Hiking Trip and Daegu

This semester is going so fast. Before I knew it, the month of May had arrived and midterm season was in full force. While my students toiled away pulling all-nighters and cramming mountains of information into their little heads, Danielle Teacher got to play. Well, not before she had to fully proofread and edit the midterm English exams for the first, second, and third graders. That's one of the duties that I face on a regular basis. While I am more than willing to put in the extra time, it's never an easy task, as I have to walk the fine line between abiding by my intuitive knowledge of English grammar but not offending the other teachers with excessive criticism and comments.

The tests are always created by the other Korean English teachers at my school. Although some of them are quite good at English, they are, by no means, fluent speakers. As a result, the tests are laden with noticeably verbose and awkward prose, as well as grammatical and stylistic inconsistencies. One could easily rewrite the whole test in an effort to make it sound more natural, but I've learned to choose my battles. I typically only correct sentences that have blatant grammatical errors. The English exam consists of 30 or so short passages, followed by one or two questions each. Sometimes I think that the teachers deliberately try to make the paragraphs as dense and difficult as possible. Here's a fine example:

The students are given a few these passages to memorize beforehand, as some will b  tested in the open-response section of the exam. For that section, students may be asked to fill in mixing text, translate parts of it, or reproduce sentences from memory. After the exam, students always complain about their scores because there's no partial credit and they feel that their answer got message across, while still being grammatically correct.

For instance, one student from my club class last year approached me with a question concerning the passage above. In the open-response section, students were asked to translate the last sentence from Korean to English. The student "mistakenly" wrote "the new evidence shows," instead of "the new findings show" and lost 6 points because the Korean English teachers felt that the words had two different meanings. Of course looking at the paragraph above, we can see that these terms are used interchangeably and her answer was also very much correct. Obviously, I defended her and she ended up gaining the 6 points back. It's times like that when I'm shocked by how rigid the Korean education system is. Would it be so hard to give partial credit or accept alternative, but equally correct answers?

Anyway... During the first week of May, I was relieved of all teaching duties. On Tuesday, May 1st, the school organized a teachers' trip in the afternoon and evening, after the exams concluded for the day. Around 1pm, we congregated in front of the school and drove to 칠갑산 (Chilgapsan aka Seven Limbs Mountain), located in the South Chungcheon province. It took about an hour and a half to get there and once we arrived, we embarked upon a 3-hour journey to the top of the highest peak and then over a few of the other ridges to reach Janggoksa (Guardian Valley Temple).

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Me and 2 English teachers

Me and the Vice-Principal

The hike was pretty tame, except for the very end. But the other teachers were still decked out in the most high-tech, expensive hiking gear. As I've surely mentioned before, Koreans take hiking VERY seriously. Along the way, I talked with some teachers and was regularly complimented for my "good energy" (not that impressive considering that I'm a good 20 years younger than most teachers) and "good walking form" (not exactly sure what that means, but I'll take it as a compliment). This was the first teachers trip that wasn't completely awkward and lonely. Normally the other teachers keep to themselves or pretend that I don't exist. But this time, they seemed to genuinely appreciate my presence and eager to interact with me.

My relationship with other teachers at my school has been an uphill battle due to large age differences and preconceived notions that they have about me, being "of Korean blood," as they like to say. But I haven't given up on them and I've tried to stay positive during this whole process. Recently, teachers have been a lot nicer to me and going out of their way to make me feel welcomed. I'm not sure what exactly instigated this sudden change, but it's nice to see that my efforts and persistence have finally paid off. After the hike, we ate dinner together at this quaint little restaurant propped at the base of the mountain and then headed back to Daejeon. All in all, I enjoyed the trip and it was a great opportunity to build a stronger relationship with my school.

Ostriches, chilling outside of the restaurant.  No big deal.

On Thursday, May 3rd, I headed over to Daegu to visit my great-uncle and great-aunt. It had been nearly 3 months since I visited them with my parents, so I was pretty excited to see them again. From Daejeon, it takes only 45 minutes or so to get there. Once I arrived, I was greeted with big smiles and hugs. We headed straight for lunch at a fancy Japanese buffet place, located right in front of Suseong Lake. We ate a ton of delicious sushi, tempura, and udon noodles, and then walked off our full bellies by the beautiful lake.

After that, we headed Apsan (Front Mountain), as seen in the background of the lakeside pictures. It was a hot, sunny day, so my great-aunt insisted that I wear a wide-brimmed hat, very similar to those worn by ajummas (old Korean ladies). I swear, I'm turning more Korean by the minute. Being that pale skin is considered very beautiful, Koreans love to shield themselves from the sun - a very different mentality than that held by tanning-bed worshipers in New Jersey.  We took the cable car up and once we got to the top, we saw the most gorgeous flowering trees.

From there, we hiked up a bit further to reach Bipasan Observatory. Admittedly, it was steeper than I expected and I wasn't dressed properly for physical exertion or the brutal heat. But when we got to the top, it was all worth it to see the spectacular view. It was incredibly serene and relaxing up there.

My great-uncle had a full day planned for me. After visiting Apsan, we drove to Keimyung University, a local college in the heart of Daegu. It's easy to see why they brought me there. The campus is one of the most beautiful that I've ever seen. The university was built on top of a hillside and at the very top, there is a lovely church.

The campus exhibits a perfect blend of Eastern and Western architecture. On one end the spectrum, you can see academic buildings that look like they were just transported from any university in America. But adjacent to those very prototypical Western buildings, there is a recreation of a traditional Korean village and school. Just a few yards away from each other, the contrast between these two architectural styles is pretty startling. But it's kinda cool to see the two worlds represented together.

Next, we headed to Yakjeon-golmok Street for the annual Daegu Yangnyeongsi Herb Medicine Festival. Yakjeon-golmok Street is very famous for its traditional medicine market and eastern medicine practitioners. At the festival, there were stands selling dried chopped herbs, medicinal herb teas, and other traditional foods featuring medicinal ingredients. In the middle of the street, there was a large herb garden that was enjoyed by both visitors and rabbits, alike.

At the festival, I drank some weird tasting tree bark tea and ate some deep-fried ginseng. Not exactly my idea of a good afternoon snack - but hey, when in Rome, right? I love attending festivals in Korea. There's no better way to immerse yourself in traditional culture and customs.

After the festival, we headed to a restaurant near my great-uncle's house and ate an insane amount of meat. Then, we headed up to the apartment for some coffee. My great-aunt just earned her Barista Certification so she made us some delicious, fancy coffee drinks. Before I knew it, it was time to head back home. Fortunately, this goodbye wasn't as emotional as the last. I'll definitely be back to visit when my mom and brother come to Korea in early July, if not sooner.

While most of my relatives now live in the States, I'm really glad that I'm having the chance to spend time with other distant relatives during my grant year. The opportunity to reconnect with my family has really made my time in Korea all that more meaningful for me. Although my fun came at the expense of my overworked students, I'm happy that I used this time to form closer relationships with both my fellow teachers and and my beloved relatives.