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.

Sancheono Ice Festival

For the entire month of January my small, rural town of 8,000 people transforms into a massive tourist attraction bringing in visitors from all over Asia and the world. Hwacheon is home to the Sancheono Ice Festival, which is a month long ice fishing festival. The festival includes way more than just ice fishing though. There is zip-lining, snow-mobiling, pony rides, ice- skating, life- size ice castles, massive ice sculpture displays, concerts, and more. The festival is the country's largest and most popular winter festival and attracts over 1,000,000 tourists a year. I was actually pretty shocked to find all new shops and restaurants in Hwacheon when I returned from my traveling but I then found out they are only open during the festival to accommodate the large number of people. The Sancheono Festival was even named one of CNN's 7 Wonders of Winter- something my host family never lets me forget. 

This weekend was the final weekend of the festival and my host family was eager to show me and my friend Amber, who was visiting, around. My host father works for the Hwacheon County Office and is a pretty big deal in town so attending the festival with him on Friday was like being with a celebrity. We were able to do anything instantly and for free! We started the afternoon with some ice fishing in the 'Foreigners Only' area. Apparently in this area it is less crowded and easier to catch fish because the Koreans want the foreign tourists to enjoy themselves. Despite the site's reputation for being an easy place to catch the fish I had no luck. I flicked my wrist over and over again but nothing bit. My host brother, father and Amber all caught two fish each, though so maybe I was just bad at it. 

After you catch fish at the festival there are several places you can go to eat the fish. You can go to a sushi area where they will fillet your fish and give you sauces with it or you can bake your fish in the oven. One oven bakes over a hundred fish at a time. My family decided to bake our fish and it was really tasty.

We then checked out some of the indoor events because it was a frigid 10 degrees outside. This included the first 3D art gallery in the world, which was your typical gimmicky Korean attraction, a 4D roller-coaster ride and trying on winter clothes from famous winter cities around the world. We also went to the Light Illumination Plaza, which was by far the best attraction. It is a huge tunnel built into a mountainside that houses extensive ice sculptures, including an ice slide you can play on. It was really neat and very beautiful. 

The next day my host mom took Amber and I to a nearby mountain to watch ice-climbers in the morning. We then returned home to warm up and prepare for the biggest event of the weekend- bare- handed fishing! Basically, you sign up and are given a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to change into. You then march outside with the other participants and stand around a 2 degrees Celsius pool of water with mountain trout swimming in it. The MC then warms up the crowd and gets certain participants to splash and swim in the pool a little before the main event. Then, all at once all of the participants jump in the water and reach around until they grab a fish. Once you grab a fish you must stick it down your shirt to store it. You can catch up to three fish total. Amber and I were resigned to participate but were really nervous about how it would turn out.

When we were standing on the blocks of ice for a few minutes as they talked I began to doubt my ability to get in the water, let alone catch a fish. My feet were already frozen and my entire body was shaking. I then just stared in disbelief as some of the other participants volunteered to get into the pool early and splash around and even dunk themselves under water. Amber was just sitting next to me cursing and trying to grab onto my arm and the arm of the stranger next to her. 

Amber and I are freezing in the center as people volunteer to get in.

Then all of a sudden we had to get in. I'm not really sure what empowered me to get in the water but once I was in there my competitive side definitely came out. I immediately started plunging my hands in the water and to my surprise was one of the first people to catch a fish. I was in disbelief and kept holding it up to show my friends who were watching and in the midst of my celebrations it wriggled free. Amber was then pulling on my arm because she didn't want to catch one and wanted me to get out with her but I was determined to catch another and chased her away. I was able to touch a few more but wasn't able to grab another one before the men started helping the participants because we had to get out of the water. I was then given a fish and after quickly debating whether or not to take it I took it and stuck it down my shirt. I then raced out of the pool but quickly found that I could not feel my feet let alone move them. I had to try three times to put my feet in the slippers they provided us with for the walk to the hot tub to warm up. It was insane. After sitting in the hot tub for a few moments I felt much better and was so glad I participated and caught a fish. It was a wonderful, once-in-a lifetime event!

I'm in the back right corner with the fish I caught.

Stuffing the fish down my shirt.

Amber and I after the hot tub.

Winter Camp

This week I have been teaching a Winter English Camp for 3-6th graders at my elementary school. The 3rd and 4th graders come from 9:10- 10:30 and then the 5th and 6th graders come and stay until 12:20. The camp is a great transition back to teaching after my vacation. It also is a wonderful opportunity to for me to strengthen my teaching before I return to the states to teach. During the school year I do not have a lot of room to be creative in my classroom. I am asked to follow a very rigid schedule. I complete the activities in the textbook for 20 minutes and then play a game for 20 minutes. I have the freedom to design any type of game I want but I still sometimes get frustrated when I believe there are better ways to teach the material in the textbook.

Luckily, during winter camp I have complete control over my lessons as long as they go along with the camp's theme. The three other English teachers and I decided on the camp's theme, 'Around the World in Five Days', together. Everyday we study a different country and by the end of the week our students will have learned about America, Egypt, Australia, India and France. The students have really loved the  camp so far and I believe they are finding the lessons much more engaging than they find the textbook. I also am having a lot more fun teaching the lessons that I created.

On Monday, we learned about baseball in America and the students created their own cheers for their favorite baseball teams. On Tuesday, the students created their own gods after learning about Egyptian gods and how to describe people. On Wednesday, we studied the various animals that live in Australia and also learned words like tail, fur, claws, ruff, scales, etc. The students really enjoyed playing 'Guess Who' with the animals we studied. They would ask "Does it have claws/fur/scales/etc.?" until a student could correctly guess the animal. Today's lesson was by far my favorite. The students learned the different verbs associated with body movements, such as bend, raise, lower, twist, step, etc. I then used those words to lead them through a yoga sequence since yoga was invented in India. The students loved it- although they did find the yoga pretty trying. We had so much fun trying to balance in difficult poses.

Tomorrow is my last day of camp and I wish it wasn't. I've loved getting to know my students better (the largest class is 12 kids) and really like to see them enjoying themselves during English class. This is also the last time I will teach my 6th graders since they are graduating in two weeks. Fortunately, I'll be able to watch them graduate but I'm really sad I won't teach them anymore. I am hoping some of them will elect to participate in Rachel's Club Class. Rachel is the English teacher at the middle school and the two of us won a grant that will allow us to take 5 of my 6th graders and 5 of her 1st years to Seoul in April. The 10 students will also complete a project reflecting on what they learned on the trip together. Since Rachel's 1st years will be my current 6th graders I will have the privilege of teaching 5 of my students once again. I can't wait!

Sang Gyoo perfecting his tree pose.

Hyeon Yeong trying to find her balance.

Warrior One

W-I-N, WIN
Let's Win!

Adventures in Asia

As you know during the past month I have been exploring China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. I just returned to Hwacheon today and am still reeling from my trip.

I first went to Beijing and Shanghai with my family. It was unbelievably nice to all be together again, with the exception of Wes, who we missed! I really missed my family and home while I've been in South Korea so I was thrilled that I was able to explore China with my dad, mom and Chris at my side. The week went by incredibly fast but we were able to see all the major sights in both cities including The Great Wall, Summer Palace, the Bundt, and more.

My dad and I in Suzhuo

Pedicab ride

Chris and I at the Great Wall

After China I met my friend Rachel in Thailand and the two of us traveled together through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. In Thailand we visited Chiang Mai and Bangkok. I absolutely loved Chiang Mai because it was much more relaxed then Bangkok and we had the chance to ride elephants. The two of us also took a Thai cooking class, which I'm hoping I can put to some use.

My Cashew Chicken Dish

Fun with the elephants

We saw SO MANY beautiful wats

After Thailand we traveled to Cambodia. First we visited Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. Being able to see Angkor Wat in person was amazing and is a memory I will treasure for the rest of my life. We also spent some time in Phnom Penh. Cambodia was a much more difficult country to visit than Thailand for several reasons. Firstly, the country is much poorer and therefore we were exposed to many beggars. Sadly, most of the beggars were also children. Seeing such poverty day in and day out proved to be very trying and exhausting. Additionally, due to the poverty in the country the country was a little scammier and we occasionally felt like we were being taken advantage of or had to avoid things such as being sold fake visas. Lastly, the Cambodian genocide, in which over one quarter of the population was killed in less than 3 years, still lingered in the air of the country. The Cambodians were joyful and welcoming but there was also a deep sadness present in many of them and in Phnom Penh. Rachel and I also visited several memorials, including the Killing Fields, which made the terror of the Khmer Rouge extremely apparent. I continually questioned how the world allowed Pol Pot's regime to massacre his people so brutally. It is amazing to think that the Western world continued to back Pol Pot, even after the Vietnamese saved the Cambodians from his wrath. I was really inspired to learn more about Cambodia from my trip.

Angkor Wat

We saw a floating village by boat

Angkor Thom

The last stop on my whirlwind trip was Vietnam. Rachel and I first spent a few days in Ho Chi Minh City and then made Hanoi our base camp while we explored Halong Bay and Mai Chau. Vietnam was spectacular. We were both stunned by the development of Ho Chi Minh city, given it's utter destruction at the end of the Vietnam War. There were many high rises, shopping malls and high end shops. While in Ho Chi Minh we learned more about the Vietnam War (or the American War as they call it) and even had the chance to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels. There we were able to crawl through the tunnels that the people of Cu Chi lived in for three years in order to hide from the South and orchestrate guerrilla attacks on the South. Rachel and I then relished the beauty of Northern Vietnam. We spent a night aboard a ship in Halong Bay and were stunned by the numerous islands, limestone caves and blue-green water. We then witnessed what life is like in the hills for some of Vietnam's ethnic minorities. Mai Chau was a beautiful rural town and I loved biking through the rice paddies even though avoiding the buffalos, cattle and motobikes was sometimes daunting.

All of the ships at Halong Bay 

The rice fields in Mai Chau

Overall, my trip was wonderful and refreshing. I am excited to start my winter camp tomorrow!