I drew a character from Spongebob Squarepants on the board and the students had to describe his personality using the words they just learned. Then to top it all off, we played bingo using our new words and the winner got a spongebob sticker. The students all seemed into the lesson, especially since I acted it out. It's hard to be super enthusiastic all the time about something you've done so many times, but it's better than teaching quiet, bored students.
We also got a new principal this week. Apparently he is much more strict than the previous one. I can't really tell because I honestly don't really know what is going on most of the time. He used to be a German and then an English teacher so I am able to talk to him a little bit which is pretty cool. The prinicpals are rarely seen that often. They work more with the main offices and outside organizations while the vice principal does more of the day to day tasks that an American principal might do. We had another little dinner but the new principal is an elder in his church so he does not drink which means the dinners are shorter and have less speeches and more eating. We also had our first volleyball game. Apparently, it is super popular for teachers in Korea to bond over a volleyball game afterschool. It sounds good to me! It was pretty fun to watch, some of them are really intense so not sure how much I will play haha.
Homestay went well of course. Did not really do a whole lot with them this week. We went to ice hockey lessons on Sunday which is fun to see. The instructor tried to teach me but I didn't want to take too much of his time so he could focus more on his team. I learned how to turn better and how to do crossovers. The only bad part about this all is how small the skates are! The biggest ones they have is one size too small so I cannot wear them too long. I've been eating dinner and everything with the fam and hanging out with them in the evening, but it is just normal family type things not really anything extraordinary.
On Tuesday I had a day off! The students were taking exams and I didn't have to stay because of that so I slept in late and then I went and explored my city. I just walked around a ton all over the part of the city I am in. I explored different areas and shops and restaurants. Probably my biggest find of the day was a Crossfit Gym that I ended up joining. I am still really surprised that I joined it because it is totally something that I would never do at home. It has been much more difficult than I thought so far and I am always feeling pooped afterwards, but I enjoy it. The people are all very nice and it is good to be regualrly exercising again and do things totally different than I would ever do otherwise. Should be an adventure. I am going to take the classes which are like 1 hour or so for 4-5x a week.
Last big event was my adventure in Gwangju! Gwangju is the biggest city near me and I was going there to take a Kimchi making class. Kimchi is bascially fermented cabbage and it is at every single Korean meal. It really isn't that bad if it is cooked well, but that is the key. Ours was done well so it turned out well! I gave it to my host family and they prety much devoured it. During the class, I met a few people and we went out to lunch together. One was an EPIK teacher (the other major english teaching program in Korea) and one was a teacher at an English hagwon (after-school tutoring). It was nice to meet some native-English speaking people who were not Fulbrighters. It was definitely a different perspective and they are in very different situations. I feel very lucky to be doing fulbright.
I also met some Fulbright friends in Gwangju. We all went to a dog cafe. It is not a place where you eat dogs, but rather you get to hang out with them! There cats and dogs all over and you can just pet them and hang out. It is definitely a different concept, but I enjoyed. Totally not sanitary though but I didn't eat food so I felt fine about it haha. We also went out to a Chinese restaurant where I pigged out on some dumplings. Some of my favorite food! It was awesome to be able to see some more of my friends.
Then on Sunday it was a pretty relaxed day. I slept in a little and had a nice lunch. I was also able to Skype with the one and only Gus! It was really nice to be able to see a friend from home. I talk to some on facebook sometimes, but I'm still pretty new to Skype so I don't really use it as much. If you want to talk, my name is benjamin.m.louis :) Then there was the ice hockey lesson in the evening and that was about it.
Whew. That took literally all school day. I started in the morning and have been working between classes. It would probably be easier if I just do a week at a time or so. I think that is what I will shoot for. Sorry that it has been so long since I've been on. Just a little busy with moving to a new city, a new job, and a host family haha. Things are great though. Definitely can't complain. I hope things are good back home!!
Week 1
I started teaching! Yay! My first lesson was an introduction lesson about meeting people and all of that since I am meeting all of them for the first time. Bascially I showed a nice lil slideshow of myself and friends and family and stuff like that and then we played a Jeopardy style game with random facts about me. It was a nice fun lesson, but I wished I could somehow get the students talking more. With the next lesson, I was able to do that a bit more.
This week we also said fare thee well to our principal. Every 4-5 years, the principals and teachers have to change schools in order to spread all of the really good teachers around to all of the schools and make it fair, I guess. Most teachers don't want to teach in the really rural far out places so they just takes turns I suppose. I'm not 100% sure how everything works but I don't have to worry since I won't be here that long. So all of the teachers had a lil dinner to say goodbye to the principal and everything. The dinners are quite different from what I have done in the states. Nearly all of the teachers crammed into the restaurant and sat around to eat and drink. Drinking is a fairly big part of Korean culture, especially men. However, I mentioned to my cooperating teacher early that I don't really drink very much and she kept this in mind as she quickly took me away to the table with all of the young female teachers who also don't drink. Sometimes the prinicpal comes around and offers beers or shots of soju, but that didn't happen at our table since no one really was interested. This was totally fine by me! It just seemed like a very awkward dinner, but apparently is somewhat common.
Afterwards, some of the teachers I was sitting with went out for coffee and I tagged along. It was pretty fun. They were all trying to speak English with me and they were pretty decent for the most part. The grammar and all of that was definitely not perfect, but I could usually understand what they were trying to tell me, which, in my opinion, is the most important part. We wanted to try and get a workshop class for the teachers who were interested in learning more English, but it doesn't look like the schedule is going to work out this semester.
So school was great. I also was able to do some things with my homestay family and even on my own! On Saturday, we went to the city of Jeonju. It's about an hour and 20 minutes or so away and we went to a Hanok village that had a bunch of old historical homes and even one of the old palaces. All of the buildings looked really cool and many of them were all decked out inside too. Some of them were converted to museums like this one fan museum. There were also a ton of shops and restaurants. We went to a bibimbap restaurant because Jeonju is famous for its bibimbap. It is essentially a dish with a bunch of vegetables (carrots, onions, green things that I don't know) and it has some sort of meat (usually pork or duck) and then you dump a bunch of rice in it too. Add a lil (or a lot) of hot sauce and there is your bibimbap. It tasted like the other ones that I have had so I didn't really see what the big deal was about Jeonju's but then again perhaps my bibimbap palette is not as refined as it should be yet.
Around 4 or so, my host family left and I decided to stay in Jeonju to meet another Fublright ETA, Kelly. She teaches there along with a few other ETAs and I really wanted to meet some since I haven't been able to see any of the etas yet. Luckily she was free so I waited around while she was on her way. I was waiting for about 15 minutes and lo and behold I see someone! I kind of just stare at him for a little bit and he just looks back at me. then I realized that it is indeed the one and only Andrew M! I was pretty shocked because he lives in Iksan, which is 30 minutes away! And I live in Suncheon which is nearly three times as far! It was a really weird but totally awesome coincidence that we ran into each other. He and his co-teacher joined Kelly and I later to go out to this great place to have some really good food. We had everything from pig's feet to squid. I also tried some Makgeoli, which is like a sweet Korean rice wine. The place was such a great find and I can't wait to go back. Andrew's co-teacher was totally awesome to and kept us laughing the whole night. It was so nice to finally be able to see some familiar places and use English normally. At school and home, I usually have to talk very slow and with easy vocab but it was nice to talk like I naturally do for a little while. And, of course, it was just amazing to be able to see my friends again.
Week 2
I continued teaching! Yay! I finally moved on from just an introduction to getting into different topics. I chose personality to be my new topic. I think personality is pretty important to talk about and learn about so it worked well. I am doing an activity where there are photos with the word (ex. friendly with a smiling person) and students have to write it down beside the corresponding pic. I also did an activity where I drew a character from Spongebob Squarepants on the board and the students had to describe his personality using the words they just learned. Then to top it all off, we played bingo using our new words and the winner got a spongebob sticker. The students all seemed into the lesson, especially since I acted it out. It's hard to be super enthusiastic all the time about something you've done so many times, but it's better than teaching quiet, bored students.
We also got a new principal this week. Apparently he is much more strict than the previous one. I can't really tell because I honestly don't really know what is going on most of the time. He used to be a German and then an English teacher so I am able to talk to him a little bit which is pretty cool. The prinicpals are rarely seen that often. They work more with the main offices and outside organizations while the vice principal does more of the day to day tasks that an American principal might do. We had another little dinner but the new principal is an elder in his church so he does not drink which means the dinners are shorter and have less speeches and more eating. We also had our first volleyball game. Apparently, it is super popular for teachers in Korea to bond over a volleyball game afterschool. It sounds good to me! It was pretty fun to watch, some of them are really intense so not sure how much I will play haha.
Homestay went well of course. Did not really do a whole lot with them this week. We went to ice hockey lessons on Sunday which is fun to see. The instructor tried to teach me but I didn't want to take too much of his time so he could focus more on his team. I learned how to turn better and how to do crossovers. The only bad part about this all is how small the skates are! The biggest ones they have is one size too small so I cannot wear them too long. I've been eating dinner and everything with the fam and hanging out with them in the evening, but it is just normal family type things not really anything extraordinary.
On Tuesday I had a day off! The students were taking exams and I didn't have to stay because of that so I slept in late and then I went and explored my city. I just walked around a ton all over the part of the city I am in. I explored different areas and shops and restaurants. Probably my biggest find of the day was a Crossfit Gym that I ended up joining. I am still really surprised that I joined it because it is totally something that I would never do at home. It has been much more difficult than I thought so far and I am always feeling pooped afterwards, but I enjoy it. The people are all very nice and it is good to be regualrly exercising again and do things totally different than I would ever do otherwise. Should be an adventure. I am going to take the classes which are like 1 hour or so for 4-5x a week.
Last big event was my adventure in Gwangju! Gwangju is the biggest city near me and I was going there to take a Kimchi making class. Kimchi is bascially fermented cabbage and it is at every single Korean meal. It really isn't that bad if it is cooked well, but that is the key. Ours was done well so it turned out well! I gave it to my host family and they prety much devoured it. During the class, I met a few people and we went out to lunch together. One was an EPIK teacher (the other major english teaching program in Korea) and one was a teacher at an English hagwon (after-school tutoring). It was nice to meet some native-English speaking people who were not Fulbrighters. It was definitely a different perspective and they are in very different situations. I feel very lucky to be doing fulbright.
I also met some Fulbright friends in Gwangju. We all went to a dog cafe. It is not a place where you eat dogs, but rather you get to hang out with them! There cats and dogs all over and you can just pet them and hang out. It is definitely a different concept, but I enjoyed. Totally not sanitary though but I didn't eat food so I felt fine about it haha. We also went out to a Chinese restaurant where I pigged out on some dumplings. Some of my favorite food! It was awesome to be able to see some more of my friends.
Then on Sunday it was a pretty relaxed day. I slept in a little and had a nice lunch. I was also able to Skype with the one and only Gus! It was really nice to be able to see a friend from home. I talk to some on facebook sometimes, but I'm still pretty new to Skype so I don't really use it as much. If you want to talk, my name is benjamin.m.louis :) Then there was the ice hockey lesson in the evening and that was about it.
Whew. That took literally all school day. I started in the morning and have been working between classes. It would probably be easier if I just do a week at a time or so. I think that is what I will shoot for. Sorry that it has been so long since I've been on. Just a little busy with moving to a new city, a new job, and a host family haha. Things are great though. Definitely can't complain. I hope things are good back home!!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
If you're comfortable, you're not growing
This quote, "If you're comfortable, you're not growing," was spoken by the wise Mrs. Shim. I think this describes my stay fairly well. I am not 100% comfortable with everything around me, but I think I am adjusting well.
School is awesome. I really like my students and all of the co-teachers and teachers are great. They are very helpful and the students are all very interested. It might be because I am still new and they are just curious, but so far they are pretty good. Their English levels are not the best, but most of them are able to shout out some words here and there. These classes are definitely not the typical school environment. The students are chattering a lot, but it is mostly in English or Korean to help explain to others or work out what I am trying to tell them in English....at least thats what my co-teachers say and that's what it looks like. I know some of my ETA pals are trying to get students to raise their hands and be quiet when others are speaking and all of that, and this definitely works in some environments, but I would rather have students at least practicing their English or helping each other and keeping a high energy level. My co-teacher is impressed with how loud I am and says that it can scare the students into doing what I want them to do haha. I am really liking it so far and I think that the trend will continue, as long as I put in the effort to get to know them and to keep the lessons fun and interactive.
I also had my first teacher workshop. These are little workshops where the English teachers and I read an article from a newspaper (usually about an education topic or something similar...this week it was merit-pay) and we discuss a book. Today we picked a book! I offered a few choices and the one that they decided would be best is Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I'm pretty excited because it is an interesting book and I think the level is about right. Enough for them to understand, but it will give them a challenge too. I am really looking forward to these workshops!
I am also going to start teaching club classes next week! Club classes are basically extra classes for the really advanced English learners who may need more of a challenge than the regular lesson. I have three club classes, which is a lot, most ETAs do one, but I am getting a little extra compensation so that's exciting. I also volunteered to teach an English class to all the teachers in the school that are interested. It will only be an hour a week so it is not a big deal and it is a great way to build jeong, a strong relationship with my co-workers.
The homestay has been going well of course. My host-father apparently signed up for an English academy that he is going to be doing. He is so eager to learn. It's great to see. Today was the twins' birthday! I believe Young-Jun is one minute older than his brother Young-Chan. They are both super attached to each other and are fun to be around. When I offer to do something or buy something, they are always the first to be shout "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" The boys and their older sister, Hui-Chan, looooove to play Monopoly. I brought it from the States for them and they are definitely big fans haha. They told me they have a Korean version of the game, but they play it differently so that it is shorter (once no more properties can be bought, the game is over!).
But there are some things that I am still adjusting to. For example, I am still trying to adjust not being around my pals all the time. The closest ETA is like 45ish minutes away and the closest group of them are about an hour away. I haven't really seen anyone yet which is a bummer (except for Elaine's little video message! Loved it!!!!!). I love helping others with their English, but there are times where I just want to talk like I naturally do instead of slowing everything down and using simple vocab. I am also adjusting to living with a homestay family and making sure that I am balancing the home life, school life, and personal life well. Right now, the personal life has been put to the side for a little while I am still in the settling in phase, but I am definitely seeing that this cannot go on for too long.
But like Mrs. Shim said, If you're comfortable, you're not growing! I am definitely taking steps outside my comfort zone and most days, it seems like I am just flying by the seat of my pants, but that's what makes it exciting. I came here looking for adventure and adventure is what I am finding.
School is awesome. I really like my students and all of the co-teachers and teachers are great. They are very helpful and the students are all very interested. It might be because I am still new and they are just curious, but so far they are pretty good. Their English levels are not the best, but most of them are able to shout out some words here and there. These classes are definitely not the typical school environment. The students are chattering a lot, but it is mostly in English or Korean to help explain to others or work out what I am trying to tell them in English....at least thats what my co-teachers say and that's what it looks like. I know some of my ETA pals are trying to get students to raise their hands and be quiet when others are speaking and all of that, and this definitely works in some environments, but I would rather have students at least practicing their English or helping each other and keeping a high energy level. My co-teacher is impressed with how loud I am and says that it can scare the students into doing what I want them to do haha. I am really liking it so far and I think that the trend will continue, as long as I put in the effort to get to know them and to keep the lessons fun and interactive.
I also had my first teacher workshop. These are little workshops where the English teachers and I read an article from a newspaper (usually about an education topic or something similar...this week it was merit-pay) and we discuss a book. Today we picked a book! I offered a few choices and the one that they decided would be best is Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I'm pretty excited because it is an interesting book and I think the level is about right. Enough for them to understand, but it will give them a challenge too. I am really looking forward to these workshops!
I am also going to start teaching club classes next week! Club classes are basically extra classes for the really advanced English learners who may need more of a challenge than the regular lesson. I have three club classes, which is a lot, most ETAs do one, but I am getting a little extra compensation so that's exciting. I also volunteered to teach an English class to all the teachers in the school that are interested. It will only be an hour a week so it is not a big deal and it is a great way to build jeong, a strong relationship with my co-workers.
The homestay has been going well of course. My host-father apparently signed up for an English academy that he is going to be doing. He is so eager to learn. It's great to see. Today was the twins' birthday! I believe Young-Jun is one minute older than his brother Young-Chan. They are both super attached to each other and are fun to be around. When I offer to do something or buy something, they are always the first to be shout "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" The boys and their older sister, Hui-Chan, looooove to play Monopoly. I brought it from the States for them and they are definitely big fans haha. They told me they have a Korean version of the game, but they play it differently so that it is shorter (once no more properties can be bought, the game is over!).
But there are some things that I am still adjusting to. For example, I am still trying to adjust not being around my pals all the time. The closest ETA is like 45ish minutes away and the closest group of them are about an hour away. I haven't really seen anyone yet which is a bummer (except for Elaine's little video message! Loved it!!!!!). I love helping others with their English, but there are times where I just want to talk like I naturally do instead of slowing everything down and using simple vocab. I am also adjusting to living with a homestay family and making sure that I am balancing the home life, school life, and personal life well. Right now, the personal life has been put to the side for a little while I am still in the settling in phase, but I am definitely seeing that this cannot go on for too long.
But like Mrs. Shim said, If you're comfortable, you're not growing! I am definitely taking steps outside my comfort zone and most days, it seems like I am just flying by the seat of my pants, but that's what makes it exciting. I came here looking for adventure and adventure is what I am finding.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
I'm here!!!
I made it all the way down here and have settled in fairly well. My host family is super nice and welcoming. It is tricky to communicate sometime but we make do! I have a grandma who is always laughing and shares a bathroom with me, a police officer/yogi father, a middle
school teacher mother, a crazy smart 5th grade girl, and twin 3rd grade
boys who pound food down even harder than I do! I am able to talk a little with the mother (with the help of her phone translator), a bit more with the father (so incredibly eager to learn!), and conversational-ish with the 5th grade girl so it's pretty good! I haven't done much Korean yet because mine is so poor but I read them my speech that I am giving to the teachers tomorrow and they seemed impressed (even though the grandma was smiling and laughing the whole time). They are going to take me to a picnic by the sea on Saturday and then an Ice Hockey lesson (or possibly game that I will participate in?!) on Sunday night. The foreigner community in Gwangyang is famous for being one of the tightest and coolest around and have already invited me to a shindig. I'm probably going to pass because my host fam may or may not have already made plans for me. But yeah everyone has been pretty awesome thus far.
The school is great too. It is an all-boys high school that has 700ish students. I'm teaching 15 classes of the U.S. equivalent of sophomores and juniors, 3 club classes (extra curriculars to help out the most advanced students who might be a bit bored in the other classes), and 2 hours of a teacher workshop. Still not 100% sure what this all entails. I think it is either a literature type discussion or teaching strategies discussion. I really don't know so I'll probably just wing it haha. I sat in on one class and it was great! I didn't understand all of what was going on since most of the instruction was in Korean but it was good to see students in that type of environment. Most were paying attention but there were a couple of sleepers but the teacher would be sure to wake them up each time. Except for one student which I was surprised about. She told me later that he is a Taekwondo student and she and the other teachers let them sleep since they have to have their physical strength for the afternoon and they aren't taking the high-stakes tests. Not sure if I completely agree with this philosophy, but I am not really here to completely change the culture of the school and this sounds like it is something that wouldn't change easily. For now, I will just go with the flow but we'll see about down the road.
Oh that graduation ceremony! Well basically we all graduated (some of us with higher grades than others) and it was pretty good. Then we did our presentations. Some people did skits and others did videos. My class did both. Our first video didn't fly with some of the teachers and they said it was too similar to the intermediate class. Unfortunately, we only had 5 days to until we performed it in front of everyone and half of that time we would not see our teacher at all. And the majority of it had to be a skit which was especially bad for me seeing how I had to have romanized cue cards to film the movie. Luckily, I was able to be in the movie part mostly and my presence on stage was limited to beeping and forming an "O" with my hands. Oh and we had a dance number. Those of you who are fortunate enough to still have eyeballs after seeing me dance know that I am not exactly the best and most coordinated dancer. It was pretty much a mess but our teacher got up on stage and completely stole the show. He is a crazy good dancer and was going nuts with his half improv half choreographed dance. I think I may have accidentally stopped dancing and just stared for a few beats. But the crowd loved it so I guess that's what matters!
Alrighty, I am heading to bed. I was told that my room was formerly my host sisters room. I felt bad for taking it but I think she is sharing her parents room so the twins don't terrorize her in her sleep. And I have hello kitty bed sheets. I love it here.
The school is great too. It is an all-boys high school that has 700ish students. I'm teaching 15 classes of the U.S. equivalent of sophomores and juniors, 3 club classes (extra curriculars to help out the most advanced students who might be a bit bored in the other classes), and 2 hours of a teacher workshop. Still not 100% sure what this all entails. I think it is either a literature type discussion or teaching strategies discussion. I really don't know so I'll probably just wing it haha. I sat in on one class and it was great! I didn't understand all of what was going on since most of the instruction was in Korean but it was good to see students in that type of environment. Most were paying attention but there were a couple of sleepers but the teacher would be sure to wake them up each time. Except for one student which I was surprised about. She told me later that he is a Taekwondo student and she and the other teachers let them sleep since they have to have their physical strength for the afternoon and they aren't taking the high-stakes tests. Not sure if I completely agree with this philosophy, but I am not really here to completely change the culture of the school and this sounds like it is something that wouldn't change easily. For now, I will just go with the flow but we'll see about down the road.
Oh that graduation ceremony! Well basically we all graduated (some of us with higher grades than others) and it was pretty good. Then we did our presentations. Some people did skits and others did videos. My class did both. Our first video didn't fly with some of the teachers and they said it was too similar to the intermediate class. Unfortunately, we only had 5 days to until we performed it in front of everyone and half of that time we would not see our teacher at all. And the majority of it had to be a skit which was especially bad for me seeing how I had to have romanized cue cards to film the movie. Luckily, I was able to be in the movie part mostly and my presence on stage was limited to beeping and forming an "O" with my hands. Oh and we had a dance number. Those of you who are fortunate enough to still have eyeballs after seeing me dance know that I am not exactly the best and most coordinated dancer. It was pretty much a mess but our teacher got up on stage and completely stole the show. He is a crazy good dancer and was going nuts with his half improv half choreographed dance. I think I may have accidentally stopped dancing and just stared for a few beats. But the crowd loved it so I guess that's what matters!
Alrighty, I am heading to bed. I was told that my room was formerly my host sisters room. I felt bad for taking it but I think she is sharing her parents room so the twins don't terrorize her in her sleep. And I have hello kitty bed sheets. I love it here.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Seoul Weekend
Okay so this weekend, I headed up to Seoul with the Fulbright crew to do some official type things and have a mini-vacation/finale as an ETA class. It was our last weekend all together because we leave tomorrow for our placements!!! I am super pumped about it but admittedly nervous being far away from all of my new buddies (the closest is like 45-60 min away). We finally learned about our host families yesterday so that was pretty exciting. I am going to be staying with a family of five. The dad is a police officer, I think, and the mom is an educator. There are three children and all of them are in elementary school. The oldest is a girl in 5th grade and there are two boys in the 3rd grade and I presume that they are twins. It will definitely be different having such young siblings but I am pretty excited about it. Also, the family lives in Suncheon, which is the city right next to Gwangyang where my school is. Suncheon has about 250,000 people or so and is considered the ecological capital of Korea since there is so much nature around it. It has everything from mountains to reef beds so I was stoked to see that.
But before all of that, I ventured into Seoul. It was a pretty nifty city if I do say so myself. Really big with lots of people but it wasn't too terribly crowded since it wasn't really the best weather outside when we were there.
We left Goesan at 3:30am in order to be there on time for all of the events that we were doing. It was literally a jam-packed day and they had us moving from 3:15am to 9:30pm.
This photo explains how the vast majority of us felt. I am the very last one in the back with the contorted neck.
Believe it or not, that was not a posed photo. After our little rest on the bus, we did a great tour of the DMZ (conducted partially by US soldiers and the USO). We were able to go around the different buildings they used for negotiations and look around at what of North Korea we could see (which was a pretty good amount). I technically set foot in NK since the one building was half South and half North Korea. Here is a photo of me in both SK and NK at the same time.
I'm pretty cool aren't I? Anyways we went to a few different sights and had a mini bus tour of the area and it was pretty interesting. I also went into this underground tunnel that some North Korean defectors dug underneath the DMZ. It was really intense because we all had to crouch down really low to get through parts of it and the tunnel was also very narrow. Only two people could be side by side at a time so it was pretty much single file the whole way as one group of people were heading up and the other was going down at the same time.
After our DMZ excursion, we went to the Ambassador's house were we had a nice little pool party with the Fulbright Office Staff and the Embassy staff. The ambassador was initially supposed to be in America still but I guess he flew back early or something, so he was there to give a nice little welcome. And they had great food! It was all delicious American food like hot dogs and cheeseburgers. It was the first American food I have had since I have been here. It was great, especially the cheese.
We did a few other things and then went back to the hotel. I got up the next day and a few of us strolled along the man-made stream called Cheonggyecheon. Rachel, another ETA was telling me the story behind it. So Korea has undergone a massive urbanization over the past 50 years. Of all of the other countries in the world right now, Korea looks the most different today than it did 50 years ago. There used to be a large highway that ran through the city that helped with transportation and all of that. However, in this flurry of industrialization, there were some that forgot about nature and the natural resources that Korea offers. 10 years ago, the mayor of Seoul decided that the highway should be removed and a stream built where the highway once stood. There were other things motivating the project such as a mini stimulus to the local economy and so on, but the main premiss behind it is interesting.
What else did I do? Well I went to the lovely Trick Eye Museum which is basically an optical illusion museum. I'll post pics later because I am running out of time! I went to Hongdae later that night but left early because it's just not really my scene with the whole crowded bars and clubs and stuff. The next day, I went to a University district and walked around and then went to the park along the Han river to walk around solo for a couple of hours. It was really great. Oh then graduation! I will have to talk about that later because it deserves more time than I can give it right now. Alright I have to go to dinner so peace out!
But before all of that, I ventured into Seoul. It was a pretty nifty city if I do say so myself. Really big with lots of people but it wasn't too terribly crowded since it wasn't really the best weather outside when we were there.
We left Goesan at 3:30am in order to be there on time for all of the events that we were doing. It was literally a jam-packed day and they had us moving from 3:15am to 9:30pm.
This photo explains how the vast majority of us felt. I am the very last one in the back with the contorted neck.
I'm pretty cool aren't I? Anyways we went to a few different sights and had a mini bus tour of the area and it was pretty interesting. I also went into this underground tunnel that some North Korean defectors dug underneath the DMZ. It was really intense because we all had to crouch down really low to get through parts of it and the tunnel was also very narrow. Only two people could be side by side at a time so it was pretty much single file the whole way as one group of people were heading up and the other was going down at the same time.
After our DMZ excursion, we went to the Ambassador's house were we had a nice little pool party with the Fulbright Office Staff and the Embassy staff. The ambassador was initially supposed to be in America still but I guess he flew back early or something, so he was there to give a nice little welcome. And they had great food! It was all delicious American food like hot dogs and cheeseburgers. It was the first American food I have had since I have been here. It was great, especially the cheese.
We did a few other things and then went back to the hotel. I got up the next day and a few of us strolled along the man-made stream called Cheonggyecheon. Rachel, another ETA was telling me the story behind it. So Korea has undergone a massive urbanization over the past 50 years. Of all of the other countries in the world right now, Korea looks the most different today than it did 50 years ago. There used to be a large highway that ran through the city that helped with transportation and all of that. However, in this flurry of industrialization, there were some that forgot about nature and the natural resources that Korea offers. 10 years ago, the mayor of Seoul decided that the highway should be removed and a stream built where the highway once stood. There were other things motivating the project such as a mini stimulus to the local economy and so on, but the main premiss behind it is interesting.
What else did I do? Well I went to the lovely Trick Eye Museum which is basically an optical illusion museum. I'll post pics later because I am running out of time! I went to Hongdae later that night but left early because it's just not really my scene with the whole crowded bars and clubs and stuff. The next day, I went to a University district and walked around and then went to the park along the Han river to walk around solo for a couple of hours. It was really great. Oh then graduation! I will have to talk about that later because it deserves more time than I can give it right now. Alright I have to go to dinner so peace out!
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