Early Weekend

Yes, it's true, right now it's 6pm on a Wednesday, but for me the weekend has started. On Thursday all the students at BaeYoung High School are taking a practice college entrance exam. At my school, the first year high school students take many practice exams. Their whole high school experience is basically one big college exam prep course. A vast majority of their class material is based off the entrance exam, and their classes quiz them using material from past exams as well. There is only one national college entrance exam day.  It is no laughing matter in Korea. The exam is in November; more details to come at that time! By the way, there are only three total years of H.S. in the Korean education system, so I do not know if I should say freshman, sophomore, jr, or senior when refering to the students--I'll just say "First Year, "Second Year," and "Third Year."  Anyway, the point is I do not have class Thursday :)

So what about Friday? Well.....I am going hiking with the first year students and their home room teachers. This is an annual hike the first year students go on. When I heard they were going, and that I would not have class since I teach only first year students, I asked to go along; not knowing what I was getting myself in to. Apparently we are hiking up the highest mountain in Korea (excluding the mountain on one of Korea's islands). I was not too worried when I heard this, but every time I mention it to other people, they are kind of surprised and they tell me it's a pretty strenuous hike. I have not worked out much since getting to Korea, so I am a little worried about getting shown up by the students, haha! Really, though, I think it'll be tiring, but amazing. We are leaving Friday morning at 8am to drive to the mountain and coming back to town Saturday night (we'll be put up in a cabin for the night). I'll let you know how it goes (and if I get any stomach troubles from drinking the stream water --that's going to be our only source of water during the ~10 hour hike. Oh joy...I heard it's perfectly clean though. So, no worries. Right?)

To back up for a minute, last weekend, that's 9/11-12, I went on my first trip out of JeongEup City since my first arrival in late August here. A large group of fellow Fulbright ETA Grantees (not everyone) met up in a city around one hour away by high speed train from JeongEup. We had a night filled with laughter as we caught up with each others newest life adventures in our cities and schools.

Friends! (In Daejon City, where we all met up --30 or so people)

More Friends (These are some fellow bloggers, Grace, me, Josh, and Tim at the bottom)



I left the group early Sunday morning, waking up at 6am, to catch a train back to JeungEup City to meet my host family. They had plans to go to a town (a little over an hour away by car), which is known for its apple orchards -- it seems to me that many towns in Korea are 'known' for something: peaches, hot peppers, squid, apples...you name it. We went to the annual "Red Apple Festival." I took a lot of pictures because it was such a beautiful area (AND because my host family let me borrow their digital DSLR camera...it takes great pictures...I just may invest in one while here! If you have any suggestions, let me know your thoughts). Here are some of the pictures from Sunday:

Scenery!

 Me and Charlie, the family's son (the apples are not real; though, the grass is!)

Poison Apples, Snow White, & the Seven Dwarves (all made from grass)

The Host Family (Sera, Charlie, and Jason)

After the weekend was over, I began to prepare for teaching. It is amazing how productive we can be...some days I barely get through my classes, let alone tack on "extra-curriculars." Today though (Wednesday), I not only played soccer with one of my classes during the student's lunch hour, but I also practiced my horn at school during a break hour, went out with a group of teachers at night, and still managed to write this blog! Maybe it was just the combination of activities I did today that gave me the extra energy; exercise does the body good! I just hope the blisters I got from running around on the dirt soccer field barefoot won't slow me down too much on Friday and Saturday while hiking!

Post any thoughts/comments your have below-- it's always a plus for me to hear what you think :)

Have a great week!