A Life Outside of School?

Having "a life" outside of school seems almost unheard of when you are a public school teacher - but alas, it does exist! When I am not in school Monday-Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 6:00 or sometimes later in the afternoon, I have picked up some extracurriculars to establish a social life and have some fun outside of class (although being at school with my students and co-workers is really fun too). This past Friday I started going to a Korean class with other foreigners in my area. The class will be every Friday night from 7:30-9:30 - sounds somewhat like a bummer when I've been in school all week and I start my weekend with my own class, but it is actually super fun and I have met some awesome friends. Plus, we all go out afterwards together for food, drinks, and karaoke, which is always a good time.

Korean class crew!

Korean class seems like it is going to be a great opportunity to progress - the class is limited to ten people, so we get plenty of face time with our teachers. I was put into the intermediate class with two other ladies, so there is just three of us getting some quality learning from our two teachers! The class is sponsored by the Gwangyang English Club - which a huge bonus is that this class is FREE - and we get snacks each week - can't go wrong with that at all. It is really nice to meet other foreigners, as well as some new Korean friends who can practice with us and hang out with us! The class will go until the middle of December, so I am hoping by the end of the year I will actually be at an 'intermediate' level of Korean.

Aside from being a part of Korean class, this past weekend my host dad took my host brothers and I to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity Korea, where we helped build an apartment complex for low-income families. Specifically, our crew of almost 30 people worked on installing the ceiling panels in the apartment, which means I got to do a lot of drilling - fun times. We worked a full day - 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., but we accomplished a lot. It is a really special feeling being able to help out in my new community, especially with a familiar organization. We didn't let the language barrier stop us from achieving our goal! I had a lot of fun meeting other people in my community, and I look forward to volunteering more in the future. Here are some snapshots from our day!

Putting in the ceiling; a view of the apartment complex; my name tag; my host family and I

Part of our work crew!

Keeping up with something I cannot live without, I decided to sign up for my first running race in Korea! I will be running a 10K with a friend from Korean class on November 9 - I am so excited! I am sure this will not be the only race that I participate in while living in Korea. I am actually looking forward to doing some networking at this race, potentially finding some local running buddies or some sort of running club I can join to make friends and stay active around the community. So, I am back to some somewhat strenuous training to be in tip-top race-pace form! Haha - we will see about that one, though. Here are a few pictures of some scenery I caught while on a run the other day - enjoy!

Beautiful flowers alongside the running trail

A beautiful sunset in Gwangyang

Some other random things from this past weekend: I tried "Prime Rib Pizza" for the first time - literally a piece of prime rib on cheese pizza. I didn't know it would be such a delicious combination, but it truly is. I love pizza. Here's a picture of the infamous prime rib pizza from "Mr. Pizza" restaurant.

My Korean diary

I have also been trying to keep up with my Korean writing skills while also documenting my journey in Korea by keeping a Korean-language diary! It is a little sloppy so far but it keeps my brain thinking in Korean. Hopefully I will have some solid paragraphs by the end of this year!

Prime Rib Pizza

Volleyball practice every day after school for 2-3 hours has taken a toll on my arms, as evidenced by this photo:

Volleyball, I have a newfound respect for you.

As you can see, it IS possible to have a social life outside of teaching, and I think I am doing a pretty good job at it so far. Hopefully I can continue to balance all of these activities and find some time to relax too - the jimjilbang will be calling my name (haha). October is quickly approaching, and it is going to be a busy month - just the way I like it. We will have our Fulbright Fall Conference, midterm exams for the students, and of course celebrating one of my favorite holidays, Halloween! Plenty of opportunities to meet up with fellow Fulbright friends are to occur, and having quality time here in Gwangyang with my family, friends, and co-workers is sure to happen as well - you will just have to stay tuned. Just a quick update after a busy weekend - talk to you soon!