Embracing the Freedom of Winter Break

Now that I have finished my winter camp I suddenly have a lot of free time. I will not teach again until March and don't really have any responsibilities or commitments until I move in with my new host family for the month of February. This situation could be very boring but luckily other ETAs are in the exact same situation. This means that I have great opportunities to travel and see other parts of Korea while reconnecting with my Fulbright friends.

Earlier this week I visited my friend Amber is Daejeon, which is one of Korea's biggest cities. Daejeon is known for being the transportation hub of South Korea because so many trains, buses and KTX lines go through the city. It is also famous for being a huge tech city and is home to KAIST, the top science university in Korea. KAIST is actually where my host brother wants to go and is one of the reasons he works so hard in English- all of the classes at KAIST are taught in English. Coming from little ol' Hwacheon I was amazed by the size of Daejeon. It took an hour on city bus to get from the bus terminal to Amber's homestay, where I would be staying. In Hwacheon, you can walk the perimeter of the town in about 25 minutes. 

When I arrived at Amber's I immediately fell in love with her host family. They were so welcoming and friendly. Her younger brother, who is in 2nd grade, was absolutely adorable too and playing with him made me excited to play with my new 3rd grade home stay brother in Chuncheon. We hung out with Amber's family all night and ate lots of food while playing card games, Rummikub, doing puzzles and even dressing up in Hanbok. Hanbok is traditional Korean clothes. 

HyeonTae (Amber's brother) and me (in Hanbok!)

The next day Amber and I went downtown for a terrific lunch and some shopping. The shopping area was surprisingly similar to Chuncheon, my closest city, despite the drastic size difference between the two cities. It was really nice to have a relaxing day just catching up with Amber. We then returned to her house for another feast that her mom prepared for me. Her family was unbelievably gracious during my entire stay.

Our delicious lunch!

Later that night Amber and I met up with another ETA, Nina, and Amber's Korean friends. Her Korean friends then took us to the Daejeon World Cup Stadium bowling alley. Bowling was a lot of fun but I was not very good at it. I was the typical bad, unpredictable player who will get three gutter balls then whip out a strike out of nowhere. Needless to say I was on the losing team both games. It was a great chance to get to know some Koreans though and I really enjoyed making new friends while reconnecting with old ones. 

The losing team

I also was able to catch up with my co-teacher and her two daughters, who I hadn't seen since December. Normally, I see her daughter SoHui everyday at school but it had been a while because of break. The four of us went to a great dinner buffet in Chuncheon and I had a blast playing with the girls. I bought them English books in Daejeon, so we also read while we ate, which was fun. Her daughters are so smart and are getting very good at English, even though they are both too young to study it in school. I am excited to have the opportunity to spend more time with the girls during February when I live in Chuncheon. Now, I just have to finish packing for my big move on Saturday.