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...

Back to the Ole Camp Days

As part of training, we have to teach lessons for a camp held at our university, where students from all over Korea ranging from elementary to high school, beginner to advance, spend two intensive weeks learning and speaking only English.  Today, I taught my first lesson of three.  It was chaotic and tiring (and pathetically only an hour long), but hopefully the kids had fun!  The students in my class were incredibly advanced--one girl randomly asked me to define "vivacious" (thank youuu violin lessons and all those "vivace" music commands!) which sort of caught me off guard.  But if you know anything about the Korean education system and the 16-hour days these kids put in during their grade school years, I guess that's not too surprising.

Anyway, this week has been a blur so far.  So much running around and planning and working and oh dear Zeus SWEATING (air conditioning in other countries is a wee bit spotty, I've come to realize). A couple meetings here, a few lectures there, throw in 2-4 hours of Korean language class each day and you've got yourself a full on schedule.  But it's good to keep busy.  I'm sort of enjoying it.

One thing I wasn't enjoying as much though, regrettably, was the food.  It just hasn't been working out as well as I'd hoped...and yea...I'll leave it at that.  But then yesterday some concerned (and amazingly thoughtful) friends bought me peanut butter and bread, and I got free pizza tonight at the "Being Korean American in Korea" talk.  So today, thankfully, has been much easier than the few days preceding it.

We spent the weekend in Haeinsa at a Buddhist temple, which awesomeee.  We watched them perform chanting and drumming rituals, were given a tour by a monk who had studied in the States, and  ate a silent vegetarian lunch there one of the days, during which we were required to eat everything on our plate (to the last grain of rice).  It was beautiful and interesting and kind of brought back memories of times I'd spent with my family traveling to temples throughout Asia (I think it was the incense).  A relaxing weekend calm before the storm, I guess.

Well, as I mentioned, it's go time, so I still have a busy schedule that stops around midnight tonight.  two more meetings, a reflection to write, and one last assignment before I get to sleep!

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some pictures from Haeinsa...

So Surreal

This is where I'm living and taking classes right now, and let me tell you, it is UNREAL to me.  A week has gone by and I'm still kind of in disbelief.  THIS IS AN ACTUAL PLACE.  I keep having to remind myself that because literally every time I walk outside I think I'm in a warped wonderland.  So mystical and beautiful and so much green!  Everything is shiny and big, too, but I haven't been able to fully capture that with my camera yet.

There is actually a photography class going on right now with Michael Hurt, a professional street photographer, blogger, and former FKE and I really wanted to go...but it's raining, I'm tired, and we have a LOT to do.  So my roommate and I are taking the day off to lesson plan, study for our Korean quizzes tomorrow, answer our second cultural adjustment check question set, and do *sigh* laundry.  Oh, and I'm updating my blog (obviously) :)

So...where do I begin?  It has been a week now, which I think is crazy.  But man has it been a LONG one.  We arrived in Incheon airport around 4am Sunday morning (Korean time of course) and had a 3 hour bus ride to the university, then orientation commenced!  Ever since it has been pretty much nonstop learning and listening and working and interacting.  Korean language class meets for four hours in the morning, followed by daily meetings, lectures and seminars on Korean culture, Korean history, former FKE's experiences here, and (naturally) teaching.  Soon we'll also begin our extracurriculars, which we had the option of signing up for (I chose caligraphy, archery, tea ceremony, and English club).  We eat three meals a day in the cafeteria here, which has been...interesting.  Lots of rice and kimchi and soup.  And we eat share a room with another FKE in the gender-segregated dorms here on campus.

The people are AMAZING--in this program, our Orientation leaders, the Jungwon students, the speakers and teachers we meet--everyone!  I kind of have a HUGE crush on all of them, especially my roommate :)  She's a hilarious, quirky, sassy girl from Pennsylvania and I'm so lucky (once again!) to have a good roommate.

Anyway, I feel like I had so much to say before, but I've gradually grown accustomed to some of the things I initially thought were really weird--so I've forgotten what I originally planned to post about!  Hmm...guess I'll think on it and post later.  Until then, missing everyone but loving Korea!

Goodbye Gainesville

It's almost here. My flight to Korea leaves in less than two weeks, and I'm beginning to feel the urgency of things like ummm packing. And cleaning. And moving out of my apartment. And ::gulp:: re-learning Korean.

And visiting all my favorite college places that I'm going to miss so much. And...oh. People. I'm going to miss them, too...

Errands and chores and departing sadness aside, I've certainly been enjoying myself this summer. Spent Memorial day weekend in Orlando with my parents, sister, Guy, and J (whom we took to Magic Kingdom for his very first time). It was fantastic. Took a trip up to Boston the following weekend for MY first time with KK and Ash. That was pretty fantastic, too.

I especially enjoyed the breezy trolley tour we took around the city and into Cambridge. That, and Trinity Church, which is absolutely beautiful and intricately designed, were my favorite touristy things.

Of course, these were not to overshadow that super fun moment when we thought we got stuck in the elevator inside the Harvard Law library, trying to visit the 4th floor because my friend Hilary said I should see it. The thought of suffocating in that hot, stuffy contraption terrified me, though possibly not as much as the idea of sounding the emergency alarm and having the authorities disrupt Harvard law students' study time to come rescue us poor, unfortunate tourists. Thankfully, we didn't have to resort to either of those delightful scenarios. Turns out, we just needed to turn around and push the buttons on the other side. Thank you, call center man. Sorry we're complete idiots! Naturally, I get out and receive a text from Hilary: "OMG wait I forgot to tell you you need to swipe a student ID to get into the law library!" Duly noted.

Anyway, Boston was a blast (thank you KK! I love you!) and now I'm back in Gainesville for the last time (for a while, anyway). ONE MORE DAY. Goodbye little city that has treated me so well! My sister BETTER win season tickets her senior year so I can return for all the football games in 2011!

Oh, football. I shall miss you too. NBA finals and World Cup have been a real treat these past few weeks (I especially enjoyed listening to Ron Artest thank his hood and his psychiatrist for helping the Lakers to yet another victory and watching the U.S. come back and kick Slovenia's you know what in the second half of Friday's game). But man, live, loud, rowdy, smelly, hot, occasionally cold, often drunk, championship-winning Gator Football is in a league of its own.

I guess I should wrap this up and get some zzZz's. Long day of packing and cleaning ahead of me.

Hello Summer

So the weather ended up being PERFECT this week--no rain, lots of sunshine, slight breeze at night. I'm such a lucky girl.

Spent Cinco de Mayo in Clearwater with J and his familiaaaa and stayed for some greatly anticipated beach time. Hooray for beautiful sand and clear water (ha ha, get it?) and waves and swimming and getting tan! Oh, and margaritas and piña coladas, too ;)

Set out Friday after a nice breakfast for my home sweet home. I spent the weekend engaged in family festivities in celebration of my Grandpa's 90th birthday (whoaaaa he's as old as John Paul Stevens!) and had a fantastic time. Finally got to meet some of my baby cousins (ahhhh they're so cute!!!) and see relatives I haven't talked to in years and years. And Grandpa really seemed to enjoy himself. He said to me, "Look! All these people are here because of me!" "Well, Grandpa," I said, "you're a pretty important guy!"

Then yesterday, spent the day with my mommy for Mother's Day. We took her to brunch and a movie about babies, dropped KK off at the airport, and later went to dinner as well. Spent the evening watching The Blindside and eating delicious cake my culinarily-gifted sister baked (she's kind of amazing). Then sleep.

I'd say it was a successful start to a very sweet summer :)