From Hwacheon to Seoul

You may or may not recall that my friend Rachel and I won a grant from the Fulbright Korea Alumni Fund earlier this year. The grant allowed us to each take five students on a full day trip to Seoul. We wanted our students to learn more about the relationship between South Korea and America while experiencing Seoul. Since my town is very rural and many families are working class a lot of my students have never been to Seoul even though it is very close. Rachel and I worked extremely hard these past few months putting together the perfect field trip for our students.I was able to take five of my sixth graders and Rachel took five of her 3rd year middle school students.

The trip began with us traveling by ITX to Seoul. Rachel and I didn't really think anything of taking the ITX, which is a high speed train that was built last year, but the kids LOVED it. None of my five students had ever taken the ITX before and they could not stop raving about it.

We then took the subway from the ITX station to the American Center Korea. The American Center Korea is run by the US Embassy. At the center the students first learned about different online resources for studying English. Then Rachel and I arranged for a diplomat from the US Embassy to come and talk with our students. Our kiddos were unbelievably excited to meet a real diplomat and Borchien Lai did a great job talking to our students. He talked a lot about what it means to be Korean, particularly when it comes to foreign-born Koreans or people who are half-Koreans. Since Korea has the most homogeneous population in the entire world many of my students have a really hard time understanding what it means to be Korean-American and understanding that people who look foreign but hold Korean citizenship are Korean. Borchien also addressed the numerous ways America and Korea work together. Although my kids were sometimes a little shy they all participated in the conversation with Borchien. It was helpful that I had them prepare questions for him because they were very nervous and shy and weren't able to generate much on the spot.

Some of the kids with Borchien 

The whole group

After we left the American Center Korea we proceeded to Outback Steakhouse for a western lunch. Because western food is very expensive in Korea this was a real treat. All of the kids enjoyed their lunch. Three of Rachel's middle school girls also had a salad for the first time in their lives. They were nervous they wouldn't like it so the three girls decided to just order one because they couldn't resist the chance to try a salad. Unfortunately, they didn't really like it because the dressing wasn't creamy enough. I should have expected this given that my host mother puts ketchup and mayonnaise on raw cabbage and calls that a salad.

The last stop on our trip was the War Memorial Museum. Rachel and I prepared a photo scavenger hunt at the museum so once we arrived the students broke into teams and explored the museum on their own. We then met up to watch a 3D movie together and to go on a tour of the museum. The tour was supposed to be in English but it was a little difficult for my 6th graders so the guide used a lot of Korean as well.

By the time we finally finished at the museum and began our long journey home the kids were exhausted. We met at 7:30AM and did not get back to Hwacheon until 8:40PM. All of the students and parents were really pleased with the trip. I was so excited to hear my students gushing about the day to their parents when they were picked up at the bus stop. I hope the trip was something they will remember for a long time.