Two Weeks of Madness

So, it's been awhile since I've written. That's because after Donghae, Camp Fulbright started. Camp Fulbright was a two-week long English camp for Korean students run by Fulbright. All of the ETAs had to plan and teach 3 lessons, as well as participate in different activities, homework help etc, all while we still had Korean language class from 9a-1p!! So I've been really busy the last two weeks, but it successfully ended today and now we can take it a little easier.

My second and third lessons were for a Low-Beginner Elementary class, so it was outside both my experience and my placement, but it was a good learning experience. The class had only four students! Camp Fulbright separates students into classes by testing them at the beginning and leveling them out. These were the four students who turned in completely blank tests... But they were really sweet. Three of the students had pretty good English, but one had very minimal English. Because he knew he was lower than the others, he was very sullen, and it was hard to get him to participate. Their instructor, who observed us and gave us feedback, was really great. I was very impressed by his teaching style and manner with the kids, especially because this was his first time teaching elementary as well. He was an ETA this past year, teaching at an all-boys high school.

But, overall I think my lessons went well. Definitely some room for improvement. My biggest problem was speaking too quickly. Even though I felt awkwardly, painfully slow, it was not slow enough. Teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) requires a conscious effort in slowing down your speech and using simple words and sentences. If nothing else, Camp Fulbright has taught me that teaching English in a foreign country is much different than teaching English in America.

Anskar, my team-teacher, and I.

Teaching about the UN.

But, as my title suggests, the last two weeks have also been crazy. This past Thursday, all of our afternoon activities were canceled, as we were surprised with the placement ceremony! We weren't expecting to hear about our final placements until next week, so we are all so excited to hear as early as Thursday. We had a really nice ceremony for the announcements. I am placed in Andong, in the Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. It is a small, historic, and very traditional town right in the middle of South Korea. It is known for its famous mask festival every fall, and because it was the center of Confucianism during one of the dynasties. I am very excited, because I requested a small town, and I got a very interesting one it seems! Here is the Wikipedia page of my town. It has some really neat pictures and information about the town, the festival, and the fact that Queen Elizabeth II spent her 73rd birthday there ^^.

I am in the peach-ish province on the right, the red dot that is kind of by itself!

I was very lucky because the ETA who is in my school now was at the ceremony! We spent a long time talking and getting to know each other. She gave me a lot of info on my school. It's called Poongsan High School, and it's a small, private co-ed school. I will have a few all-girl classes, a few all-boy classes, and three co-ed classes. All of my students but two classes are very high-level English. It sounds really awesome, and I am beyond excited!

 That night, we went out to celebrate! Almost all of the ETAs went out to our favorite bar, and we were joined by our Coordinator Team and even our Korean language teachers!! This was so exciting because our 선생님(teachers) are really amazing. Everyone loves them. In Korea, it's okay to hang out with or drink with your teachers. As long as the head teacher goes, the other teachers are allowed to go, so we got to hang out! It was really fun and we got to practice our Korean ;).

These are both of my Korean language teachers! They are teachers at Korea University, one of the top schools in the nation.

And so, that's about it for now. I'm exhausted, but still having a good time. Two and a half more weeks of orientation, and then I will be leaving for Andong!

America Song?

South Korea is so beautiful!!

So this past weekend, Fulbright took all 88 ETAs for a much-needed retreat. We left for 동해 (Donghae) early Friday morning and returned Sunday evening. It was definitely an interesting weekend!

Our hotel was gorgeous, but looked strangely familiar... then we realized that the hotel is actually owned/built/operated by the same people who oversee Jungwon University, where we are staying for orientation! It's a lot of white marble. A lot of us joked that we never really left the University. However, it was absolutely gorgeous. Here is the view from my hotel room:

This boardwalk goes straight from our hotel to the beach

Balcony outside my hotel room

Friday after lunch, we went to a lecture on Buddhism and its impact on Korea, and then we got to visit a traditional Buddhist temple! It was absolutely amazing!!! We hiked up a mountain, over rivers on stone bridges, stood on a waterfall, and then reached the temple. It was everything that movies make it out to be lol ^^. I took a million pictures, and won't include them all here, but feel free to check them out on my Facebook. Here are just a few highlights:

One of the rivers we crossed over to get to the temple; you can see the mountains in the background!

The first bridge and a few ETAs

We got to the huge waterfall/rapids area where there were stone shelves you could walk out onto. Many families were there hanging out. Carved into the stone you could see many ancient Chinese characters.

Me sitting on the shelf overlooking the waterfall. I'm am inches away from the rapids!

Second and third bridges leading to the temple. You can just see it in the background.

Statue of the Buddha on the temple grounds.

Inside one of the worship areas.

The whole temple area; as you can see, it's up in the mountains.

One thing that sort of brought me down to earth and helped me realize that yes, we do indeed live in the 21st century, were the conspicuous signs of technology at the temple. There was a television in one of the buildings as well as some construction equipment in one corner (not sure what they were doing). We spent most of the afternoon and early evening at the temple, and it was so refreshing. I was really happy to get to see some traditional culture, as well as getting out of the marble we'd been cooped up in for two weeks. One thing that I really want to do during my time in Korea is a temple stay. At a lot of temples, they have programs where you pay 30,000 - 50,000₩ ($30-$50) and you stay for 2-3 days at a temple and experience temple life. Sort of like what Julia Roberts did in Eat, Pray, Love. There are many temples that do it in Korea, including some of other religions than Buddhism. That seems like such an amazing experience ^^.

Some ETAs relaxing and taking in the sights. R-L: Me, Gem, Emi, Morrow, Bruce, and Kristin.

Later that night, we returned to our hotel on the beach and swarmed the tiny little beach area. There were shops and restaurants and a boardwalk, just like you see near the beach in the US. One difference is that everyone was wearing clothes. Even to swim. Korea is such a conservative, traditional country that people wear t-shirts and shorts to swim in. Unless you are in a big, chic city, you will never see anyone with their shoulders or cleavage showing. Though I have seen a lot of short shorts.

Anyway, first we attacked the 7/11 on the corner (yes, 7/11! They're everywhere here) and bought beer. We were allowed to take it on the beach, so everyone went across the little road and sat on the boardwalk benches or on the beach and we played drinking games, chatted, etc. It was really nice to have a relaxed setting to get to know each other better. We have been so busy lately that it's been hard to just hang out. We mostly played American games since we only had one Korean student, Alex our RA, with us, as opposed to when we go out in Goesan.

Hanging out on the beach boardwalk with friends and my Korean beer. L-R: Me, Alex the RA, Gina, Amy in the front.

Saturday, I finally got to sleep in! A lot of ETAs went on a hike at the temple, but it was a five hour hike and that's definitely not my thing... so I met up with a much smaller group to go to downtown Donghae City. We went cave exploring!! They have a cave underneath a mountain there, and you can pay 3000₩ ($3) to go through the cave. We had a complete blast! Parts of it were really tight, but only the taller guys had trouble getting through it. A lot of the placards explaining the different rock formations had really funny English translations (of course, not intentionally funny...). We even visited the Passage of Death. 

Brave explorers!!

More of the cutesy cartoon mascots! They're everywhere

Some stalactite/stalagmite, I don't know. Looks weird though!

After the cave came the strangest part of the weekend... around the corner from the entrance to the cave was the entrance to the wooden stairs/trails that led up the mountain. We started climbing (totally not my idea ^^). A little way up the mountain I saw some women working on a tiny farm/field. One thing I have noticed about Korea is that there are all these tiny little fields of crops everywhere, mixed right in with the big industrial/city areas. Anyway, snapped a pic:

Women working in a field on the side of a mountain.

So, we climb a little further, and run into this crazy little amphitheater. Like, randomly on the side of this mountain... and there is a group of middle-aged Korean women (affectionately, or not so lol, called ajummas) chilling in the amphitheater. One of them comes to talk to us, asks us where we are from, comments on our looks, etc. Then... she asks us to sing for them. What??? So we ask Alex to talk to her in Korean, and he confirms that they ladies want us to sing a song for them. We just stand there like... is she serious? We aren't circus performers!! But in Korea, it's extremely rude to disobey your elders. It's a really age-hierarchical society, so we went to the front of the amphitheater and shuffled around a bit trying to think of a song we all knew. The ladies started getting impatient, so I finally blurted out, "the Star-Spangled Banner!" At first we giggled... but then we realized it really was the only song we all knew. So, we sucked it up and sang the world's most random rendition of America's national anthem!! Afterward, we took a picture with the ladies and they asked us, "America song?" We just laughed. It was such a funny, crazy experience!!

The fateful amphitheater!

Our wonderful audience and us!! The lady in orange is the one who asked us to sing.

Sunday, we visited a museum and then headed home. Unfortunately, my camera died 10 minutes into the museum trip, but you can see which pictures I did manage to get on Facebook. 


I was really happy to get away for the weekend, but on the 3 hour ride home pretty much everyone started having panic attacks. Monday began Camp Fulbright, a two-week long English camp for Korean kids. We all have to teach 3 lessons during this time, and for many ETAs, it's their very first time in the classroom. Not only that, but we had a Korean language quiz in class first thing Monday morning. So, even though we had a great weekend, most people were studying the whole way back (considering the last average quiz score was 8.6 out of 20...). 


This week's quiz went well, we raised to an average 14 out of 20, and we have finally started learning some really useful phrases, as well as basic grammar. Up until now, we've been chiefly memorizing vocab. Also on Monday, I taught my first lesson, as they requested that people with prior teaching experience go on Monday. I think it went pretty well, but I've finally seen first-hand just how shy Korean students are. We were warned, but it's a totally different thing to see it. 

Korean students are generally drilled in grammar and memorizing vocab, and so have very little English speaking experience. That's why the Korean government is implementing a program to get a native English speaker in every school in Korea to teach English conversation (that's us!!). So, on top of being generally shy and reserved, Korean students are even more shy to speak English in public because they have so little practice. Only one of my students spoke voluntarily the whole class period. I had to call on a student to get them to say anything, and even then I often had to get them to repeat louder. It was very different from my classes in the US, where I had to constantly get students to stop talking! But overall, I think the lesson went really well. My next two lessons aren't until next week, but they are both for elementary students. I am a little worried, since this is really outside of my experience and realm of knowledge, but I think I'll be okay. I've had a lot of good teachers and mentors ^^.


So, as usual, lots of new experiences and crazy times. But still trucking and doing my best to represent the US. When the embassy came to speak to us, they told us we are officially "cultural ambassadors." So, gotta keep smiling, gotta keep representing! 
Annyeonghi-kaseyo! ^^

Venturing to a "Suburb"

This past weekend, two of our Orientation Coordinators (OCs) took a group of us to a "suburban city" to get out and explore. Cheonan can only be considered a suburb by Korean standards, as the country has around 500,000 people.

We took public buses to get there, which was interesting. It was a little less than a 2 hour trip, and cost about $6.90 one-way. So transportation seems pretty cheap. When we stopped in Cheong-ju to change buses, I used the restroom. To my surprise... there was a hole in the floor where a toilet should be... For your viewing pleasure, I will now present a non-Western toilet:

um. what??

So. The people in the bathroom probably thought I was some kind of crazy person for taking a picture in the stall in a public restroom, but it's all good :)

Next we made it to Cheonan. First, we had lunch at a Korean restaurant where we sat traditional-style, on mats on the floor with our legs crossed. I had curry!

They gave us sooo much food! All for $7!

Then, we went to the mall, which was very interesting because the escalators were in the middle and all the floors and stores just sort of ran into each other. There were no defined hallways like in American malls. One minute I was in GAP and then I took a step and ended up in some random store.

Our group split up then, and I ended up with Phebe, an ETA who's already been in Cheonan for a year, and who will be renewing her Fulbright to stay for the 2011-2012 year. Phebe took me outside the mall to wander the streets a little. This was my favorite part. Phebe is really fun and nice, and we visited all the smaller Korean stores, where everything was much cheaper! I got an umbrella for $3, shoes for $10, and socks for $1 at a random stand on the side of the road.

There were a lot of stands on the sidewalks, some of them selling food, other goods, and even services like tarot card readings. I also saw a Burger King, a KFC, a Bennigans, and several pizza places! I noticed that all the buildings in Korea, in both the rural and suburban areas I've visited, have a millions signs plastered all over them, especially neon ones. It seems they cover almost all the free space on a building with a sign. Exhibits A and B:

The buildings directly across from the mall.

You can just see some street stands.

The whole time we were wandering around, I kept an eye out to see if anyone was staring or surprised to see a foreigner, but I didn't notice anything. Then we all met back up for dinner... So I'm standing near the entrance to the mall with two of my Korean-American friends, and I hear this really loud "Hello!" right behind me. I turn around, and some random middle-aged lady is pushing her 6 year old daughter to me and insisting that I speak to her. The kid just stares at me and starts blowing bubbles with her spit while the mother is pushing her and trying to get her to speak English. The silence just dragged outttttt. It was so awkward. English is a really big deal here, and parents really push their kids into taking extra English classes so they can succeed, because English is a sign of wealth and power in Korea. So I think some lady was just trying to get someone to speak to her kid in English for free for five minutes, because English tutors are ridiculously expensive.

Then we had samgyapsal for dinner, or Korean BBQ. It was really good! There's a BBQ grill in the middle of the table and you  put the meat right on it and cook it yourself. As always, the meal was accompanied by many side dishes. It was really fun!

BBQ and some side dishes.

Great food and great company!! L-R: Anthony, Lucy, Paddy

My roommate, Erin, and I!

Lucy didn't want to take a picture lol

After dinner, we caught a bus back to Jungwon and I got to studying for the quiz I had bright and early that Monday morning. Classes are going fairly well, we've been learning how to do self-introductions and polite introductions, since manners, greetings, and first impressions are everything in Korea. I just need to keep studying the vocab. It's really not like Spanish, where at least I knew the alphabet and I could spell most words and then connect them back to English a little better. This is difficult because I'm learning a new alphabet at the same time. And sometimes it's hard to hear the difference between some of the sounds so that I can spell a word correctly.

Well, back to studying hangukeo (Korean language.) Annyeonghi-kyeseyo!! (Good-bye!)

Celebrity for a Year

Night before last, I finally went out for soju. Our RAs, Alex and Lucy (two Korean students who attend Jungwon University where we are staying) took us down into Goesan--which funny enough is prounounced gwaesahn--to a little bar. The poor waiter when 20ish of us rolled in!! I had some of the best beer I've ever tasted, even after spending a summer in Chattanooga, as well as some fruit-flavored and regular soju. Soju is a lot like vodka, but doesn't burn. And the fruit soju tastes like fruit juice; you can't even tell it's alcohol... which could be dangerous!

Lucy and her Korean friends then taught us drinking games. In Korea and a few other Asian countries, it's very common to go to a bar, sit with your friends, and play drinking games. There was one where everyone said "bang bada bang bang bang bada bang, etc." while holding your fingers like a gun and waving them around. Then one person yells "zero" but in Korean, and points to another person. That person yells "zero" and points to another. That person yells "seven" and points to a fourth person and yells "bang!!" The two people on either side of that person must put their hands up. Whoever in the three doesn't do it correctly must drink, or the last person to raise their arms.

After anyone drinks from a drinking game, all the Koreans loudly start singing this song and waving their arms and doing a shoulder dance... I'm determined to learn it, but it goes really fast!

The shoulder dance part of the drinking song! Lucy is in the gray and purple, and the girl next to her is my roommate, Erin :)

Today was a big day. All the ETAs traveled to schools for an observation visit of current ETAs. I woke up at 5:45am and we headed out at 7am. My group attended an all-girls public high school in a fairly large district. The school had about 1700 students. High school and middle school in Korea are only 3 grades, and each school starts over with numbering. So elementary is grades 1-6, middle is first grade through third grade, and high school is again first grade through third grade. We observed two first grade English conversation classes (the subject we will be teaching! We don't teach grammar), a high intermediate English level class and an advanced English level class. The lessons were really interesting and the girls really seemed to like them.

We also took a tour of the school and met several teachers. We were required to take our shoes off at the door and wear guest indoor slippers, which was an interesting experience because many in our group do not fit the homogeneous Korean mold for, well, any size, but especially not feet. Of course, I was the only one who couldn't find a pair small enough...

During the bell changes, the girls would come pouring out of their classrooms to stare at us, giggle really loudly, and even shriek at the sight of us. They would peer into the windows and hide behind things. It was pretty funny, but also really overwhelming. We were completely treated like celebrities. When we walked into the cafeteria for lunch, the ENTIRE room erupted into piercing shrieks and screams, especially when a male ETA came in. The screaming lasted for a good 5-7 min before it subsided into photo and video taking. Some of the braver girls asked a few of the especially white American looking guys to take a picture with them. I had a good time, but I was ready to leave when the bus came to pick us up.

To explain the screaming, I'll jump into my next topic and work it through. After the school trip, we had a workshop (generally each of our days consists of language class in the morning and then a workshop in the evening about culture, teaching, etc) about race in Korea. Korea is the most homogeneous nation/society/country in the entire world. It is 99% ethnically Korean. Of the 50 million people here, 1 million of them are non-Korean or foreigners. So for the students to see 16 foreigners wandering their school all at once, it was as if we were aliens arriving from outer space.

But being an "other" is something that is really important to talk about when being a foreigner in a country where absolutely everyone is the same. Our speaker was an ETA back in '94, and has lived here ever since. He explained a lot of the historical context of race in Korea, then brought it to modern day and how it will specifically affect us. He also touched on being a sexual orientation "other," which is extremely difficult in Korea. Until 10-15 years ago, Korean people really had no concept of homosexuality. Their society is not homophobic in the way that the US is, especially not hateful. They just have never discussed it, and many people have never come into contact with it, as people here remain "in the closet" their entire lives.

Another major point he had was that, because Korean people have spent 5000 years being homogeneous, they have an extremely strong sense of community. In the Korean language, they generally don't use "I" or "you," everything is "we." They believe themselves to be of one blood, one family. So, this creates difficulty for many Korean-Americans or Korean adoptees who come to Korea to live, work, etc. Korean people don't understand why they don't speak Korean or automatically know everything about the culture and customs. The speaker also pointed out that many Koreans become offended if Korean-Americans speak English too loudly in public places, especially women. Older Koreans have been known to actually slap Korean-American ETAs for speaking English.

This is because English is such a sign of modernization and Westernization that many Koreans feel those who speak English publicly who are not foreigners are flaunting it, they are bragging rudely and trying to be better than everyone else. Korea has not been a "modern" country for very long. They hit their economic boom in the late 60s/early 70s. Many of these people were once farmers in a nation of farming, village, folksy culture.

So, I had a very interesting day full of new knowledge and experiences. I can't say anyone has ever shrieked at the sight of me before...

And now, I'm exhausted. I was going to stay up and watch a Korean movie with some of the other ETAs, but this bed is feeling pretty comfortable. ^^

Soju, Hangeul, and Other Stuff

It's bright and early, only 6a here. I still haven't adjusted to the time difference, so I keep falling asleep at about 10p and waking up everyday at 6a. It's actually kind of nice to have extra time in the morning, I'm used to rolling out of bed 10min before class :).

But since I keep passing out so early, I've missed out on all the downtown fun. Almost every night we've been here, a lot of the ETAs (English Teaching Assistants, that's our official title) have gone into downtown Goesan to party. During our six weeks here, we're staying at the Jungwon University on a hill overlooking the city. Well, town. In Korea, anything less than 100,000 people is a rural town!! All the students at the university I've met keep saying how boring it is here because it's rural. I just laugh and tell them my hometown has 2,000 people. They are amazed! Korea has the highest population density in the entire world, with 487 people per square kilometer. A suburban city is a city that has between 100,000 and 500,000 people.

Entrance to the University

Anyway, back to the downtown shenanigans. So in Korea, drinking is huge. The staple alcohol of Korea is soju (a little like vodka) and drinking is definitely not viewed the same way here as it is in the States. Soju is a chance for a much-overworked people to spend time together having fun. In Korea, people work long hours and university students study way more than they do in the States. So to bond, unwind, and have fun, they get together and drink soju. The main difference, from what I understand, is that people don't get totally smashed and act like fools. They get drunk, but the culture here is so reserved that I can't imagine them, you know... getting naked or passing out in the street or jumping off of buildings (all of which I've seen in the States). Apparently, about 40 ETAs with a few Korean university students in tow descended upon town night before last and completely took over a bar.

I of course went to bed ^^. (<-- oh yea, everyone here uses this emoticon like... ALL THE TIME.)

View from my dorm window

Day before yesterday, we had a scavenger hunt in downtown Goesan, which was really fun. I'll post pics at the bottom of this entry. All the town signs were colorful, in cutesy fonts with little animal mascots and things. There were a few "no rae bangs," basically karaoke bars. In Korea, a "bang" (literally meaning "room" and pronounced bahng) is a place where you can go to do some type of activity with other people. So, like a bar, but with a specific purpose. They have computer game bangs, singing bangs, etc. In town, the people were fascinated with all the foreigners, as they are generally still a rare sight in Korea unless you are in a major city. The kids were especially adorable, shouting "hello!" We talked to a group of middle school girls; they were so shy! In Korea, women are often shy and modest. One sign of modesty that I keep seeing is that when they laugh, they cover their mouths.

A lot of shops have these little animal characters

All the streets are like this... and they call it rural??

Entrance to an outdoor market

Yesterday, we had our first language class. The class is four hours long, from 9a to 1p, really fast-paced, and really intense. Our teachers don't speak any English to us whatsoever, and they move fast. I forgot what sitting in classes for that long was like, it's been four years since high school, so today I'm going to take something caffeinated to drink! But my classmates are fun and the teachers are very nice (and so well-dressed!). We were drilled on "hangeul," the Korean alphabet, for the entire four hours. At the end, we learned how to properly introduce ourselves. One must bow, say "Annyeong haseyo. Chonun Meghan-imnida." Basically, "Hello, I am Meghan." The "imnida" doesn't really translate to anything, it's just a polite ending to a sentence.

Everything here is about politeness and manners. There are certain addresses for certain people, and it's a very hierarchical society based on age (aka I'm at the bottom of the totem pole...). It's also a collective society. So in many ways, I could say that Korea is the opposite of the US.

But, I'm having a great time so far!

View from my dorm window

My dorm room, bathroom on left

Before this step, one must remove their shoes

Desk/closet

Bed

Dresser/closet. On the right is the wall that divides the room. It has windows! It's cute

Day 1: Complete

I have now been in Korea for 16 hours!
I flew from Cincinnati to Charlotte, NC, then Charlotte to LAX, and then LAX to Incheon International Airport. It was a two-day trip, what with crossing the international date line. Believe it or not, I didn't have a July 2nd! Due to time differences etc., my July 2nd was only a few hours long. I feel slightly cheated to have missed out on a day of my life... But anyway, it will take a few days for me to get used to this 13 hour time difference.

After leaving the airport and surviving our first little mishap (mistakenly lost passenger!) we took a 2.5hr bus ride to Jungwon University, where we will be staying for the next 6 weeks for orientation. The campus is absolutely gorgeous, with statues, greenery, and interesting architecture. Pictures soon! The staff and students have been extremely kind and helpful, giving us tours and answering our many questions. My dorm room is beautiful, all white tile, Victorian molding, and adorable furniture. My roommate is awesome, and I believe we will get along just fine.

Here is what I have realized I should be most worried about: food. At both lunch and dinner I was extremely skeptical of at least half of the dishes. Being a notoriously picky eater, this is going to be a long year.

And for the strangest part of my day: my shower. The showers at this university (tomorrow I will ask if they are like this elsewhere as well) are but a hand-held shower head that hangs on the wall. That you cannot stand under due to the sink standing directly below it. So basically, one must take the shower head in hand, stand in the middle of the bathroom (no separate or defined shower!), and spray oneself down. I'm sure you can imagine the ungodly mess I made. I don't think I'll ever get the hang of taking a shower standing in the middle of the bathroom and hosing down the place.

I know there was more I wanted to say, but I'm exhausted and jet-lagged. More to come. :)