Days 45-52

You'd better believe it. I'm finally posting a blog update. It's been a busy busy week.

What happened since my last post? A ton, it seems!

I've met with a bunch of different conversation groups now. I have 9 conversation groups! Rob was going to cut it off at 7, but I said I had time to meet with the 8th group, and then some of my friends asked if they could meet with me. I still don't have any groups on Tuesdays so I said we could meet before I go to school.
The problem with so many groups is that I don't know their names! I feel absolutely terrible. Maybe I should have them all make nametags and then take pictures. :] I'm just kidding, I promise I won't do that. What I'm having them do is tell me their names, and then I'm writing the names in Korean on the paper I have that shows when I meet with everyone and where. I'm practicing listening and writing Korean that way.

This past weekend, Henry and Ji came into Gongju; However, Ji didn't arrive until Sat. evening. Late Saturday morning, we (myself, Victoria, Daniel, Henry, and Joy) decided to have a brunch picnic at the river. It was really nice, but because we didn't get there until 12 and I had a meeting at 1, I didn't have long to stay. However, my meeting with Meok and the department assistant was a lunch picnic at the river! I got to go to a stream leading to the Geumgang, and it was so beautiful there! There were native plants and flowers, and the gazebo we used was right next to the river. I also got to try Sundae. According to wikipedia, it is "made generally by boiling or steaming cows or pig's intestines that are stuffed with various ingredients." It sounds kind of gross, but it tastes really good!

After lunch, we went to the Gongju National Museum. It was fun, but very tiring. After that, the department assistant dropped Meok and I off at school. But before she let us go, she made me to the "O-Ring test." It's an alternative medicine thing, where you are tested for things that are powerful for you. It was weird how it worked! Apparently, white and yellow are bad colors for me. Black, pink, and green are good colors. A silver wedding band would be best, as gold on my ring finger made me very weak.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. We had patbingsu, went to church, had lunch, and then I spent most of Sunday working on lesson plans. It was terrible! I absolutely hate lesson planning. I want to make my classes fun, but sometimes I can't think of anything to do!


I think I might be moving out of my honeymoon phase finally. I seem to be getting sad very easily. (But then again, that's not all that unusal for myself. I'm a crybaby.) People are still asking me about life back home and talking about it just makes me want to cry. There is one question in particular that people ask which usually makes me cry when I get home. I hate missing home this much. I don't want missing home to color my time in Korea as a sad time. It's not like Korea is a bad place, or I'm not having fun. It just isn't home, and there are things and people I love back home that I feel so far away from here in Korea.

Day 44

Today was my second day of teaching and I think it might have been harder than the first! T_T

At least for my first day, I had a lesson plan. For today, I had an idea and I thought I could just wing it. That worked fine for the younger kids, but I forgot how smart the older kids are, and how they don't like playing silly games like "ball toss".
For my great idea of a lesson, I threw the ball to kids and had them say "Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is (blank). I like (blank)." Most of my kids said "ice cream" or "strawberry". I'm not sure how many of them actually like those two things, and how many are just using those two words because they already know them.
Before my 3rd/4th grade class, HyoJu said I needed to assign seats, so before we started class, I had all the kids line up at the front of the classroom, and then I went down the line pointing at different seats. It was hard, because I didn't want to separate the kids who I thought would be fine together, but I didn't want to make it obvious that I was separating the trouble makers. There were some good kids that were separated and some friends were put together that I might have to move later. I'll just have to see how it goes.
I also took pictures of my 3rd/4th graders, paired them off, and had them introduce their partner to the rest of the class. That took up the whole time, so I was glad for that.

My 5th/6th grade class...I had my plan a little more organized, so I assigned seats (I wasn't thinking and ended up putting three guys at one table, two of whom are best friends), and then took pictures before we got started with the activity. The activity was super easy for them and they finished both activites within 20 minutes. I could tell they were hating it, and I didn't want to torture them anymore lest they hate me, so HyoJu sugguested I let them go with about 15 minutes left in class. She also had to leave early, so I don't think she wanted to stay any longer than she needed to.
I have no idea what I'm going to do with them on Thursday. Tomorrow I'm going to have to do some serious lesson planning. Especially since I also don't know what to do with the other kids. I know for my beginner class, I'm going to have to take pictures, and maybe introduce some more greetings vocabulary. For my intermediate class...a fun game of sorts. I'm still not sure what level my kids are on, so I might do a review game of sorts. A review would be a good idea for my higher level class as well. I don't want to teach them things they already know, but I'm not sure how to quiz them. I'll just have to make something up I suppose.

Day 43

Today was my first day of teaching at the elementary school!
It wasn't so bad, but it wasn't the best time.

When I showed up, I walked into my classroom 10 minutes early. From now on, I am going to go to school when the bus drops me off at 1:30. There were already about seven 1st/2nd graders in class and they were jumping back and forth on top of the tables! I was shocked! I made them get down, but then they started trying to speak to me in Korean. It was kind of funny when one of the girls asked me if I spoke Korean (in Korean of course) and I replyed in Korean (I only knew what she said because Meok had taught me the word just yesterday).
I was freaking out in those 10 minutes, waiting for HyoJu to show up. After she showed up and we started class though, things were okay. I actually really like my 1st/2nd graders. They're super excitable, and they don't mind saying what they know in English (very limited), even if they're wrong. One little boy, Kenneth, copied what I drew on my name card onto his name card. He even tried copying the cursive I used on my stack of books. So adorable!

My 3rd/4th graders were a little more shy about speaking in English. All, that is, except for one little girl, named Rose. She showed up to class early, and left late. The whole time, she was asking HyoJu how to say different things in English, and then asking me. She asked me: "What is your favorite animal?", "What is your favorite food?", and "What is your favorite bird?". I also have a midget in that class, Alexander. He is so good at English though, and he participated so well, I wanted to hug him! He was the exact opposite of Michael, another little boy in class who didn't want to do anything at all. It took the entire class for him to finally write his name, and then draw an apple and a watermelon. I also have my strangest name in that class. One little girl showed up rather late to class. She didn't have an English name yet, so we let her think a bit. When she finally decided on a name and wanted to know how to spell it, I was amused to find out that she wanted to be called "Sheep". What's super funny about it is that Korean people have a hard time saying sheep so when she says her name, it sounds like "ship".
And one boy in the class, Harold, spelled his name "Halord". Such a cutie!

My 5th/6th grade class...I'm sure they all think I am treating them like babies. I could also tell who was a 5th grader and who was a 6th grader by the participation. 5th graders actually did the name-cards. The 6th graders waited until I had told them individually at least twice before starting. Especially two boys, Bill and Peter. Two of the 6th grade girls only said they liked money for the longest time.
There is one girl in my 5th/6th grade class who is only a 1st grader! Her name is Mary, and I feel so bad for her. She looks out of place and rather lonely. She sat at a table with two other girls, but the other girls were close friends and they never spoke with Mary. I understand that she's good at English so she's more advanced than her peers, but putting her in a higher class just seems too hard emotionally. I would have preferred if she were in my 3rd/4th grade class. She'd still be too advanced, but at least she'd be with people who weren't so much older than her. When I was a 5th grader, I thought the 1st graders were tiny babies. I can't imagine how she must feel in class with all of them.

Well.....that's about all for school.

Other things I did today....I had another conversation group meeting. It was hard, because this was a beginners class group. I tried to speak slow, but we didn't really know what to talk about. We talked a lot about travel and movies. The best English speaker of the three girls really liked the movie Child's Play. Chucky still creeps me out, so she thought that was pretty funny. Then another girl said "What about jombee?"I had no idea what she was talking about. Another girl typed it into her e-dictionary and then showed me. She was asking if I liked movies with zombies! We practiced saying zombie for a little bit.

After our meeting, I came back to my room and made lunch for myself. First time I've ever cooked for myself in Korea. It wasn't anything special though. I just had to boil some water to heat up my microwavable rice bowl, and then I fried up some spam. I used the water I boiled to make instant cappuccino. It might not have been anything big, but I was proud of myself.

Before I went to the elementary school, I went to a bookstore and bought another childrens book. This one is called "Pretty Princess Stories". It has the stories of Thumbelina, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, The Ugly Duckling, and Snow White. I bought it to practice my reading.

After I returned home from school, I played around on my computer for a bit, and then Daniel called and asked if I wanted to go to dinner with him and Victoria (they always eat out!). Jina was teaching at the hagwan, and told me she would be late, so I was on my own for dinner. I headed out to where they were going to meet, and then had bulgogi. I haven't had it in a while, and I forgot how simply delicious it is. The taste is just....simple. It isn't bland or anything like that. It just isn't spicy.

Days 38-42

Oh dear! I've been so busy and I'm just getting started! I have at least seven conversation groups meeting next week, and I'm sure I'll have even more after Tues., when the last class finds out about it. I also have my first day of teaching tomorrow. I'm pretty nervous about that.

Lets see what I've done since my last post. Thursday...I was pretty emotional. I felt very happy in Korea, and I still do, but some friends said I seemed to be very negative about Korea and the Korean culture. I thought I was just making comparisons between the cultures, but I came across as saying Korea wasn't as good as America. Not at all what I was saying! However, I'm working on trying to make it sound like the difference is a good thing for Korea, no matter what the difference is, since I can't avoid making comparisons (people are constantly asking me what the biggest differences are).

I went for a walk to the Geumgang (Geum River) with Jina, and I learned how to say "I want to go fishing". I really do want to go fishing. Apparently though, it's only something old men and poor families do. However, I'd still like to do it. I think fishing is relaxing, and I think it could be a fun experience. I do worry that the Korean's who are fishing will think I am making fun of them or looking down on them if I participate. I'm constantly worried now that people are going to see what I am doing because I want to join in, and think that I'm doing it because it's weird and I think it's funny. I think part of that idea might come from the fact that many Korean's think that America is all big cities like NYC and L.A. and D.C., and that Americans aren't poor and don't work on the land or do things like hunting and fishing. Everyone has been so shocked when I say I love how I can see nature all around me here in Gongju, and that I want to go fishing.

Friday morning, I had my first conversation group meeting. I think it went well. I did get asked to speak a little slower, which I was expecting. The next time that group meets, we will talk about our cultures and tourist places, since we are people from three different countries: America (just me), Korea, and China. I didn't do much else on Friday. Henry, a friend teaching in another city, came into town Friday night, so a group of us went out to dinner.

Saturday was such a busy day! Victoria and I went to Daniel's place for peanut butter and jam on toast for breakfast with Daniel and Henry. Then we hung out until around noon, when Obed and Jess (two more friends teaching in another city) came into town. They went to lunch and the river, while I went to my first Korean lesson. We didn't really work on any Korean. Meok just wanted to know what I wanted to learn and figure out when we will meet. We didn't figure out when we will meet just yet, but I think we are going to cover that today.
After meeting with Meok, I called Daniel to catch back up with everyone. They were going to CanMore, for patbingsu. I met them there, we ate, and then we went across the street for Noraebang, since Obed and Jess really wanted to do it. We only paid for one hour, but they aparently give one hour service(In Korea, service means freebie) to everyone. However...we got an hour and 20 minutes extra! So we were there for two and a half hours. I only sang one song, since I'm really not into singing into microphones. When we left, my legs were still feeling shaky from singing. -_-'
After Noraebang, we all walked to the bus terminal to drop off Obed and Jess, and then Joy, another friend teaching in Gongju, came on the city bus and we went to dinner at Mary Poppins, an Italian place. After dinner, it was time for dessert at Happy Box. You can sit in porch swing-like benches while you eat! I thought they were super cute, but Joy didn't much like them. I think they made her feel a little sick.
After dinner, the boys walked Joy and I back to the bus terimal area. We waited until Joy got on the bus, then came to my place so I could give the guys the extra bedding Jina had brought from home, so that Henry didn't have to sleep on the cold floor at Daniels (he was complaining about it all day!). After they left, I got online and talked with Megan on Skype for a bit. It was nice to talk with her. I miss being around Megan. She always made me feel like I should be doing something, since she always seemed to be busy with five things at once.

This morning, I met up with Daniel, Victoria, and Henry at a coffee shop before church. The Kiwi juice there is delicious! We split up after that, and Daniel and I rushed to be on time for church while Victoria and Henry went to the bus terminal so Henry could go home.
Church was good. The message was about how in order to be "like an army of God", we need three things. First, there has to be many of us. Second, we need to have one heart, one mind, one goal. And third, we need to share with each other.
Daniel and I again stayed for lunch after church, and ate with the pastor's wife. She is a very nice lady, and her English is fair.

I returned home after church to await my Korean lesson with Meok at 3. Only an hour left!

Day 37

My days are kind of uninteresting right now, so instead of talking about that, I'll talk about my feelings being in Korea.

At orientation, we had a class about culture shock, and they talked about the honeymoon stage, where everything in Korea is new and exciting and great. Most of my TaLK scholar friends left that stage last week. I'm still in that stage.
However, I'm wondering when I will be leaving it. It seems hard to imagine at this point of my stay that I will ever hate Korea or think that America is better. Sure, there are things I think are better in America, but Korea has a ton of great things! I really am in love with this city, and I could see myself living here for awhile.

I wish I could explain that more eloquently, but I'm not really sure how to organize my thoughts. And it's not like the way I'm feeling and the things that make me happy here would make much sense. I really like the public transportation in this city. I love that the children are so excited to see me, even though they don't know me. I love that when I go to the grocery store by my apartment, the baker always smiles at me because he knows that I like his bread, especially the 잘깨빵 (jal-kae-bahng). Honestly, maybe what I love most about being here is that I'm so active. Back home, after classes were over, I went home and I stayed home. Occasionally I would hang out with friends. Here in Gongju, I'm always doing something, or on my way to do something. Sure, I spent my fair amount of time in my room, on the internet, but I'm spending way more time out and about than I did back home.
Basically, I have a positive outlook on life, and it is helping me to succeed at having a great time in Korea and loving where I am.

Days 34-36

This weekend was a pretty good weekend. On Saturday, I went to school at 2, but the teacher wasn't there so I went to the teachers workroom to work on lesson planning. There was one teacher there, and she was very confused as to why I was there. Her English wasn't very good so she kept interrupting my brainstorming to ask me the same question over and over, in different ways. Finally, she called the English teacher and told her I was there. Then my co-teacher texted me and said I was supposed to have been there earlier. I apologized and said I thought I was supposed to be there at 2, like every other day. She seemed shocked and texted back "But it's Saturday." Yeah....In America, we don't go to school on Saturday. How should I know when to arrive? I don't dislike my co-teacher, but there isn't a lot of communication going on between us.

So after that miscommunication, she told me I only had to be there for an hour. So that was good. After I left, I returned home and then hung out with Daniel. We went in search for a church someone had recommended to him. Found the church quite easily and then we went to Victoria's house before dinner. She actually lives very close to me, and right across the hall from Sophia. Dominic isn't that far either.
We had dinner at some Kimbab place on College road. I hadn't really ever gotten to know Victoria before so it was a nice time. She's a sweet girl. After dinner, we made plans to meet for patbingsu (Asian 'ice cream') and then I went home.

Sunday was a good day. Daniel and I went to that church, Gongju Central Baptist Church. There isn't an English service and they don't have translating services, but Daniel speaks enough Korean to be able to translate for me. I mostly just enjoy listening. I enjoyed this church because it reminded me of home. It was about the same size as Valley View and they kept the reciting things together to a minimum. They also did something really sweet and gave roses to all the people at the service who were from foreign countries, so the pastor walked into the congregation and gave roses to three Chinese exchange students, as well as to myself and Daniel.
After the service, the church served a very nice lunch. We ate with the Chinese students and the pastor. I was the only one who couldn't speak Korean, but I enjoyed listening (I'm picking up and understanding a lot more these days!).

After church, Daniel and I stopped by Victoria's apartment to pick her up and then walked to the patbingsu place. I was so full from lunch at the church that I didn't think I could eat anything, but the servings are so big and Daniel looked so sad to have to eat the whole thing on his own, that I helped out. It was a different type than what I had previously, and I think I liked it more. It had melon flavored shaved ice, as opposed to the plain crushed ice in original patbingsu.

After Patbingsu, I had a meeting at a coffee shop with Nari and HaHyun to talk about a trip program KNU has that would pay for us to go on a weekend trip sometime if our plan was selected. I said I wouldn't mind going, and then we talked about things HaHyun could say at her upcoming interview in order to be selected to go to CC next semester. I really hope she gets selected to go. It would be so much fun to be a student with her here, and then to return home and study with her as well.


That was the end of my weekend.
Today was an okay day. I wrote a letter for a friend back home. I still have two more letters to write for friends.
I went to the elementary school and Chaewan and Hyoju and I went to the bookstore and picked out the text book for class. They don't seem to expect much out of me. I'm just supposed to teach out of the book. Kind of disappointed, actually. I was looking forward to the stressful challenge of making lesson plans every evening.
Chaewan seemed amazed by my powerpoint making abilities. Apparently people in Korea don't know how to make powerpoints. I had to find all the buttons and options in Korean, too, since I was using the school computer.

I didn't do much else today. After dinner, Jina and I went onto campus for a bit. We returned a lamp to YooJin and then went to the library so Jina could use a computer since hers is at the repair shop. While she was doing that, I went to the center for students with disabilities and chatted with HunYong.

Came home and messed around on facebook, talked with Carlos, a student from Belize, and helped Jina with her English homework.

OH YEAH! And before dinner, our landlady came to our room and gave us some fresh homemade bread! It was really delicious and I'm hoping to learn what it was later.

Day 33

I had a bit of a scare this morning. I woke up and Jina wasn't there. I knew that meant she hadn't come back from when she went out to see YooJin. After a moment of panic, I realized I could text her. Right after I got a text back from her, she walked into our room. She was out so late that she just spent the night in YooJin's dorm room.

Today, I didn't have anything to do other than go to my elementary school at 2pm. I sat around, ate some food, wasted time on the internet, my usual.

I went to the bus stop at 1, in order to be on time, since I'm still not sure how long it takes to get to my school. I was very proud of myself for being at the right bus stop, and knowing when to get off the bus as well. I arrived 30 minutes early to school, so I walked around the area, taking a few pictures, so that I could remind myself of where the school was.
While I was wandering, there were a lot of students around, since the younger kids were going home at that time. One of the girls who attends my elementary school saw me and said "Woah! Mi-guk [something I didn't understand]" Even though I don't know the rest of the words she used, I know she said "American" and was amazed. It made me smile to know that I might be teaching her later.
I still had a lot of time to kill after taking pictures, so I went into a book store, hoping to find a childrens book, so I could practice reading Korean with small words. I found the perfect book.
It's called Happy Birthday To You! and it's about the characters from the Dooly cartoon. Even better, the book is written in both Korean and English, so I can know what I'm saying and learn structure without needing someone to read it to me first (although, I was thinking I could still have Jina read it to me so I know how everything sounds).

After buying my book, I couldn't think of any way to kill more time, so I went to school 10 minutes early. When I got there, the English teacher was teaching, and they weren't sure what to do with me, since no one really spoke any English. They asked if I spoke Korean, but I said no. ..Sort of. I didn't really say anything. I just looked confused, even though I knew what they were asking.

When the English teacher finally came, she told me about the planning room on the second floor, where I should wait. I guess I can do lesson plans there.
After that, we went to the English classroom and she told me I should stay until 4 working on my lesson plans. Then she left to go teach another class. While I was working on my first lesson, some kid came in with a piece of paper that I guess was a note. I couldn't read it, and he didn't speak any English. We both stood there looking very confused before I realized I could just take it to the teacher next door and have her explain it. Thankfully, she was another English teacher, so she wasn't too confused when I spoke.

For my first lesson, I'm just planning on introducing myself and letting the kids introduce themselves to me. I made a ppt with some information about me, talking about where I'm from, and what I like to do. After it's over, I'll ask the kids to make name-plates to use for the beginning of the semester, until I start to learn their names. I also want them to draw some of their favorite things on their name-plates. My examples were: Sound of Music, ice cream, kiwi, books, Dooly, and Disney princesses.
I'm hoping it is okay to spend an entire lesson on introductions. I don't know what level my students will be, so I don't want to plan any English lessons that might be too hard or too easy.

I'm starting to get used to riding the city buses here. There are few seats, so each time I've come back from the elementary school, when everyone else is getting out of school as well, the bus is so crowded, that I have to stand up for most, if not all, of the ride back. I don't mind it. It's just difficult to do in heels. Today was the first day since I've been in Gongju that I haven't worn my heels.

I have to go to school again tomorrow, since I didn't go on Thursday. I don't mind, even though it is Sat. The English teacher seemed shocked that I was so calm and cool about coming to school on Saturday. She kept saying "Didn't it mess up your plans for this weekend?" She was even more shocked when I said my plans for the weekend were to go to church here and explore the city a bit more, since I've only really seen a few streets.
I think tomorrow I'll have lunch at Lotteria and watch to see if there is a later bus that will get me to school closer to when I need to be there. If not, then I'll just have to figure something out.

Gongju really is an interesting city. It's small in the sense that there are no shopping malls or department stores. But it's big in that it has a lot of land area occupied. There are tons of city bus routes and tons of people. And the night life seems big. Not like Seoul or NYC, but it's difinitely more hoppin' than CoMO. I can't quite figure out how to describe the size. The streets and shops downtown remind me of a very small town, similar to Fulton. However....that's about all that seems small-town about the place.