See Ya Camp Fulbright

My last day of teaching at camp wrapped up on Wednesday. It was an eye-opening experience as to what a 'normal' Korean classroom might look like - blank stares from a few students, blatant napping from others, even some who only managed to pick up every fifth word I was saying. I knew I was spoiled teaching the advanced class first, but this experience made me hope I get placed teaching high level students even more. There is a lot I can learn from these kids, but my passion isn't teaching ESL - I hope to be able to incorporate as much scholastic content as possible into my lessons.

It's not as if the lesson went badly or I wouldn't call it a valuable experience - quite the opposite. Constructive criticisms that I received from my instructor and peers will go a long way to making sure I am a successful teacher in Korea. I'll never understand those teachers who shun feedback from their colleagues. If nothing else, teaching is a profession where you can't let pride and hubris get in the way. No matter how talented or experienced you are, there is always room to improve. Always.

Placement day is fast approaching. In less than a week, I'll know the location of the school where I'll be teaching for the next year of my life. The ceremony that occurs sounds dramatic and intense. They won't announce where we're placed in alphabetical order but rather by regions of Korea. Everyone that is placed in a given region will come up to the stage and receive their specific school placements. This way, everyone quickly knows the other ETAs who are placed around them. It's definitely a dramatic way to announce some pretty important information. We'll see how it goes.

Special thanks to Chelsea and Adrienne for their wonderful letters. You two tie in the first leg of the "Let's Send Neill Snail Mail" race. I was given them during a group meeting and everyone was jealous that I had not just one, but two letters. Very sweet of you both, thank you.

Just flew through season 1 of the Sopranos in about two days. If you're looking to get into a new show, this one I highly recommend.

From the Summit of Songnisan

The story-telling power of photography is not disputed, but 1000 words couldn't do these views justice.

Stop for a Minute

It's not even three weeks into my trip and I have already found myself falling into routines. Any qualified teacher or administrator will tell you that classroom routines are necessary for keeping students motivated and interested in the content of the class. I'm not one to disagree with this theory - routines are amazing for maintaining order and creating a comfortable classroom environment. The routines I'm referring to are of a different breed...

Maybe it's because we're stifled on this campus or our orientation schedule is packed, but I've found myself becoming a bit lackadaisical when it comes to everyday activities - I go to Korean class, eat lunch, go to some meetings, eat dinner, catch up on some emails, do some work, then go to bed. While this could be the nature of orientation, I refuse to catch myself taking views like this for granted:

A quick side note - that giant projector screen has since been shredded by a storm in the past week. Needless to say, the view is still spectacular.

I refuse to take any part of this experience for granted or fall into a routine where I forget to stop, take a look around, and reflect on my environment and state of being. Orientation can be monotonous but there are opportunities to step outside my comfort zone and try something new every day. This is the attitude I plan to remind myself of every day. If I don't, the year will be over before I know it and I'll be coming home with regrets.

P.S. - Welcome back Jed Lowrie. Boston missed you.

First of all...

...apologies for the week-long hiatus. Preparations for the weekend vacation and the beginning of Camp Fulbright took up a lot of time last week. The orientation schedule is still packed with Korean language classes but the next couple of weeks are primarily dedicated to the camp that started today on campus. About 150 young Koreans have invaded the university to participate in a 2-week, intensive English class and so far, the campers seem really excited, eager, and energetic. I taught my very first lesson today to a group of 11, advanced-level, students ranging from elementary to high school age. The campers are grouped into their English classes based on ability and those of us with prior teaching experience were encouraged to sign up to teach the highest ability levels. The kids were great! Not only did they laugh at my corny jokes and antics - great confidence booster as a teacher - they were motivated and excited to learn at 3:00 in the afternoon after a full day that started at 7:30 in the morning! Korean kids are used to operating on very few hours of sleep and often stay at their schools or hagwons until 11 or 12 at night. Not exactly the ideal day for a typical American student but it's the only way Korean students know.

Fulbright is really into sending us out in the middle of nowhere and this weekend at the temple was no different. We stayed at a tourist hotel down the hill and got our first legitimate day off in 2 1/2 weeks - not before hiking up a mountain in the rain to visit Haeinsa (one of the 3 Jewel Temples in Korea). Our visit on Friday was one of our only scheduled activities for the weekend but it proved to be pretty adventurous. Even though we got poured on up and down the mountain, the temple itself was breathtaking. Our tour guide, a practicing monk at the temple, mentioned a "strong and pure" energy that you could feel throughout the complex and I'm serious when I say he wasn't lying. The monks safeguard over 80,000 wooden blocks on which the entire teachings of the Buddha are preserved in traditional calligraphy. It's really a sight to behold when you stare between the hallway at all of the engravings.

Our living accommodations rivaled those of the monks in terms of simplicity. Traditional Korean hotels have pads that patrons spread out on the floor and sleep side-by-side without mattresses as we know them. Needless to say it wasn't the most comfortable two nights of sleep, especially with the cold I picked up on the air-conditioned bus while I was soaking wet from hiking in the monsoon. Saturday was low-key and a welcome day of relaxation. Per usual at Fulbright, we were thrown right back into meetings on Sunday but this one turned out to be one of the most useful: by Friday we're required to submit an online form indicating our placement preference for the coming year. Fulbright Korea likes to give us a chance to make a case for an area of the country we'd like to work and study in but obviously they can't always accommodate everyone. At this point, I'm still very undecided about a preference so any suggestions/advice before Friday would be welcome.

Happy Monday.

미국 사람 이에요

When talking with people, it's always smart to start with the bad news first - especially if there isn't much of it. On that note, I failed my first Korean quiz. Allow me to set the record straight - a 65% (aka 13/20) or below on any of our Korean language quizzes constitutes a failure by Fulbright's standards. Part of our quiz was dedicated to dictations meaning we listened to our teacher speak six words and we had to write them down in hanguel. Not as easy as it sounds. For obvious reasons, this is the part of the quiz that killed me. Our orientation coordinators are pretty serious about us keeping our Korean grades up. Mandatory study hall with them and our Korean language instructors is in effect if we can't bring up our grades - a small price to pay at this point if the return is getting to live in Korea.

I started calligraphy class last night with a handful of other people from my group. We didn't end up doing any calligraphy this time since our instructor wanted to introduce us to the history and basics of the art. This dude is VERY Korean. One of our orientation coordinators and couple of Fulbrighters had to translate because he literally spoke zero English. He would speak for about 45 seconds to a minute in Korean and the subsequent translations would last 10 to 15 seconds. I don't think I'm wrong for thinking something got lost in translation? It's hard enough to pay attention in class when you understand the language the professor is speaking. Overall it sounds like it's going to be a pretty engaging class. The artistic, personal, and spiritual pieces that make up calligraphy sound especially interesting to explore.

Patrick Linehan, Minister Counselor from the American Embassy in Korea, came to speak to us today. He was a pretty interesting guy and had some good tips for us related to getting the most out of our year in Korea. Also, we apparently have Thanksgiving dinner and a pool party at the Ambassador's house later in the semester?! Not on the same day of course. I was hoping to get a chance to chat with Linehan afterwards (he's a native Bostonian!) but they whisked him away about as quickly as he arrived.

On an unrelated note let's hope David Ortiz can bring some of that power from last night to the second half of the season hmmm???

The First Week

Day 6 - A week in Korea has just about come and gone but it honestly feels like I've lived a lifetime. They've had us so busy with Korean, cultural workshops, and teaching discussion groups that it's hard to find time to breath. Even tomorrow (Saturday) is a full schedule. Various speakers (including the executive director of everything having to do with Fulbright Korea) have mentioned that the teaching assistantship here is highly regarded throughout the world of international fellowships and it's becoming apparent through our orientation. This is intense job training and our orientation coordinators take it really seriously. It's definitely helpful and we're learning a lot; I can't imagine how unprepared I would have felt if I'd been thrown into my homestay right away.

Our Korean language instructors have stepped it up a notch too. My first quiz is Monday and I'm beyond unprepared. We got our first vocab sheet on Thursday so now I actually have to start learning what words mean! Why couldn't we just stick to perfecting the alphabet?!

On Sunday it sounds like we're getting a chance to explore outside little Goesan. It's not official yet since they have limited space on the bus from Jungwon and they still have to draw numbers for the lottery but about half of us are going to get the chance to go to Cheongju. Our orientation coordinators are leading excursions throughout the city and it's a great chance to explore more of Korea. More to come on that next week.

Other than that there's not a lot more to report. We've had a couple of really informative teaching workshops that have helped me reflect on my teaching methods and philosophy but a lot of it is stuff I already know from this past year and my teaching experiences. We got "Fulbright's Official South Korea Teaching Manual" with tons of tried and tested lessons which will definitely come in handy during emergencies. Korean scheduling in schools is apparently very unpredictable. I've heard stories of past ETAs having classes sprung on them at the last minute because it's been their co-teachers birthday or something like that. I'll have to work on always being on my toes.

That's all for now. Happy Friday back in America.

Jungwon University

Day 3 - Korean classes started today. I can only imagine how humorous us beginners must sound to our native, Korean language teachers as we struggle through the alphabet letter by letter. They seem like good sports and definitely eager to help us learn. One thing that I've found in my short time here is that showing a Korean genuine interest in something they are also interested in is a great way to start forming a relationship. I suppose this goes for all people but the Koreans I have met seem extremely excited and eager to chat when they realize that we have a common bond. Showing excitement for learning the language will go a long way with my language teachers during this 6 week period. Keeping from getting discouraged is going to be the difficult part. A lot of the sounds are similar to English when spoken alone but once you start combining them with other Korean sounds (and quickly) it becomes soooo easy to get lost. They're starting us off with the basic sounds, mouth movements, and alphabet but I've picked up handful of words (one of which is "jan" - learned at the bar last night).

Speaking of Jungwon, how about some pictures? It was difficult for me to imagine what this place would look like before coming here so hopefully this can give you all back home something to relate to. Like you can probably tell and like I said before, it's absolutely nothing like a college campus back home. Although in the staircases in some of their academic buildings, Jungwon displays giant photos and descriptions of "big name" American universities (Duke, Cornell, Harvard, not Wheaton). Not sure why a new university that still wants to recruit students would want to advertise colleges abroad. Regardless, you can definitely feel the differences in the campus culture (there are gender-segregated wings and separate elevators to get to the rooms). They've even got cameras to make sure guys and girls aren't mingling in the residence halls - Jungwon's policy, not Fulbright's. We outnumber the Korean students on campus this summer but it's been really nice to run into some and start to get to know them.

Interacting with Koreans has been so easy. The ones I have met are really excited to practice English and chat with foreigners. A stark contrast from my experience with the Austrians. A bunch even volunteered to take us out last night into Goesan - the nearest town and a 10 minute walk from campus. The night started with some Korean karaoke, which is hilariously different from American karaoke and ended with spicy octopus and lots of traditional, Korean "soju" - look it up. P.S. if I come home and start pouring drinks for everybody and passing and taking everything with two hands, know that these are centuries old Korean customs that I picked up on that first night.

Earlier in the day, our Orientation Coordinators had us running around Goesan trying to complete a photo scavenger hunt. We must have looked absolutely ridiculous moving around in packs in this small Korean town that doesn't see a lot of foreigners asking about "D-Mart" (Korean grocery store) and "kimbap" restaurants. I couldn't help thinking about what I would have done in Concord center if a bunch of Koreans approached me asking where things were and the only words of theirs that I knew were Shop & Stop and pizza. Oh and we were all wearing name-tags. Absurd.

Until next time. Off to study Korean...?

It has begun...

and I'm already exhausted. While it's probably the best move to get us into the swing of things and into a Korean schedule I wouldn't have complained about a little bit more time to rest. After some free time at the airport and seeing highlights of Germany crush Argentina (wow) we loaded the buses and headed off to orientation.

The drive through the Korean countryside was pretty striking. I wish I had been more awake to appreciate it but it was a nice introduction into what the country is all about. Everything is SO green and there are beautiful mountains surrounding this entire area. The university where they're holding our orientation is literally nothing like a college campus back home. The architecture is a combination of traditional Korean and what looks like the structure of a government building from DC. It's difficult to describe in so many words but it's a great place to start getting adjusted to this country and its culture.

The adjustment to Korean food hasn't been difficult so far. I was a little bit disappointed when they had a poor man's excuse for french fries at dinner tonight - I'd rather them make us dive headfirst into the kind of food we'll be seeing all year. I can already tell that rice as the main course of almost every meal is going to get old...then again so is Korean cafeteria food in general.

Besides being late to my very first meeting today things are running smoothly. We're exploring the surrounding town tomorrow so I'll know a little more about what this area has to offer. Until then all I want to do is sleep...

Anticipation

The bittersweet feeling of anticipation can be overwhelming. For some reason, in this case, "see you later" and "talk to you soon" feel strangely like "goodbye". I know this isn't the case - family and friends and the people who matter will never feel too distant. But the distance itself is daunting. In this instance, across the world is no joke. When asked over past few weeks and months - "has it hit you yet? Can you believe you're going?" - I always responded "no." Starting today, it has.

To all of the people close to me, thank you for everything you've done to make this opportunity possible. Each one of you has played a significant role, sometimes an unconscious one, in my development and I can't express my gratitude for your impact. I'll be thinking of you all and I'm thrilled to share my experience with you.

For those of you that plan on reading this regularly, I'll let you know in advance that this will probably be the most emotional post you'll see. The idea of this is not to chronicle when I'm homesick or to expose my inner thoughts, but rather to document and outline physical, mental, and spiritual experiences. Like I've said, I'll get the hang of it. In the meantime, in 24 hours I'll be boarding a plane in Chicago bound for Seoul. If you've got any last minute business between now and then, you know where to find me.

Until Korea, cheers.

Crunch Time

Here we go - it's officially crunch time. The bags are mostly packed and I think I've got everything I'm going to need. Some say eight deodorants is too many for a year - I disagree. If you're going to run out of something, it shouldn't be your favorite deodorant. I've never been one to second guess my packing - I'd rather just see what happens and live with how I've done it once I get where I'm going. Then again I almost always forget something important that I'll most likely need. Either way we'll see how it goes.

I've never done anything like this before so apologies if it seems disjointed or choppy to start. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. It's hard for me to imagine the scope of experiences that are coming my way but I think this will be an effective way to catalog them. A friend told me that I'm going to want to look back on this someday and be nostalgic but I also hope those who are close to me can use this to follow my travels. Be prepared for some awkward/memorable stories if nothing else. Wish me luck - hope I don't need too much of it...