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 !!!