My school took a field trip to Hello Kitty Island. Was it on an island? Technically, everything here on Jeju is "on an island". Was it on it's own island??? No. it was actually pretty far in mainland. The beginning portion of the day was spent going to a career fair for middle schoolers-but I took all the photos at the career fair on my Korean phone..and I haven't figured out how to get those from the phone to the internet....Anyways, the museum was a bit juvenile even for my middle school first graders but I think they enjoyed it more than a day of school (I know I sure did). The other teachers all sat together while I went and had fun (i.e. made a fool of myself). I still don't know the girls well enough to integrate myself into their friend groups but they were all pretty friendly to me. One group of girls even decided to make me pose for pictures with them. I was hoping to buy something at the cafe but everything was so overpriced I couldn't do it. My mom and I went to the Hello Kitty cafe in Sinchon what feels like two lifetimes ago and I know they had better stuff there so I wasn't going to buy ten dollar ice cream. I did end up buying a stamp set at the Hello Kitty Store because, well, I needed it. I have been grading their journals and I want to use English stamps...not easy to find in Seogwipo so instead I went with Hello Kitty stamps.
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In Korea, peace is a topic that is not often discussed. However, the precarious situation between the North and South seems to continually reside on the periphery of everyday life. In the 8 months I have lived in Korea (study abroad + fulbright) I have never felt like I lived in a war zone except when visiting the DMZ. It is actually pretty strange to be reminded of the fact that I live in a country engaged in an ongoing war. I'm sure not everyone in South Korea feels this way, but as a foreigner I am often oblivious to or encouraged not to attend (i.e. protests and rallies) events that could potentially deepen my understanding of the conflict. I was informed of an event going on in Jeju city sponsored by a non-profit called Global Peace Initiative as part of (affiliated with) the UN World Peace day that was both a safe and educational experience.While it mainly focused on Jeju and their unique peace struggle, there was also mention of North Korea as well as other conflicts around the globe such as Gaza. Overall, I really enjoyed the 5 mile walk/hike and all the information presented. It was very tranquil, walking with a few hundred others who were also committed to the goal of peace. I was really excited to see my first authentic dol hareubang or "grandfather statue". They are all over the island but I think the majority are replicas- the one in my picture is the real thing! I also got a bit of reminiscing in as I walked by the statues my mom and I saw when we visited Jeju two years ago. The other thing I was really glad I got a chance to see was a village that had been abandoned following jeju's 4.3 massacre. During a period in 1949/1950 over 30,000 Jeju residents died in a massacre having to do with communist ties. This massacre has only recently started to be discussed and memorialized so seeing this village was a glimpse into the complex emotions and memorials of such places. This village had a sign commemorating what it had once looked like and many of the fences between properties were still standing. I hope I have the opportunity to look into the memorialization and research the events more in depth.
I had a wonderful Chusok with my host family, but this time instead of telling you about it I'm going to let you see through my eyes what the holiday was all about. Much love, Emsloth
On Sunday I had one of the longest days of my life I swear, Actually it wasn't that bad but I have become a huge wuss about sleeping. I wake up for school everyday at 6:50 (can you believe it Big Cat???) which means that I almost always go to bed before midnight. I love going to be early. My bed is calling to me, even though I'm not incredibly tired. There just isn't a whole lot to do late at night on school nights besides hang out with my host siblings so I usually do that for a while before I decide that sleeping is better than watching a Korean drama that I can only understand 50% of. Sunday started with a trip to the ocean. I was pretty nervous going into this trip because when they described where they were going they described rocks and fish and fishing. Now I didn't grow up near the ocean, I grew up on a lake and so when someone says rocks and fish and fishing I get a little scared thinking about how non-conducive that sounds to swimming. However, when we got to the ocean, it quickly became apparent that this was a snorkeling expedition! They even brought equipment for me! It was so cute. My host mom isn't a great swimmer so she mostly stayed near the rocks collecting snails to eat. Host dad snorkeled with me for a while then moved on to fishing. My host siblings snorkeled for a while too, but complained that the water was "too cold" and moved on to catching snails/crabs. I had a wonderful time swimming to my hearts content and seeing some beautiful plant and fish life. It had nothing on the snorkeling I did in Hawaii, but it was pretty awesome. After snorkeling, we went home to shower and then we were back on the road to Jeju-si in no time flat. I wasn't really sure what we were doing there but when I tried to ask, I got zilch. The trip turned out to be to a military festival? We followed that by a walk around Jeju-si and then a samgyupsal dinner. I thought it would end there, but after dinner we headed to someones house for fruit, octopus and wine. We finally got home around 12:30, and boy was the next morning struggle bus. This upcoming weekend/week is Chusok (korean thanksgiving) so I will be heading to Wimi to visit the host-family's family. Catch you on the flip side. Much love, Emsloth. So this weekend, on Saturday, I hopped in a taxi and met my friend Claire. We proceeded to look around wildly to find the bus to Anduk (who knew the Seogwipo city bus terminal was all the way out by the world cup stadium??) Claire lives in Jeju-si but like the amazing person she is she agreed to meet me Seogwipo so that life was a little easier for us on our inaugural outing. From the bus terminal we hopped on the 702 to anduk and got off...and didn't find the trail. We probs walked around a good half hour until we found the actual trail hahaha. The directions were pretty good, but as we would soon learn, following the olle trails is not always super easy. The first part of the trail was beach followed by extreme hiking. I thought we were really in for it. Then once we got over the first hill everything was pretty easy paths. We had a terribly difficult time trying to follow the set course and ended up taking an hour jaunt along the coast but the views were 100% worth it. If you ever find yourself hiking Olle #10 though, be on the lookout for those little blue and red tags. Also, good luck finding the bus stop back. But find it we did! The weather wasn't always cooperating but I am so glad I got the chance to Appa (Dad) owns a meat shop. We don't eat a lot of meat, but his business must be pretty successful because he has four kids. Omma (Mom) mom stays at home for the most part. Having four kids under 15 must be pretty stressful but she doesn't seem too flustered by it. So far we've been shopping together, discussed the merits of underage drinking, and gone on many walks. Yoon-ju (oldest sister) Yoon-ju is a third grader in middle school which makes her the same age as a freshman in America. Next semester she will be in High school which means that I will really only see her until February. She and her sister are only one year apart in school but their time spent studying is already dramatically different. Yoon-ju wants to attend the foreign language high school in Jeju-si which would mean she would live in the dorms. I sort of hope she doesn't get in because she is so sweet, the house would not be the same without her. She wasn't able to go with us to the beach because she signed up for extra class on Sunday. WHo does that? Yoon-ju. Yeon-ju (middle sister) Yeon-ju is a second grader in middle school, equivalent to an eighth grader in America. She is funny, and lively, and always willing to indulge me in my desires to do crazy things. She also laughs at me (with me) a lot. Her English isn't very strong but she always tries. She is not super into school from what I can tell but she does attend math and english Hagwons so I know she is smart. Yeon-ju seems to be everybody's favorite- probs because she is so easy going and generally happy. So-min (youngest sister) So-min is the youngest sister, but also the most independent and spirited of the bunch. She is a bit of a tomboy in that she does what she wants when she wants. She is also the best at English in the family which is impressive considering she is 10/11. She is a fourth grader in elementary school and is too energetic for her own good. She seems just young enough that all she wants to play all the time. So-min is the greatest. Hyun-joon (little brother) Hyun-joon is adorable. Like pick up and spin around cute. For an eight year old (first grade) he acts surprisingly like a six year old. Maybe due to korean family structure/age things its more acceptable but I am constantly surprised by how often he cries and whines like a younger child. But he is the cutest little thing when he isn't in a mood. He also doesn't run the roost, which I really like. The girls (especially so-min) have no problem putting him in his place. Also, this is not his greatest photo-op.
Jungwon, you were my home for six very long weeks I am not sad to leave you, not at all your kimchi was terrible, your ceiling had leaks I guess you were good to me, overall So I am playing a bit of catch up on the blog but I am sure you can understand- The last 7 days of orientation were, in some ways, the most grueling of them all. The weekend before this one Fulbright brought us up to Seoul, posted us up in some fancy digs and gave us a lot of information about the coming year. We went to Hwacheon to see the DMZ, had a day off, and attended lectures for two days then back to Goesan for Departure day (post soon to follow) Well, after I wrote that last snetence I lost internet for a while and wrote the rest of this blog post out on word...but what ended up happening was a very long rant about some things that I am not sure how to express yet. I want more time to think on that before posting, look forward to it. However, I want to share the beauty that is Seoul weekend with you all #cantstopwontstop without further ado please enjoy! Today was my first day teaching at Seogwipo Girls Middle School (from here on out I will abbreviate this to SGMS) and it went great! I have a desk in the teachers office with a computer but I also have a classroom with two computers and projector. I feel so blessed. When I contacted the past ETA at SGMS she definitely under sold how awesome this school is. They have a smartboard! and all 10 seasons of friends! and the whole Harry Potter series! It is magical. The only downside is that the school faces the mountain instead of the sea, but there is a tangerine orchard outside my classroom and a refreshing wind. Today is the first nice day since I got to Jeju though so I haven't gotten to see the ocean yet. However it was very clear around Hallasan so you win some you lose some. The office dynamic is pretty hilarious...I haven't had anyone try to tell me "rules"...I am currently typing this at my school computer and from my vantage point the vice principal is totes sleeping. I'm not positive but I think my homestay has wifi...I have connected automatically to it a couple times but no one has outright said anything to me about it. I have four (yes four!) homestay sibs and boy are they cute. The oldest is named yoon-jin and the second oldest is yun-jin. Needless to say, I am still working on getting their names right. The youngest daughter is named So-min and she is in fifth grade. The youngest, a boy, is named hyun-jin, and he is soooooo cute. Don't worry, I will upload photos soon. In other news, Chusok is coming up (yayyyy family time + days off) and my host family has already hopped on the Chusok train so this should be fun! My Korean class final was yesterday and our "graduation" ceremony is tomorrow. Time really does fly when....well it flies when your schedule is jam-packed full. I'm not complaining though, this was one of the better Korean courses I have taken in that because I knew my grade wasn't at stake I felt more comfortable making mistakes. We also had the option of going to office hours every night which was awesome. I often would go and either converse with my professors or just work on my Korean in a setting where I got instant feedback. While I am a bit sad that Korea no longer has a CLEA (even though its still on the CL list) I really hope that my home stay family will greatly help my Korean speaking and listening ability. I still can't believe it has been so long since I left home. I feel like I am just at that point where I don't want to leave Jungwon... that's a lie. The food is terrible. I want to leave for that reason alone. I cannot supplement my Jungwon diet on my 7,000 won a day diet. But I have truly come to love and appreciate the other 74 ETAs that I am sharing this experience with. It will be extremely difficult to leave them come Tuesday. Tomorrow, at 5:15 am *ugh*, we will be heading to Seoul for our graduation so this will probably be the last post until I get to Seogwipo/get settled into my life there. (don't worry mom I will make sure to skype in on my phone this weekend) I still don't know if/who will be hosting me this year, but I am really excited. Also, Sunday/Monday all the ETAs who are renewing will be in Goesan for a little mixer-get-to-know-you type thing. Sorry this post has been rambling, I am so burnt out on studying Korean and preparing a presentation for our final. I will post pictures from the end of orientation/Seoul weekend as soon as possible- until then- Much love, mem |
Author안녕! I'm Emmy and this is my blog detailing my life in Korea with Fulbright mainly through pictures. Feel free to contact me on my about page. TTFN Archives
June 2016
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