Yonsei Day to 서귀포

서귀포= 'soggy-poe' = Seogwipo (where I now live)

The six weeks of Orientation ended with a bang on Yonsei Day. Yonsei, because we gather at Yonsei University at Seoul, + Day, because it's the big day when we meet our school officials (principal, vice-principal, and co-teachers).

Everything was very official, so much so that we had a debriefing the night before. Luggage downstairs by 7:40am, shuttles leave at 8:30am and 9am, quick meeting at 9:30am, then ceremony, then lunch, then leave...make sure you have nylons, girls wear make up, boys be clean-shaven, look your best, noserings out, etc. We had to make sure we had our game faces on--first impressions, especially in Korea, are very important.

The big ceremony with everyone, ETAs, school officials, Fulbright staff, started at 11am. We (ETAs) filed into the auditorium where all the school officials were seated. The school officials had been given our pictures, and we're eagerly looking around for their ETA. We however, had no idea who we belonged to. Our instructions were to, once our name was called, step out of line, bow (70-90), then wave to our school officials who would be standing. The Orientation coordinators had put a lot of stress on the ceremony, and I had imagined something quite different than what actually happened. I had expected for Yonsei Day to be very serious and straight-faced, whereas it was quite the opposite; it was fun, light-hearted, and most of all celebratory. Many of the school officials had brought flowers for their ETA, one group had made a sign, another ETA got flowers and a hug, and another a little "July 4th" popper. They were all very enthusiatic and happy to meet us. Only my co-teacher, Sue Yeon, had come to Seoul from Jeju

After the ceremony, we all ate lunch with our new co-workers and superiors. The meal was really good, and, likewise, probably very expensive. It was a long series of small dishes. What really stood-out was the bulgogi--delicious! I can't wait to eat more, probably when going out. There was also a weird Korean dessert, almost like a pastry....guess what it was....a rice cake with sugar. Rice is everywhere...

It was a sraight shot to my Seogwipo homestay after that. Bus to airport, Seoul to Jeju City, Jeju City to Seogwipo and my new home, complete with family. It's an interesting new life...

Korean Language Class (and Graduation)

한국어 수업 = (han-gook su-awb) = Korean Language Class

Since my arrival in Korea on July 5th (6 weeks ago), I've endured 90 hours of Korean language instruction. When I think of what little I knew before arriving (nothing), I impressed. When I think of how little I know, I realize what I long way I have to go!

We started with an assessment test the second day of Orientation--merely a blank page to fill with all the Korean we knew. Mine was blank, so I joined 57 other ETAs in the beginner classes. It was a trip back to elementary school! We spent the first day just on the alphabet, watching the teacher over enunciate and then trying to mimic the sounds. Prepositions were also fun--we got under our desks, we stood next to our desks, we sat on our desks, etc. The key phrase we learned was "Korean is hard but very fun!"

Our teachers were amazing and fun, but our textbooks ('Fun Fun Korean!') were also entertaining.

1. Front & back cover: Watch out for the Korean tigers that want 떡 (dak = rice), but if
you don't know Korean, no worries, they'll teach you. "Give me rice cakes and I not eat you!"

2. A Native American in the food section?

3. Transportation-don't forget your phone on the bus!

4. Telephone...why so shady?

6. "Babies are delicious and make me feel happy but are soooooo expensive."
Is there any other possible conversation with all this vocabulary?

So yes...Korean is fun! Korean is also a very melodic language; it was easy to repeat what our teachers said in the same sing-song voice. And that was class, a lot of repetition. But that's the best way to get it to stick! Every Monday we had a short quiz and every night homework to keep us studying. The last Monday of Orientaton was our final: reading, writing, and speaking. The speaking section was an interview, and I learned that my listening skills are bad. The teacher had to ask me several times what my favorite season was before I understood the question. What also threw me off was when she asked me "Where is (your) 방?" 빵 means bread and 방 means room. Confusing....

And on Thursday, we graduated! Everyone survived (more importantly passed) Korean language class. Speeches from top students, honors to top students, and skits by every class (slide show to songs & dance to skits of Tom Cruise & Jude Law falling in love with their language partners). Look at class B1 with our diplomas!

Happy Birthday 선생님!

선생님 = sawn-sehng-nim = teacher

My Korean teachers, You Hana and Park Areum, are two of the most adorable people I've ever met. They're enthusiastic, happy, and oh so cute. They both had birthdays this past week, so we got to celebrate as a class. As the class captain (lovingly called Cap-씨, 씨 = (pronounced) shee = Miss/Mister) , I was charged with organizing a class cards, a class gift, and a dinner out. Despite the extra work, I'm glad we had the chance to celebrate as a class and with our teachers.

You Hana and Park Areum are both Korean language teachers at Korea University in Seoul. You Hana teaches our class 9:00-11:00am, and Park teaches us 11:00am-1:00pm. For the six weeks of Orientation, they live in the dorm, share the showers, and eat cafeteria food with us. They put in a lot of extra work for us; besides the four hours of class, they also have office hours in the evenings, and prepare for the lessons. I figure that the amount of time I spend studying for Korean class is equal to, probably lesson than, the time they spend preparing lessons and office houring. If I'm even half as effective as either of them in my classroom, it'll be a successful year in terms of teaching. Both of them said the Seogwipo is 'the best' and that they'll come visit me on Jeju.

Korean class is always a great experience--sometimes overwhelming, but always has great moments. Their English is limited (still better than our Korean), which makes some explanations and general conversation more interesting. Class usually has an elementary feel due to the simplicity of our lessons, but every so often someone interjects a mention of soju or beer. You Hana lived in England teaching Korean for a short time, so is more comfortable talking with us. She also confided to us that while she was supposed to be studying in an English program, she instead took floral design classes!

For dinner, we went out for Chuncheon's famous dakgalbi. Before the food had finished cooking, there was plenty of converstation. You Hana and Park opened their gifts and showed us several Asain photo poses (hilarious). Everyone had a great time!

Korean class B1 couldn't ask for better 선생님s!

Placements

We've been told to expect ever-changing schedules, even to the last minute, and one key to a successful year in Korea is to be flexible. Although true, this was just a segway to tell us that the placement ceremony would 24 hours earlier than planned. Placements were announced yesterday. The placement ceremony is quite formal. Everyone dressed up, we all filed into a lecture hall, and one-by one were given our placements. Program director Ms. Shim came from Seoul to announce the placements with the OCs. Placements were announced by province. Each ETA in the province went on stage, took a picture with their province buddies, and then placed a post-it with their name on their city on a map of South Korea.

Remember my placement preference form?

My province was announced last; I had to watch everyone else go up. I think the hardest part was knowing that I (probably) wouldn't be near those people. My placement: an all-girls middle school in Seogwipo on Jeju-do.

This map is quite intimidating--it's huge! We felt all spread out and so far away. I haven't yet gotten a feel for how big South Korea is, but I know it's not as big as Texas. To give you a better reference, especially for my fellow Texans:

Jeju-do is South Korea's most southern point. According to my Korean travel book, I'll be living on a volcanic island surrounded by palm trees, orange orchards, pineapple plants, and tangerine groves. Ubiquitous fruit is especially important to me.

Yonsei day (meeting principal, vice-principal, and co-teacher at Yonsei University) is two weeks from last Monday. After that, I'll be flying to Jeju-do with 7 other ETAs, 3 of which are also in Seogwipo. (Fulbright makes sure we're not alone--they certainly care about our mental health.)

서귀포 제주도 = sah-gwee-po jeh-joo-do = Seogwipo Jeju-do!

School: 서귀중앙 여자중학규 = Seogwi Jungang Girls Middle School (575 students)

Address: 697-070 제주특별자치도 서귀포시 중앙로 175

Website: www.sgja-g.ms.kr

Life at Korea, Kangwon-Do, Chuncheon, Kangwon National University, Dasagwahn Dorm

Korean grammar- for both time at location, the order is larger to smaller

For example: Right now, it is 2009 August 4th Tuesday AM 7:30

(잠월 오일 2009년 8월 4일 수요일 오전 7시 30분이에요.)

Almost a month ago, I arrived 2009 Aug 5 Sunday early early morning. My time in Chuncheon is almost over--only 2 weeks left. Not much time left for this blog post!

Living Situation

We're all housed at Kangwon National Univeristy in Chuncheon, à la dorm style. The rooms are small (half the size of a Lovett single) plus a roommate. 62 females share 8 toilets and 5 showers (compare the same numbers for only 20 males). Besides the ETAs, I'm also living with the Orientation counselors, RAs, and language teachers.

My dorm room, really small. I had to take each picture standing from a corner of the room.

I've already mentioned cafeteria food in an earlier blog. Not much has changed since then, exception that I've realized how good proper Korean food is. My cafeteria food consumption is plummeting these last two weeks since eating out is extremely cheap (1 roll kimbab 1,000won, bowl ramen 3000won, bowl patbingsu 2,000won).

Doing laundry has been an experience. Here's what has happened each time:

1. Clothes soaking wet after wash. Dryers did not work. Wrung out clothes; took 4 days for clothes to dry

2, 3. Couldn't ask for better. Clothes spun in wash (not soaking wet) and dryer worked.

4. Clothes wet after wash, but competent by now to do a spin cycle. Dryers did not work; hung up damp clothes.

After my first load, I googled Korea Laundry, and this is what I found:

My experience hasn't been that bad....yet. Supposedly most homestay moms do laundry for us....

Day to Day

Our daily schedule is quite simple: Korean class in the morning, lunch, afternoon workshop (or Camp Fulbright), TKD, dinner, free time. We're usually kept busy. Free time usually translates into lots of study time. We're learning lots of Korean fast; there's four hours of class (total 90hrs in 6 weeks!) plus all the study hours we do just to keep up. We're mainly either at the dorm, at the Millennium Building (for classes and workshops), or Back Gate (more below).

Our dorm (Dasagwahn) and the Millenium Building.

Camp Fulbright

To prepare us for the Korean classroom, Fulrbright imports 150 Korean kids to Kangwon University, under the guise of Camp Fulbright (English Camp). For the last two weeks, we've been sharing the cafeteria and the neighboring dorm with them. Every ETA observed the instructors (former ETAs) teach, then prepared and taught three lessons. It's been interesting to see the dynamic of the Korean classroom. There's little things like the boys and girls won't willing mix, thumbs up does not work, Koreans LOVE their K-pop stars (K-pop = Korean pop), etc. My lessons were mediocre; the kids didn't think they were bad, but the evaluating instructor and I knew better. As an ETA, we're Conversational English teachers. Korean students have lots of other English classes (i.e. grammar), taught by Korean teachers, that are lecture based. Our classes should be interactive and activity-based: we need to get them talking. The idea is to teach a concept or an idea (e.g. phone conversation) and let the grammar and vocab incorporate naturally, without a staightup lecture.

Kangwon University

Because we're living together and on a college campus, it's like there's a Fulbright American colony in Korea. Yes, we've been exposed to some Korean culture, but only when we leave campus to go shopping or to go out. But our bubble will break soon! Placements are announced today, and, in two weeks, we scatter across Korea to start teaching.

Our main interaction with Koreans is through KEY Club: Kangwon English Yard (an English club). All the members are college students interested (and committed!) to learning English. Most are spending the summer studying for the TOEIC (Test of English International Communication) and TOEFL (Test of English Foreign Language). We go to their KEY Club meetings to discuss selected topics. And then we go out! Most of us have language partners from KEY Club.

Back Gate

Going out means Back Gate (named for the back gate of the university). Back gate is filled with bars, clubs, restaurants, snack stores, and, most importantly, norabang! Nights out have generally been pretty cheap, even with lots of food, soju, and maekju. Back gate is usually has a younger university crowd, which is nice. Complete with a Dunkin' Donuts and a Baskin Robbins! This is a great place to find hilarious, broken English phrases, especially in the stationary stores. Interpretations and transformations of Western food are also interesting -->

Everything's going well and time is flying! Only two weeks left in 춘천!

Alicia can speak Korean for 5 min

5 minute speeches in Korean class today--look how much I wrote for my draft! Looks impressive, right? OK, don't get too excited; read at what this translates too:

"Hello! My name is Alicia. I'm American; I came from Texas. I came to Incheon, Korea on July 5th, 2009. Right now, I live at a dorm at Kangwon University in Chuncheon. Right now, I am a student, however I'm going to be an English teacher.

Right now, I'm studying Korean at Kangwon University. I wake up at 7am, and drink coffee and eat breakfast. At 9am, Korean class starts, and at 10 till 1pm, class finishes. I like studying Korean because Korean class is very fun. After class, I eat lunch in the cafeteria. In the afternoon, I go to meetings. At 5pm, I do taekwondo. I like taekwondo because it is difficult. At 6pm, taekwondo finishes. After taekwondo, I eat dinner and shwoer. Then, I study Korean and meet my Korean friend Seong Jun; together we speak English and Korean. At about 12am, I sleep.

During the weekend, there is no class, so I meet my friends; together we play sports. During the weekend, I go to the supermarket. I buy coffee and fruit. Last Saturday, at Emart, I brought a camera. The camera was expensive, but I like taking pictures.

I eat meals at the cafeteria, however, the food does not taste good. I like patbingsu because it is sweet and very delicious. Tuesday night, I met Seoung Jun. We ate samgyeopsal at a restaurant in back gate. Samgyeopsal was delicious. I also like samgyeopsal. Korean is hard--study! Thank you."

The grammar is Korean is much different than English, meaning that the Korean version is much simpler. But, considering that 4 weeks ago, I didn't speak a word of Korean, or even know the alphabet, I'm reasonably content with my progress. I also, however, feel that I've been sent back to elementary school.

Curious about the samgyeopsal and patbingsu? No worries, they get an entire post each (they're that delicious).

My class with teachers Park Areum (dark pink) and You Hana (pale pink dress).

Cultural Experience! 찜질방 (Jjimjilbang)

NEWS FLASH: The cafeteria had spaghetti with meat sauce for lunch yesterday! (The sauce was Koreanized; it had the infamous red chili paste. But still good.)

찜질방 is a public bath/spa house. Out of respect for myself and the other ETAs who went, no pictures. (No cameras at the 찜질방!)

Besides the Camp Fulbright (see end of post) activity we had to run, we had the weekend to ourselves. For studying, for shopping, for going out, for.......cultural activities. The OCs organized a trip to a jjimjilbang on Sunday. We've heard some things from the former ETAs, mostly they went with their homestay families, and it was awkward, due to the nakedness. Yes, nakedness. Everyone baths together in same-sex baths. Naturally, being American, we were apprehensive. My logic was that I'd rather be uncomforatable with my also uncomfortable friends rather than my homestay family. Besides, if it was super-awkward and charring, I don't have to see them again after orientation.

So I went.

And I would go again.

There isn't as much nudity as you (or as I first) would imagine. We arrived, we paid and received the jjimjilbang garments (loose shirt and shorts), we changed, we altered hot and cold rooms, we tossed our clothes to go to the bath room, we altered cold and hot tubs, we showered, we got dressed in our original clothes, and we left. We were only fully exposed when changing, walking into the bathroom, changing tubs, and showering. Not even for that long.

For 7,000won, you get access to the jjimjilbang and sauna garments (loose shirt & knee-length shorts). The jjimjilbang has two same-sex floors, women on third and men on sixth. These floors have clothes lockers and the bath room. This is where all the nakedness occurs, but it's a locker room atmosphere (not as culturally different as we expected). We changed into our garments and headed to the main floor.

The main floor is co-ed and has hot, hot hot, and cold rooms. The idea is to open and close your pores. We first went in the hot room (very hot and humid), where you sit or lay down and sweat. This first hot room is 75 degress..........degrees Celsius (=167ºF!), then the cold room (10ºC=50ºF), then repeat at your leisure. Besides the hot room, there's also a human kiln at 85ºC. The main room is to relax, to chat, to sleep, to whatever in between the hot/cold rooms. There's also a snack bar available, which sells smoked eggs and sweet drinks (Important for staying hydrated!) After all the sweating, we relaxed in the baths, showered off, and left. Quite relaxing.

(from the top) This weekend we were also responsible for running an activity for Camp Fulbright, an English camp for Korean students. I joined Team Superbowl for 3hrs of sports with the campers. Look how Korean we've all become!

Placement Preference Form

The weather in Chuncheon is beautiful right now...clear skies, sun, and 70ºF. Perfect for ultimate. The mountians surrounding Chuncheon are actually visible.

Orientation is already half over--three weeks already! In another three weeks, I'll be moving to my placement. Placement Preference forms were due yesterday. I thought I'd post my preferences now and then compare them to my actual placement (announced Aug. 5th). This is a ranking (1 being the highest) form for aspects like location size, student gender, school size, etc. I can simply voice my preferences and what's important to me; I have no control over my placement. The Fulbright office takes my form and decides the rest.


School size: 1) 100-500; 2) 501-1000; 3) greater than 1000; 4) less than 100
The less students the better.

School type: 1) middle school; 2) high school
I don't want stressed out students. High school students study/are in school up to 15 hrs a day. I'd prefer the more relaxed, younger middle schoolers. Side note: the most common operation in Korea is for hemorroids, because they're sitting in class so much.

Student gender: 1) co-ed; no preference for male or female
I'd prefer to teach both boys and girls, but that might not happen. Co-ed means that the school is co-ed, classes still maybe single sex.

Religious Affiliation: (willing to work at...) Buddhist-affiliated school-Yes, Catholic or Protestant-affiliated school-No
Self-explanatory.

Location Size: 1) Suburban = 100,000-500,000; 2) Rural = less than 100,000; 3) Urban = greather the 500,000
Korea's extremely dense, so suburban to me (or the average American) could easily seem urban. I'm okay with a 500,000 population max.

Environment: 1) Island (Jeju-do); no preference coastal, inland, or mountainous
I've talked to some former ETAs about Jeju-do, Korea's Hawaii. The island is beautiful, culturally relaxed from Korea, and is complementary to an active lifestyle.

Resource Availability: 1) Ease of transportation; 2) near other ETAs; 3) traditional/historical area

Placements announced Aug 5th--stayed tooned!

Korean food (음식) part 1

Solar eclipse: I saw pictures of it after it happened from the NYTimes, but didn't get to see it myself. None of the ETAs knew about it, the OCs didn't mention it, and we in Korean class and didn't have a chance to see it. Not happy.

Food-->It's been 2 1/2 weeks in Korea, and I've had approximately 45 Korean meals, 80% of them being from the cafeteria. This has been only a mild introduction in Korean food; however, there's lots to blog about. In terms of quality, Korean cafeteria food is just as good as American cafeteria food. The consolation: Korean food will be infinitely better once we're in our homestays eating homecooked food.

The cafeteria routine:
1. Sterilize hands with ethanol sprayer
2. Take tray and bowl (both tin)
3. Be served rationed dish(es), usually meat and fruits
4. Serve self unrationed dishes: rice, kimchi, cooked vegetables, and soup
5. Grab spoon and chopsticks
6. Eat

Meals in the cafeteria are pretty consistent. I've taken a particular liking to kimchi (김치) and variations thereof (pickled cucumbers or radishes instead of cabbage); the spice tends to freshen/cleanse my palette, so I eat the kimchi first. Then the meat dish, then rice, and, on a good day, a slice of fruit (spicy --> not spicy --> sweet). I tend to skip the soup; I don't like the taste. How spicy is Korean food? Nothing that I can't handle, even though I usually unadverturous when it comes to spicy foods (back home). The Korean spicy is less burning than Mexican or Indian spicy.

Notable experiences: baby octopus (intact), fish eggs (in soup), tentacles (octopus, squid)

What I will not eat/don't like: tentacles (don't like the texture), tofu, egg, rice cakes, overcooked vegetables, black noodles
And I will probably straight up refuse sannakji (wiki read why) if ever served.

What I eat a lot of: rice

Tuesday breakfasts are the most anticipated meal of the week, Westen breakfast day. It may not be the typical Western breakfast, but at least it's familar foods. There's usually fruit, bread, a small cold salad, and cream of something soup. The breakfast entrees were spam and an American Single (1st Tuesday), cereal (2nd), and a breakfast casserole. Korean breakfasts aren't different from lunch or dinner: rice, kimchi, meat, soup, and vegetables.

I've eaten out a few times a in Cuncheon. The first time featured dumplings (만두) stuffed with kimchi or vegetables with meat. My favorite so far is patbingsu (팥빙수), but I'm going to save that for another blog. Chuncheon is famous for its dakgalbi (닭갈비), a spicy chicken dish. Besides the chicken, there's also cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, onions, and rice cakes in a chili pepper based sauce. I went with current (09-10) ETAs and a group of former ETAs (08-09). The preparation is sort of a tease. The server plops a bowl of ingredients on the frying pan at your table. Then, over a period of 15-20 minutes, he occasionally stirs it while you wait. Like what's typical at Korean restuarants, everyone eats directly from the center bowl or dish--just grab what you want with your chopsticks (this is a reflection of Korea as a group/sharing culture).

The food during our weekend at Songnisan, since we were mostly eating out, was much better and more traditional than the usual. We met Ms. Shim at a restaurant when we first arrived in Songnisan for lunch. Everyone greeted her, took off their shoes (socks were obligatory), than sat (on the floor) at our table. Everyone had a small bowl of rice and another small bowl, but otherwise an assortment of dishes covered the table. Most were spices and vegetables specific to the Songnisan mountain area, like leaves dipped in a rice batter. No one eats a lot of any one thing, rather a little of everything. Some seafood looks intimidating because its left intact (like the fried fish below), but is actually ok....

Breakfasts at Songnisan were a treat. After two weeks of rice three times a day, even cereal is a treat. We had a small breakfast buffet with cereal, toast, eggs, sausage, toast, mini croissants, and, most importantly, a fruit tray. Of all my meals so far, this is when I definitely overate--enough to last me till 3pm even after a 5hr hike. So far, breakfast foods are what I miss the most: especially the cereal, fruit, yogurt, and bread. The cafeteria doesn't serve enough fruit to satisfy me and there's a serious lack of diary in my new diet. I'm mostly ok, but the vegetarian ETAs aren't doing so well.

There's still so much to write about: life a Kangwon, Korean classes, cultural workshops, food prt 2,...

Songnisan (속리산)

Songnisan means "leaving the mundane chores", which was the purpose of this past weekend (July 17-19). No studying, just relaxing. From Chuncheon, Songisan is a 4hr bus drive. We arrived around 1pm, had lunch with Ms. Shim and the KAEC Office staff, then began our weekend in Songnisan. We all stayed in Lake Hill, a tourist hotel; some of us had Western accomodations (beds and shower curtains), while other (i.e. me) had Korean accomodations (mats on the floor and no shower curtain).

Ms Shim: One test this weekend was using correct Korean etiquette. Ms. Shim is the KAEC (Korean American Education Commission) Fulbright director, our ultimate authority. Correct etiqutte includes insa (the bowing greeting) at every meeting, lots of thank yous, 잘 먹겠습니다 (chal mawk-kuess-seb-ni-da='I will eat well') before all meals, and 잘 먹었습니다 (chal maw-kawss-seb-ni-da='I ate well') after all meals. The OCs (orientation counselors) continually stressed that we show our respect to Ms Shim and the office staff. As one out of 70 ETAs, Ms Shim knows me as 'the first one in the [Fulbright] facebook ("Easy to remember!")' and "double A number 1" (there's three AAs); she also instructed me on correct chopstick hand positioning.

Friday-Bebjusa Temple: After lunch, we were given a loooonng and disjointed talk about some aspects of Buddhism by an American monk who has spent the last twenty years practicing in Korea. What I enjoyed more was the brief tour he gave us of Bebjusa, an ancient but still operating Buddhist temple. The temple was built in the 7th century AD, rebuilt in the 17th century, and once housed 3,000 monks (compared to 60-80 monks currently. The temple is home to Korea's largest rice pot cooker, which was used to cook lotsa-lotsa rice to feed those 3,000 monks. The temple is also known for the large 33m high, 160 ton Buddha statue and its wooden pagoda. At 6:30pm, we got to watch the evening prayers, during which 4 instruments are played, to 'calm and soothe' sentient beings: a large drum for landwellers, a hollow wooden fish for ocean dwellers, a cloud shaped ironboard for the heavens and winged animals, and a large bell for all those suffering and/or in hell.

Saturday-hiking in Songnisan National Park: Saturday was our free day to relax, which for me meant a 16km hike. With two other ETAs, I hiked to Manjangdae Rock (1054m), then across the ridge to Cheonhwangbong Peak (1057.7m), then back down. Koreans take their hiking seriously! While, we wer outfitted with the basic shorts, shirt, tennis shoes, and water bottle, the other hikers we came across had boots, walking poles, hats, proper hiking apparel, lots of water, food, etc. To give them credit though, the hike was pretty strenuous; some parts of the trail were almost straight up. We were hidden in the trees until we reached the first peak at Manjangdae Rock, where we had a great view of the mountains, which are covered with vegetation. Both peaks were incredibly windy, enough to make you nervous about the height. In total, we covered 16km in 5hours--quite relaxing! ;)

Sunday-back to Chuncheon: And we're back to the dormitories and cafeteria food! These coming two weeks are going to be much more busy than the first two. Camp Fulbright, an English camp for us to practice teaching, has started. In addition to Korean language class, TKD, and cultural workshops, we're lesson planning, observing, teaching, and playing with the kids. We're being kept to busy to get homesick....

If you click on the pictures, a new tab/window should come up with the larger/actual size picture.

topics to come: food, living in Chuncheon and Kangwang Univeristy, laundry, Korean language/etiquette culture...

Taekwondo 태권도

Or simply TKD. During orientation, we have the option of participating in different cultural activities: calligraphy lessons, a traditional tea ceremony, salmulnori (drumming), cooking, hanji (art of paper folding), or, what I signed up for, TKD. A deal was worked out with the 'master of Chuncheon' for a month of lessons (Mon-Thrus, 1hr/day) and a dobok (도복) unifrom. We meet the master last week for our unifrom fitting; he is such the master that all we had to do was stand up, even from across the room, for him to determine the correct size.

Before I go into what happened at yesterday's first lesson, let's go back to the Chuncheon Taekwondo tournament. We've been sharing our dormitroy with youth taekwondo teams from China and Russia and seen other teams (Iraq, Hong Kong, China) around campus. To get pumped for our first TKD lesson, a group of us went to Hobang gymnasium to watch some matches.

We didn't know the rules, so nothing really made sense. Points are awarded for 'good' hits to the opponents target areas: 1pt for the chest, 2 pts the head (but not the face), and an extra point if the opponent is knocked down. That's why some kicks are higher--double the points!

Yesterday was our first lesson. Right after Korean class, we changed into our doboks to go directly to the gym. As Americans, we're already a spectacle; 40 of us dressed all in doboks, even more so! We didn't even know how to correctly tie our belts, which was the first lesson.
The first lesson, especially considering we're all straight-up beginners, was more physically challenging than I expected: 20 laps around the gym (not so hard, but really sweaty), stretching, jumping (over a partner touching their toes, over partner who's on 'praying' on the ground, touching our toes, etc), and basic commands. Generally, I'm excited--it'll be a great workout. For some of the group, TKD is a lot more exercise than they expected. It'll be interesting to see what they do; the fee for a month of classes a bit expensive (100,000 won, ~$80).

tae = 태 = 'feet'
kwon = 권 = 'fist'
do = 도 = 'way'/'method'

taekwondo = 'way of the feet and fist'

According to the master, taekwondo requires endurance, agility, strength (=physical training),etc. And supposedly, everything will become easier, and each day we'll be less sore. We'll see!

Korea (한뭄) Week 1

It's already been a week and this is my first post! The hold-up was the blog name; I want something cathcy, witty, and original. Hangul Howdy is the temp, until I find a better name. If you have any suggestions, feel free!

Things are different here! I've experienced so much in one week that there's no way I'll fit it into this post. Instead, I'll give a skeleton of information today and dedicate later posts to specific topics (food, language classes, Korean etiquette, weather, etc) to fill in details. Again, feel free to to do requests or ask questions.

Right now, I'm at Kangwon National University in Chuncheon (춘천) for orientation. There's 70 Fulbright ETAs (English Teaching Assistants), but I'm the only one from the lonestar state. We're all in a dormitory together, sharing the toilets and showers and eating cafeteria food. Our usual schedule is Korean Language class in the morning (4hrs), lunch, cultural and teaching workshops till 4:30pm, taekwondo 5-6pm, then straight to dinner, lots of studying, and bed---very busy! We get a short break next weekend when we go to Songnisan, a Korean National Park. The schedule gets even busier after that because Camp Fulbright starts. The camp brings in children from schools where past ETAs have been posted to give us the opportunity to practice teaching. And I need the practice!

Today, we're going to see the International Taekwondo Open Championships, which are being held here in Chuncheon, then a teaching workshop in the afternoon, and lots of studying for our Korean test tomorrow. I'm on skype (allen.alicia) if you ever want to talk, just remember I'm 14hrs ahead of central time (GT +8).

Next: TKD or food...

Sunset from my dorm window.