A Final Goodbye

This past Saturday I flew home from South Korea. Before I left school on Friday I was showered with gifts and attention from both my students and teachers. It was nice to feel appreciated and to feel like I really made a difference at the school. I also really enjoyed seeing how crafty so many of my students were. Many of them sewed me phone charms, hair ribbons, etc.

Saying goodbye to some of my 3rd graders

Saying goodbye to my 5th graders (and one 3rd grader)

After school, I went to the Kyeong's house. The Kyeong's are the family I lived with in February. We then went out to dinner with their family friends. It was really great to be able to spend one last night with their family. I really enjoyed living with their family in February and wanted to say thank you once again.

At a cafe after dinner with the Kyeongs and their family friends

My flight home put me into LaGuardia at 11:30 on Saturday. I was met by my parents and it was so nice to see them after so long. I was also lucky to come home on a Saturday because many of my friends and family were able to come over the following day. It was great to enjoy the beach, some pizza and just quality time with my friends and family. As much as I enjoyed my time in South Korea a year truly was a long time to be away from home.

Since I'm back in the states now I think this will be my last blog entry. I've truly enjoyed writing about my experiences here and hope you enjoyed reading about my time as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in South Korea.

Goodbye Parties

I have been so touched by the numerous people who have reached out to me and asked to have a goodbye dinner or party for me. It is really moving to see how many people I've touched during my stay in Korea.

On Monday night my host family wanted to have a goodbye dinner for me and two of the other Hwacheon ETAs. Although I am not very close to my host family the dinner was a really nice gesture. My host father even apologized for not spending more time with me and blamed it on work. He's very proud of the fact that he worked every weekend for the past eight years!

On Tuesday the teachers I meet and cook with every week threw me an amazing going away party. I nearly cried when I saw the efforts they exerted to make my party special. We feasted on seafood pajeon (which they cooked for me the first time we met), potato pancakes, yogurt parfaits, fruit, an ice cream cake, Dutch coffee and most importantly non-alcoholic beer. Each of the three teachers I was closest to contributed something to make the party a success. I will really miss Kyeonghee, Juhee and Myoungjin. I truly believe I would have been much lonelier at school and in Korea if they never reached out to me. Our meetings were something I looked forward to every week and I will really miss them when I teach next year.

Last night our school hosted a going away dinner for Amy, the other ETA, and I. The dinner was so much fun mainly because it's incredibly entertaining to see how drunk all of the teachers get. Two of the teachers had to be carried from the restaurant to the bar because they were too drunk to walk but didn't want to go home! I was really moved by how many teachers came up to me to say thank you and to wish me well. One of my closest teacher friends even told me that I was the reason she decided to travel alone to Hong Kong. She had always wanted to go but was nervous about her English ability not being high enough to allow her to easily manage the trip alone. I was so touched that I was able to increase her confidence. I cannot wait to see pictures from her trip in a few months. Juhee also promised that her next trip will be to America! I can only hope. After the dinner a large number of teachers went to a bar and then karaoke. It was so fun to see so many of my co-workers really cut loose. I even discovered that one of my co-teachers could breakdance when he started dancing at karaoke!

Today, I had pizza at school with some of the younger male teachers. It was nice to say goodbye to them. They all have very high English levels and are the closest to me age-wise, which is nice. After school, I had coffee with two of the other ETAs in Hwacheon. We wanted to meet to say goodbye since we are not sure when we will see each other again. Luckily our goodbyes weren't too difficult because Maggie lives just outside the city and Rachel, my best friend, will visit New York during her month in America. Rachel will return to Korea in August to teach English again as an ETA.

Tomorrow is my last day of school and I know it will be tough to say a final goodbye to all the people who have supported me during my year here. I will also have a goodbye dinner with the Kyeong family. I lived with the Kyeongs during February and really want to say goodbye to them. They were an amazing host family and I will miss them terribly. I never imagined saying goodbye to Korea would be so difficult.

My Last Weekend in Korea

As I'm writing this I have only 5 days left in Korea. It's such a crazy though (especially given the progress I've made on packing...). That being said, I did have an AMAZING final weekend in Seoul with my best friend Rachel and her family. Rachel's family lives in Seoul and they have been an amazing part of my time in Korea. Her aunt, uncle and cousin graciously opened up their home and hear to me numerous times throughout the year.

Before I got to Seoul late Friday night I ate dinner with my co-teacher. I took my co-teacher to a restaurant called Santorini in Chuncheon for a goodbye dinner. The restaurant is on the big hill/small mountain in the middle of the city and has stunning views of Chuncheon. We ended up indulging in the seven-course set menu and it was absolutely delicious. I was pretty surprised because Western food is generally not very good outside of Seoul.

The view from the balcony

After dinner, I took a bus to Seoul and went to Rachel's family's house because Rachel, her cousin and I were leaving at 6:40AM the next morning for a water park. The three of us went to Caribbean Bay, the largest water park in Korea. The water park was really, really fun and we lucked out with the weather. It was sunny and warm but not stiflingly hot (which is frequently the case here in Korea). It was great to just hang out all day and enjoy the rides. The three of us even got henna tattoos together to remember the day and just because we found it tacky and funny.

That night we returned home and ended up watching a movie with Amy's parents. I was impressed they followed along (or at least humored us) since there were no subtitles. We also ordered a typical Korean late night snack- fried chicken and beer. Rachel's uncle really wanted to share chicken and beer with Rachel and I. The next morning Rachel, her aunt and her cousin, Amy, went to church while the uncle and I exercised together. We ended up going for a long walk around Olympic Park, which is the park next to their house. It was a lot of fun and I was surprised by how much Rachel's uncle and I could communicate despite the language barrier. Her uncle speaks very little English. It was also need to walk along an old fortress wall in the park because it had great views of the surrounding area. I also was able to see all the various stadiums and buildings from the 1988 Olympics.

That afternoon Rachel's aunt cooked us a delicious goodbye dinner and we took some pictures and hung out a little more. Then, Rachel's uncle, Amy, Rachel and I went out for dinner. Her uncle really wanted to eat dog soup with me and I eagerly complied. I really wanted to eat dog soup before I left Korea and thought it would be neat to eat it with Rachel's family. Honestly, I really liked the soup although I had to give some of the really fatty pieces with the dog skin still on it to her uncle. The meat pretty much tasted like any other meat though. There may have been some differences but I couldn't really tell since I don't eat a lot of meat to begin with.

                   


















I just have a week full of goodbyes and goodbye parties left standing between me and America now!

Teaching English to Toddlers

This past Friday the English Camp I was teaching after-school for two weeks ended. I taught four classes at the camp after-school everyday to kids ages 2-5. Yes, you read that right 2-5! Needless to say, I often felt like I was doing a lot more babysitting than teaching but it was still fun.

The camp had different themes for each of the days which were the beach, going to the circus, animals and having a picnic. My favorite day was definitely the picnic day because we made sandwiches with the kids. This was nice because the kids loved it and it was also less draining on me after a full day of teaching. I was also continuously amused by how delicious the kids thought the sandwiches were because I thought they were pretty gross. The sandwiches were very Korean and included grape jelly, ham, American cheese, cucumber, carrots and a tomato. Even after a year in Korea, I still can't stomach Korean sandwiches which often include huge amounts of jelly, ketchup and mayonnaise in addition to overly processed ham or Spam. 

Anyways, I'm glad the camp is finally over because it was really exhausting to teach from 9- 7:30 every single day. Here are some pictures of the kiddos at camp!

Two Weeks Left

This Saturday marked my last two weeks in South Korea. That sentence simultaneously makes me giddy at the thought of seeing all my friends and family so soon and also makes me sad because I will have to say goodbye to many of the wonderful friends I've made during my year here. This weekend a goodbye dinner was held in Seoul for all the Fulbright ETAs. Therefore, I headed to Seoul right from school on Friday. On Friday night I enjoyed some karaoke, makgeoli, chicken and more with friends. It was nice to all be together one last time. 

On Saturday my best friend, Rachel, and I spent the day together. We bopped around Seoul all day both running errands (like souvenir shopping) and visiting places we always wanted to but never did (like a sheep cafe!). The day was really exhausting but also really enjoyable. Although Rachel and I will spend next weekend together it was our last chance to just spend time the two of us. 

One last haemul pajeon 

Patbingsu from the fanciest ddeok store we could find.

The sheep outside Good Nature Cafe

On Saturday night I attended the Final Dinner for all the Fulbright ETAs. It was on the 31st floor of a really swanky hotel near City Hall and the view from the room was stunning. The dinner was so much fun and I was glad to have the opportunity to say goodbye to all of my friends who do not live near me in Korea. Unfortunately, after dinner I had to catch the last train back to Chuncheon so I wasn't able to go out with my friends that night.

I needed to be back in Chuncheon on Saturday night because my co-teachers planned a trip to Gangneung. I met three of my co-teachers early on Sunday morning and we started our two and a half hour drive to the coast. When we arrived we enjoyed some time on the beach before having a sushi feast at a restaurant overlooking the water. Our lunch was delicious and I was glad I finally had the chance to try Korean style sushi. Korean style sushi is just the raw fish and it is dipped in a spicy sauce. After lunch we went to one of my co-teachers favorite coffee shops in Gangneung called Terra Rosa. Terra Rosa is so famous that it's coffee was actually served at the sheep cafe I visited on Saturday. The cafe was situated in a dense forest amongst farms on the outskirts of the city. It was absolutely beautiful inside and out. The coffee and desserts were also plentiful and delicious. After coffee it was time to start the drive back to Chuncheon. I had such an amazing day with my co-teachers and was so glad they planned this day trip for me. It was definitely a trip I'll remember for a very long time!

My co-teachers and I on the beach

One of my co-teachers and I with the appetizers at the sushi restaurant

Sushi!

Another co-teacher and I at Terra Rosa

Another Weekend Gone

As I write this, I'm pretty emotionally torn. Part of me is SO excited to be back in America in three weeks and part of me is so sad to leave all the people who made my time in Korea so memorable and special. This past weekend I spent a lot of time connecting with my co-teachers and their families which made me realize that I wish I had even more time to spend with them.

On Saturday morning I met my co-teacher SuJin in Chuncheon and she drove us to Gapyeong where we met the rest of her family. All of us were set to camp on an island in Gapyeong together Saturday night. I was really excited to be included in her family's weekend plans and was honored to have the privilege of meeting SuJin's sister and her sister's family. It's so nice to know that SuJin feels comfortable sharing so much of her life with me. Camping was so much fun! I loved playing with SuJin's two daughters, as well as her niece and nephew. It was also nice to talk with the adults. They were so welcoming and seemed genuinely thrilled to have me join them on their family vacation. The camping trip was really relaxing and relatively low-key. I generally think of camping as roughing it a bit but that wasn't really the case here. There was no hiking, getting dirty or any of that. Instead there was a pool with blow-up inflatables for the kids to play on! We also had two grills and plenty of amenities. I was really surprised that many of the other campers even set up huge projectors and just watched tv!

Amy, the other ETA, SuJin's daughter and I at the campsite

SuJin's family after the pool

Me reading to SuJin's daughters

We left the campsite at noon on Sunday because the kids were exhausted and didn't seem like they could last much longer. Luckily, that gave me plenty of time to meet up with another co-teacher and her family on Sunday. Every Tuesday (and now Fridays) the KyeongHi, the school's librarian, joins me and a few other teachers to cook and talk. This weekend her younger sister whose a college student was visiting her in Chuncheon. Since her sister is only a little younger than me we made plans to meet up this Sunday. KyeongHi's husband and son also joined us. I thought we would just chat over coffee or something small and was shocked when I found out how much KyeongHi planned for our day together. We first drove to Cheonpyeongsa Temple in Chuncheon and had a delicious lunch at the bottom of the mountain. I was treated to a huge feast of many traditional Korean foods, including fried root (surprisingly delicious).

The fried root!

KyeongHi's son munching away

After our lunch the five of us hiked up the mountain a bit to the temple. It was a gorgeous short hike complete with waterfalls. I really enjoyed the walk up. The temple, like most Korean temples, was nestled beautifully in the mountainside. The view was incredible.

I'm next to KyeongHi and her sister is on the right.

Outside the temple

After finishing at the temple we drove to a neat cafe located in a traditional house in the farmland that surrounds Chuncheon. The cafe was gorgeous and I was able to try many traditional foods as we drank coffee and chatted some more. I really wished I had invited KyeongHi to do something together earlier because I really enjoyed my time with her family. Her sister was also so sweet and welcoming. Unfortunately, it was getting late after we finished coffee and her one-year old son needed to get home for a nap. I also needed to start my trip back to Hwacheon so we parted ways after coffee. It was an amazing end to my weekend. I will really miss all the people who have made my year in Korea incredible!

Birthday Festivities

These past two weeks I've been having a blast celebrating numerous birthdays, including my own. Last week it was my co-teacher Myeong Jin's birthday. She is one of the teachers I meet with every week so we threw her a birthday party during our normal meeting time. It was really nice to be able to celebrate Myeong Jin and get her a birthday present. I've really become close with the teachers in my Tuesday group and Myeong Jin was the one who first reached out to me and invited me to spend time with them. Without her I probably wouldn't have been lucky enough to get to know so many of my co-teachers on a more personal level.

This week my host mother's birthday was on Monday and we obviously celebrated by having cake for breakfast. Even funnier, we had the leftover cake for breakfast the next morning. A typical Korean breakfast is identical to a Korean lunch or dinner and includes rice, soup, meat and numerous side dishes. Therefore, Koreans often struggle to understand why Americans only eat certain foods at certain times and don't think anything of having sweets for breakfast.

My birthday was on Wednesday and I started the day by having cake for breakfast for the third day in a row with my host family. What a week! At school my co-teacher, SuJin, ordered patbingsu for my birthday. It was so sweet of her.

SuJin's daughter and I

After school I met the other three ETAs at a coffee shop. We chatted and walked around town a little bit. It was great to be surrounded by so much birthday love. Two of the ETAs then went home for dinner and my friend Rachel and I went to our favorite restaurant in town. We then ate and drank to celebrate my birthday. After dinner we went to the one Western bar in our small town. Neither of us had ever been there before so we figured it was about time. The night was extremely fun and we were both amazed that the bar had a flag celebrating the South!

"If the South would've won we would've had it made"

I was also fortunate enough to celebrate my birthday one more time with some of my other co-teachers. We had cake and fried chicken- an unbelievably Korean combination. I'm pretty sure Koreans use any excuse they can to order fried chickens. In my small town there are at least 15 different fried chicken restaurants. My co-teachers were so sweet to think of me on my birthday though and I was so moved when they all showered me with gifts. It wasn't really something I was expecting and reminded me how much I'll miss all the people I've met in Korea. Despite how far I was from home on my birthday, I felt so loved and that's mainly due to the incredible people I've been able to connect with here. Korea truly does feel like a home of sorts.

Visiting Suncheon

On Friday I spent a long seven hours on a bus to make my way to Suncheon, a city in the very south of Korea. I had yet to visit either of the South-Western provinces and therefore figured it was worth a go despite the long bus ride. One of my ETA friends Ben lives in Suncheon and gladly welcomed me. On Friday, after I arrived, we went to visit his all boys high school. Even though it was 8 o'clock on a Friday all of the students were at school. Most high schools have required self-study hours on the weekends. Additionally, nearly all of his students board in order to maximize their time spent studying. I was able to meet most of the first and second year students but was unable to say hello to the third year students because they needed to focus on studying. It was really fun to meet all of Ben's students since they are so different from my elementary school students. The dynamics of an all-boys high school are very unique as well. After I finished my grand tour of the school Ben and I met his co-teacher and four of his students for a late dinner. The four students who came to dinner with us had participated in YDAC (Youth Diplomacy and Activism Conference) earlier in the day. YDAC is a conference sponsored by the US Embassy at which high school students debate various current events issues.  The conference is only for ETA's schools and is conducted entirely in English. Therefore, it is extremely difficult. After participating in this exhausting competition all day Ben's students returned to school and wrote an essay for an English essay competition. Needless to say, the students were very deserving of a special meal out to reward their hard work. It was the first time the students ate at a restaurant in months because they eat every single meal, including weekends, on campus. I am consistently in awe of how hard Korean students work.

Dinner with Ben's students

After dinner, Ben and I went back to the bus terminal and met two of Ben's Korean friends who were visiting from Busan. The four of us then went to a HOF near Ben's house and had some beers. Since you always have to order food with your beer at Korean bars we ordered deep fried chicken intestines. It was both mine and Ben's first time eating chicken intestines and although I can't say I'll eat them again they weren't too bad. They were just a bit too chewy for my liking.

The next day the four of us went to the Suncheon World Garden Expo. The Expo was huge and included a man-made lake constructed to look like the city of Suncheon complete with islands, that represent the mountains in the city. Additionally, there were representative gardens from various countries all over the world. Unfortunately, the American garden wasn't very impressive. It was created to look like a backyard and therefore was mainly shrubs rather than flowers. The four of us all really enjoyed the Expo despite the incredible heat. We were all completely drained by the time we finished exploring the Expo. It took us about 5 hours to see everything!

The four of us at the Expo

Ben and I on the dream bridge.
Each of the tiles are a Korean students
drawing of their dream.

Of course Ben and I were filmed for a television ad.

 

Me and the fish sculptures.

In order to recharge, I took a long nap Saturday afternoon before meeting Ben's host family around dinnertime. It was really nice meeting Ben's family because they are extremely different from my own. Ben has three siblings in elementary school and they are just full of energy. The three of them could not sit still the entire two hours I was there. It was fun to be surrounded by so much energy given my quiet, study-filled home stay. Ben's host mother was an extremely gracious host and even gave me a neat leather bracelet she had made.

On Sunday, I spent the morning with Ben and another Fulbright friend who came to Suncheon late Saturday night. The three of us visited beautiful Suncheon Lake and had a late brunch at a restaurant overlooking the water. Suncheon had so many gorgeous natural spaces since it is the ecological capital of Korea. I was incredibly impressed with how much green I could consistently see since most Korean cities have strict divides between natural and artificial spaces. I had to leave early Sunday afternoon to make the trip back to Hwacheon but I was really glad I accomplished so much in the little time I was in Suncheon.

Busan: Sharks, Sand and Succulent Snacks!

This past weekend was a long weekend giving me a full four days off from school. I wanted to take full opportunity of the chance to travel and went to Busan, a large port city in the South of Korea, with a few friends. Busan is about 6 six hours from Hwacheon so I had only been there once before even though it’s the second largest city in South Korea. Last time I went to Busan it was for the Busan International Film Festival and I went down on Friday and came back on Sunday so I was very eager to spend more time exploring the city this time around.

Luckily, my co-teachers were thrilled that I was traveling to Busan and printed a guide that discussed many of Busan’s highlights. This guide was very helpful when my friends and I went to the famous Jalgachi Market. The market is extremely famous for it’s seafood and is located right on the water. Nearby there are other markets that sold numerous goods and that sold delicious food. My teacher’s guide directed my friends and I to the best odeng restaurant. Odeng is what Koreans call fishcake and I’m not sure I really want to think any harder about what it actually is composed of. We also had delicious hoddeok. Hoddeok is a popular Korean street food that is basically fried dough filled with cinnamon and ground up peanuts. The Nampo Market area in Busan is famous for a special type of hoddeok where the patty is sliced open and stuffed with sunflower seeds. It was absolutely delicious.

Our breakfast of odeng

My friends eating seafood pancake- we tried to eat as much seafood as possible

Sarah and I with our hoddeok

Rachel and I outside Jagalchi Market

 Another highlight of the weekend was visiting the Pusan National University area. One of my friends taught at the University during the winter and was really knowledgeable of the area. He also joined a CrossFit gym in the area during the two months he lived at PNU. The owners of the gym knew he was in town for the long weekend and invited him to a workout. Since Ben knows how much I enjoy a good workout he invited me to join. I was extremely intimidated by the workout that was posted on the board and the intense warm-up did not ease my fears. Once the clock started though I was able to kick it into high gear and completed the workout in a really good time. I even beat two of the regulars and more importantly, proved to myself that I can do a tough workout that included doing 20 pull-ups in a row!

Ben and I after our workout. Our instructor is in the middle.

This weekend was also a wonderful weekend to be in Busan because of the Haeundae Sand Festival. There were lots of performances throughout the weekend and the beach was covered with impressive sand sculptures. Most of the sculptures were based off movies because Busan is also home to an international film festival. The festival drew large crowds and lucky for me many of my Fulbright friends decided to also come check out the festival.

I don’t want to make this blog entry too long but I did save the best part of my weekend for last. On Saturday, I was able to live out one of my dreams by swimming with sharks without a cage. The Busan Aquarium offers cage-free shark diving and I had been planning to go for a long time. I was unbelievably thrilled that my time had finally come to get up close and personal with sharks. I absolutely loved cage diving with great whites in South Africa and was thrilled to have another chance to interact so closely with sharks. When I arrived at the aquarium I underwent some training to learn how to use the scuba equipment and then I was escorted on a 30 minute dive in the main tank of the aquarium. The tank contained stingrays, massive groupers, smaller fish, sand tiger sharks, white tip reef sharks and blacktip reef sharks. One of the highlights of the whole program was actually the training because the reef sharks swam in between my legs twice and even rubbed up against my legs! During the actual dive the reef sharks stayed further away because they were intimidated by the group of five divers. Luckily, the sand tiger sharks and groupers were not intimidated and came right up to us. It was an amazing experience. I even was able to collect shark teeth off the floor of the aquarium during the dive. I can’t imagine a better way to end my year in Korea then with this shark dive.

My friends and I right before our dive

Inside the main tank