Beginning of a Big City Life

I have finally left Daegu behind for a solid 6ish weeks.  I have just landed in Seoul (and by landed I mean got off the train here) and checked into my hostel for the next 2 days.  Then on Wednesday I'm going to catch a flight back to the States for 10 days.  Then its back to Seoul for a month of intense Korean learning.

SO let's see here.  In the past two weeks I have prepared for my trip by seeing friends and eating delicious food and spending time with my host family.  Check it.

This was at our Bible Study girls' white elephant gift party. Isn't that gingerbread house awesome??!

I went shopping and made a new friend, a Tiger Bear, which i promptly named: Bunny.

I found words I didn't know existed, so beware if I remark about your "contumacious" attitude.

I saw The Hobbit!! Enough said.

I went to a local traditional market and bought a kid hanbok (traditional Korean dress) with my friend Gyeongmi ^_^

My host family with an apple pie that my students made!! Why the candles? I have no idea, my host Mom thought it was a good idea haha ^_^ Good times.

Korean Holidays

Any western foreign person will tell you that having western holiday time in Korea is a bit tough to work out.  Thanksgiving of course, Koreans have no reason to celebrate, and actually have their own version of Thanksgiving in the beginning of October.  I was lucky enough to have not one, but 2 Thanksgiving dinners, with turkey.  Turkey is all but impossible to get in Korea, very expensive.  Fulbright threw a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner in Seoul in a folk museum where we had the opportunity to meet with representatives from the American Embassy.  I feel like we're on some unofficial team together.  When I returned to my cozy city of Daegu I had Thanksgiving part 2 with my church, which was also rather cozy, if a little less formal.  That was also a really interesting thing because actually 2/3's or more of my church is from South Africa, but for some reason they were willing to put on this dinner for a bunch of people who don't really know a whole lot about why we have it.  A very interesting cultural experience.

After that I made full use of my free time to work hard at school and study.  I've been taking my Korean class through the YMCA in Daegu and despite most of the material being repeat material for me, I found out my teachers were very certified high class teachers that only do that as volunteers.  I was very taken aback in a good way.  I really appreciated my teachers consistent kindness and openness to discussion and questions.  I was chosen to make a short 1 min speech for our class and did so.  It was kind of exhilarating to do that successfully.  I was happy to graduate, I hope the next class I take is more suited to my level.

At school we were preparing feverishly (maybe not quite feverishly) for the English winter camp to go on right before Christmas.  It was scheduled for three afternoons, 3 hours a piece.  My co teacher had been majorly stressing about it and it made me stress out more than I would have normally, I think.  On the first day I was so nervous my co teacher had to hold me up a bit, but we pushed through.  I decided to teach the kids about Christmas, I couldn't believe none of the former ETA's had ever taught on Christmas.  I taught them about Frosty the Snowman, and the Grinch on Day one.  At the end they had to turn a teammate into a snowman using construction paper and toilet paper.  It was awesome, just saying.  Day two, we talked about Mrs. Santa and her adventures (as seen in the Mrs. Claus movie with Angela Lansbury).  They had to make up the end of her story and then I taught them the game salad bowl (a kind of version of catch phrase), but honestly that didn't go over so enthusiastically.  I mean they succeeded, but mostly in monotone.  Day 3 we did a cooking day, I taught them to cook apple pie and mashed potatoes.  I made jello and chicken with stuffing before hand for the whole room.  It was an intense day, but that was the end of it.  I barely sat down the whole time it was such and exciting time.  I really felt like a full blooded teacher running the room that day because none of the other teachers had any idea how to cook of the dishes so it was up to me to instruct properly.  Talk about pressure--in a good way.  Overall we had a lot of fun!  The students were successful and the food was delicious.  I couldn't believe it all went over so well.

Then on Christmas day I exchanged gifts with my host family, they gave me the most adorable winter hat that I have worn several times already.  I'd been hunting for one, so that saved me some shopping time and money for sure, its really nice and hand made.  I loved having presents from my family that had been mailed to me, and above all this Christmas was memorable because I got to talk with my Grandfather for the first time in 6 months over video chat.  It was crazy awesome!

I've spent my first week of vacation just resting and catching up on my sleep.  This week I will take a trip to Seoul for a meeting.  The week after that I'll go to Seoul for a couple days before I catch my flight back to the States to visit my family for 10 days.  When I come back from that I'll be living in Seoul for the following month taking a Korean Language class up there.  Between now and home, I plan to travel around Korea some more and see friends I haven't seen in a while.  When I'm in Seoul in Feb I look forward to more such meetings and a lot of studying! ^_^ So excited!!

Chapter 2: What you missed

What you missed is quite a long list
There were fancy young children
Korean in nature, the most fabulist

They learned about Frosty and Santa alike
I made 6 chickens in one cozy room
They made 10 apple pies and rode on their bike

It was kind of a final ride as vacation rolled in
Christmas was coming and play time beginning
December was flying at a pace unforeseen

Out in theatres came The Hobbit Part One
So to Gwangju I went with friends to party
And stayed in a hostel and saw the Goblin King done

The list of what you missed is growing still
I drank apple wine on a cold New Year's Eve
So far adventures got 10 and boring's got nill

With a long lost friend ate Korean Samgyupsal
Drank my first cup of Coffee Lungo, I know
Made my first visit to a stomach hospital

Ate Thanksgiving dinner in Daegu and Seoul
Went to the same book store in a city X 3
Met my Gyungju ching-gu to eat ramyun, a bowl

Oh what you missed is a chapter or two
You have to be psychic to know all
But if you have time, lets sit down for a few.

The Weekend that Recapped a Year

Inside MaGokSa Temple

This passed weekend I think I had one of the most memorable meetings of my life.  Last year I studied abroad at Korea University's branch campus in Jochiwon.  There, I took a Korean language and Korean Culture class, both taught by amazing Korean teachers.  At that time, there were only 3 exchange students and so it gave us the chance to really get to know and get close to our teachers.  I even got to attend my language professor's wedding.

Over the weekend I contacted my culture professor thinking that it would be nice to have lunch together and catch up on life.  Meanwhile a girl from my university in the States is doing the same exchange program, so I invited her to join us.  I imagined that we would simply go to lunch somewhere in town and catch up and then go our separate ways, and perhaps me and the girl from my school would go shopping.  However, my professor had other plans, and took us to the temple MaGokSa  마곡사 to have lunch at a traditional restaurant there. As we're eating and chatting, he asks me if I've been in touch with my language professor, and to that point I had not been.  He asks if I want to meet up with my language prof and his wife later!

I was over the moon! I couldn't believe my small plan snowballed into an awesome day long trip.  After we walked around Magoksa for a while and saw the scenery, talk about gorgeous, we hopped back in the car and headed off to an obscure art gallery to meet my language prof and his wife.  Apparently my language prof's in-laws own the gallery and they were showing some international pieces this weekend.  What are the odds of that?  There was a small sitting area there, and we got to all sit around and chat together and tell funny stories from our missing year.  It was really exciting to speak in mostly Korean with both of my professors because last year, I couldn't speak Korean at all.  When they knew me, my Korean ability was minimal at best and now its almost conversational.  Even though my grammar is often not quite right, I can make my ideas understood most of the time.  Showing them my growth was really great for me, I still feel a loyalty to them for investing in me as a student and I still want to make them proud of their investment.

Culture Prof, American Friend, Me, Language Prof's Wife,
Language Prof.

After seeing the gallery we scooted on over to my language professor's parent's restaurant and proceeded to have an excellent meal.  I got to have my favorite spicy soup, TokToriTang, or TokBokemTang depending on which name you prefer.  Spicy chicken and potatoes? My favorite, no doubt.  We even got my American friend to practice her Korean, even though she was a little shy, and she was awesome!

My plan was to go to Daejeon and spend the night in the sauna there and it turns out my language professor's apartment is in Daejeon, so I didn't have to take the train to get there ^_^  My prof drove me to Daejeon and his wife found me a better sauna to stay in and on the way I got to meet her brother.  He's still in high school and he was cute.  His English was pretty decent considering his age.

See me right down front????  

Also, I finally got to see the pictures from my prof's wedding and wouldn't you know the picture that I'm in the front row of, is in his specially wedding album book! I couldn't believe a year later I could see that picture!! So amazing.  So amazing.

Can you see the bacon??! ^_^

After my excellent and refreshing night in the sauna, I met another friend of mine in Daejeon and we went to a tiny Korean restaurant, where I got to have my first American breakfast outside of an actual Fulbright event.  French toast, plenty of syrup, some whipped cream, and most importantly--bacon.  And that was 4 slices of bacon.  Delicious, meaty, brown sugary bacon.  I was quiet happy and satisfied.  I had my first hot vanilla caffe latte there also, with my breakfast and the whole thing was a rolling success.  After that I did some minor window shopping and hit the road back home.  ^_^  I couldn't have asked for a better weekend trip!

My friend that lives in Daejeon now :)

2nd Month Recap

I left off with my trip to Jochiwon and so I'll start there.  The following weekend I was invited to visit a relatively small town called Jinju where the annual Lantern Festival was taking place.  I met a Korean foreign exchange student who's hometown is Jinju and she was kind enough to have me stay in her home.  She even had a momento from my school :) 

The Lanterns were really incredible, I highly recommend anyone passing through Jinju in the first weeks of October to go there.  They set the lanterns up all along the river that runs through the center of town.  When I pictured the Lantern festival I imagined a thousand lotus flowers hanging on a street or floating on water, but this was totally different.  The lanterns turned out to be lifesize works or art; people, animals, Disney movies, and political references.  Each giant scene, super hero, and soldier was a light on the water or in the adjacent park area.  Beautiful.

The week after that my principal somehow was able to procure tickets to the opening ceremony of Korea's Annual National Sports event (kinda like the National Olympics).  The interesting or important bit about this information is that at the end of the ceremony Psy (that the Gangnam Style singer) was scheduled as the finale act.  

The Ceremony itself was really great.  There were several dancing acts in addition to the presentation of all the athletes from all the different sections of Korea.  With much anticipation, the crowd basically went insane when Psy finally came on stage--including me.  He said he was only going to do 3 songs and after those three he still hadn't done Gangnam Style.  I thought, "No way!!!"  And to my delight not only did he sing Gangnam style, but he also did an encore song. ^_^  Good times!

The weekend after that I went to Gyeongju for the Fulbright Fall Conference, which was an incredible reunion of all the ETA's currently residing in Korea.  We stayed in Gyeongju from Friday to Monday and had a lot of really good conversations with friends I hadn't seen in a month and a half.  We did a lot of talking helping each other figure out solutions to different challenges we've been facing.  

Ultimately it was a really good rally and we all spent Sunday on a blissful tour of Gyeongju's historical sights, including the graves of emperors and the famous temple Bulguksa. With everything I think the re-bonding time was the best.  Out back of the hotel was a peaceful little pond and a cute wooden bridge that crossed it.  Me and some friends had a really good time just chilling there.  

Since then I've been kinda chilling.  At school I haven't had to make a lot of lesson plans because I've been giving speaking tests to all of my students.  Even so, that has been pretty exhausting because of the amount of focus it takes to try to understand a student who barely can speak any English.  I was surprised how much effort it took.  Last weekend I had a good relaxing time at home and I finally got to go shopping with my Korean friend.  Actually Sunday was a bit of a landmark day for me--I bought my first ever pair of skinny jeans.  Crazy.  I fit into Korean skinny jeans.  It's awesome :).  

This next month I have lots of plans to visit friends in other cities and November 17 I'm going to have an early Thanksgiving dinner in Seoul with Fulbright people.  That will be the incredible I'm sure.  That's the current highlight on my horizon ^_^

First Month Recap

My original intention for this blog was to post once a week and in that way I could count all the way to my 52nd week and the end of my grant.  However, I find I have quite lost track of time and it is more difficult to keep track of weeks than I had thought it would be.  So, in summation I'm just got to recap as I go now.  ^_^

I took a trip to Seoul where I got to visit my Econ professor from Korea University and like a lame piece of technology, the batteries in my camera died so I have no pictures to commemorate the event. However, we had pizza and I got to see a brand new financial sector that was built in Yeouido, Seoul.  Apparently it had just opened that weekend.  On the bright side, after I met him I took pictures with my phone at the 63 building, I believe that is a special building because its the highest building in Seoul.  Or maybe its just an unusual number.  I'm not sure.  I also got to visit a couple of other friends and I stayed in my favorite sauna in  Yeoungdongpo.  Good times.  I love the sauna.

My view of the 63 Building from the ground  up.

Nong Shim Building

This passed weekend I visited Jochiwon to see the Korea University campus that I studied at last year.  Its very much the same, except they are remodeling the library, so the library is a mess.  The international building was locked so I could see if the inside is the same or the if the English cafe has changed, but I did get to see inside the business building.  The business building is basically the same, still a mostly empty marble palace.  ^_^  They did had some seating on the first floor, but the upper floor lobbies are still devoid of any furniture.  I was surprised, the building still smelled the same as I remembered.  It was great to be there.  And I also met my taekwondoe friends for dinner.  We had Kimchi Stew and since their English is pretty weak, I got to practice speaking and listening to Korean!  It was a lot of fun, and I could tell how much I've learned and how far I have to go yet.  It was so great to be back in my old city!

My train ticket!!!!

School update:  I feel like some of my lessons are still hit or miss.  For the classes I have less often its really hard to decide what I should do because I'm still not confident in their level and their knowledge base.  With the more advanced classes we have the ability to have a lot of fun because I can force them to be a little more creative.  With the lower level younger students I try to think of simple fun games we can play to practice concepts.  Its interesting too how some classes of the same grade and level will respond so well to a particular activity, while with others, it just falls flat.  That complicates classes a lot, I think.  At any rate, I'm still working hard and I found out today I'll be giving speaking tests to the 8th and 9th grade students.  I feel a lot of pressure to do it well because I'm interviewing each student and then I have to give the grade for them.  Ack!!

Tonight I'm starting my Korean language class downtown at the local YMCA (Yes Korea has YMCA).  I'm  curious how well I'll fit into the level, *here's hoping really well*. And lastly, I got my first full sized paycheck this week.  Yay for being paid!  ^_^

Week 9: Finally Have a Plan

Week 9 has come and gone and here I am, still breathing.

My students are really great so far.  I really like the outgoing kids, even the "bad" kids are more fun because at least I know they're engaged somehow.  The quiet kids I can't get a read on and thus after those classes you just feel like you slogged through mud.  After an outgoing class at least you feel like you got somewhere and there is some life in the room.  Overall, I'm liking school and my co-teachers are very kind.

So far, outside of school, its been quite a ride and as I get more independent I realize a lot more how much I am a guest here.  I think it is really interesting, because it is probably just me, but in the States, we don't know a foreign person from a native because there are so many different kinds of people, so in essence everyone becomes welcome and yet never are we all part of the family.  I get this weird sense that in Korea, every Korean is part of a family.  They are all linked by common looks and feelings and attitudes and I am not hooked into that family.  I am a guest in it.  As a guest I receive cordiality on every side, but I can feel its different.  Not that that is a bad thing so much as an observation.  I do things so much on my own now, figuring how to ride public transportation, working out bank issues, and mailing packages.

I have to find a way to do all these things on my own and the whole time I get this sense that the "family" is watching--can you do it?  Can you survive in our family?  Can you survive the right way?  It's a special challenge that I have to rise to and meet. This week I did all of those things by myself.  I hope the "family" looks on me kindly because I see all that as a sign of growth, however small.  Last year I was far too afraid to attempt to do anything of the sort on my own, but now I'm taking life on even more.  It doesn't scare me near the same.  It just another mountain to climb, a hurdle to jump.

I really like being in Korea.  Maybe its the exotic feeling of being somewhere where everything feels foreign. Maybe its the language that I'm still struggling to unravel, but that exotic feeling makes each adventure interesting and fascinating.  Sometimes a little frustrating and embarrassing but at the end of the day that's life no matter where you are.  Life is struggling to make it through each adventure and striving for more and better, whatever the goal may be.

So far I'm still trying to make friends, but that always requires patience.  In the mean time I can feel lonely sometimes.  But today I have a small party I'm going to and then later this week I'm going to meet another friend I hope.  Then in the weekend I'm going to trek up to Seoul to meet some friends and my former professor.  I'm really excited about that trip.  Then next weekend I'll go to Jochiwon and see my school! I've really missed my school.  And I have an invitation to my Korean friend's house for the holidays at the end of the month.  My heart is so relieved about that.  I really want to see my friend and her family again.  It's going to be an exciting couple of weeks.