So Long, 2016!

Merry Christmas!

What a year it was! For the world at large, maybe not one of its finest, but for me personally, I would say it has been a pretty great year. I was thinking about writing a few highlights from 2016, but I think everything I've expressed in my blog posts throughout the year accurately fit that description. So I'll let my blog do the talking on that part and just stick to a short list of some things I would like to accomplish during 2017:

1. Write at least two blog posts per month

2. Read 30 books

3. Travel to a country I've never been to before

4. Complete a half marathon in 1:45:00 or less

5. Remember my friends' birthdays in advance

Merry Christmas!

I have written other things down throughout my personal diary, but I thought those would be some of the more tangible goals to share with you all.

For Christmas, I spent the holiday with two friends here in Seoul. We decided to head to Lotte World, Seoul's second amusement park. The interesting thing about this park is that it is mostly constructed indoors, so a lot of the attractions are inside walls (perfect for cold weather)! Unfortunately, my friends and I could not navigate our way to the roller coaster we wanted to ride, and thus we stumbled into two minuscule rides meant for children after waiting in line for nearly an hour for each of them. LOL. We look back and laugh at the situation with fond memories.

I rang in the new year with another Fulbright friend, a first year named Arya. A couple months ago, we booked tickets to see some of the most trendy, popular, and stylin' Korean hip-hop artists over the course of a two-day concert to ring in the New Year.

"The Final Countdown"

Jay Park!

My personal favorite, Jay Park, would also be performing. Having the chance to see him perform live has been on my bucket list since the beginning of my three years in Korea, so I was quite excited to finally cross that off the list.

The concert was held at an awesome venue in Gangnam, and surprisingly, it wasn't too crowded over the two days. We danced, sang, and rang in the new year full of laughter and joy. Unfortunately, at that time, I was in the process of getting over a nasty cold, so my voice was shot and I was held back a little bit in that regard... but it was totally worth it!

Happy 2017, everyone!

We felt like Iron Woman

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How I Feel About November

Celebrating Halloween with my after school class

Overworked!! Holy moly it's been a crazy month. A drastic change between November 2015 and November 2016, I tell ya. I was sitting on my ass with my foot propped up and watching crappy K-dramas in the hospital all of last November, and this time around I could barely find anything trashy to watch due to all of the election coverage and newly revealed scandal with S. Korea's president, Park Geun Hye.

Hanging out at Everland with Morgan!

Although this month has passed so quickly, I look back on it fondly. I made a lot of fantastic memories with friends, co-workers, and students, despite the political turmoil everyone around the world seems to be facing. I'll talk about some of my highlights, and what's been keeping me so busy.

At the race with my best buddy, Go Eun

Since my last post, we've celebrated two large holidays for Americans: Halloween and Thanksgiving! For Halloween, my friend from Gwangyang (Morgan) came up to visit, and we traveled to one of Korea's amusement parks, Everland, together to check out their detailed decorations. It was awesome! A lot of people were dressed in costume, and the decorations were fun to see along with all the fall foliage. It was so beautiful! I felt so happy just to get out of the city and see trees and mountains and a sight of home with all the costumes and decorations. After Everland, Morgan and I met up with two of my Korean friends and we went to the foreigner district of Seoul to celebrate Halloween! We danced throughout the night and had a great time together.

My friend Ryang Sun and I like to visit museums together!

At school, I celebrated Halloween with the students through Halloween bingo, "trick-or-treating" with their English vocabulary, and having a Monster Mash with my club class, which included mask-making and decorating, pin the face on the jack-o-lantern, and a murder mystery game. It was so fun and the students seemed to enjoy it a lot.

Hiking Seoraksan with Fulbright friends

After Halloween, I was due to prepare my school's English Speaking Competition, where 7 students from each grade are selected to write a 4-5 minute speech on a topic of their choosing, and present them in front of the entire school. Each student earns a prize just for participating, but of course they all want to earn the top spot in their class. I had the task of helping the students write, edit, and help them practice their speeches. We worked on fluency, speed, volume, pronunciation, and most importantly, body language and tone fluctuation! We spent almost three weeks preparing for the big day. The students worked so hard, and I was very proud of them. They had an array of topics such as the E-Sports Industry, Earthquake Concerns on the Korean Peninsula, How to Live a Productive Life, Being a Good Leader, and more! I was taken aback by the depth of the students' vocabulary and knowledge of colloquial phrases. They all did a great job, and we celebrated with a huge food party at the end of it. 

Playing Apples to Apples with my after school class -
We ate apple pie along with it!

While the students were busy training for their speech competition, I was training for one of my own: my first race back since my foot injury! I decided to sign up for a race back in Suncheon (near my old placement city) with two of my Korean friends, and we completed a 10K together. I was a little nervous about how I would do since it was my first time back in competition since my injury. All went well, and I am eager to continue racing and get back into healthy competition. My friends and I have already made plans to sign up for more races this spring and summer! Woohoo.

Thanksgiving Dinner with Fulbright

Another big feat for me this month was (re)conquering Seoraksan National Park. Most of you may not know or remember that this was the exact park where my near-fatal blister was formed on the back of my heel. I am not gonna lie, even though I had already been back to hiking and strenuous exercise before going back to Seoraksan, I was a little nervous to climb this mountain range again. An irrational fear of another blister magically appearing in the exact same spot... but all went well and I walked away unscathed! Muahahaha. It was a bit of a last-minute decision to go - a Fulbright friend from my first year (shout out to Zoe W.!!!) was back visiting Korea from San Fran, and so we decided to head there and hike for a few days. A couple of the other Seoul Fulbrighters tagged along too, and we had a great time together! It felt great to be outdoors and enjoying each others' company.

Made some chicken pot pie for Thanksgiving

And of course, to top it all off, we just concluded Thanksgiving celebrations! I always get a little homesick around this time because I miss my family, home-cooked meals, and being lazy and watching football with Cooper and dad. But luckily, the Seoul ETAs hosted a potluck dinner on Thanksgiving evening, and the Fulbright Program also hosted a formal Thanksgiving dinner for us this past weekend! So, celebrating twice was not too shabby... hehehe! 

Amazing views!

I'm now in the process of booking my travel plans for winter vacation! Although I'm not planning to go back Stateside for the holidays this year, I will definitely be traveling abroad because I missed those opportunities last year due to my injury. So far, I am looking at traveling to Taiwan, Japan, and Bali. I am especially excited for Japan because I am planning to meet up with one of my Japanese friends who was an international student at ISU during the same time I was there! So, we have been in contact and are hoping to get together during a leg of my trip there. I am so excited to see her and reconnect after about four years!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post an update! I have been meaning to write throughout the month, and then in the free time that I DID have, I decided to be lazy instead... it won't happen again! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves this month. Talk soon!

I've got my miniature Christmas tree set up!

Seoraksan is pretty even when the foliage is gone

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PPAP; 1Q84

Fulbright Third Year ETAs

Gyeongju at night

Acronyms are taking over. Pen Pineapple Apple Pen is somehow the hottest track right now. That video is basically all of us English teachers' lives on a daily basis during class... haha.

But anyway, I've been reading this novel, originally split into three separate pieces, titled 1Q84 and written by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. It's really long - just about 1,000 pages in the English translation. It's taken me over a month to read it so far, but I enjoy taking my time. While it gets redundant in some areas, the premise of the story revolves around an alternate reality mixed in with romance, political unrest, and plenty of science-fiction mystery. As you can imagine, it is loosely based on the idea of George Orwell's novel 1984. I'm not terribly good at book reviews, so I'll just leave it at that. It's interesting, but unnecessarily long and over descriptive. This paragraph has virtually nothing to do with the rest of this blog post, I just wanted to write a short excerpt on what I'm currently reading.

Cooking with my friend JaeWon!

Sometimes it feels like I'm living in an alternate universe here in Korea. I had no idea what to expect two and a half years ago before arriving, as I quite literally had no background knowledge on Korea's history, culture, and language save for what I learned about from my Korean-American friends and professors. Most people who know my background in Spanish Education always ask me why I applied for Fulbright KOREA and not a Fulbright grant in a Spanish-speaking country. My answer to that question is that I wanted to explore a part of the world I've never been to before, and most likely would NOT visit otherwise. I knew that the Korean education system was considered 'hardcore and intense', and I was intrigued by what exactly that meant. I knew that Koreans start studying English from a very young age, and I was curious how that influenced their attitudes towards language learning and their functional use of the English language.

Enjoying a night out with friends!

Two and a half years into my Fulbright grant, and I'm able to describe the reasoning behind these curiosities to a decent extent. I've also picked up the Korean language in a fairly small amount of time (as far as language studies go) to an intermediate level, a passion of mine which continues to grow and hope to continue when I return to the States next summer. I've met incredible people both within the Fulbright program as well as my surrounding community. Seoul has been a total 180 from southern, rural life, which has its ups and downs (mostly ups). I think the worst part of living in Seoul (for me) is constantly feeling as if I should be out and about doing SOMETHING rather than allowing myself to just relax in the comfort of my home at times. Especially as an extrovert, I'm quick to feel a tinge of loneliness when hanging out alone in my apartment while listening to the hustle and bustle outside my window. But I'm working on it!

Monster Pizza with fellow Seoulites

To switch gears, my last Fulbright Fall Conference just ended. Gyeongju is a beautiful and historic city, and I didn't want to allow myself to say that it would be my last time visiting there. As a third year, I was ready to take the backseat and just enjoy the scheduled programming (rather than being an active participant in planning/executing workshops). It was awesome. The weather was a bit crummy, but I was content spending time with friends just chatting and catching up, helping each other figure out what the hell we are gonna do when we finish the grant...

I don't have too much else to update for now. School is still going great. I told two of my co-workers about the term "shit-talking", and it's become their new favorite phrase to use every time I see them. Example, my main co-teacher now comes up to me and says, "Hillary! Let's eat lunch together and do some shit-talking!" with the biggest grin on her face. I love it! Haha. Definitely one of my prime teacher moments...

I'm including some random pictures of what I've been up to and songs I'm listening to lately. Enjoy!

A panorama of the night life outside my window

These Days' Mood Playlist (on shuffle):
1. (They Long to Be) Close to You - Carpenters
2. Me Too - Meghan Trainor
3. Work - Rihanna, Drake
4. Reminiscing - Little River Band
5. 휘파람람 WHISTLE - BLACKPINK
6. Ribbon - Beast
7. Why - TAEYEON
8. Fallin' - Alicia Keys
9. All That She Wants - Ace of Base
10. PPAP - Some YouTube Sensation
11. Candy Everybody Wants - 10,000 Maniacs
12. This Is What You Came For - Calvin Harris, Rihanna
13. Side To Side - Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj
14. Fight For Your Right - Beastie Boys
15. 33 "GOD" - Bon Iver
16. Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots
17. Broccoli - D.R.A.M., Lil Yachty
18. Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani

By the way, check out Hana's YouTube video from her trip to Korea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jGVEBy0ED0 !!!

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"You Will B Fine"

Chuseok in Gwangyang

Two of my students in after-school class

"You Will B Fine" and "Slow Down and Enjoy the Simple Life" have quickly become the mantras of my third year in S. Korea, thanks to a $15 sweater I bought one chilly, rainy, October evening (the few we've had so far) while out wandering Seoul with friends. September was yet another month of transitioning and settling into a daily routine. The joys of the month were plentiful, and I'll briefly highlight some of them.

Happy Chuseok!

One of Korea's most important holidays, Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), took place in the middle of September. Although this is typically a time to relax with friends and family, a part of me felt apprehensive due to the fact that at this time last year was when I acquired my near-fatal blister-turned-MRSA... so I decided that I would NOT be doing any hiking this time around. I followed the traditional Korean way of heading back to one's hometown, so I headed to Gwangyang of course. While there, I visited my home stay family, plenty of friends, and ran into a few co-workers. It was really exciting to be back, seemingly picking up right where I left off with familiar venues, streets, and faces.

Soccer Game with Fulbrighters

I have been keeping busy in Seoul, of course. My typical work day is from 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. I wake up around 4:00 a.m. and hit the gym, shower, get ready, eat some breakfast, and am on the subway towards school by 6:50 a.m. I have about a 30-minute commute from my apartment to school, which isn't horrible for Seoul. It's about 15 minutes on the subway and then a 10-15 minute walk from there. After school, I am busy taking Korean lessons and I also teach an after school class two days a week. I teach 4 course hours every day (out of 7), totaling 20 course hours plus 2 additional hours for the after school class. My work load is a bit more hefty in Seoul than it was in Gwangyang, but I am enjoying it, and the students and co-workers make it worthwhile. By the end of the day, I'm usually wiped out, so I spend my time cooking a light dinner, throwing on my pajamas, and reading in bed until I pass out (anywhere between 8:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.).

Co-workers from Gwangyang!

In the free time that I DO have, I am spending it with friends! We have gotten to explore various areas of Seoul, such as walking along the River Han, going to some museums and book stores, cheering for Seoul's soccer club, and of course pleasing our taste buds with all kinds of delicious food.

Joe arrived!

This past week I had the pleasure of hosting TWO American friends and showing them around Seoul and doing all kinds of fun things together! Hana, whom I met at Jane's wedding just this past summer, was traveling to Korea for the first time, so I wanted to meet up with her and have some fun together. She and I decided to go hiking one morning at Bukhansan mountain, planning to do a fairly easy/intermediate course. Some way or another, we ended up following two ajussis (older Korean men) and trekked an advanced/expert course to the peak of the mountain. It was one of the most difficult courses I've hiked, second to the course I hiked in Jirisan during my first year here. Although it was strenuous, the views are always worth it, and we celebrated with snacks, beer, and plum wine. It was delicious! We headed back down, showered and rested, before meeting up for a friend's birthday party and then picking up my other American friend at the airport.

Field trip with the club class

Joseph arrived later that night!!! It was super late by the time we got home, so we crashed and slept in late the next morning. The next day was Sunday, so we joined Hana and her friends for church and then enjoyed a delicious lunch. After lunch, we were ready to get our SPA on and hit up the public bath house to soak in the water, get some body scrubs, and sweat it out in the saunas. It was so relaxing and it was a perfect way to spend Sunday afternoon. The next day I didn't have to go to school because of a different Korean holiday, so we decided to grab dinner and hit up karaoke! We stayed out pretty late enjoying ourselves, and then everyone crashed in my (tiny) apartment. It was a snug fit, but we made it work, as seen by the picture:

Sleeping Beauties

The view from outside my classroom

At school, the students are busy preparing for midterm exams, so the energy levels have been falling. I'm continuing to implement games and fun activities to keep their spirits high and help them to relieve at least a little bit of stress. I will be heading to the Fulbright Fall Conference in Gyeongju for the third year in just over a week. There have been earthquakes over that way (eastern part of Korea), so some teachers are concerned for the safety of everyone, but I think all will be okay.

That's about it for now... stay tuned!

The view from on top of Bukhan Mountain

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Seoul Living

Third year Fulbrighters

Budaejigae (부대찌개)

Hey everyone! As you know, I decided to switch things up for my third and final year and made the move to Seoul. The first two weeks back in Korea have flown by, and although they've been jam-packed, it's been a smooth and exciting process so far. I feel like I'm back in my first year, having a renewed "honeymoon phase" and feeling eager to explore Seoul, get to know my new school, and have an awesome year here.

Big Bang Concert

Big Bang Concert!

Per usual, the year started with a trip to Jungwon University in Goesan to close out the last few days of orientation with the new Fulbrighters. It was great to see all the renewing teachers again, and also nice to see new faces and get to know some of them. On departure day, my new co-teacher came to pick me up, and we drove off to Seoul! I had the weekend to unpack, clean, and get prepared for my first day at school on Monday. There are 10 Fulbright teachers in Seoul this year, so I'm excited to get to know them more and spend some time together.

Curry and Rice (카레덥밥)

My first week at school went by in a daze. My school's name is called Daedong Taxation High School (a vocational school). Most of these students will study to become public officials, accountants, real estate brokers, freelancers, and the like. The school is located in an older, traditional part of Seoul, so there are often plenty of tourists walking up and down the streets, visiting palaces and traditional architecture all around. It is a beautiful walk to work most mornings!

Kimchi Stew (김치찌개)

My first impression of the students is that they are sooooo cute and eager to learn! This is my first time teaching Korean high school female students, so it has been fun getting to know what they are like. Of course, I love the boys too and am looking forward to learning more about their hobbies and interests. At this school, I only teach the first grade students, and I see each class twice a week (I only saw my classes in Gwangyang once a week). I'm looking forward to having more face time with them and fostering those personal connections. It's my last year, so I'm really letting loose and want to have as much fun with my students as I possibly can.

They wanted to choose English names... and this is what they came up with! Lol!

Choco brownie bingsu and melon bingsu

My coworkers also seem like an awesome group of people to work with. The principal and vice principal are older but lively and welcomed me warmly. They reminded me of the staff back in Gwangyang! A lot of the teachers here in Seoul are younger than who I worked with in Gwangyang, which is a nice change too. I get along well with the older male teachers anyway, and have already tried my skill at badminton with the men's teacher team. Haha! I have a lot of improving to do. The English teachers are extremely kind and helpful, and I'm grateful for their assistance as I've been asking five million questions about everything.

Steamed Seafood (해물찜)

Overall, the first two weeks have gone quite well, and I hope this honeymoon phase doesn't end any time soon. Outside of school, I have been getting back into my routine of exercising, albeit through joining a gym. That's one of the burdens of living in Seoul - such a large city that it's difficult to run around outdoors. I also live right across from a huge department store and movie theater, so I'm sure I'll be wasting money over there quite often throughout the year... haha. And now that I'm living in Seoul, I'm surrounded by SO MUCH FOOD!!!!!!!! I can't wait to start exploring different food joints all over Seoul. Stay tuned~

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Summer Break

I've been back Stateside for summer break! Home for a month, doing absolutely nothing and loving every minute of it. It's gone by too fast. Summer break highlights:

• Shopping spree!!! Finding clothes that are actually my size and fit my body type
• Hanging with the family - sitting in the living room together, watching TV, and vegetating
• Waking up early and then taking long naps in the afternoon... and not feeling guilty about it
• Spending time with my best buddy and companion, Cooper, our golden retriever - can't believe he's almost ten years old already!
• Being a part of one of my very best friends' wedding! Bridal shower, bachelorette party, wedding fun... congrats Jane and Josh!!!!
• Eating mom's homemade cooking
• Eating out at my favorite restaurants
• Getting a fresh hairdo to beat the summer heat
• Taking way too many pictures of my dog 
• Road trip to Alabama with my mom and visiting her side of the family, which I haven't seen in 12 years
• Hanging out with my favorite high school teacher and sharing professional development
• Celebrating grandma's 75th birthday
• Four-wheeling and learning how to shoot multiple types of guns on my uncle's 20-acre property
• Enjoying Alabama's beauty
• Enjoying Illinois' beauty
• Seeing my best friend from Mahomet (in Nashville) after 4 years!!
• Visiting 16th Street Baptist Church in downtown Birmingham and learning more about the civil rights movements during the 60s
• Watching movies and playing Pokemon Go with my brother
• Catching as many Pokemon as possible while I'm home because Pokemon Go is blocked in Korea
• Chilling out and catching up with my friends
• Visiting my physician and actually feeling comfortable about healthcare (lol sad but true)
• Eating at my favorite pizza joint with my aunt and uncle in BloNo
• Dancing at C Street with my brother and friends
• Sleeping in my queen sized bed
• Catching up on my reading
• Watching the Olympics
• Driving my car
• Everything else that I forgot to write about...

As you all know, I will be living and teaching in Seoul for my third year with the Fulbright Program. I am looking forward to another exciting year, hopefully without the "excitement" of extreme medical issues, though. Haha! Catch you all on the other side of the world :)

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Brain Fried

Hey everyone~

My goodness, it's been one hell of a busy month. And it's already over... and July is here!

I have been SO busy that I haven't kept up with my blog for this past month, and I'm sorry for that. I'm going to be insanely busy until I am on that plane back to America for the summer. And then I can finally relax. Maybe.

I'll keep this post shorter and do it in bullet-point fashion to get the main points jotted down for you:

- future plans: going home July 16 - August 16
- future plans: arrive back to Korea, move to Seoul, teach at a co-ed high school for the next year
- I broke down and cried in front of every faculty member at our school while giving my going away speech at my farewell dinner (naturally)
- I went to Ultra Music Festival in Seoul and danced away one weekend in June
- I went to Jeonju, visited the traditional village, dressed in traditional clothing (called hanbok), and took crazy pictures.
- the best picture included my friend Emily and I doing the dab with two Korean cos-play guys dressed as military men - best photo of the grant year by far
- I went to karaoke one too many times, lost my voice, and don't regret it
- I ate my favorite Korean food, makchang (intestines) with good friends
- told my students and co-workers I am leaving Gwangyang
- students go in an uproar, half expressing sadness, the other half anticipating the gender of the next native English teacher
- I read one of the most fascinating books, titled "The Vegetarian" by Korean author Han Kang (HIGHLY recommend, although not for the faint of heart)
- I started calligraphy class! I'm learning how to write super pretty things in Korean lettering (hangul)
- cleaning out my apartment is hard
- I went to the beach and grilled meat with friends even though it was windy outside
- I got a nasty rash of poison ivy all over my legs (-sigh- what HAVEN'T I been through at this point)
- I picked up a new "friend" during my morning exercising along the river... sometimes I enjoy the company, other times I just want to be alone. But I'm practicing my patience
- Fulbright final dinner gathering is this weekend! Time to say goodbye to most of my close friends in the program
- salsa dancing in Korea is way different than salsa dancing in the States/Central America/Europe
- final exams are next week, and I'll be packing up my apartment
- my last week of classes is July 11 - 15
- it's been a fantastic month!!!

I'm really sad to be saying goodbye to Gwangyang, my students, co-workers, friends, everything... but I'll be back to visit~

Talk soon!

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Rocky Road to Renewal

By now, you all must be wondering, "Hillary's been in Korea two years already and I haven't seen anything on social media about what's happening next... where did she go!?!?"

Nah, just kidding, you probably aren't wondering about me at all, but I just don't know what to write about in my blog right now. But for those interested, I am writing this post to explain the next phase and how I got to that decision.

Earlier during the grant year, most of you know that I endured a severe injury in my Achilles tendon, thus causing me to miss nearly four months of school and vacation. After experiencing an injury to that extent (nonetheless in a foreign country and questioning the quality of the healthcare throughout the majority of it), I think that normal people would have felt they've had enough in this country and would feel eager to get back into the comfort of their motherland. Me, on the other hand, somehow got it inside my brain that, "Wow, I missed four months of my second year in Korea... welp, I guess that means I'll just have to make up for it by staying one more year!" even after all the shit that happened.

Don't get me wrong, I thought long and hard about the decision to stay - especially BECAUSE of the circumstances that have happened so far this year. But my heart just kept telling me that I wasn't ready to leave Korea yet. However, I AM ready to be in a much larger city, with more access to Westernized things (such as healthcare... but mostly food options LOL). So, for my third and FINAL year (yes, mark my words now, the third year WILL be my final year in Korea... at this phase of my life at least... hehe), I decided I will move to Seoul for a big change. And feel comfortable about going to the hospital where the doctor will actually examine me before immediately trying to chop my foot off...

Okay, this post is going everywhere. Let me refocus and explain. Core details:
- I am staying for a third and final year with the Fulbright Program.
- I will be teaching English at a co-ed high school in Seoul.
- I will have my own apartment.
- I will be home (in Illinois) this summer from July 16 until August 16.

The decision sounds easy, but it really wasn't. To be honest, it's going to be difficult for me to leave Gwangyang. I love my school, co-workers, students, all the friends I've made, the scenery, food, everything, really... Gwangyang will always be considered my "home" in Korea. But I also know that I'm a person of adventure and want to take this opportunity to challenge myself further. I know that staying a third year in Gwangyang may cause me to develop feelings of complacency, so making the change to live in a metropolitan city for the first time in my life is a huge step for me. Originally, I wanted to work at an elementary school in Seoul, to gain experience and utilize my K-12 teaching license to its full potential. However, that is another messy story to be reckoned with. Are you ready for it? Here it goes:

As much as I love teaching high school students, it's just a totally different atmosphere in Korea. For one thing, most of our classes aren't for a grade, which right there decreases motivation for the majority of students. Oh and did I mention that these kids are already forced to study 12+ hours a day in order to pass the Korean equivalent of the SAT (a test on steroids, I may add)? Yeah, so, there's typically not a lot of excitement about this job on paper. Lots of sleepy students, complaining, and yeah, the lack of motivation. Of course, there are students who are intrinsically motivated and will excel in class, but there are days where everyone feels burnt out. On the other hand, there are days where everyone is wild and out of control and overly excited. I love the students both ways, but I've definitely questioned my ability as a teacher, and whether or not I truly entered the right profession. Don't get me wrong, my students are ANGELS and I love them to pieces and I am so proud of their effort and amazing talents and personalities, but I feel ready to experience a different side of teaching in Korea. Therefore, after two years of teaching at a Korean high school, I felt ready to try out an elementary school. And I thought, "Why not? It's on my license that I'm certified to teach K-12, so let's do this!"

And so I submitted my renewal application dead set on 2 things: 1. Seoul. 2. Elementary School.
I thought my odds were good. Only renewees get placed in Seoul, and there are TONS of openings for elementary schools there. Out of our entire Fulbright Program, we only have one high school placement in Seoul. And I wasn't supposed to get it. But I did. And I was NOT happy at first. And here's how and why it happened:

I was enjoying my Tuesday afternoon in the office, free of classes, relaxing and about to pick up a book to read. Suddenly, I received a Kakao Message (texting app in Korea) from our Program Coordinator in the Fulbright Office with an urgent message. "Hillary! Would you be open to teaching at a high school in Seoul?" My heart started racing because I was sure that plenty of other ETAs had requested the only high school placement in Seoul, and I wondered why this was being brought up to me. "We've had some last-minute changes with other ETAs regarding renewal, and I need you to tell me within the next ten minutes if you're okay with ______'s high school placement in Seoul. Please let me know ASAP. Thanks!"

After asking follow-up questions, I found out that I wouldn't be guaranteed another placement in Seoul if I declined this ... "offer"? At the time, I felt trapped. This wasn't what I requested, and why did I have to be the deciding factor? It's not my fault that other ETAs changed their minds, after all. I felt a wave of bitterness and anger move through me that I hadn't experienced before. Why me? After all the shit I've been through already this grant year, I thought that at LEAST the renewal process would be a smooth transition. But it looked as if the end of my second year leading into a potential third year was not shaping up how I envisioned.

I took the ten minutes (plus some more) to call the current ETA at the school to ask questions. Luckily for me, this person is already one of my close friends in the Fulbright Program, so I was thankful for the honesty and straightforward answers. After deliberating with the current ETA, I didn't feel ready to make such an important decision. But I didn't have a choice. Again, I felt trapped. What do I do? If I don't accept this offer, then I'm not guaranteed a placement for next year. On the other hand, I don't feel ready to transition into life back Stateside yet. Should I quit Fulbright and pursue other options in Korea? Should I move to another country? All of a sudden, so many thoughts, feelings, ideas, frustrations, uncertainties, and everything else in between rushed into my brain and I was overloaded.

While my gut wasn't excited to hear about this placement option, for some reason I said "yes". After that, the official email offer was sent out, and I wasn't confident. Unfortunately, I only had two days to officially decide about my renewal decision. Now that I was "stuck" with this school, I contemplated quitting and going home, or sticking it out for a third year. So I took those two days to talk with my family, close friends, and colleagues. I needed advice. Over those two days, my decisions constantly changed. My mind said one thing, my heart said another, and my gut had no idea what to do. They were never on the same page. I took the time to try and sort out the pros and cons of every single hypothetical situation, when it suddenly dawned on me: why am suddenly I freaking out? I had been so confident about my decision to stay before I learned about the school placement.

It all became real to me with that email. I'm actually going to leave Gwangyang. I'm actually going to live in a big city for the first time in my life. And although it's not a place where I expected to be, I was offered it for a reason, and I said yes. I waited until one hour before the deadline to submit my acceptance email. I felt confident about it, but the uncertainty of everything that could happen next year held me back and scared me. Luckily, I found my true self just in time, and with the support of my friends and family, I made the decision to renew for a final year teaching at a high school in Seoul with the Fulbright Program.

As I write this now, I feel so silly to have let my emotions rush through me like that. But I'm only human, after all. And now, I feel confident, ready, and optimistic for the year ahead. I am ready to grow and expand my teaching skills in even more ways. I came to the realization that everything happens for a reason. I'm not going to fret about the elementary school/high school differentiation. Who knows, it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. I've also never worked with Korean female students before, so the change will be new and exciting. I'll have a more consistent schedule (I will get to see my students twice a week rather than only once a week like in my current situation). I'm an optimist, and the next year is all about what I make of it.

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100% / Emily's Expedition

My last foot appointment!

Hello, friends all over the world! Hillary here, writing this post with a smile on my face (as I usually am). The weather has been extraordinarily beautiful here lately, even with days of rain scattered here and there. Those days have actually turned out to be some of my favorite days -- especially the mornings after a stormy night. The walks to school reveal a misty fog over the mountains in the distance, the river flowing heavily downstream, with my trail surrounded by bright green grass and trees.

Since my last post two weeks ago, I have received wonderful news: I am officially DONE with foot treatment! I had my last appointment on the 19th of April, and the doctor barely took a look at it before I was walking out the door. We had a bonding moment that day, where we both realized a bit bittersweetly that this would be our last meeting together.

Happy in Boseong

At first he jokingly stated, "I did such a great job! There's not even a scar to be seen!" I whole-heartedly confirmed and congratulated him and his team on doing such a thorough job with my foot and for truly taking care of me. After a moment, though, his smile faded and his voice dropped, saying, "Well... I guess this means I don't need to see you anymore..." and at that moment there was a twinge of sadness inside of me. Even after all that I had overcome with this annoying infection for the last six months, a part of me was actually... sad??? Yes, it was true. My doctor and I had spent so much time communicating with each other the past six months that neither of us ever really thought that it would come to an end. Yet there we were, shaking hands and congratulating each other on the great work we did.

"You heal very well, you did a great job!" He said with a smile on his face.

I looked at him, wondering what he meant exactly. I said, "I'm just lucky that I'm young and healthy..."

He said, "Yes, young and healthy, both physically and mentally. Mental aspect is also important for healing."

His comment will stay with me everywhere I go for the rest of my life. Realizing the importance not only of physical strength, but emotional strength and mental strength as well.

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Hiking with the gang!

Aside from the foot recovery, school has been busy as usual, this time with the midterm exams rolling around the corner. The boys have hit a phase of pure exhaustion, struggling to get through the days without falling asleep in class or feeling the immense pressure to study all day and night. After the political parties unit, I decided to take it easy and settle with some easy-thinking English activities such as Bananagrams and USA Bingo.

The teachers decided to host an English camp in the upcoming month, so I am looking forward to that because we will go to a resort in the mountains for a weekend and hang out and do some fun English stuff.

Other school happenings:
- The Gwangyang spring volleyball tournament is approaching, which means one-hour practices after school three days a week which means my arms are severely swollen and bruised
- Tutoring the principal 1-on-1 once a week and being hoarded with food and gifts after each class together... I'm not complaining!
- Still the outcast at lunch (on days where I have to eat alone) because the new teachers are scared of me (life of the foreign teacher...)

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Boseong Green Tea Plantation

Weekend shenanigans: last weekend, a large group of other Fulbrighters and I headed to Gwangju for an exciting hiking trip followed by a trip to the Boseong green tea plantation. Hiking was a blast and I'm surprised at how well the group stayed together considering there was about ten of us. We did about a 4 hour hike Saturday morning, enjoyed lunch at the base of the mountain, then headed to the bus terminal to get to the tea fields.

Suncheon Gardens

Everything went great until it came time to catch a bus to the green tea plantation. We took a public bus to the city bus terminal, when suddenly Emily realized she left her phone on the bus we had just gotten off of! Half of the group had already gone ahead to get tickets to the tea fields, and the other half of us were waiting with Emily. Emily decided to grab a cab to try and sprint up and catch the bus that had just passed, in hopes of finding her phone and catching up with the group. Buuuuut, an hour and a half went by, members of our group faded, leaving two of us waiting for Emily to come back to the terminal, hopefully having found her phone.

Suncheon Gardens

Unfortunately, she came back with no phone. We decided to go ahead and get tickets to the tea plantation and meet up with the rest of the group, defeated that we had lost her phone. In fact, right when Emily had given up all hope, I reminded her of how we were able to retrieve her lost wallet after a New Years party last year. "That was pure luck; there's no way we can get that lucky again..." she sighed.

"I'm going to keep calling anyway - I'm sure someone will pick up eventually." I stated.

"You should just wipe your phone NOW," Kevin urged.

The three of us had completely different mindsets. Which one of us would prevail? Kevin, taking the cautious route? Emily, taking the luck-worn-out route? Or myself, taking the too-optimistic-but-let's-try-to-get-lucky-again route? Take a moment to pick your choice NOW: __________________________


Ok. Here's what happened:

Low and behold, just seconds after our exchange, a strange voice PICKED UP THE PHONE! We were in a sudden dilemma - we were already on the bus to Boseong, but we had magically gotten ahold of the person with Emily's phone!!!!!!! We made the sporadic decision to jump off the bus (to the bus driver's confusion), sprinted to the public bus stop, and followed it aaaallllll the way to the end of the line (over a one hour bus ride). We reached the public bus transportation center, retrieved the phone, feeling relieved. Emily got her picture taken at the terminal with the phone in hand as a memento. You can see it here:

After successful retrieval of the cell phone

But now what? It was far too late to join the others at Boseong, so the three of us decided to head to Gwangyang and crash at my place. We showered, ordered late night chicken, and passed out early. I think we would all call that day a success.

Suncheon Gardens

The next day we decided we would make up for lost time and head to the tea plantation, which ended up being a great decision. It was absolutely beautiful - we enjoyed row after row of green tea fields in the mountains, while eating delicious green tea soft serve ice cream, green tea flavored noodles, and green tea flavored ddeokkbokki (rice cake with fish cake). In the afternoon, Emily and I parted ways with Kevin (who headed back to his city), and we went to the Suncheon gardens with our other friend, Abby. The gardens are absolutely huge, and they have a world garden expo. We explored sample gardens from around the world, walked around, and enjoyed the sunlight. We were pooped by late afternoon after a full weekend, so we went back and crashed early again.

It was a spontaneous, crazy, and exciting month of April, and it's only going to get even busier. Stay tuned for an upcoming story about my not-so-perfect start to the month of May!

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Justice of Korea

Cherry blossoms

Walk to school

Spring is here, which in Korea means that one always has to keep their eyes peeled for the first sighting of the cherry blossoms! These beautifully-colored flowers descend from Japan and are only in full bloom for two weeks or less (especially if it rains, as it often does during the Korean spring season). Luckily for me, I get to walk by rows upon rows of the cherry blossom trees everyday on my way to and from school, so I had no chance in missing out on them! Just like last year, I was stunned at how beautiful Gwangyang truly is. The river flows alongside the mountain scenery, and the cherry blossom trees shade the walking path, guiding the way to wherever you go. I am not sure if I will ever experience anything like this again in my life, so I am soaking it in during these last few months of my second grant year.

Along the river

Made it to the top

Along with enjoying the spring weather, I have been traveling during my weekends to maximize my time. During the last weekend in March, a couple friends and I made the spontaneous decision to travel to Geoje, and island off the south-eastern part of the peninsula. We headed there without any plans, but made sure to make the best of it. We ended up hiking a mountain called Gyeryongsan during the day, showering up, and headed to enjoy the nightlife on Saturday night... which turned out to be creepy. This area is filled with middle-aged men due to the proximity of ship ports and trading. So, we found that most bars were filled with older gentlemen and, unfortunately, women hired for escort services. Although Saturday evening was a bit of a flop, Easter Sunday redeemed the weekend (fitting, right?). My friends and I traveled back to Suncheon to enjoy an afternoon picnic with other foreigner friends at a park. It was a lovely time filled with food and shared laughter.

Hiking Gyeryongsan!

A cloudy view of Geoje

At school, you may recall that my students have been working on creating their own political parties and discussing their stance on five separate issues. After three weeks of preparation, it has finally come down to the presentation period! After just a couple classes' worth of presentations so far, I am already thoroughly impressed with what my students have come up with, especially in using a second language. Their thoughts and arguments are well-articulated, and many of them also show respect for differing opinions from other groups. I am so happy that this unit went well and allowed the students to express deeper thoughts in the English-language. Many of the students understand that English is considered THE global language, and it's amazing to see them taking the steps to recognize that and utilize the language in effective ways. Below are some examples of student work (used with permission):

Enjoying Jeju

Enjoying Jeju

Aside from all of this, Fulbright hosts our annual Spring Conference on Jeju Island! Another trip added to the workload, but well worth it. Unfortunately, our conference this year was shortened due to budget concerns, but we still made the most of it! During this conference, all of the English Teachers meet together with Fulbright's Junior Researchers as well. Throughout the weekend, we have small group discussions about teaching methodology, demographics, staying healthy and supporting one another during the grant year, among other talks. It is a great way to discuss with other ETAs in different placements and add more tools to the teaching repertoire. We also have the chance to listen to presentations by the researchers, who presented on a wide array of topics such as the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Metabolic Syndrome in Korea, North Korean Defector Programs, among others. Of course, aside from all this "hard work" we had to do, we found time to enjoy ourselves during the evening.

Wandering around the hotel in Jeju

So, it turns out April is showing to be another busy and productive month. I finally feel like I am back to 100% health after the foot injury, sinus infections, and random colds. I am set for my very last foot checkup next week, and I am keeping my fingers crossed for good news. It has been a long journey back to recovery, but I am grateful to have been in good condition for the majority of it. I am a little bit scared about going back to running, but once I have the A-OK, I am willing to give it a shot. Here's to hoping I'll be back on the road logging miles in no time.

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