Teacher's Day

My life is so BUSY! I even forget I have this blog! On May 5th was children's day and where I am from it was Cinco de Mayo! So what did I do with my students? Made Pinatas of course! It was so much fun but of course my stuedents had to earn their stickers to make the pinata. On May 12th was Parent's and May 15th, my new favorite day, was Teacher's Day. In preparation for this day I practiced voleyball almost everyday for two weeks. I suffered through some beautiful bruises ( facebook)! Finally the day arrived. Classes canceled and everyone in Mungyeong gathered at the university for a teachers competition (Elemetary and Middle school). We all wore beautiful bright pink shirts as our uniforms. At the opening ceremony the teachers sent me to the front of the line saying I had the prettiest face and had to go but it was embarrassing and also because I still don't understand Korean fluently, I had to look at others to see what they were doing. It was a fun day. The men's team lost the first game however! The other team had a tall korean so it was difficult for our teachers. The girls team won our first game and I played against another foreigners school. She didn't play but it was funny because she cheered for her team but then cheered for me. I don't think her school liked that. The girls team won. However our second game we lost unfortunetly. I got a volleyball to the face so my confidence got shot down. I feel like I understood the Korean concept of losing face after being hit in the face. It was really fun overall! I loved just being with my teachers. Later we went out to eat Sam Gap Sal! it is what I eat everytime I go out with Elders! Sometimes I just want Bulgogi but no, Pork is the favorite here! So we ate and my teacher's drank a lot because of the Holiday! Thankfully my teachers know well by now that I don't drink so they grabbed me a Fanta at the beginning so I could respectfully do cheers with my school but keep my standards of no drinking. Afterwards we completed the night with the best Korean tradition. Norebang! It was fantastic and I had practiced singing in Korean just for that day. The teachers were silly and I got to call my vice principal Grandma and she didn't mind! It was great fun.

Friday classes canceled too!!!

Friday class canceled! April 20 th my third school had a field trip so I got the day off! ( Wow- Fantastic Baby, Dance!) So I decided to spend the Entire weekend in Seoul. On Friday I met up with my good friend In Ho, unfortunately my other two Koreans friends couldn't meet:/ Anyways, we went to Children's park! There was an amusement park and zoo there! Of course the amusement park we spent most of our time in. We rode everything about twice and our favorites about 5. One of the best parts of the day was riding the Viken! ( the giant ship that swings back and forth). Of course we sat in the back on one side and on the other side was 4 elementary students! They waved hi and then my favorite song played "fantastic baby" and of course I sang along! The Korean boys thought it was so great that they sang with me and then we were competing for who could sing it the loudest. All the while their mothers are laughing behind them at the crazy foreigner singing with their kids.  Bumber cars was also a highlight! I am sure I rode it about 6 times. Many of the you get kids were very scared about the foreigner who looked ready to dominate:)  Saturday I went to nami island where the drama "winter sonata" had been filmed. We ( a group from church) took a zip line to the island! Way fun! Then toured the island a bit. It was raining so much that my shoes and socks were destroyed:(  Later that day I met friends for dinner and norebang and I had to buy shoes because I only brought one pair for the weekend. ( Travel packing, make sure all my outfits match one pair of shoes)  Sunday- went to church- dinner with Seung Ran ah- bus back home! 

No Class !!! Yes!

Classes canceled!!!?? On Wednesday the 18th after school classes were canceled because all the teachers were going on an outing. It was great, absolutely fantastic! The weather was beautiful and the spring blossoms were all out. It was a beautiful hike around a lake and I got to bond with my teachers a lot!  My vice principal is such a little kid  ( like me- I know). We were on a rope wood bridge and she began shaking the ropes. I was only holding on with one hand since my other hand was holding my wallet and water bottle so I was shaken a bit. Therefore, I turned out and yelled " Sonsengnim"! ( teacher) "hajima!" ( don't do that) in a very Korean accent:) The entire staff laughed so hard, as did I. Luckily being a foreigner I can get away with being informal but I also do realize the perfect situation to use it in.  After the hike we went to Myeongyeong-saejae for dinner and then departed! Best week ever!

Strawberry Festival!!!

Strawberry festival My strawberry days! Friday night after teaching I traveled 2 1/2 hrs to Daejeon. There I met up with 12 other teachers. We went to a hotel booked some rooms and went out for the night! The typical routine- eat, drink ( cider for me), and be merry ( norebang).  The next morning we caught a bus to Nonsan and walked to the strawberry festival. It was so cute! Everything was decorated with strawberries! Plastic, paper or wood! There was a lot of free strawberry samples and free meat samples! Strawberry ice cream, strawberry pancakes and waffles, strawberry cake, strawberry jam, strawberry painting etc. There was also an apache native American performance that reminded me of AZ. All in all it is a must do festival if ever you find yourself in Korea.  At the festival I bought two jars of jam for my schools( the loved it so much). After Nonsan I went back to Daejeon and from there took a two hr bus to Seoul! There I met with a Korean friend who studied with me for a few hours then I met up with another friend from church and crashed at her place.  Sunday and church was great! I was invited to dinner and left a little late and then got list at a transfer so... I missed my bus! I was going insane for a good ten minutes! Then I saw there was still one more for the night- the midnight bus leaving at 11pm. It was better than waiting the next day. So I had to wait for 3 hrs and sat in a Dunkin donuts forever to avoid the cold and to charge my phone! Luckily I survived and arrived home at 1 am and proceeded to have the best teaching week ever!

First Festival!

My first festival April 7th! I made plans to go to Jinhae for the biggest cherry blossom festival in Korea! It really did have the most cherry blossom trees I have ever seen...and this is how my adventures started... 

I met up with a large group of 13 in Gyeongju on friday night. Then we ate dinner and did norebang ( karaoke- this is our typical routine) till 3 am. After that whole night we woke up and proceeded to catch a noon bus to Masan. However there was a marathon going on so the taxi could not take us to the bus terminal so we walked! Missed the first bus and had to take a later one. Finally we got on the hour and half trip to Masan! 

Now Masan is a city right next to Jinhae so when we arrived we hopped on another bus to Jinhae. In total from gyeongju to Jinhae was about 3 hrs of traveling. Finally we arrive at the festival grounds. It was extremely beautiful with perfect weather. We walked down the main stream which was completely lined in cherry blossom trees. There was a lot of street food and fun toys( most of us purchased).

After a few hrs we thought we should head back to Gyeongju. However the congestion from the amount of people made traffic awful. The bus we were trying to take back was so full it didn't stop at our  bus stop. 

Next attempt: we walked to the train station crossing our fingers. No trains, to any decent location for the rest of the night! Also no taxis. 

Next attempt: (plan C) I was so tired and completely done with the clusters of people that I suggested we get on any bus and just get out of that city because any other city all have a bus terminal or at least easier traffic to travel in. Everyone agreed and we slammed into the next on coming bus. ( A huge thank you to Emily who blocked every ones way so our group could all get on)We stayed on the bus for about 40 minutes and ended up heading towards Busan. Then we followed some students taking another bus to get to downtown Busan(30min). After arriving we took the subway (50 min) to the bus terminal were we arrived with only 5 minutes to spare to catch the last bus to Gyeongju. We got on the bus (1 hr ). Finally we pulled in around 1 am only to realize we hadn't eaten dinner. We ate, we slept (kinda), we woke up, and walked to the bus terminal. From here at 8:30 in the mornng we split up from there to our individual cities. My bus ride was 2 hrs and 30 minutes back. 

This is the most crazy traveling I have done in one weekend and surprisingly the funniest part we had was randomly getting on a bus and just finding our way. We come up with a group name and dedicated a song to us that we listened to frequently throughout the night to keep us going. We all remained intact, no one got hurt and we all got home. Can't wait for the next festival:)

Team name: fantastic baby ( inspired by bigbang)

Jeomchon

I have been in my city jeomchon for three days! On the first day i went to meet my prIncipal of the second school. This school is very near my house and it seems like it will be really nice there. I teach at that school on Fridays and I have 4 classes that day. I then had dinner with my mentor teacher and her friend. It was quite interesting because both of them were expecting an Indian. This is because my name is commonly found in India and is not a typical American name. So both their faces had shock when we first met because of my appearance. My mentor teacher took me all the way home ,at least a 30 min drive. 

The next day she picked me up again and we went to the pottery museum and then to her friends house. Her friend is a student of the 80 year old master of pottery! It was way fun I made 4 things with her help. Then I went around to a famous walk where KBS films period dramas and I got to watch a bit of one! So cool:) 
Then on Friday I met my main principal and vice principal. I was extremely nervous. It all went well and now I am excited to teach on Monday. 

Gyeongsangbuk-do Orientation

So 5 days of gyeongbuk orientation! it has been more than crazy! Our lectures began at 9 am and ended and 9 pm. Then we would norebang till 11pm!!! I was able to learn more about Korea and teaching through this orientation. I tried on a hanbok ( traditional Korean wear) , eat Kimchi, eat rice cakes, and take a tour of Daegu!! I also through this orientation got to meet the Korean co-scholars of Gyeongbuk and have made many friends. It was the perfect relief for me and most other scholars to have a chance to make connections before we go off to our schools. Some of us are lucky with 6 other scholars in their city. Others are the only scholar in their city. However we are all blessed with this opportunity to TaLK- Teach and Learn in Korea!

Orientation overview

Feb 14th

 One week of orientation so far and it has been such an adventure. Some of the best activities have been taekwondo, paper crafts. Korean music, and traditional painting. I have also taken many classes about teaching and tips for classroom management. The idea of teaching is extremely exciting although I am really  nervous to meet my students. In my assigned school I only have 100 students total, very rural. My city is mungyeong and it is located smack -dab in the middle of Korea.  My city is know for ceramics which I hope to get involved in while I am there. Also I have recently discovered the the program can reimburse or pay for. Ultralight experiences I have in Korea. For example if I take Korean language courses I could ( possibly) get the class paid for! Maybe taekwondo! Or a field trip to a popular festival!!! I am so excited for the possibilities.

Feb 16
There was more lectures. Some of them were on storytelling, classroom management, and English camps in Korea. The last week of the main orientation we will practice teaching techniques. Then we will all separate a bit to another week of orientation in our assigned provinces. 

Feb 20th 
The teaching activities went really well and I got a chance to practice. The past week of orientation really brought confidence and drive to do well in our assigned schools!! 

Feb 24th
Last day of the main orientation! It was a great and sad day!! We had the farewell ceremony and the. We all got into our district buses and drove off to another 5 day orientation in our province!! 

Intro to Korea

Alright Korea!!! So the plane ride was long but it was the most comfortable flight I have ever been on. I didn't even NEED to brink smack because they fed us so much on that plane.
After arriving in Korea I quickly found the talk orientation leaders and met my friend Miok! Then we went and had my favorite food- bulgogi. The most delicious beef marinated in a sweet bbq sauce and cooked by yourself! That's right, an open little grill with coals and everything. You through it together with some lettuce and spicy sauce and then feed other people( it happens in Korea:/). Then I headed off to the orientation location in Jochiwon.
Since my arrival in Korea I have been to Gyeongbuk Palace, karaoking, Insadong - street shopping, walked down the chunggyecheon stream and seen the giant statue of Admiral Lee and King Sejong, and to the largest subway bookstore. I have also eaten more spicy food then I normally can handle but my body is quickly ajusting to the new foods.
Today was the official opening ceremony for the 8th generation talk scholars. IT WAS AWESOME! We saw a traditional performance of farmers music and entertainment. They had such great skill and performed some amazing things from the ribbon attached to their hats. Then we saw a taekwondo demonstration. Cutest and coolest thing I have ever seen. They were so young but demonstrated so much skill. Then the got humourous by dancing but still using taekwondo. The dance to 4 minute and
super junior and then the all shuffled. EVERYDAY I'M SHUFFELING!! It was extremely entertaining and I am so excited for whatever comes next!!

Flight Ticket

Today I received an e-mail from the TaLK program informing me that I will receive my ticket on Jan 25th. That is about one week before I am suppose to arrive in Korea. For anyone planning on arranging the flight ticket through the talk program, be aware that your ticket will be this close to your departure. This option is convenient for anyone who doesn't want to be out of money for a plane ticket and have to wait for reimbursement. It is also convenient if the airport is within easy distance. Unfortunately, the list of available airport was not my nearest airport. Therefore I have to purchase a connecting flight to L.A. Then the talk office will arrange my flight from L.A. To Korea. If anyone wishing to apply to this program also has to buy a connecting flight I would suggest purchasing your own ticket to Korea if you can afford it. Having only one week to purchase my ticket is slightly stressful.

TaLK program

It was the summer of '10 when I discovered the TaLK program (Teach and Learn in Korea). The TaLK program is where college students can exchange to a college in Korea and teach elementaary students English in an after school program. You can also just teach English without exchanging to a college. This program is ideal for those who want a cultural experience while still in college. Scholars teach in the rural cities in Korea to children who might not have as much of a cultural experience as those who live in major cities. For more information about this program visit the website talk.go.Kr.

I applied immediately and was under the impression that the application process wouldn't take me too long. To my surprise it took about 4 months. The process is very detailed, nothing difficult, just long. I then received my acceptance on Dec 1 2011 for the spring semester. I will be leaving on Feb 2nd 2012 and arrive in Korea the 3rd. The first month will be an orientation inSeoul, korea. After the orientation i will go to my assigned region of Gyeongbuk:)

Each post I will be leaving updates on what I am learning and seeing during my adventure in Korea.