Korean Class
Korean class is a struggle for me because it is so boring. I am definitely at the top of my class which has been strange but in some ways satisfying. The range of ability in the intermediate class is one semester to three years. So sometimes we cover things that are super elementary. It has given me the chance to work on my speaking much more however. In previous classes I was always the one who had to be coaxed into talking and was very nervous to mess up on grammar structures. In this class I am usually the first one to speak up and I try and fail sometimes too. The other girl in my class at my level did CLS for a summer which really gives me hope that Fulbright will give me the immersive language experience I always felt was so critical (haha) to learning Korean. I really love both of my teachers in their own way. They are really funny and I will be sad to not have them anymore.
TKD
In taekwondo we had our first sparring match this week. You know that video of the two little girls kicking at eachother but not hitting? Thats what most of us looked like. I took on this really cool kid named Ted. He kicked my butt. If I got a chance to do it again I think I would not choose to spar a boy. Lolz. Tuesday is our last class and we're breaking boards.
Orientation
The OCT has overall done an admirable job trying to get us ready to be Korean teachers. I still have doubts about the effectiveness of very smart people to magically be suited for teaching a la TFA but after meeting a few of the English teachers past ETAs co-taught with I'm more than willing to believe that just by the pure virtue of being a native English speaker we have something to offer these kids. As a last caveat I will say that I have felt considerable pressure to present a positive narration of the Fulbright Program so while I have some complaints about Orientation and the Fulbright Korea program I'm going to save them for after Seoul weekend and the contract with my school has been signed.
PS we recently found out we are only guaranteed 18 business days for Winter break.
PSS Don't fret yet fam, I think that given my school had a previous ETA they will grant me a break similar to the one the previous ETA recieved...Feb in Hawaii!