Getting Served at Temples & Beaches

Last weekend, all the ETAs (English Teaching Assistants) went to Donghae, a famous Korean beach on the eastern side of the peninsula. We stayed at the Donghae Grand Hotel which is owned by the same guy who owns Jungwon University, where our Orientation is currently being held. The hotel room was literally a single room with a single bathroom, and there were 3 people to a room. Fortunately for me, one of my roommates was getting over a cold and before I know it, I am ridiculously sick. So on Friday night at the beach, I am sitting alone in the hotel room, watching Korean variety shows (which I despise) while everyone else is drinking and hanging out on the beach. Korea has no open container laws so people literally walk on the beach and boardwalk drinking beers or liquor. 

On Saturday afternoon, our group visited a Buddhist temple, about 30 minutes away from the beach. The temple was located in between some mountains so the scenery was absolutely beautiful. After a brief, somewhat confusing lecture on Buddhism from a monk, we were allowed to roam about the temple. There were about 4 separate chambers surrounded by a stone gate. Each chamber held a Buddhist shrine and some of the most incredible art I have ever seen.

After about 2 hours of checking out the temple, our group returned to the hotel for an incredible dinner buffet. The spread included galbi (beef ribs), smoked salmon, fried rice, fried chicken, dumplings, sushi, fried shrimp, salad, and probably 10 other delicious dishes. This was singlehandedly my best meal in Korea thus far, which isn't saying much considering we have been eating cafeteria food for 3 weeks (maybe a little worse than Shafer food). After dinner, one of my Fulbright friends had a birthday so we decided to hit the small beach town for some drinks. There was a 711 right on the beach with benches so our group camped out there, playing drinking games. About a hour later, around 9 pm, the boardwalk came to life and more ETAs came out to celebrate with us.

Aside from the lack of open container laws, Korea is great because fireworks are sold year round. One of the ETAs, clearly drunk, reminds a group of about 30 other drunk ETAs that fireworks are extremely cheap and fun to shoot on the beach. Everyone is sold and, within minutes, we have taken over the beach, incessantly shooting fireworks into sky. It got a bit out of hand - we shot so many fireworks that there was a dense smog over the beach for about 10 minutes and the locals begged us to stop.

Happy from our firework frenzy, we returned to the 711 to drink more and chill. Suddenly, a tricked out street racing car pulls up, bumping Korean club music. Two Koreans, college-aged, jump out and precede to dance in front of us, playfully taunting and mocking us. Before we know it, we have formed a circle around their car, obnoxiously blocking traffic, and have begun an epic dance battle on the boardwalk. The battle was great, mainly because it was one of the first times that all of the ETAs let their guard down and simply had fun together. 

Anyways, about 10 minutes into the battle, one of my absolute favorite songs: "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO comes on. Without hesitation or warning, I leap into the middle of the circle and precede to party rock as if my life depended on it (check out the music video if you don't know what party rocking is). Impressed with my enthusiasm and sheer lack of shame, the 2 Koreans join me in the middle and we party rocked to the laughs of the crowd - it was pretty awesome. 

The rest of the night gets a bit fuzzy. We went to a noraebang (Korean karoake bar) and got back at about 3 am, exhausted from the night. We left on Sunday at about 9 am and I legit passed out on the bus ride (like full-on snoring). Although my first Korean beach experience was awesome, I probably won't be able to do it again during the year, since we get so busy. Frown face =(

Yeah, I suck at blogging

I know I haven't updated my blog in forever and I apologize - we have been extremely busy. I gave you guys a breakdown of our daily schedule in my last post but on Monday we actually started teaching real-live students and not just learning about teaching. We are teachers for Camp Fulbright, a 2 week English-immersion camp for Korean students. The kids range in age from elementary to high school and are some of the brightest/wealthiest students in Korea (tuition for camp is around $2000). I couldn't believe these students were paying $2000 for me to pathetically try and teach them English lol. Anyways, the kids stay at Jungwon University with us but there are separate camp counselors that supervise them throughout the day. We randomly see them around campus and they are either extremely friendly ("Hi. Do you have a girlfriend? What is your blood type?") or very shy. 

Last Monday was my first day of teaching and I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous. The theme of the camp is Heroes Among Us so our lesson plans have to be hero themed and its alot harder than you think planning a 45 minute English lesson using heroes. Anyways, I taught a Low Advanced class which is a misnomer because these students breezed through my lesson plan. I literally picked my vocabulary words out of a SAT book and they were confidently spitting the definitions at me. These students probably could survive in America on their own because their English was so proficient, oh, and they were only middle school students.

Sidenote: If you are unfamiliar with Korean culture, education and academics are basically the center of Korean life. Children are thought of as the future of not only their respective families but the entire nation so these Korean children are under immense pressure to succeed. From a very early age, maybe preschool, they have to compete with each to get into the best elementary school, then the best middle school, then the best high school and finally university. So for the majority of their lives, students will go to school for 8-9 hours and then go to academies (called hagwons) to study English or study ahead in their school subjects for another 4-5 hours, totaling an average of 14 hours a day of school 6 days a week because there's school on Saturdays. In Korea, if you are accepted into a S.K.Y. university you are basically set for life, simply because you have entered a network of successful and wealthy people. Korea is high on connections and networks so students that either get into Seoul, Korea National or Yonsei (SKY) will end up becoming doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. despite their performance in university itself. College freshmen are notorious for going absolutely crazy with their newfound freedom and because they no longer really need to do well in college.

So yeah, we have been very busy with preparing lesson plans, playing with the kids, keeping up with our Korean language classes and trying to sleep for the 4 hours we have available. Although the routine gets old, I've managed to still have fun. Yesterday, one of my Korean instructors had a birthday so my class and I took her to town and bought her dinner (samgyupsal which is Korean bacon). In Korea, meat is usually accompanied with alcohol, and lots of it. Korean drinking culture is great because people aren't really allowed to drink by themselves so anytime someone takes a shot or something, everyone in the group must follow suit. Well this little cultural phenomenon strongly correlates with drunkeness, and our entire group of 16 people including 2 Korean instructors are buzzed/tipsy by 8 pm. Because it was our teacher's birthday, people went around saying how old they were and unfortunately for me, I realize I am the youngest at the table. Korea is a very honorific and Confucian culture, meaning elders are treated with the utmost respect and authority and can basically tell younger people whatever they want. So as the youngest I must now listen to 15 other drunk people and do whatever they wish. One girl says that I must sing because I have a reputation of getting drunk and going hardcore at noraebangs (Korean karaoke bars). Despite my best attempts to distract the table and run away, I am being harassed by everyone to sing so I get up and sing the only song I know all the words to...."Pretty Girl Rock" by Keri Hilson. 

Of all the things I thought I would be doing in Korea, I find myself in a smoky, crowded restaurant filled with families, old men and old women singing maybe the girliest song ever in existence. However, in my inebriated stupor, I took this as a challenge to give a good show. I grab my spoon, which is covered in pig fat, and proceed to rock out this small, conservative audience with my rendition of Pretty Girl Rock. Needless to say, everyone was laughing hysterically at me and it was a good time.

I will update you guys on our trip to Donghae, a famous Korean beach, where I dance battled 4 random Koreans on the boardwalk.

Day 2

So after the incredibly awkward first day, the second day was packed with activities, which has generally been the schedule everyday here. Breakfast starts at about 8am in the school cafeteria and consists of kimchi, rice, some fruit and usually some soup. At 9 am, we have Korean language classes for 4 hours with 10 minute breaks every hour. Lunch is at 1 and then we have some kind of workshop from 2 until 6 pm, when dinner in the cafeteria starts. Usually the day ends at 7 pm and we have free time to ourselves, during which people either go to gym, study their Korean or go to the town which is about a 10 minute walk from the campus.

On the second day, we took a 3 part language test to get placed into classes. There was a writing part where we just wrote an essay in Korean, an oral interview with a Korean instructor and then a reading test. The writing test was pretty simple - write about yourself in Korean. I was able to write a little less than a page of stuff, although I'm positive my spelling was pretty bad. A few minutes into the test, an instructor announced that people who didn't know anything were allowed to skip the  whole test altogether and just get placed in the beginner class. About 30 people or so then got up and walked out of the testing area, pleased with their new found free time.

The interview wasn't bad either. My interviewer asked me pretty simple questions like "what did I do yesterday", "what do I like to do in my free time", "how did I like the university we were staying at", etc. The reading test was a completely different story - I might as well not have even taken it. I couldn't even understand the directions and was circling answers if I could recognize anything in them. So yeah, this test redefined my idea of failing a test.

Despite badly failing the reading test, I got placed in the intermediate class. There are 8 students total in the class, half are Korean-American, 2 are African-American and the other 2 are white. On the first day of class, we did introductions and I was surprised to find that I was the only one who had not had formal Korean classes before. Several of my classmates took classes in college or went to Saturday Korean classes. I really like my class - it isn't too easy or too hard, and we help each other out and joke around in the class. The only downside is the amount of homework we get. I have to write a 3 minute speech in Korean for Monday, and I can't even do that in English lol. Anyways, I'll detail the details of my first night out on the town later.

Long overdue update

After nearly 5 days in Korea, my room's internet is finally working. I am currently in Jungwon University in Goesan, South Korea. It's in the middle of Korea and a 2 hour bus ride from Seoul. I arrived at Incheon International at about 5 am local time on Sunday, which is 4 pm Saturday in VA. The 15 hour flight wasn't too bad except the older man sitting next to me had some serious B.O. 

The Fulbright Coordinators picked us up from the airport and we had some time to check in and meet the other ETAs. The group is very big, with 88 total ETAs, and there is a surprisingly diverse mix of people. There are only about 10 Korean-Americans, a few African-Americans, a few other Asian-Americans and the rest Caucasian. Anyways, we took 2 large buses from the airport to Goesan.

Each Fulbright ETA has a Fulbright number, used to take attendance, and the two large buses were split from 1-42 and 43-88. However, I did not hear these instructions and, of course, went on the wrong bus. About one hour into our ride, the Orientation Coordinator, clearly irritated, comes up to me asking if I am "Bruce." She then tells me that the other bus had noticed I was not there, thought I was still at the airport and turned back to retrieve me, setting half of all the ETAs one hour behind schedule. Mortified can not even described how embarrassed and guilty I felt. Oh yeah, and it was pouring rain outside.

So when my bus arrived on campus, a hour ahead of the other due to a complete moron who went to the bathroom at the wrong time, our bags were waiting for us, along with the other Orientation Coordinators who are all former ETAs. Of course, my roommate was on the other bus, great first impression I know, so I got the first pick of the room, desk, etc. The room is kinda small but there is a great view of the mountains (I'll post a picture once my camera starts working). 

After about an hour, the other bus arrives and I am now aware that I have pissed off half of my coworkers within the first 30 minutes of meeting them, with whom I must now spend the next 7 weeks. There was a definite tension in the air and I was honestly embarrassed to introduce myself and didn't wear my nametag for the first few hours. After a while, the awkwardness was unbearable so during one of our introduction meetings, I got up in front of the class and apologized to the entire group. It was an Oscar-worthy performance, and luckily most of the group just laughed and accepted my apology (I think).

I'll share my other stories, there are several, from my first few days here later.

Opportunities are made, not found

With only hours left in the States, I still cannot believe the drastic yet imminent change my life will undergo tomorrow. Even as I finished packing, checked my list countless times, said my goodbyes and relished my last homecooked meals, tomorrow feels eerily normal (says the guy who couldn't sleep several days before his SAT, college-orientation and MCAT). I suppose this unexpected serenity is a result of the years and years I've dreamt about someday going to Korea. I envisioned my family and I touring excitedly about the country with my siblings and I soaking up the culture and history like parched sponges, but circumstances repeatedly forbade us from doing so. 

More and more, I'm realizing that life is all about taking initiative, seizing opportunities and embracing the omnipresent fear of failure. My Fulbright application can attest to that - I had learned about the Scholarship less than 3 months before the deadline, never had any experience with study abroad, was completely overwhelmed with med school secondaries and was months behind the hundreds of applicants across the nation who had begun their applications the previous spring. After mulling it over and talking to some friends and family, I decided to just go for it and take a shot in the dark despite the steep odds. I sit here now, about 8 months later, typing this blog the day before my flight out. 

Sorry if this smells like a rant, but I can't help but appreciate the journey I took to get to this point (sweaty and surrounded by suitcases). Anyways, I want to say thank you for all the farewell calls, texts and love - they make the idea of traveling to the other side of the world alone a little less scary.

Warning: Blogger has no idea what he is doing and has a bad sense of humor. Reader discretion is advised.

So I decided to start this blog for two reasons: 1) My Fulbright adviser, Mr. Jeff Wing (who is awesome and helped me the most in even getting a Fulbright) suggested it and 2) I want to be able to go back to this at some point to see how much I've changed/grown (time capsule sort of thing). Anyways, the 2 or 3 people who accidentally stumbled on this have probably already left lol.

As mentioned in my profile in the sidebar, I will be traveling to South Korea to work as a English Teaching Assistant for a year. I am a mix of nervous and excited mostly because I have never been abroad (seriously, I've never left the country, sad I know lol) and will be in a foreign country for not just a few months or a summer, but a whole year! However, after meeting and reading up on some of the other Fulbrights, they all seem really cool (and way smarter than me lol) so now I'm just pretty excited to get this thing started. My flight is this Friday from Dulles Airport and I'll be flying to LAX and then to Incheon International.

There is a 6 week orientation at Jungwon University, in the middle of nowhere Korea, where we have "intensive" Korean language and culture learning, excursions scattered throughout Korea and lessons on how to teach English/wild animal management because Korean students are crazy hyper. From what I hear, Orientation is pretty brutal with 12+ hour days but everyone comes out of it ready for their teaching assignments. With only 4 days before my flight, I'm still getting stuff ready and will need to pack pretty soon. I'll try to update this blog semi-often even though no one will probably even read it lol. Seriously, even my mom said she probably won't read it (mostly because she's scared of the Internet)...sigh :(