Catching Up

Okay, so I will be the first to admit that I've been an utter failure at blogging the last 2 weeks.  I blame the fact that organizing and editing photos is such a time-consuming chore.  I've been putting it off as much as possible, but now it's time to catch you up.  So much has happened that I can barely make sense of it all.  Yet in retrospect, it's kind of nice to sit here and reflect upon my first couple weeks in Korea.

They've been full of momentous occasions, first-time encounters, and the early stages to some great friendships.  From now on, I will try to be more diligent with blogging.  My family and friends back home deserve to know what's going on in my life, and I want to look back at this experience and remember all the precious details.  Thanks for sticking by me, procrastination and all.  The next couple blog posts will provide a recap of everything that's happened the past two weeks.

July 6 - July 10

On Wednesday, July 6th, we received a visit from the all-important folks at the Korean-American Educational Commission (KAEC), a.k.a. the people who run the Fulbright Korea program and personally chose me as one of the grantees.  As you can imagine, this was a huge event and everyone looked super classy. 

On Friday, July 8th, we had a day off from Korean language class and got to observe an English class taught by a current Fulbright.  So I woke up at the crack of dawn, chugged a cup (likely more) of cawfee, and boarded a bus to Daejeon, the fifth largest city in Korea.  There, we were greeted by the lovely Rachael who works at a co-ed high school, with gender-segregated classes.  As soon as we arrived, we were swarmed by tons of energetic Korean students, who waved at us, screamed "hi," and then ran away.  The kids weren't too interested with me, as I look just like them.  But they were fascinated with the blondes, told the token black kid that he looks like Will Smith, and bombarded the boys in our group with choruses of "Awh my gadt, he so hahndsum!"

We observed both a high level boys class and a low level girls class.  I was most struck by how difficult it was, at times, to get the students to participate.  While the boys were at an advanced level, their shyness and hesitancy hindered their ability to demonstrate their knowledge.  Consequently, it seemed that levels of the two classes were reversed.  Built only five years ago, the school is likely one of the nicest that I'll ever see in Korea.  There's even a beautiful roof top garden where students like to hang out between classes.  But this peaceful haven cannot mask the overwhelming stress that Korean students face.  Students arrive at school at 7:30am, have class until 4pm, participate in extra classes for another couple hours, have a quick dinner break, and then have mandatory study time until 11 or 12, where they cram for exams.  And when the students finally get to go home for 5 hours of sleep, the last thing they see is a clock that counts down how many days are left until the National College Entrance Exam - a ticking time bomb of sorts.  Whew, I'll never complain about my workload again!

On Sunday, July 10, I got to go on an excursion to Sangdang Santseong Fortress Wall in Cheongju with twelve others.  We took the public bus directly from Goesan to Cheongju.  It was an hour ride and only cost ₩5600, or about 5 dollars.  Public transportation is ridiculously cheap here.  I can't wait to take advantage of it and see as much of Korea as I possibly can!  It was cloudy and drizzling all day but we had a fantastic time.  The hike up the hill was more intense than I thought it would be.  Yet it was totally worth it when we got to the top and had a picturesque view of the city and nearby mountains.

After the long hike, we were all 1) exhausted, and 2) HUNGRY!  So we ended up a a little restaurant by the fortress entrance that serves mountain food, which uses very fresh vegetables.  The food was absolutely delicious.  We sat there for over an hour gorging ourselves on scallion pancakes, tofu, kimchi, and lots of different vegetables.  But the star of the show was definitely the 순두부 (soft tofu stew).  It was so spicy that my eyes were tearing up but I was in food heaven!

All in all, it was a wonderful first week in Korea.  I am so happy I'm here and I'm already anticipating my next culinary journey!  ∧∧