진주

So the big day has come and gone. For the next year, I'll be teaching in a city called Jinju (진주) located towards the southern coast of Korea. Jinju is considered rural by Korean standards with regards to geography and development but there are 350,000 people living there. In a country of 48 million, the classifications for rural/suburban/urban are very different than ours. There is a river that separates the city into a couple of different parts and all of the pictures I've seen so far look beautiful. In terms of spending time outdoors and being in close proximity to some spectacular historical and natural sights, Jinju looks great. The city is famous for its raw beef bibimbap which combines a traditional Korean rice dish with beef and sesame oil. For spice lovers it's apparently a treat.

The school I'm placed at is called Gyeongnam Science High School. As they were announcing our placements, the Fulbright South Korea director read off the name of my school and all of the Korean language teachers (who made up our entire audience) reacted with "oohs" and "ahs." Obviously this was a little bit unnerving at first since I knew nothing about the school. Turns out it's a school for gifted students and one of the most well known schools in Korea. My friends have begun affectionately referring to it as the "Harvard of Korean high schools." In short, my students may have phenomenal English speaking abilities. It's getting them to volunteer to use their skills that's going to be the issue. Looks like I got my wish when I asked for advanced students...

Unfortunately, Jinju is pretty isolated from all of the other ETAs. It's a 2 hour bus ride to the closest major city and it's obvious how remote my location is when I look at the map that shows where all of us have been placed. While it's going to be a great placement in terms of improving my language ability and making Korean friends, it's scary to think about how alone I might feel sometimes. Granted, I'd bet every one of us is going to be having these types of feelings at one point or another.

The homestay situation is still up the air. The schools are in charge of organizing those and they're always finalized after placements. Odds are I'll be living in Jinju but there is a chance that I could be living 30-45 minutes away and commuting via public transportation or a carpool. You'll know when I do.

And for those of you interested, it appears that this is the next big thing coming to Boston. Literally. Words can't explain my excitement.