Crazy May, pt. II

Welcome to Crazy May, part II of two. If you missed part one, check it out here.

Buddhist Temple

First off, let me share some good news by saying that I AM RENEWING MY GRANT with Fulbright! I will be staying another year, and I will remain living with my home stay family in Gwangyang and teaching at the all-boys high school. I am looking forward to expanding upon all that I have experienced within my first year in South Korea, and I am excited to find out what more is in store. With that said, I will be traveling back to Illinois this summer to enjoy some much needed quality time with friends, family, my dog, and American food. I will be home from July 19th until August 16th, so I hope to see as many of you as possible during that time.

Local Celebrity

Now, back to the crazy happenings in May. After I became a breakthrough rap artist with my student during the festival, local Gwangyang celebrities hired me to present at Buddha's Birthday Celebration. Not really, but my host father works for the Gwangyang Public Office, and when we went to a temple to have free lunch during Buddha's Birthday Holiday, I was asked to pose for pictures with a famous monk. So, my celeb status is clearly on the rise! Haha. Buddha's Birthday is a special holiday that gets everyone out of school for a day (thanks, Buddha!). It is also super spectacular because if you go to a temple, you get served a free meal! It was nice to spend the day with my host family. Although they aren't religious, and I am not Buddhist, we still felt the love and appreciated the various religious celebrations that are out there.

At the end of May, I made yet another trip to Seoul, where I had a reunion with some fellow Fulbrighters. However, this is a special group because these are the friends that I spent six weeks learning the Korean language with. We met up with one of our Korean professors, who took us to a baseball game! It was my first Korean professional baseball game, and it was super fun! The fans do a lot more chanting and singing than they do in the United States. And everything is CHEAP and you can bring your own booze and food inside the stadium. They also hand out a bunch of free junk, like posters, towels, and food. It was a fun time!

Beginner B Class!

One super duper exciting thing that has been happening during this transition into summer is night time outdoor aerobics classes! Since I usually go for a run late in the evening, by the time I finish up, free, night time aerobic classes have started at a public park where I typically exercise. So, I decided to join in on the fun and improve my aerobics/dance skills. Korean ladies get quite "into it", and they are very talented. I wish I could shake my booty like some of them.

The crew

On the school side of things, a group of four students and I prepared for two months to participate in an English debate competition with ten other Fulbright schools in the area. The conference, called Youth Diplomacy and Activism Conference, is sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and organized by Fulbright English Teaching Assistants. For the debate, we prepared a 5-7 speech about a topic of our choice, and we had to present it to judges (myself and other Fulbrighters). After the speech, students from participating schools had the opportunity to ask questions and simulate a debate. The teams were scored on their content, pronunciation, and ability to respond/defend questions presented to them by other teams. The topics were SO interesting! My boys decided to research the Legalization of Medical Marijuana, while other schools focused on topics like the Treatment of Gay People in South Korea, Traditional Markets, Plastic Surgery, Safety Frigidity, among others. I am happy to say that our boys earned second place at the conference! They were so nervous while we were preparing, but I was confident they would perform well.

Nice work!

Aside from each school presenting their speeches and having time for debate and discussion, the conference also included a "Mock Crisis" scenario, in which the students worked mixed in small groups to come up with a resolution to a hypothetical world crisis situation. Each group has one hour to write a speech to the UN/EU, and acts as South Korea's spokespeople on how SK would react in the circumstance. This was a great activity to get students thinking on the spot, utilizing their critical thinking, writing, and speaking skills, while working with their new friends from other schools. I was very impressed with how the students managed to do all of this within a one hour time frame!

Off-sync at outdoor aerobics

Also, the YDAC students were able to listen to a presentation by two guys who work for the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. As many of the students who participate in YDAC are interested in pursuing a future in politics, diplomacy, or other related fields, this was a special opportunity for them to ask questions and learn more about these types of jobs. After the all-day event, the teachers and students all decided to go out to dinner together at TGI Friday's, which was a perfect way to celebrate the conference.

It's hard to believe that it is already the middle of June - exactly one month from today, I will be heading home to the U.S. for a one-month vacation before coming back for another year with Fulbright. At times this grant year has seemed extremely long, but looking back on it, it has all passed so quickly, and I have learned so much. Learned so much about this country, its people, the culture - and also learned a lot about myself. Living abroad for an extended period of time is no easy task, but it is something that I am very grateful for. This is a special opportunity in life, and I often think about how lucky I am to have the opportunity to travel the world and experience new things each and every day.