Back to school

Some of my new first year babies!

So in March (I know... I'm way behind schedule!) school started back up for the new school year. The eight amazing classes I had of second grade students moved on to their last year of high school, and unfortunately I don't teach the third-years. However, I was welcomed with a fresh class of first-years who I was ready to crack some jokes with. I have a semester under my belt and I was ready to get underway! March wasn't entirely eventful, as I spent most of the month adjusting to my new schedule at school and preparing for my extracurricular activities outside of school.

In early April, Fulbright Korea had our spring conference on the beautiful Jeju Island. Unfortunately for us, the weather was groggy, rainy, and windy the entire trip. Luckily for us we were inside listening to presentations and collaborating with one another anyway. I wish I could explain all that I was able to visit while on Jeju Island, but the truth is I saw absolutely nothing besides the hotel we were at and the super awesome night club we went to for a fundraising event. Unfortunately, I partied a little too hard and the free drinks at the fundraising event made me sick and not feeling up to the Jeju Island tour scheduled for the next day (oops!). The weather was crummy anyway... but needless to say, I will likely return to Jeju Island in the future in hopes of enjoying the tourism and landscape.

View of Jeju from the hotel

Our ETA group at Jeju Conference

Monkey Beach Night Club

After returning from Jeju, the weather in Gwangyang was seemingly perfect - the cherry blossoms were in bloom, tolerable temperatures, and the sun shining often. You may be thinking - cherry blossoms are Japense, so why would Korea have them? Well, Japan planted Yoshino cherry at Seoul's Changgyeonggung Palace and viewing of cherry blossom was introduced to Korea during Japanese rule. After that period ended, Korea planted Yoshino cherry and festivals began attracting the wider range of tourists because Korean believes that Yoshino cherry is the same species as Korean indigenous species called "King cherry" whose mass production is still being studied. If any of you have been to Washington D.C. during the spring time, you may also have seen the cherry blossom trees, which Japan also introduced to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship.

Gwangyang Cherry Blossoms

The remainder of April proved to be quite a busy month as well. Kicking off with Jeju for four days, followed by a weekend celebrating a fellow Fulbrighter's birthday near Seoul, and then making the four hour trip to Seoul again a couple weeks later, travel has been wearing me out (alongside teaching!). Of course, I mean this in the best way possible. The students have been quite delightful, and my coworkers are kind and helpful with anything I need. Shortly I will be introducing the English Speaking Performance Examination to the students, so they might hate me for the next couple of weeks... but at least it well keep them focused as we near the end of the semester.

Gwangyang Pride

Visiting my friend in Cheonan!

With my friends!

One of my trips to Seoul was for my very first Korean Pop Concert! A group of Fulbrighters and I went to see the comeback of a popular boy group named BigBang. To be honest, I am not entirely into K-Pop music, but going to a concert was on my bucket list in Korea, so I was super excited to be able to cross this one off! I actually had a great time, besides standing in line for hours waiting to pick up our reserved tickets. It is nice though because Korea just allows you to bring in any food, snacks, and drinks (alcoholic or not) into the concert hall. The stadium was PACKED with fans! Mostly everyone had fan gear and glow sticks that you wave around during the concert. The fans also have designated chants for each member and for some of the songs. It was really neat to see the wholeness of the band and the audience come together during the concert, and BigBang certainly provided a great show for us!

Big Bang!

Audience with the glow sticks

Next post I promise I will be caught up - stay tuned for all that has been in store for me in May
thus far (believe me, there's already A LOT)!