So, when I originally planned on posting this, I did not have a job. I completed my time at my local theme park and I went out and did quite a few fun things. I thought I might share a few of the cool things that I have done now that summer is over (I have procrastinated A LOT in creating and finishing this post!). Hiking! So I got to take a day trip to Silver Falls about forty minutes from my house! I went with one of my friends from high school and two of her friends from college. It was such a fun day and it was cool to see all of the different waterfalls. We ended up hiking about 6 miles to see most of the falls. It was so fun! Back in July, one of my all time favorite Kpop artists, G-Dragon had a tour date set for Seattle. I decided to buy a ticket and go. My mom and I drove to Seattle, explored, I went to the concert, and then we spent the night and went home the next day. It was one of the BEST concerts I've ever been to. I would definitely go to see him again if he ever comes near where I live! Here are some pictures from the concert (the quality is REALLY low but I guess that's okay!). I also put in some pictures from exploring Seattle! For my best friend, I helped her decorate her mortarboard for graduation. She is a big fan of Game of Thrones so we designed it and got it all put together and I think it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself! As a REALLY late birthday present/graduation gift, my friend and I also went to a local winery for a tour and a tasting. We went for the afternoon and it was a gorgeous day and the wine was fantastic! I also went to our local art fair that happens every year! It was really fun. They also had a car there that people could draw on so I drew Franklin the space monster on the car. I also took a fun picture of the attack owl sign because I just think it's funny that there is an owl that attacked so many people that they had to put a sign up about it. :) So that's a few of the things I did over the summer. I'm sure I did more but these seemed to be the big fun things that I did.
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I've been back home for a while now. I thought that writing this post might be a bit better to do after giving myself a little time to readjust to life in The States! I think some of my biggest takeaways from this experience have been that:
a) There are many generous and kind people willing to help and believe in you if you are willing to do the work and be flexible. I met and got to know so many wonderful people in South Korea and every one of them seemed genuinely interested in my success as a teacher. I did find that as long as I was professional, flexible, and willing to work my experience was very positive! b) It is important to have a sense of adventure and go out of your comfort zone every once in a while (disrupt your patterns). Often, I find myself in a pattern and do the same thing every day. I had to make a point to go somewhere new almost every day! I tried my best to use what Korean I knew/know when I could and not just hope that someone spoke English. I felt that it was important to do things that I would not get to do once I was back home. c) Meaning can bypass language but language is still REALLY important! I am by no means fluent in Korean. I still can't hold a conversation in Korean but I can do a few things. I can order food and ask for things as well as generally communicate in situations where I need something. A lot of my communication in the first few weeks was pointing and saying "please." In the classroom, I learned a few words to help with management and to give some instructions. In these situations, I was usually able to get my meaning across even if it was without language but I still felt the want and need to learn more to really effectively communicate with the people around me. To any anyone interested in study abroad, I would definitely say, "DO IT!" It is definitely worth it! The experience of living in a foreign country and experiencing being fully immersed in a culture that is different from your own is invaluable. It broadens your own views of the world and can help make you a more global citizen. Additionally, it is really fun! I immensely enjoyed my time abroad. I had some of the most fun and rewarding experiences of my college experience. I also had to challenge myself to do more than I might have done than if I had stayed in the U.S. for my student teaching. I feel that I have grown more confident in myself as an individual in the world. As to things I might have done differently, I would have wanted to learn a bit more Korean beyond what I needed for my basic needs. Once I learned how I would fulfill my role within the school, I was easily able to adjust my mindset to really commit to what was expected of me. Overall, I felt really prepared for my experience and through this experience, I have started planning for the next five or so years of my life. I can definitely see myself returning to teach in Korea again in the next five or so years. I can also see myself going abroad to a different place to teach. I would just love to continue to travel the world and eventually reach one of my personal goals of travelling to all seven continents (I have currently been to three of seven!). Overall, this entire experience has been very positive but if I had to describe it in just a few words I think it would be: This experience has been a personal test of patience, willingness to work, and ability to enjoy the small moments that life throws at you. It has been a reminder as to why I enjoy teaching and why I want to be a teacher. It has played a part in affirming my aspirations to become a teacher and reminds me that the work is always worth it. It may take a while for things to happen and it may be tough but it will be worth it in the end. My friend and I had really planned to go to Busan particularly because of Spaland. Spaland is a Korean style bathhouse. There are the typical baths and there are saunas and other spa services. I had done a lot of research on Korean bath houses and decided that this would be an excellent place to start. SpaLand is a bit more expensive than normal bath houses and there is also a 4 hour limit for being there (many bath houses and saunas are open 24 hours and allow you to be there for as long as you want). When we got to the department store that the bath house is housed in, we had to search for just a moment before finding our way to the entrance of the bath house (it had a separate entrance from the department store). Once we found the entrance, we went to the reception desk and paid our entrance fee. After this, we were directed up an escalator and had to take off our shoes and put them in our assigned shoe locker. This first locker was only for our shoes. The key to that locker matches a bigger locker in the actual women's locker room. The key is also the method of payment when you are in the facilities. All purchases are kept track of on the key so you don't have to carry cash with you as there are services and goods that cost extra in the bath house. After putting all of our belongings into a locker, it was time to get ready for the baths. As bath houses are quite normal and embraced within Korea nudity in a bath house is completely normal. I was surprised at how easy this was for me! I felt right at home especially because it's not like I was the only person. After a quick shower, I tried out almost all of the different baths in the literal bath room. There were really warm baths as well as quite cool baths. My favorite baths were the outdoor baths that were surrounded by a privacy fence and roof. There were rocks all around and one of the baths also had a small waterfall! The water in these baths was also special. One bath had sodium bicarbonate and one had sodium chloride to make the experience even better. Additionally after soaking for a while I got myself a traditional Korean body scrub and face mask. This entailed one of the bath house employees using a coarse loofah-esque towel called an Italy towel to remove dead skin and dirt from my entire body. Online, people said that it was quite painful but I found it really pleasant and I would definitely do it again! My skin has never been so soft! After that amazing experience, I returned to the locker room and headed into the vanity area where there were sanitized brushes and combs available as well as hair dryers, skin care products, tissues, q-tips, and anything else I might have needed to finish my bathing routine. I then changed into my sauna clothes that were given to me when I entered the bath house and went to explore the different saunas. This particular bath house and sauna has a large number of saunas. I at least looked into every one but I only spent time in one that was mildly hot and one that was a bit cold. The others were way too hot! They even burned my feet when I went in as we were all barefoot at this point in time! I also spent quite a bit of time in the outdoor foot bath. There were areas to sit in the foot bath, different temperature foot baths and a textured area to walk on. It was quite pleasant and I could have stayed out there for quite some time! The bath house also has a relaxation room with reclining chairs and individual TVs as well as other spa services and massage chairs. There is also food! I did not get any food from the restaurant but from the one of the little cafe kiosks I got a pomegranate vinegar drink that was delicious and refreshing and I got the traditional korean bath house baked egg. These eggs are supposedly baked in the heat from the saunas and hot springs. They are very brown and have a unique color for the whites of the eggs. However, it tastes just like any other hard boiled egg. In addition to my sauna gear, I learned how to fold my towel into the traditional "sheep's head" hat. It was surprisingly easy and I felt super cute! At the end of my time at SpaLand, I felt super relaxed, soft, clean, and completely satisfied! I would definitely go again and I would encourage anyone who goes to Korea to go to a traditional bath house and sauna! It was so great and I could have spent such a long time there!
This last week was a bit of a vacation week for Korea. There were many holidays. There was Children's Day, Buddha's Birthday, and an Autumn Holiday all right before a weekend. This meant we got about 5 days off. It was a nice long break! I decided that I would go to Busan on the southern tip of Korea for part of my trip. I was there just for fun but also to visit the family of a friend from the United States. I was lucky enough that they generously offered to let me stay at their apartment for my stay. I took the KTX train from Seoul to Busan. It took about 2.5 hours to get from Seoul to Busan on the bullet train that travels near 300km/h. Until last December, this train was the fastest train in Korea! It was a nice and easy trip. I got to the train station, redeemed my ticket that I had bought online and waited for my train to arrive so that I could board. The train ride itself was very comfortable. There are outlets to charge your devices, free Wi-Fi, and the seats are decently sized. Once I got to Busan, I took the subway to my friend's family's subway station. It took about 30 minutes. I was met by my friend's family and at their apartment, I was greeted by a fabulous and delicious home cooked Korean meal. There was bulgogi, japchae, and soybean paste stew. It was so good! The next day, we went to a skywalk lookout where you can see about five islands off of the coast of Busan. It was beautiful and the skywalk was really cool! I also went out to the 40 steps monument that is a bit of a memorial for the many wars that Korea has had. There really were 40 steps! After this, I wandered for a while and I ended up finding this extremely busy street market. There were so many vendors and many people buying things. This market also covered several blocks of the street. It was really cool to see! At the end of the day, I got to have chicken and beer or chi-mek in Korean. It was super delicious! The next day, I met up with my friend that I usually adventure with in Seoul and we went to the Shinsegae Department Store in Busan which holds the Guinness World Record for the largest department store in the world. We were not there for the department store though. We were there for SpaLand. I'm going to be doing a separate post for SpaLand because it deserves it but SpaLand is essentially one of the fanciest Korean bath houses and saunas in Korea. It was an experience that was both interesting and amazing. I would definitely go again!
Korea and the United states have several things in common but there are a lot of things that are different. There are things I can get and do in the United States that I cannot get or do here as well, there are things I can get and do here that I cannot get or do easily in the United States.
Things I miss from the United States: The space. In America, we have a lot of open space and because of this we have a strong sense of personal space. In Korea, there is not as much open space. I've seen open spaces particularly in parks, the front "yard" of some schools, and on highways. Those are some of the only places where I see a decent amount of open space. Everywhere else, the space is filled by tall buildings that are quite close together. I particularly miss grass. I know it's a bit of a weird thing to say but I miss grass. I have seen hardly any grass here in Seoul outside of one park! Back home, I see grass every day and can touch it, smell it, and enjoy it's grassyness. Here in Seoul, because the city is so dense, there is not much room for grass so there isn't much. I have seen grass though in some parks. Many parks though have no grass at all. They are concrete with some benches or other places to sit. Here in Seoul it doesn't feel common to see a lot of grass so I miss the grassyness of home! Seoul has a lot of ice cream to eat but I have found myself often craving Dairy Queen. There's something to be said about just wanting to eat a blizzard at the end of the day. This trip will be the longest time I have gone without driving in the last four years. It's kind of liberating to not have to drive everywhere (nor do I wish that I had a car here because I think I would get into an accident quite quickly due to the style of driving I have witnessed here) but I miss my boat of a car. I liked being able to go do what I wanted exactly when I wanted. Here, I have to wait for public transit which is perfectly fine because I know how to manage my time but I will be happy to have my car back and be driving again. My apartment here in Seoul doesn't have an oven. This makes it difficult to bake anything. I also do not have a microwave or a microwave oven. My main cooking equipment is a kettle and a hot plate. I'm also lazy and I don't like to do a lot of dishes if I don't have to so I have not actually cooked in the last three months. I have eaten out a lot which is pretty cheap and good/healthy food and I have also eaten a lot of convenience store food! I have quite a few favorite places to eat now. I have missed being able to come home and throw something in the microwave to eat but I also have been forced to go out and explore my neighborhood and try new and interesting foods! Things I'll miss from Korea I love Korean food. It is extremely delicious but my town in the US only has one Korean restaurant and their specialty is bibimbap. Bibimbap is not my favorite Korean food. It is good but There are other dishes that I quite like a lot better. In particular, I LOVE naengmyeon or cold noodles. They are my life! I have eaten them so many times here and I still love them like no other! I cannot easily get this dish in the US. Last time I was in Korea, I came back home and craved naengmyeon for weeks. It was really bad. I'm pretty sure the same will happen to me this time and it makes me sad that I won't have one of my favorite Korean dishes when I want it. I'm also really going to miss the bubble tea chain Gong Cha. I love Gong Cha. Their black milk tea with boba is AMAZING and I am sincerely going to miss it. Gong Cha does have a few branches in California but I'm hoping that eventually, they will expand to the entire US and make my bubble tea dreams come true!! Korean public transportation here in Seoul is quite amazing. The subway is easy to navigate and use. It is also super convenient and goes everywhere! I'm going to miss being able to just hop on and not worry about too many directions and just get to where I'm going! I will definitely miss all of the people that I have met. The students have been so wonderful and the staff at my school has been amazing. They are so wonderful, helpful, and kind! From my experience, the Korean people I have met are generous and kind. They are genuinely excited to share their culture with me and are happy that I am interested in their own culture. Everything is also so convenient here. I have a convenience store less than a minute from my apartment. The subway is about a minute walk from my apartment. My school is about a ten minute walk. Everything is so convenient and I can get anywhere I want to go in about a half hour! It's so great! In the U.S. it can take up to an hour to get to different places. Additionally, Korea and particularly Seoul is open very late. Many businesses don't close until well after midnight and other businesses are open 24 hours! Many places in the U.S. close between 6 and 8 depending on the type of business while Seoul stays open quite late. Korea also has amazing scenery. I am surrounded by mini-mountains/large hills. There is always something to see. The flowers this last spring were also amazing. On my walk to and from school each day, I would see something new every day in the scenery. It was so beautiful! Overall, I really have enjoyed Korea and I like my life in the United States but there are definitely things that I both like and dislike in either place. I think that in coming home, I might experience a bit of reverse culture shock. I feel that I have grown a lot as a person and as a teacher. One thing that will be interesting to readjust to will be eating all of my meals with a fork instead chopsticks and a spoon. I'm not overly concerned about reverse culture shock as I have maintained connections with my family and friends back home but I will have to wait and see how or if reverse culture shock will really affect me and to what degree. I'm hoping that this blog as well as the reflections that I kept during my teaching will support me in both sharing my experiences and transitioning back into my home culture. I also took many pictures to document my daily life so that I can share this experience with both my family and my friends.
In order to keep my study abroad experience as a key factor in my life, I hope to continue to foster the relationships that I have developed here both in professional relationships I have made in the school and the more personal relationships that I have maintained with family of my friends in the United States. I also hope that in the next 5-10 years I can return to Korea and teach again. There are many programs to facilitate this within Korea. I think that it would be a great way to continue to grow as both an educator and as a person. I also hope to continue to develop my Korean language skill. I am able to read Hangul (written Korean) and I can understand a small amount of what I read. I can also understand more that is said to me particularly in regards to food but I am not particularly skilled at speaking or writing Korean. My productive skills are lacking but I would hope that by the time that I might return to Korea my skills would improve a bit! I also plan to find ways to incorporate what I have learned particularly about English language learners in my school into my own future classroom and to use that knowledge to better my skill as a teacher. This weekend was the Lotus Lantern Festival that one of the Seoul Buddhist temples puts on to celebrate Buddha's birthday. There were many events and lots of activities! My friend and I went out to see what this festival was all about. It was so much fun!! Starting a few days prior, there were lanterns set up for display around Seoul. We went and looked at the lanterns in the Cheonggyecheon stream. This is a small man made stream in the middle of Seoul. It is gorgeous! Because it was still daytime, the lanterns weren't lit but we did get to see many lanterns that were lit in the parade that night! This parade was about 2.5 hours long but it was definitely worth it! There were so many lantern floats and so many people in the parade! It was AMAZING! After the parade, there was a post parade celebration that the festival put on. It was so much fun! Initially, we all migrated towards the stage that they had set up in the middle of the street that was closed for the parade where there were performers getting ready to perform. Those of us who were closer to the stage were instructed to just sit down on the pavement and we did. It was really cramped for a bit but I'm so glad we were so close! After a bit of music, we all stood up and got to dance together. We did some traditional Korean dances where we are all in circles and dance around. My friend and I didn't really know what was happening but there were some really kind ajjumas or old ladies who quickly grabbed our hands and helped us into the circles! We danced for probably about an hour and a half doing different dances to more traditional music. Near the end, there were dancers up on the stage leading us in simple dances. It was AMAZING! Also, throughout the dancing, there were cameras showing people up on the big screen. My friend and I ended up on screen quite a few times, it was great! There was also pink confetti being released for almost the entire time. This experience was quite magical! Saturday night was magical but Sunday was still very fun! There were many cultural and traditional events and activities. My friend and I went to the street in front of the Buddhist temple that was blocked off and we walked the street and did a few activities. I wrote my name in Korean and made a gorgeous lacquered keychain! My friend and I also ended up entering a lantern making contest for foreigners at the temple. Neither of us won but we did make friends with the girl who did eventually win when we were making our lanterns. She flew from Japan specifically for this festival! Her lantern was GORGEOUS! Pictured is my lantern not hers! The temple itself was also decorated in lanterns. There were too many lanterns to count in this temple! It was amazing! There were also lanterns from the parade on display! This was an amazing festival and I would love to come back every year as it was a fantastic experience where I felt the generosity and love of the Korean people!
A few weeks ago, my friend and I decided to go to Seoul Forest. It's not much of a forest but a really large park with significantly more trees and grass than the rest of Seoul but it is definitely not a forest. We walked all around and got really hot and really tired but it was a really nice day and the "forest" was quite nice as well. It has many different areas with different features. There is a small lake, a playground for kids, sculptures, a deer corral, and much more! Here's some of the glorious food that I have eaten lately and just neglected to post about. Did I mention that I LOVE food! This was a small part of the lunch that I had with my Korean friend's family. It is a traditional Korean meal that includes a ton of "banchan" or side dishes. There was boiled egg, soybean paste stew, bulgogi (seasoned beef), grilled fish, many vegetables and different kinds of noodles and fried, stir fried, and grilled things. There was soooooo much food! We also had this delicious tea after the meal. It was AMAZING! My badminton club at school is almost definitely better than most badminton clubs because when we get bored or feel lazy, we order in and make food! Some of the teachers in the club made bibim guksu or spicy mixed noodles. That's in the small white bowls. We also ordered in pizza with fries and spaghetti as well as pig's foot. The pig's foot was extremely delicious and not too chewy. It was perfect! The pizza was a shrimp pizza and it also had some cream cheese and sweet potato on it. It was quite delicious even though the description doesn't quite sound delicious (trust me it was!). This was such a good way to spend an afternoon! This last weekend, My friend and I went out to go see a park and we stumbled upon this small art street where all of the shops are inside of shipping containers! We were also hungry so we were looking for food and at the end of this street right across from the park was a busy restaurant inside another shipping container. We thought that that would be a nice place to stop and eat. So we did. And it was. I got a shrimp noodle soup that had shrimp, noodles, and boiled egg mixed in with chopped onions. I also got sparkling water (my love!). As per usual with this style of restaurant where it is more cafeteria style (you order at the counter and get your buzzer and then wait for them to call that your food is ready) the banchan (side dishes) were self serve. There was kimchi and another dish that I'm not sure what it was but it tasted good! Overall, this place was really nice and really delicious. This is one of my Korean food loves! Pat bingsu! This is basically shaved ice on crack! If you think of shaved ice, many people think of snow cones and the crunchy ice with neon syrups. Bingsu is more similar to Hawaiian shaved ice. The ice is actually shaved so that it is extremely thin and melts almost immediately in your mouth. There are also a million topping options for bingsu. This bingsu is pat bingsu because it has pat (pronouced pot) or sweet red beans in it. This bingsu in particular came from a bubble tea shop (Gong Cha) that I LOVE so it had the tapioca pearls in it as well as some shaved almonds and soybean powder and a slightly sweet sauce on top. This was definitely big enough to share so I'm glad I was with my friend to eat it! It was delicious and a wonderful decision on such a hot day! It has been cherry blossom season for a couple of weeks and so there are many different cherry blossom products. Starbucks has cherry blossom flavored and themed drinks and some stores have cherry blossom themed items as well. I saw this soda in the convenience store and thought that I had to at least try it. This is definitely something that I cannot get back home. So I bought it and tried it and didn't hate it. It kind of tasted like a mix between cherry, rose, and strawberry. It was carbonated so that was nice. Overall the taste was okay but I probably won't buy it again. This drink has a bit of a story to it. I went out walking to go to my favorite bubble tea shop near my apartment (Gong Cha). It's about a 15-20 minute walk and it was really hot so I was looking forward to my nice cool Gong Cha bubble tea. When I got to where it was, it was not there. The shop was closed! There was not another Gong Cha nearby so I had to sadly wander for a bit trying to find an alternative. I eventually ended up at Cafe Bene and splurged a little. At Gong Cha, I would usually spend about 4,000 Won or $3.50 on a good sized drink. I bought this fancy schmancy drink with mango sorbet and chunks (because I thought it would look pretty and taste really good and it did) for about 7,000 Won or $6.50. That was an expensive drink but I felt that I deserved it particularly after having walked all the way to the Gong Cha that no longer exists. This was my free tea from finishing the stamp tour at the street museum with my Korean friend's aunt! It was delicious! We also had this amazingly light, fluffy, and creamy cheesecake that this cafe makes in house every day. It was wonderful!
This last weekend, I spent time with the friend I usually hang out with but there was also a special treat in the form of my Korean friend's family! They invited me out for lunch on Sunday (there was way more food than is just in this picture!) and we also ended up going on this amazing stamp/scavenger hunt. Every time I am with my Korean friend's family I am awestruck by how generous and kind they are. They are always extremely kind and helpful. I find that whenever I am with them, it is just like being with family! I'm hoping to meet up with them again before I leave. I can't believe that I leave four weeks from tomorrow and my time at my school is finished three weeks from tomorrow!
Cherry blossom season is quite exciting here in Korea. About a week ago, the cherry blossoms bloomed and they are beautiful! I didn't really realize how quickly spring had come. One day, there were almost no flowers on the trees outside of my school and the next day: BAM Look at all of those flowers!! They are AMAZING. So, to celebrate the cherry blossoms, my friend and I went to Seokchon Lake Park which is near Lotte World, Lotte Tower, and the Lotte department store. This is a man made lake in front of the tower and Lotte world. Lotte Tower actually just opened about two weeks ago and these giant swans in the lake were commissioned for the opening of the tower. It is one of the tallest buildings in the world now. There were TONS of people at the park. It was kind of tough to navigate around but we bobbed and weaved our way around the lake. We ended up in several different places. There were vendors along the walkway selling different things. We bought fake cherry blossom clips to put in our hair and we also got our faces painted! it was glorious! We walked around for quite some time and eventually went to take a break at the mall/department store nearby. We got a late lunch (beef with beef broth and rice, green onion, and kimchi), walked around the ENTIRE mall/department store and came across a random fansigning event for the kpop group Highlight (formerly known as B2ST aka Beast). There were sooooo many people! Eventually, we made it back outside. It was quite dark but the cherry blossoms were lit up so nicely! There were areas lit up with regular lights and an entire section lit up with colors!! It was so pretty! At the end of the night, I was sad to go home but it was such a great day!
In Korea, there is a large population and very little space. This means that there are many apartment complexes with many floors. I live in a small apartment complex and I am on the third floor in this walk-up. My apartment building is one of many in the neighborhood that are all sandwiched together. The streets are also quite small. They can fit about one car! I'm also quite close to a subway station. I am probably a 1 minute walk away from the subway! Overall, my neighborhood is pretty quiet and very chill, even though we are very close to a busy main street. In addition to being heavily populated, Korea likes to stay up late. Many places do not open until the afternoon and they stay open until very late. This means that my night owl tendencies work perfectly here! I usually do get up reasonably early though! I usually have some kind of bread or pastry that I've bought for breakfast. Korean bakeries make this delicious sweet red bean paste filled bread and other delicious pastries that I love to eat!In Korea, there is a large population and very little space. This means that there are many apartment complexes with many floors. I live in a small apartment complex and I am on the third floor in this walk-up. My apartment building is one of many in the neighborhood that are all sandwiched together. The streets are also quite small. They can fit about one car! I'm also quite close to a subway station. I am probably a 1 minute walk away from the subway! Overall, my neighborhood is pretty quiet and very chill, even though we are very close to a busy main street. In addition to being heavily populated, Korea likes to stay up late. Many places do not open until the afternoon and they stay open until very late. This means that my night owl tendencies work perfectly here! I usually do get up reasonably early though! I usually have some kind of bread or pastry that I've bought for breakfast. Korean bakeries make this delicious sweet red bean paste filled bread and other delicious pastries that I love to eat! After this, I walk to my school. It's about a ten to fifteen minute walk depending on the traffic light and how fast I decide to walk up the slightly steep hills of my neighborhood. When I get to my school, I change my shoes into my indoor slippers to avoid getting too much dirt in the school. This is something that every student and every teacher does. It's really neat and it means that I get to wear extremely comfortable shoes all day! I teach a class almost every period. After four periods, it is then lunch time. Lunch is a little different at our school. The school orders the lunch in every day and it is delivered to every classroom. Each class has their own lunch cart that sits in the hallway and near the end of fourth period the carts get filled. We all bring our lunch cart with the different foods on it into the classroom or staff room. There are trays for the food and spoons and chopsticks for silverware. We all serve ourselves lunch from the provided food. Every day is something different but there is always rice, soup, and some kind of kimchi. The other foods could be a protein or a starch or a fruit or vegetable. Sometimes we get special juice or yogurts. It's a delicious surprise every day! We then clean up our cart and put it back into the hallway where the food containers are whisked away to be returned for another day. After lunch, I teach a few more classes and eventually the day ends and I head home. By the time I get home, it is just about dinner time. Now, in Korea, eating out is not too expensive. A lot of times, buying and cooking all of your food can be more expensive than simply eating out. So, I usually go home and then I go out to eat somewhere in my neighborhood. There are MANY places to eat near my apartment. I can always go to the convenience store that is a 30 second walk from my apartment or I can go and get kimbap down the street or ddukbokki and twigim across the street. I can walk a little further and go get naengmyeon or cold noodles. I can even go get Burger King if I want. There are so many options and all of them are delicious! Usually, I'll go out to eat and then depending on how I feel, I will go back home and rest until the next day but sometimes, I go and explore different areas of my neighborhood. In doing this, I've found parks, fun restaurants that I want to try, and small street markets where they sell lots of different foods and goods. It's really fun to see all of the different things that are in my neighborhood!
Now on weekends, when I'm not teaching, I like to go out into Seoul and explore wherever I can. I've been to many different places so far! I've been to Gangnam, Itaewon, Insadong, Hongdae, and Myeongdong which are all different districts in Seoul. I just hop on the subway and go wherever I want. Currently, it's cherry blossom season so this weekend, I'm planning on going out to a few different parks to see the beautiful cherry blossoms in bloom. I have now been in Seoul for about one month. I can't believe that I'm almost halfway done with my program. I've really enjoyed myself so far, and my school and all of the teachers have been amazing! In starting this experience, I was expecting something that was very similar to the experiences I had student teaching in America. I did not quite get what I was expecting. I'm treated more like a full fledged teacher here and it is quite interesting and nice. I also think I'm probably the school's first student teacher so that is pretty special. I think what has surprised me most about this experience is how welcoming everyone has been. Every person in the school is extremely nice, helpful, and welcoming. Everyone from my cooperating teacher to the principal are so kind and helpful. On our of my first days, the other native English speaker in the school who is contracted by the government to teach English and I were eating lunch with the other teachers and we all together decided that it would be great to have a bit of a language exchange. Almost everyday on the white board in our staff room, we write words or phrases in both English and Korean so that we can all learn a bit about each other. Thankfully, I am picking up more and more Korean as time goes on and I'm pretty excited about that. I can order food in a basic way and I can make small comments about things. I'm not good at holding an actual conversation but I can get by alright. Also, thanks to the language we share as a staff, I know a lot of random words and sentences! I can say, "Tomorrow, we will plant flowers." 내일 우리는 꽃을 심을거야 (Naeil oorineun kocheul shimulkeoya)! I've also reached out a few times to people who I know in Seoul and we have been getting together and having a great time! Overall, I'm achieving my goals and this experience is turning out to be what I hoped for and even more!
In being here, I have found that the Korean culture is a very welcoming culture. I was invited to play badminton with the other staff during one of my first weeks here and now I play with them every week! We all eat food together and play badminton in a very friendly environment. Also, as a whole school including students and parents, we planted flowers in a schoolwide initiative to make the school beautiful. I worked with staff members and families just to do something fun and good for the school. Culturally, according to my cooperating teacher, teachers in Korea are viewed as very important and as they are employed by the government, they are taken very seriously. There is less directly visible parent involvement in the school but there is so much support for students and the school from the parents and the community. I think a lot of this experience is enhanced by just saying yes. I trust the people in my school and the people who I work with in my program very much. They have shown that they are very considerate, thoughtful, and generous people who want to help and share their culture with me. Because I have been to Seoul and Korea before, I came into this experience with a few expectations but I maintained a very open mind. I have had an amazing past month or so and I would definitely recommend that anyone considering going abroad go for it and remember to keep an open mind and not be afraid to say yes. Last Wednesday, we planted flowers at our school! It is a part of the school's mission to make the school beautiful and to keep it beautiful to show pride in both the school and in the community. I was asked to come and help! I was working with many of the students, other teachers, and parents of students at the school to help plant many flowers around the school's front. It was a ton of fun and it was wonderful to see everyone working together and showing so much pride in the school! I can't wait until the flowers grow in a bit. I think it will look absolutely AMAZING!
On a side note, I had a magical moment with one little girl today, who I think is in the second or third grade, when we were planting flowers. She kept coming up to me and the native English speaking teacher and kept saying how she speaks English very well. We both said that she did and she kept wanting to show off to us different things. It was super cute! Eventually, she got onto the topic of Let It Go from Frozen so we sang Let It Go from Frozen and it was magical! This little girl was super adorable and was so proud that she could sing Let It Go in English. It was a lovely experience and is one of the joys of teaching and working with children in general! Korea and umbrellas man . . . Being from the Pacific Northwest, we kind of grow up with the concept of "I don't need an umbrella. That's what a rain coat is for!" It's also often WAY too windy to use an umbrella without it almost immediately turning inside out or breaking. Well, here in Korea, EVERYONE uses umbrellas. It's really weird for me. It's like the exact opposite from the PNW. At my university, we joke that all of the freshmen and the people who are not from the PNW are the ones using umbrellas. Even though it rains all the time, very few people use umbrellas! Using an umbrella can be disastrous and completely ineffective in the PNW.
It rained a decent amount yesterday so I walked to school in my rain coat without an umbrella (I also don't own an umbrella) and I felt like I was getting really funny looks. As I left to go home from my school, without an umbrella, one of my fellow teachers stopped me so that they could go inside and grab an extra umbrella for me to use. It was super nice but also super unnecessary. I did appreciate it however! It was SO NICE!!! I ended up using the umbrella all the way back to my apartment but it felt so weird. I don't think I have used an umbrella in the last four years! When it has rained here, it seems like most people don't wear rain coats and therefore use umbrellas instead. Almost everyone I saw out when it was raining were wearing their usual clothes and jackets and there were few to no rain coats in sight aside from my own. I think if I came from a place where umbrellas were used more frequently then I would be all about using an umbrella but I don't know if I will get used to using an umbrella. I also don't particularly like having to keep track of umbrellas when I'm indoors and worry about not hitting anyone with my umbrella when I'm walking around. When I am using a rain coat, I can be agile and do whatever I want without much worry. Sure, my raincoat will get wet but that's what it's for. At least I'll be dry! Here is a gallery of pictures from the last week or so that I haven't posted blog posts for yet. They will come but I've been a touch busy! They're coming I promise but for now here's a ton of pictures!
I have been a fan of Kpop since 2010. I haven't ever really had the opportunity to go to a Kpop concert. Even when bands come to the US I was never close enough to justify a trip to go see a Kpop artist or group. It was just too expensive, the timing wasn't right, or it was too far away.
On Wednesday, on a whim, I decided to google concerts in Seoul. I happened upon a concert for B.A.P (a band that I quite like) for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It wasn't super cheap but I thought that this would be a great opportunity to go and experience my first Kpop concert. It. Was. AMAZING!!! I had debated with myself for a bit on whether to get a standing or seated ticket. They were both the same price so I ended up buying a seated ticket. I think that for me this was the best decision but I will touch on that later. So when I got to the venue, I had read online that I should get there early so I left my apartment between 10 and 10:30 for a 3pm concert time. I ended up getting to where I needed to be WAY too early so I went and found a cafe to chill at down in the subway for a while. While I was there I saw a bunch of others who were going to the concert. Lots of foreigners too! After a while, I decided to go and find where I was supposed to pick up my ticket. I had ordered my ticket online and had to pick it up at the venue so I was a touch stressed about that! I eventually found where I was supposed to go but the booth didn't open until noon so I just ended up chilling in this little courtyard area and looking at all of the big posters and donations made in the names of the band and the band's members. While waiting I met several great girls from all over. I met one girl from the Netherlands, one from Germany, two from Belgium, one from France, and one from New York. It was really cool to see so many foreigners there! Also, while I was waiting, there were many fan club members passing out different posters and cards for fans of the band who were attending the concert. I ended up with a few signs, photocards, and stickers from these fanclub members. It was great! I also decided to buy a souvenir light stick as well. I really liked how they had the merch booth set up. You would fill out a paper that had pictures of all of the available merch and then you take it to the booth. You then pay and take the receipt to the next table and they will get you your merch! It was great and it wasn't busy at all! So, in regards to seated versus standing, I was extremely happy to have a seated ticket. I didn't have to queue for a spot in the pit and I had a great view of the stage from my seat. I was worried that I might not be able to see because I am short but with the seat it was perfect. I also didn't have to worry about being stepped on, pushed, or otherwise have my personal space invaded. It was great! I could see the band very well I just wasn't as close to the stage as some people might have wanted. It was a great seat for a casual fan! The only down side was that those of us with seated tickets were not allowed to enter for seating until after almost all of the standing ticketed people were in. It wasn't a problem because we were guaranteed seats but it was a bit stressful thinking "it's almost time for the concert and we're not even in the building yet!" The staff however were great about helping those of us who do not speak Korean to know when to go in and where to go. During the concert, the band would perform a set of songs, talk with the crowd, perform another set, and talk some more. It was really fun but I think that if I spoke Korean it would have been even more amazing. There was one point where two of the boys in the band each brought a fan up on stage and gave them a special gift. It was really cute and it was a nice break between the songs. The band performed songs from many of their albums and had great energy for the entire show. I was so happy to be there and I was a bit sad when it was over even though they had like 3 encores! I would definitely recommend going to a Kpop concert if you can. You can even go by yourself! I did and I had a great experience. I would love to go to another concert while I am here. I haven't really seen any other bands that I like post about concerts but I hope that I can find another for a good price and go! Overall, this was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I went to this concert! It was a fabulous experience that I don't think I could have really gotten anywhere but in Seoul! I am realizing that there is a lot of stuff that I have in America that I take for granted particularly when it comes to entertainment and the internet. In coming to Korea, I had assumed that I would be able to use all of the same entertainment services that I used at home like online television, Pandora music streaming, and my family's digital collection of movies that are online. Come to find out, I can't access really any of that here. It was interesting. Some of my apps on my devices wouldn't open because they weren't supported. It was kind of a frustrating adventure to figure out what I could use and what I couldn't. I could still use Netflix and YouTube but the content was slightly different. I don't mind too much because particularly with Netflix, there are things that Korean Netflix has that American Netflix doesn't like all three Lord of the Rings movies in their extended forms and Ru Paul's Drag Race so, I'm not complaining there but I don't have my favorite TV show Parks and Recreation which makes me just a touch sad. Leslie Knope can no longer brighten my day through Netflix but that's okay!
I also discovered that if you use a free Spotify account, you are only allowed to use it abroad for 14 days before they shut you out of the account. After that, you have to pay to use Spotify. I was slightly dismayed by this but due to the short length of my stay and the student discount I could get, I decided that paying for it was worth it. Particularly since I can't get Pandora here. Overall, it's been a bit of an experience in figuring out what I can and cannot use but it's been pretty nice to not feel like I have to watch a certain show to clear out a DVR or to keep up with the constant new episodes of so many shows. I wonder if this lack of engaging in so many shows will affect me when I come back home? It'll be interesting to find out! I almost had a near disaster this afternoon. I was making comments on student work in a pretty dark blue marker. I happened to be wearing a pure white shirt. I think you can guess what happened. I dropped the marker while it still had the cap off and it took a nice tumble down my white shirt. Thankfully, it was a Mr. Sketch marker and they are extremely washable! I took a quick trip to the bathroom and sponged off the ink with some paper towels and my shirt looks brand new! I must say: Thank goodness for washable and water soluble markers!!! I know it's a risk to wear white but it's a risk that I'm willing to take!
I'm used to the usual glaring "beep, beep, beep" or "whah, whah, whah" of American school bells. They are loud, annoying, and frankly very unpleasant. In my school here in Korea, the bells are really interesting. The bells for classes play songs! There is a lovely bell rendition of Fur Elise and at least one other tune. I'm not sure what the other tune is but it's nice. Much better than an annoyingly loud "beep, beep, beep." It's still loud and can be a little startling but it's not as annoying and is actually kind of fun!
You know you're in a first grade classroom when a student whips out a fried chicken strip thing from nowhere in the first five minutes of class and then proceeds to ask the teacher what to do with it. They then proceed to pull out a second chicken strip and ask what to do with it! All of the other students were so interested in this! I had to really keep myself from laughing out loud when this happened. It felt so much like my classroom back home! Oh the joys of first grade!
So, I'm learning a bit about personal space in Korean public spaces.
I had read online before I came to Korea that because Korea is such a small country and there are so many people, it is common for people to bump into other people and not really worry about it. People wouldn't say sorry or excuse me because it was so common and normal. I'm really seeing this now. It's really weird for me! When I was walking around and shopping in Myeongdong, I was often in a tight spot with a lot of people around me. I was bumped into several times and I even bumped into other people a few times. It really wasn't a big deal and even when I said "excuse me" to pardon myself, people didn't really care. It was an interesting feeling. The same thing happened on my subway ride home. On the last leg of my subway journey, there were so many of us in the car that I couldn't move. People weren't being rude or pushing and shoving. It was very civilized and everyone was very chill about it. Again, it was weird for me but I think I could get used to it. |
AllisonThese are the chronicles of my time before, during, and after student teaching in South Korea! Archives
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