One year later

My friend EJ and I hanging out in Busan!

Hello everyone! Can you believe that a year has passed since I left the States for S. Korea? I can and I can't at the same time! I am so glad that I have been updating my blog throughout the grant year so that you all and myself can reflect on the experiences - good, bad, happy, sad, highs, lows, and everything in between (although I wish I would have updated even more frequently than I did... a goal for the upcoming grant year!). This post will focus on what I've been up to during my last month before the summer vacation, and will likely be my last post in Korea for my first grant year. No worries, though, I am planning to keep my blog updated throughout the summer vacation while back in Illinois, and of course upon my return to Korea.

Hanging out by the beach in Busan

After the YDAC competition with my students, everything finally settled down. I had been fundraising for a 10K race in which donations go towards helping North Korean Refugees, but due to the MERS outbreak, the race has been postponed until this upcoming weekend (July 12th). Unfortunately, I cannot participate in the race anymore because I will be cleaning out my things at my homestay and packing up for my trip home. However, all the money that I fundraised will still contribute towards the NKHR fund. Thank you to everyone who supported me and this special cause!

During the last weekend in June, another foreigner friend from Gwangyang and I headed to Busan for the weekend. We met up with some of her friends who live in the city, and we all took a stroll on the beach and enjoyed the view. It was beautiful - especially since it is finally summer time! After hanging out on the beach, we had some drinks and went dancing. It was a night to remember!

Last week at school, the boys had final exams for three days. Luckily for me, I wasn't required to go to school during those days, so I took the opportunity to head to Seoul with some friends and have an extended trip. We arrived on Thursday, and we found this AMAZING Korean restaurant that served a delicious kimchi pancake and beef! My friend and I were originally concerned that we had ordered too much food, but we wiped it out in a jiffy. After dinner, we met up with one of my Korean friends who lives in Seoul, and he took us out for some quality craft beer (something I miss dearly about America). We ended up seeing other Fulbright friends, so we all talked and enjoyed our night together!

My delicious blueberry pancakes and apple juice

On Friday, a group of Fulbright friends and I slept in later and met up for brunch at a restaurant close by our hostel. I had absolutely DELICIOUS blueberry pancakes, grilled cheese and tomato soup, and apple juice. I probably ate way too much, but I regret nothing. It was one of the few restaurants that I felt was authentic American brunch (doesn't exist in my "small town" of Gwangyang). Then we went shopping around Hongdae, which is home to a university and is the party hub for college students. It also houses a ton of street shops and brand-name stores, so we walked around all afternoon buying personal items as well as gifts for friends and family back home. My friends and I laid low on Friday night because Saturday was Fulbright Korea's huge final gathering (all 120 of us get together for dinner with the Executive Director, have dinner, and get real emotional).

Saturday before the main event, my friends and I headed to Insadong, which is the traditional area of Seoul and also has souvenir shops. We wanted to head there because we needed to find various gifts for friends and family back home that were located at a central spot. Lucky for all of you, I splurged and bought a TON of souvenirs that I am excited to share with my friends and family upon arrival in the States!

Some of my Fulbright friends!

Saturday night was the main event: Fulbright Korea ETA Final Dinner, on our nation's Independence Day! Almost all 120 of us gathered together at the Hotel President in Seoul for a buffet-style dinner, tear-jerker speeches, and performances by fellow ETAs. These whole-group gatherings are always my favorite; I have become close with a fair amount of people throughout the grant year, and having them all in one place at the same time is not typically an easy task. During the event, the Executive Director of Fulbright Korea addressed us, and she talked about the dedications and efforts we made to have a successful grant year. There was also a presentation by the Fulbright Korea Alumni Relations Committee, which I was excited to introduce our brand-new website which will allow alumni and grantees to connect with one another forever!

Besides dinner, my personal favorite part of the night was watching the performances by my fellow ETAs (and myself doing a performance - HillaVanillaThrilla style!). One ETA played a piece on the piano, another sang a beautiful Korean song, there was an acoustic duet, and even a flash mob! All the variety was a good testament to our class' diverse skillsets and personalities. For my performance, I made a mashup parody of "Sexy and I Know It" (my title: Waygook and I Know It), "Anaconda" (my title: 회식), and "Happy" (my title: Happy ... so original, right?). The mashup is reflective of some of my thoughts/opinions/feelings during my grant year (aka making fun of myself a lot), and also pokes a bit of fun at typical Korean culture. At the end of the mashup, though, I get a little sappy and happy, of course, because it was a phenomenal grant year! As most of my blog followers not entirely familiar with Korean culture/lifestyle of foreign teachers in Korea, some of these jokes and references may be confusing to you. But, this gives you an idea of how we let loose and have fun as cultural ambassadors of the U.S.A.

Here is a clip of the video (most of the first song was cut off):

Along with the performances, our class nominated one ETA to give a final speech, and we chose our good friend and comrade, David. David is an all-around sweetheart, and he contributed many memorable moments to all of our grant years. David's speech rung true for me, as I could relate to many of the "inside jokes" our class had this year, the life of a foreign teacher in Korea, and making connections with my fellow ETAs, my students, and my home stay family. Most importantly, David spoke about the lasting impact that his students have - although they can be rambunctious, they are sensitive deep down and they made this year worthwhile. I am so happy to have shared this year with 120 friends - and I am lucky that I get to spend another year with 52 of them! That's right - 52 of us are renewing for a second/third year, and we will meet the incoming group of 70 ETAs this August. To those of you who are pursuing the next phase in life - whether back in the States or elsewhere in the world, I wish nothing but the best for you! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and outgoing personalities with me during the past year.

With the Alumni Relations Committee
at Final Dinner

Anyway, our event lasted for three hours, followed by a celebration at a bar that we reserved for the remainder of the night. We reminisced on our memories during orientation, throughout the grant year, and talked about the memories we will make together in the future. It was so nice having everyone together one last time before we all go separate ways.

As I am wrapping up my last week of teaching, I am also gearing up for the summer vacation back in IL! I am so excited to head home for a month, and catch up with friends and family whom I love and miss dearly. But until then, I have a fun-filled week of games with the boys, and next week I will head to the incoming group of ETAs' orientation to lead a few presentations. Although I am not overly excited to be back in the marble mansion (the nickname for Jungwon University, where orientation is held every year), I am looking forward to meeting the incoming group of ETAs. It's going to be a great week!

This post has already gotten far too long and far too sappy, so I will end here. See you back in IL!

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Crazy May, pt. II

Welcome to Crazy May, part II of two. If you missed part one, check it out here.

Buddhist Temple

First off, let me share some good news by saying that I AM RENEWING MY GRANT with Fulbright! I will be staying another year, and I will remain living with my home stay family in Gwangyang and teaching at the all-boys high school. I am looking forward to expanding upon all that I have experienced within my first year in South Korea, and I am excited to find out what more is in store. With that said, I will be traveling back to Illinois this summer to enjoy some much needed quality time with friends, family, my dog, and American food. I will be home from July 19th until August 16th, so I hope to see as many of you as possible during that time.

Local Celebrity

Now, back to the crazy happenings in May. After I became a breakthrough rap artist with my student during the festival, local Gwangyang celebrities hired me to present at Buddha's Birthday Celebration. Not really, but my host father works for the Gwangyang Public Office, and when we went to a temple to have free lunch during Buddha's Birthday Holiday, I was asked to pose for pictures with a famous monk. So, my celeb status is clearly on the rise! Haha. Buddha's Birthday is a special holiday that gets everyone out of school for a day (thanks, Buddha!). It is also super spectacular because if you go to a temple, you get served a free meal! It was nice to spend the day with my host family. Although they aren't religious, and I am not Buddhist, we still felt the love and appreciated the various religious celebrations that are out there.

At the end of May, I made yet another trip to Seoul, where I had a reunion with some fellow Fulbrighters. However, this is a special group because these are the friends that I spent six weeks learning the Korean language with. We met up with one of our Korean professors, who took us to a baseball game! It was my first Korean professional baseball game, and it was super fun! The fans do a lot more chanting and singing than they do in the United States. And everything is CHEAP and you can bring your own booze and food inside the stadium. They also hand out a bunch of free junk, like posters, towels, and food. It was a fun time!

Beginner B Class!

One super duper exciting thing that has been happening during this transition into summer is night time outdoor aerobics classes! Since I usually go for a run late in the evening, by the time I finish up, free, night time aerobic classes have started at a public park where I typically exercise. So, I decided to join in on the fun and improve my aerobics/dance skills. Korean ladies get quite "into it", and they are very talented. I wish I could shake my booty like some of them.

The crew

On the school side of things, a group of four students and I prepared for two months to participate in an English debate competition with ten other Fulbright schools in the area. The conference, called Youth Diplomacy and Activism Conference, is sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and organized by Fulbright English Teaching Assistants. For the debate, we prepared a 5-7 speech about a topic of our choice, and we had to present it to judges (myself and other Fulbrighters). After the speech, students from participating schools had the opportunity to ask questions and simulate a debate. The teams were scored on their content, pronunciation, and ability to respond/defend questions presented to them by other teams. The topics were SO interesting! My boys decided to research the Legalization of Medical Marijuana, while other schools focused on topics like the Treatment of Gay People in South Korea, Traditional Markets, Plastic Surgery, Safety Frigidity, among others. I am happy to say that our boys earned second place at the conference! They were so nervous while we were preparing, but I was confident they would perform well.

Nice work!

Aside from each school presenting their speeches and having time for debate and discussion, the conference also included a "Mock Crisis" scenario, in which the students worked mixed in small groups to come up with a resolution to a hypothetical world crisis situation. Each group has one hour to write a speech to the UN/EU, and acts as South Korea's spokespeople on how SK would react in the circumstance. This was a great activity to get students thinking on the spot, utilizing their critical thinking, writing, and speaking skills, while working with their new friends from other schools. I was very impressed with how the students managed to do all of this within a one hour time frame!

Off-sync at outdoor aerobics

Also, the YDAC students were able to listen to a presentation by two guys who work for the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. As many of the students who participate in YDAC are interested in pursuing a future in politics, diplomacy, or other related fields, this was a special opportunity for them to ask questions and learn more about these types of jobs. After the all-day event, the teachers and students all decided to go out to dinner together at TGI Friday's, which was a perfect way to celebrate the conference.

It's hard to believe that it is already the middle of June - exactly one month from today, I will be heading home to the U.S. for a one-month vacation before coming back for another year with Fulbright. At times this grant year has seemed extremely long, but looking back on it, it has all passed so quickly, and I have learned so much. Learned so much about this country, its people, the culture - and also learned a lot about myself. Living abroad for an extended period of time is no easy task, but it is something that I am very grateful for. This is a special opportunity in life, and I often think about how lucky I am to have the opportunity to travel the world and experience new things each and every day.

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Crazy May, pt. I

May proved to be quite an exhilarating month, full of highs and lows. In Korea, May was a month full of holidays, testing, and random days off from school "just because". Thus, the first full week of May I did not have to go to school because of midterm exams and vacation days after the testing was complete. During my week off, I finally convinced some fellow Fulbright friends to visit me in Gwangyang (hooray!).

Two friends from Cheongju came to visit the other Fulbrighter in Gwangyang (Josh) and I for a couple of days, and we had a blast! Our time together was full of noraebang (Korean karaoke), good eats, sight-seeing, and reflecting on the grant year. Josh and I decided to show our friends Kelsey and Christine the Suncheon World Gardens, which was a perfect destination in the middle of spring. I had visited the gardens once before during the fall season, but as would be expected, I was much more impressed by what I saw during the spring season. The gardens themselves are huge, various, and full of color. If we had time to walk through the entire gardens, it would probably take at least five hours. The Suncheon Gardens consist of an arboretum zone, wetland zone, world garden zone, and a large bridge called "Dream Bridge". The Dream Bridge is decorated with 145,000 drawings by children from all over the world in hopes that their dreams will be carried off in the wind and be shared with many. The world garden zone consists of replications of gardens from different countries throughout the world, such as the Netherlands, France, Japan, Thailand, USA, a traditional Korean garden, and more. It was quite relaxing to enjoy nature while appreciating how different areas of the world exemplify nature's beauty. 

After my two friends from Cheongju left, I had my close friend/orientation roommate come visit me too! Emily and I also traveled throughout SE Asia together during the winter vacation. When she arrived, I showed her the Suncheon Gardens, experienced the "famous" Gwangyang Bulgogi, and then we headed to Busan together for two days. Busan is a two hour bus trip from Gwangyang, and the weather remained beautiful for us. We were excited to head to the beach, soak up the sun, and do some more sightseeing along the coast. Unfortunately, this is where my low part of May kicks in. During our first full day in Busan, Emily and I were enjoying some Indian food, until the what we think to be food poisoning kicked in. Perhaps it was because we hadn't been eating that type of food for such a long time, or we ate too much, or the food just happened to be bad that day, but after that we were feeling all too sick to do anything. We ended up hanging back at the hostel and consuming medication in hopes of feeling better. 

My trip to Busan ended a day earlier than Emily's, as I had to be back in Gwangyang for a race during the weekend. I was feeling better, and I felt confident that I could perform well in the 10K on Sunday. On Saturday, two friends and I (Mary and Mallory) packed up and headed to Boseong, which is about one hour away from Gwangyang. We wanted to head there early because Boseong is famous for Green Tea Plantations, which we wanted to tour and experience what Boseong is known for. The scenery surrounding Boseong was absolutely phenomenal - green tea fields scattered all around the town. Boseong has been a tea plantation area since the days of the Japanese occupation, and with its long history comes large plantations, their traditions, and highly skilled workers. The most famous of these is the Daehan Dawon Plantation. The site has gained popularity as a film making destination after a huge success of the commercial for a telecommunication company. It also host ‘Dahyangje Tea Festvial’ each year in May. The green tea plantation tourist attraction was exciting as well - and full of green tea flavored everything. I was personally fond of the green tea flavored soft serve, and shamelessly ate three servings of it! After touring the plantation, we had dinner and called it an early night, as we wanted to be ready to go for our race in the morning.

The race itself was a hot, humid, and hilly course. We had met a nice Korean couple before the race began, and I actually ended up running with the man and finishing together. It reminded me of running with my dad, which I miss a lot. I've gotten so used to running alone since living in Korea, and it was nice to have a running buddy again. Although I didn't tackle a new PR, it was more fun to make a new friend and just have fun with my friends! After the race, Mary, Mallory, and I explored a nearby beach area, had some delicious seafood for lunch, and headed back to Gwangyang. Unfortunately, this is where everything goes wrong.

Sunday night after the race, I was just relaxing at home with my family. I called it an early night because I was exhausted from the race. However, I just couldn't fall asleep. An hour after just lying in my bed, waiting to fall asleep, I broke out in shivers, aches, fatigue, and what I assumed to be a high fever. I was sweating, but I felt extremely cold. I didn't sleep all night, and on top of having the shakes, my stomach decided that I needed to run to the bathroom at random moments throughout the night. The next morning I finally got out of bed, and told my host mom that there was no way I could make it to school, or even get any food down my throat. I ended up in the hospital for three days. I had a fever of 103, so I got hooked up to an IV and sent to bed rest for the entire week. Another week off of school, although this one was unplanned. I am still not entirely sure what caused the outbreak - maybe a flu virus, or dehydration after the race. All I know is that I am so glad to be better now!

After a full week of recovery, I was ready to be back at school and excited to be doing things again. The following weekend, I planned to perform a rap song that a student and I had written and recorded together at a festival in a nearby city. We practiced and practiced for so long, and I couldn't let him down now! It is funny to look back on this experience because Hyeon Min (the student) used to be someone who always acted up during my class. However, once we found this shared love for rap/hip-hop and making music, we instantly bonded and he has become a student for whom I have high expectations. The song that we wrote and performed is titled "인문계" which means "Humanities Department". In Korean high schools, students choose a science or humanities track in relation to their future goals and preparations for college. Hyeon Min raps about his life as a humanities student, and how his interest and passion for a future career in music is often overlooked and frowned upon by most Koreans. He raps about the criticism he receives for attending music academies rather than studying the "core subjects" that lead to a "reliable, stable job" in the future. He asked me to write a rap about my experience as a teacher in Korea, and my goals in the teaching profession. Hyeon Min has truly amazed me with his drive and motivation to be the best he can be while not allowing the criticism to bring him down. I am so happy to have been able to share this moment with Hyeon Min and his rap crew - it is a memory I will never forget! You can watch the video below!

Alright, sorry for the long post (and lack of updates!). I'm working on May pt. 2 as we speak. Talk to you soon!

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