4 months in

I seem to be in a regular state of confusion about whether or not this is actually my life.

Some days come and go with little to nothing of interest to note.  Wake up.  Eat.  Go to school.  Teach.  Eat.  Brush teeth.  Teach.  Go home.  Eat.  Sleep.  Rinse.  Repeat.

Kimchi on my lunch tray, hangul on my computer screen, stickers on my notebook, mychews in my drawer...  Yep.  I'm definitely in Korea.

But am I in a foreign country anymore?

The food has become familiar, the streets and bus routes recognizable... The cultural quirks and formerly bizarre practices all seem so normal and second nature for the most part.  Routine sets in, and it is like I've lived here forever.

What's more, I can often walk down the street or sit in a coffee shop without anyone looking at me like I'm different.  For once, I look like everyone else, and no one tries to recruit me to join the ethnic diversity club.

Sometimes people can tell--especially if I try to speak Korean.  But it's becoming less and less obvious.  Last week, a woman complimented me in Korean on my excellent English pronunciation.  I thanked her with a smile.  I get a lot of practice where I'm from...

The dichotomy of my life as a hyphenated American, particularly in this new home away from home, has quickly come to fascinate me in a way before unrealized.  I've been called "Korean" my whole life, having worn the face of a Korean person since, well, infancy.  But only a couple of years ago did I start to learn the language, and only a few months ago did I begin really trying to understand the culture.

For twenty-three years, I've looked the part.  I wonder if this is what it's like to actually feel it.

for my mommy back in miguk

...an update!  Some pictures of the last few weeks of my life:

I spent the first week of October in the historic city of Gyeongju with fellow etas for a conference

The second weekend of October, I went to Seoul to sing at a 60th Anniversary dinner with some of my friends.  Then I turned old, so my host family bought me a cake!

The third week of October, I had some days off from school.  So my friend Debs and I hit up Busan (and the beach!) for the international film festival.

The fourth weekend of October, I FINALLY got to visit Sandangsanseong, a famous fortress in my city!

The last weekend of October is Halloween!
I've prepped some exciting Halloween lessons for this week and bought candy for my 700 girls.  Should be a good time...

Up next: November!

Love you, mom <3

Over the River and Through the Woods...

We went to Grandma's house in the countryside, maybe a 1 and a half hour drive from Cheongju, for the remainder of Chuseok.  We visited Grandfather's burial site to pay respects for the holidays, slept on the floor, and went CHESTNUT PICKING--so much harder than it sounds.  

We probably collected a couple hundred of these little suckers, which are hidden up on muddy, tree-covered mountains and are protected by dense shells of prickly thorns.  I loved it though, and I got to spend some quality time with the host fam ;)

I also got to work in a couple of short runs out on the country roads, which felt so good.  The scenery and weather were preeeetty much perfect.

Anyway, I had a nice time, and now I'm smelly and exhausted.  Shower then sleeeeeeep :)

Chuseok

I have the whole week off from teaching--a very merry Korean Thanksgiving indeed :)  So I'm using this break to briefly catch up on what this past month has been like...  Unfortunately, it seems I'm a bit of a failure when it comes to regular blogging.  For now, I'll just hit the highlights:

School
I teach about 700 girls, 27 classes, and 21 hours a week.  I teach with 5 other English teachers in 4 different classrooms out of 3 textbooks and 2 workbooks, and I typically plan 9 different lessons a week.  It's pretty much a full-time job.

Volunteering
I've joined an international nonprofit organization's Curriculum Development Team, which is working to provide virtual English tutoring to students at an orphanage in Korea.  I'm not sure what my role will be yet, but I'm really excited about it!  I'm also trying to start up an English class with a couple other ETAs for local North Korean refugees.  It's still in the works, but we're hopeful :)

Korean
I enrolled in a Korean language class at the YMCA two hours every Saturday, but so far I've only been once.  We'll see how it goes.  I would also like to sign up for a short intensive winter class, but I don't know where yet...

Homestay
They think I'm too skinny, that I only like eating kim and bread, and that I talk like a baby when I speak Korean, but I love 'em dearly.  Momma Kim works awfully hard, Papa Kim is always smiling, my host brothers play games with me a lot (Monopoly and cards), and my host sister is super cute--she has like 10 pen pals in other countries, which I think is hilarious.  Anyway, we celebrated Papa Kim's birthday the other week, and today we've been doin the Chuseok thing, meaning lots of food and lots of family!!

Travels
Daejeon one weekend, Seoul last weekend, Gyeongju in a couple weeks, and now I'm thinking Cambodia, Vietnam,, Philippines, and Indonesia for winter break...  Suggestions, anyone?

Thoughts
I've had a busy, rough, and somewhat tumultuous past couple of weeks.  But overall, I love my life :)

More soon... I promise!

Host Sibs:

Host Rents:

A very cute Chuseok gift from Host Fam:

Lots of family members came!

Food--yummm:

"Songpyeon," rice cakes with a hint of pine-- a Chuseok tradition

Cooking--a team effort!

Ah, and btw, here's my room:

On your mark, get set...

Having gone through 6 days in my homestay, 3 days at school, 2 days of teaching, and 10 different classes of crazy middle school girls, I can say with fair certainty that my new adventure has officially begun.  And already I'm a bit winded!  <--let's just hope that's because I'm sick :(

Teaching, I've decided, is a lot like running the 400m in track.  It's fast--you hear the whistle, you start running, and you really can't slow down.  But it isn't quite a full on sprint, either.  You must pace yourself lest you cramp up or tire out before the finish line.

Anyway, it really does feel like a race.  The days are flying by!  And maybe like a dream, too?  Everything is sort of familiar and sort of strange at the same time.  I have a home, a room, a job, a schedule, a phone (finally!), and a host mom who cooks for me and makes me drink tea and eat porridge and go to bed early when I'm sick...  But everything is in a foreign language, I don't ever fully understand what's going on around me, and I can only walk about a block in each direction before I get lost.  Life is at once vivid and blurred--very dreamlike indeed.

I've resorted to speaking like a 6-yr-old child: short, broken sentences that mostly consist of a verb and a noun (and usually not in the right order, either).  Food--eat!  Go--school?  

Maybe throw in a few other words for embellishment.  Medicine already have.  Now I sleep.  Yes, meal very tasty!

Impressive.  I know.

In any case, it's almost dinner time (thankfully--so hungry!)  Yaaaay for internet and blogging again!  Did I mention that there are 7 people living in this tiny apartment?  Host mom, host dad, 3 kids, grandma, and me!  But it's still somehow quite comfortable.  Or did I say that I have 700 students and that I literally am the sole person responsible for teaching them ALL English listening and speaking (they only get reading/writing/grammar in their other English classes)?  Well...I just did.

Ok that's all!  (for real this time)

나중에 쓸 거예요!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

생일 축하 합니다!

Rhythm and Seoul

So I finally went to Seoul for the first time in two years this past weekend, and it was amazing.  I went with a super fun group of people from my program, and we basically did a lot of the awesome Seoul things that I remember and love.  We ate street vendor food, club hopped, danced, drank soju in the streets because we could, ate tolsot bibimbap (one of my favorites), had kwaeelsu (fruit with ice cream and shaved ice--a very popular dessert), went shopping in Myeongdong, visited the Cheonggyecheon stream, navigated the subway system and indulged in cheap taxis on various occasions, had jahjangmyan (a chinese black bean noodle dish that's awesome), stayed up til the sun came up, slept at a hostel, and had a blast.  It was everything I wanted out of my weekend, really.  But now I'm back taking classes and going to workshops again, and I'm tired.  It's started to grow slightly stale, this schedule of ours.  I'm looking forward to what's next...