Hi everyone! I can't believe that I have already spent three weeks in South Korea! I am still loving every minute of it, although these past couple of weeks have been much busier than expected. Let me start by saying that I was intending to update my blog earlier, but when our group went to the beach for a weekend trip, I came home and found that my laptop ceased to turn on. Therefore, I have been struggling with some electronic/technical difficulties, and have been taking steps to work that out. Until I get my laptop fixed (or resort to buying a new one), I must use the university's computer lab to do all of my work and write this blog post. So, unfortunately I will not have many photos to post because the majority are on my Canon which I upload to my Macbook.
In my last post I hadn't started Korean classes yet - but now I have! And let me say that I absolutely LOVE learning Korean. We go to Korean class for four hours each day, M-F. During those four hours, my class has a male professor for the first two hours, and a female professor for the second half. They are all so kind and patient with us beginners. The professors are coming from Korea University, which is the second-ranked university in Korea. It is located in Seoul, but the professors came down to Jungwon for the six weeks to teach us. So far I have learned basic introductions, how to buy things, occupations, etc. We are a riot. AND one of the best parts is that my male professor is fluent in Spanish - he lived and taught Korean in Chile for three years prior to returning to Korea this summer to teach us. It is so neat being able to ask him questions about the Korean language using my Spanish abilities (he is much more fluent in Spanish than in English).
A couple weekend ago, our whole group went to a town called Donghae, which is like a beach city. It is located on the East coast of Korea (the East sea). We met the Executive Director of Fulbright Korea, who is a super sweet Korean woman who told us to completely forget about any work we had to do and just relax for the weekend. It was so nice! A group of us went hiking on Saturday morning, which was so beautiful. 70% of Korea is covered by mountains, so I was very excited to have my first hiking expedition of the year. After hiking, I went to the beach and we saw a bunch of awesome water sports happening. My friend and I decided to do something called the "Fly Fish". A guy in a speedboat pulls us on a huge intertube, and when we go over the waves, our intertube flys in the air and catches some hang time. I have pictures and videos, but like I said, my poor laptop isn't working :'(
Aside from hiking and going to the beach, we also visited a few Buddhist temples. It was really nice to be able to get to know more about aspects of various Korean cultures through these excursions. I have a whole paragraph of information that I wrote about the temples, and will get that posted ASAP as well. It was a neat experience talking with some of the monks and discussing how many of them decided to pursue that path in life.
This past week, campers from all over Korea came to our university for a two-week English camp called Camp Fulbright. This is a twofold benefit in that the students are learning English, and that it was the ETA's first experience with teaching (for many people at least). I taught a high intermediate level and I decided to discuss sharing one's voice and perspective on social media. The students are very smart, and I think they really enjoyed the lesson and activities I had planned for them. However, I do speak pretty quickly and need to work on slowing down! There are many similarities and differences teaching the Spanish-language to native English speakers and teaching my native language to Korean-speaking students. I teach my next lesson next Friday, the last day of camp for the students.
One last note - I find out where I will be placed next week!!!! Woohoo! As soon as I know, I will be sure to update. I am quite nervous but looking forward to see where the Fulbright team places me. I will post pictures ASAP!! Thanks for tuning in - looking forward to sharing more with you all soon.
In my last post I hadn't started Korean classes yet - but now I have! And let me say that I absolutely LOVE learning Korean. We go to Korean class for four hours each day, M-F. During those four hours, my class has a male professor for the first two hours, and a female professor for the second half. They are all so kind and patient with us beginners. The professors are coming from Korea University, which is the second-ranked university in Korea. It is located in Seoul, but the professors came down to Jungwon for the six weeks to teach us. So far I have learned basic introductions, how to buy things, occupations, etc. We are a riot. AND one of the best parts is that my male professor is fluent in Spanish - he lived and taught Korean in Chile for three years prior to returning to Korea this summer to teach us. It is so neat being able to ask him questions about the Korean language using my Spanish abilities (he is much more fluent in Spanish than in English).
A couple weekend ago, our whole group went to a town called Donghae, which is like a beach city. It is located on the East coast of Korea (the East sea). We met the Executive Director of Fulbright Korea, who is a super sweet Korean woman who told us to completely forget about any work we had to do and just relax for the weekend. It was so nice! A group of us went hiking on Saturday morning, which was so beautiful. 70% of Korea is covered by mountains, so I was very excited to have my first hiking expedition of the year. After hiking, I went to the beach and we saw a bunch of awesome water sports happening. My friend and I decided to do something called the "Fly Fish". A guy in a speedboat pulls us on a huge intertube, and when we go over the waves, our intertube flys in the air and catches some hang time. I have pictures and videos, but like I said, my poor laptop isn't working :'(
Aside from hiking and going to the beach, we also visited a few Buddhist temples. It was really nice to be able to get to know more about aspects of various Korean cultures through these excursions. I have a whole paragraph of information that I wrote about the temples, and will get that posted ASAP as well. It was a neat experience talking with some of the monks and discussing how many of them decided to pursue that path in life.
This past week, campers from all over Korea came to our university for a two-week English camp called Camp Fulbright. This is a twofold benefit in that the students are learning English, and that it was the ETA's first experience with teaching (for many people at least). I taught a high intermediate level and I decided to discuss sharing one's voice and perspective on social media. The students are very smart, and I think they really enjoyed the lesson and activities I had planned for them. However, I do speak pretty quickly and need to work on slowing down! There are many similarities and differences teaching the Spanish-language to native English speakers and teaching my native language to Korean-speaking students. I teach my next lesson next Friday, the last day of camp for the students.
One last note - I find out where I will be placed next week!!!! Woohoo! As soon as I know, I will be sure to update. I am quite nervous but looking forward to see where the Fulbright team places me. I will post pictures ASAP!! Thanks for tuning in - looking forward to sharing more with you all soon.
