I just found out that I will be spending the next year at Seogwipo Girls' Middle School! I am so excited right now for all the adventures and challenges that I am sure to see in my grant year. I am so thankful to be a Fulbright Grantee and be afforded this opportunity! I will report back later when I know more details, for now all I can say is that I will be living on the south side of Jeju Island- about as far from Seoul as you can get. The school has roughly 500 students and from quick google searches I believe that they are pretty advanced. SO EXCITED! http://www.seogwipo-g.ms.kr/home/home.jsp
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We get our placements in..... a few short hours! *gasp* I know that afterwards everything will change but I don't really have any control over anything at this point so I am just along for the ride. Check in later for the deets.
Much love, Emsloth When I was thinking up the title of this post, my main goal was to encapsulates my feelings during this past week. There was the constant second guessing as I filled out my preference form. There was also the triumph of visiting Seoul on my own, getting back into the swing of being independent. Then there was the sheer terror of trying to make it back to Goesan and second guessing my ability to identify the correct bus and procure a ticket to the location I want to go . There where many moments this past week when I just didn't know what to do. Then there was today. Today was beautiful. Today I ate good food and laid in bed and played with kids and did yoga. I didn't have to worry. I didn't feel so lost. It was just what I needed. So my placement form. The whole thing was electronic but they gave us a paper copy before hand so that we could be prepared going in. The 13 categories were as follows: type, gender, size, english ability, religious affiliation, new school, homestay, location size, environment, specific location, resource availability, Other ETAs (that you either want to be near or not) and accessibility to extracurriculars. I tried to explain the s%*t out of my answers in the boxes provided. It was kinda funny, a lot of people told me that they "didn't really have any preferences" and my response was "awesome, cause I have tons". I guess with that is the heightened chance that I will be sorely disappointed...but what are you gonna do? I know what I want. I am a bit frustrated with the lack of communication that has accompanied the placement forms. The party line from the OCs is "it depends" and when asked specifics its usually going to be an "I don't know" or "we'll talk about it later". While I don't see myself as a strict rule follower, I am someone who likes to have all the cards on the table. It doesn't seems right to me that there is so much being omitted. However, I am not running this ship, so who I am to say? So what do you do when you don't know what to do? I'm still working on that one, but for now my answer is just wait and see.
As week three comes to a close (half way through orientation might I add) I am beginning to tire of the "orientation life". This past weekend was a really nice reprieve- we went to Donghae to relax by the ocean. Donghae literally translates to East sea so we were in a city called East sea swimming in the East sea. I swam and swam and swam. I also ate some delicious crab and visited a lighthouse. It was idyllic to say the least. We also got a reprieve from the food at Jungwon which was nice. It was kinda funny to pull up to the hotel and realize that the school and the hotel were affiliated. Some of the second years had joked with us that we would be "surprised by the hotel" by I thought they meant sleeping on "yo" or that the hotel would be typically Korean in its strange ornateness. This whole cult thing has started to freak me out a little bit...at this hotel they had ostriches, turkeys, peafowl, and monkeys all kept in too small cages. Maybe that has something more to do with Korean views on animal rights but it was still kind of disturbing. Regardless, I had a great time rooming with Leanndra and Amelea and a great time just relaxing. No lesson planning. No Korean. Just me and the water and friends. Getting back to Jungwon on Sunday night (we visited some Korean historical sites but nothing of huge importance and it was soooo hot) I had gotten a package from Karen (감사합니다 한국 어마!). She got me candy from paris baguette, so delicious, so cute! Then it was back to reality. 1-on-1's about placements, 1-on-1's about lesson plans, lesson planning, placement forms, homestay requests. This week I truly have been wiped out. Which is why I am writing this blog post instead of going to Taekwondo. I think I may look into TKD at my placement just because I need a class in order to make myself workout...but right now it is kinda painful doing it with fifty foreigners and one instructor. I know the poor guy is trying but for the most part we just look terrible and spend a lot of time not doing anything. I also think it could help with my Korean. I guess we shall see. Ooh this week I taught my first lesson. Being in front of those kids was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be...but the kids at camp fulbright are supposed to be the best of the best so I guess that isn't much to go off of. The main comments I got back was that I was basically a sesquipedalian... yeah, I got chastised for using too long of words such as currency and itinerary. What can I say Word with the Word really ingrained in me that good ole latin and greek based vocabulary. I have had some professors in college try to beat that habit out of me (here's looking at you Prof. Munter) but it just happens. Oh and one of my examples was the order in which you would buy and apartment in Seoul...I definitely am meant to teach higher levels in my opinion. Anyways, these poor intermediate kids still got what I was teaching (woohoo) and I am on to my next lesson with the Advanced kids. My first theme was "I dream" and next weeks is "We care". I get the feeling these themes are annual but its always interesting to see what people do with what they're given. I will try to talk more about the placement form later (maybe after I've gotten my results back) but in the mean time I hope to put up some more pictures. Miss you all! You probably have a lot of questions about this strange strange place, but to be honest I have very few answers. Through internet snooping I have deduced that this school is possibly built by this weird religion/cult. Enjoy! Hello all! I have successfully made it to Korea and started orientation. I feel like I have already been here for weeks (jetlag + constant activities will do that to you). So far I have met some really awesome people, but I haven't gotten a chance to really know people "in depth" yet. I keep having the same conversations with people but I am working hard to get names and cut down on the superficial details (where are you from? where did you go to school?) Anyways, the college we are at is sooooo weird. They call it the marble palace but its...I will include pictures soon I promise. My favorite rumor about the place so far is that is was built so specifically to film a movie about North Korea. Lolz. All I can say is.... there's a fake dinosaur. Yesterday we went on a site visit to a co-ed urban highschool. It was pretty much what I expected. The fulbrighter we got to meet was very interesting. She has been here two years and is renewing for a third. However, while she currently teaches high school, because of some to the changes to education policy in Korea if she wants to stay in the city she works next year she has to teach elementary... so she's moving to teach elementary. Today I am going to an all boys high-school. So we'll see how that goes. Pictures soon!
I am in Indy airport about to take off for the craziest, most awesome, far-from-home, year of my life. You would think after leaving twice a year to go to school in California I would be better at goodbyes by now but, alas, the TSA official had to offer me tissues. And then suggested I take more than one. As excited as I am, it is also scary to leave home and loved-ones behind. Every single time I leave I want to say goodbye to everyone in my life and that just isn't possible. At least I know, from experience, that I really can do this. I also wanted to thank everyone who went out of their way to say goodbye to me- it means so much to me! And if I didn't get to see you, please know that I love you dearly and we will reunite when I return (or you could meet me in Hawaii?) The mantra with the fam has been "February- in Hawai'i". I think just having a plan for when we will see each other next is very comforting. and hey it's hawai'i so woo hoooooo! Anyways, Happy Birthday America! Catch ya on the flipside.
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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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