Korea!

8/29/2010

Okay, First, thank you everyone for waiting so long for me to finally start a blog!

--A note before I begin, "South Korea" is also known as "The Republic of Korea" (ROK); I will simply say "Korea" from here on out--

Hold onto your hats, this is a long update!

I. The Beginning and Orientation

I hope the picture (above) gives you an idea of the Korean landscape: Rolling hills and mountains everywhere, pine trees, and GREEN everywhere (it's summer). There are four season in Korea and they fall in the same time of the year as the seasons in Illinois. If you look at the latitude of the two places on a globe, they are both about the same (IL is 40 degrees North and Korea is 37 degrees North)--latitude, and many other factors, affect the seasons/weather for a given location. Anyway, let me update you on what I have been up to and where exactly it is that I stand now....

On July 3rd I left the US and I arrived to Korea on Independence Day. No fireworks for me this year. The flight was great though, because I was able to meet some other young, excited Americans who, like me, are part of the Fulbright Korea ETA Grant year for 2010-2011. While in Korea we are looked after by the Korean-American Educational Commission (KAEC) and the United States Department of State. Upon our arrival to Incheon International Airport in Korea (direct flight from O'hare) we were greeted by other young Americans who were returning Fulbright Grantees from previous years and acted as the Orientation Coordinator Team for the first six weeks of training--a great group of people! Day one set the pace for the rest of orientation: Non-stop. We hopped on a bus and rode for about three hours to a university located in a very rural, yet stunningly beautiful, part of Korea.

Group Weekend Excursion to an amazing Buddhist Temple (with a monk tour guide!):

Haeinsa Temple [해인사]

Orientation was busy but fun! I mean, I was with about 75 other people around my age exploring a new country; we had our share of good times. Our schedules were filled with Korean language classes, workshops on teaching in Korea and Korean culture/customs, and for 2 weeks we helped run the annual Fulbright Summer English Camp. Around 150 Korean students, in grade school and high school, came to the training site to live and breath English for two solid weeks--the kids were great! This was part of the unique 'hands-on' teaching experience that orientation offered. So, skipping ahead to the end of orientation.....The final weekend was spent in Seoul, the capital of Korea, where we had a graduation ceremony at Korea University. It was a blast hanging out in a modern-day city (around 12 million people live in Seoul) after being in such a rural part of Korea for so many weeks! Here is a photo of Seoul I found on-line which I think gives a good view of the city at night--this is not my photo--

Seoul, South Korea (http://www2.csusm.edu/global/images/Exchanges/seoul%20at%20night.jpg)

II. After Orientation

As fun as orientation was, the real grant year did not start until Monday, August 23. This was teaching, day ONE. I am teaching at an all boy's high school. My first week went well, especially considering my major at U of I, Integrative Biology, had no training for work as a teacher. Also, I should add, I no longer live at a university in rural Korea. Now I live in a city of 105,000 with a host family. The family has been really welcoming and they are extremely accomodating! The husband and wife both work as high school English teachers. I work at the same school as the host mother. They also have a 10 year old son named Charlie. The first weekend I spent with the family we went camping. The camp site was high in the mountains and there was a creek nearby that we went swimming in--it was amazing.

On our way to the camp site: Green Mountains

One of our tents: Camp Site/Creek

I have a lot to learn about school life both in class (with the students) and out of class (with fellow teachers and administration); so, week two, HERE I COME! Lastly, to end on a note that keeps things in perspective, do know, that as I write this is only Korea through one person's eyes. Check out this link, it's one of my favorite talks: Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story.

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"The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.

They make one story become the only story." --Chimamanda Adichie
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