October highs, October lows

Greetings, everybody! It's been another exciting two weeks, full of adventure and also personal trials as I reflect on my second year in Korea.

Jinju Lantern Festival

Since the Chuseok holiday, the weather has finally cooled off and it's feeling like autumn. October is here and in Korea that means it is prime festival season. During the first week of October, Korea celebrates Hangul Day which marks the invention and the proclamation of Hangul, the alphabet of the Korean language, by the 15th-century Korean monarch Sejong the Great. Schools were out early for another long holiday weekend, so I took another opportunity to travel around Korea and explore two different festivals.

Oktoberfest

I ended up booking a tour with a company, as it was more convenient because they covered travel, lodging, and most meals throughout the weekend. Many other Fulbrighters joined me, and we had a blast! The first festival we headed to was the Jinju Lantern Festival, which originates from the lantern lighting custom used during the Jinjuseong Fortress Battle of the Imjinwaeran War (Japanese invasion, 1592) as a military strategy to prevent Japanese troops from wading the Namgang River. Throughout the festival, there are many lantern exhibitions that demonstrate Korea's rich culture and history. They are lined up along a river, as well as lit throughout a nearby fortress. We walked around as many areas as we could, and I couldn't even keep count of how many different types of lanterns we saw! My favorite part, of course, was seeing them all lit up during the nighttime. We took a boat ride along the river to see the lanterns in detail. The festival was so crowded! We had to wait in long lines to walk across the river and get to the fortress, which took up precious viewing time.

Jinju Lantern Festival

After the lantern festival, we took a one-hour bus ride to our pensions in Namhae, which were situated along the beach. We dropped our bags off and headed to the beach to hang out and talk before crashing and getting ready for Korea's very own Oktoberfest the next day. We headed out to Oktoberfest around noon, and as you can imagine, spent the day eating and drinking all things German! The festival is held at a small German village in Namhae, which was built for Korean residents who returned from living in Germany. Many Koreans lived in Germany where they earned foreign currency during the modernization of Korea in the 1960's. At the festival, we ate sausages, drank beer, and enjoyed traditional music and games from Germany. During the night time, there was a special performance by an up-and-coming K-Pop group called JJCC. Supposedly, Jackie Chan's son was supposed to be a part of the group, but it was all a big lie. I think the description of the group was lost in translation on the brochure we received. Oh well! It was still fun to dance and watch them perform. I was pretty exhausted after spending the whole day eating, drinking, dancing, and talking, so I called it an early night. The next morning we wandered around the beach before heading back home. It was a solid weekend, and I hope I can go to the REAL Oktoberfest one day in the future!

Jinju Lantern Festival

After the long weekend, I had another short week ahead. The boys were due for midterms from Wednesday-Friday (so I didn't go to school), followed by the Fulbright Fall Conference during the weekend. I ended up heading to Gyeongju (where conference is held) a day early with Emily to explore some sites we weren't able to visit last year. Gyeongju is one of the most historic cities in Korea, home to the Silla Dynasty (57 BC - 935 AD), which boasts tons of beautiful sightseeing opportunities. We checked into our hostel, and the owner ended up driving us around to show us famous boulders and remnants of temples and structures from the Silla Dynasty. Although staring at rocks was somewhat interesting, the view of the rice fields is what captured my attention. Fall is harvest season in Korea for rice, so the fields are covered in shades of yellow, almost as yellow as an ear of corn from good ol' Illinois. After sight-seeing, Emily and I met up with other Fulbrighters who headed into town early for a few drinks. The owner of the bar we went to was an older woman, and she was fascinated by us, and she was so cute asking us all about why we are in Korea and our interests.

Jinju Lantern Festival

Friday marked the beginning of Fall Conference, and I went in feeling confident and energized. By the end of conference, I felt drained, lonely, and unsure of why I decided to renew for a second year. One would think that being at a conference surrounded with 120 other ETAs who are in the same situations as me would make me feel refueled, able to connect, and share highs and lows... but this wasn't the case for me this time around. It was nothing to do with the conference activities themselves - if anything, it was the casual conversations I had with some of my fellow ETAs and feeling like I couldn't fully express myself or feel totally comfortable with those around me, or even with myself (nothing against any of my fellow Fulbrighters, either! Just a current personal matter).

~Fulbright Korea~

During my second year, I have adapted to living in Korea, which has given me time to become extremely introspective and reflective on my personal actions and how I have changed over the past year and a half. I've started to feel as if many Koreans only see me for my outer appearance, not for anything that's within, unless it fits their preconceived perceptions. Thus, I feel like a large part of who I am has just been shut down while I've been here. It's even started to rub off on my Fulbright colleagues/other native friends I've made in Korea. I don't feel fully comfortable in my own skin like I used to. I hope to find outlets where I can just be myself - whether it's through communication with friends near or far, journaling/blogging like I am right now, or something else - it's wearing me out to not be myself. It's harder to put on a front and be something I'm not than to just let my walls down and be who I am meant to be.

Besides this self-revelation at conference, it actually was nice to see people and feel refreshed in my teaching, at least. I am excited to start teaching units again (I was busy with speaking tests when I returned after vacation), and I hope the students will have a lot of fun with them! I'm also staying busy with my half marathon training, so that has been an outlet for me to reduce stress in a positive way. It's nearly two weeks away, and I am training to finish in a time less than 2:00:00.

As always, thanks for reading, and stay true to yourself. I hope to follow my own advice. Talk soon!