Running around

The basketball court at school is finished. It's pretty nice, the best outdoor one I've seen in korea yet... except that the dirt field that surrounds the court means a lot of dirt gets on the court. In Korea, pretty much all soccer fields are dirt. There isn't much grass here. Two students invited me to go play at the end of the day. So I told my co teacher I didn't need a ride home, I was going to play with the kids.

I took off the tie and headed out to the court. I said I was just going to watch because I didn't have sneakers, but the kids wouldn't have that. I had to play. So I played with the middle schoolers. Some are actually decent for the age. Don't worry though, I didn't play my hardest. At one point some of the kids said "play fast" because I hadn't really been running or jumping. After a minute of playing fast they were okay with me just coasting along.

I finally went for a run tonight. The first one since I've been in Gyeryong. I found a nice little one lane road just a few blocks that winds into the farmland and the mountains. Pretty lucky considering I just stumbled upon it and don't know my way around the city/town very well at all. I'll take it as just another sign that someone (fate maybe?) has plans for me in Gyeryong.

If you don't use Skype yet, what are you waiting for? Free calls to other people using it(like me!)! I got to talk to Kishor tonight while he "did work" at his office job, it was nice to hear him. Johan will be leaving from New York to go back to Sweden for a while. Don't let the Swedish girls keep you there forever Johan, we'll miss you. I'll miss the little NYC get together, but I'll be there in spirit guys. I know I don't have to ask you to give Gammby a hard time, you'll do that already, but someone make fun of his wall street powers for me.

This weekend I'm going to Seoul with Annie! My host family is worried about me being on my own, they're so nice and very concerned for me. I think I'll be okay though. My host mom was pretty skeptical until I showed that I had figured out how to get to Daejon, which has a bus terminal that will go to Seoul. Also, I'm not sure if this helped, but Michael Jackson's Billy Jean was playing. She doesn't know much English, but she knows her Michael Jackson.

Dong Ah Apartments

That's the name of my new homestay apartment. Last monday night, after staying with a really nice family for the first five days in Gyeryong, I moved in with my permanent homestay family, who is also very nice. I can't communicate that well with this family, because their English is limited and my Korean is almost nonexistent, but we get along well and they are so nice. I can't wait until I can talk to them in Korean and also understand what they are saying about me. From my host mom especially I always hear "sonsangnim korean korean korean sonsangnim (teacher in Korean) korean korean."

I have a host brother who is in ninth grade (last year of middle school) named Ji Hyun, and a host sister in her first year of middle school (seventh grade) named Ji Sung. My host father is an accountant is does very well. He is renting another apartment two floors down, and he and his wife moved out of their master bedroom into the new apartment to give me the master bedroom! I wish I could have told them not to go to so much trouble. They've been so kind. And now and then a their grandma pops into the apartment. Neither of us can understand the other so we smile at each other while I eat. My host mom prepares so much food for me, and it's delicious. I don't have to worry about losing weight in South Korea anymore.

I've joined a gym, and today I played bball with a new Korean friend Baum Sheik. I don't think we'll be able to get many 5 on 5 games with good competition, but I think as I get used to the area I'll be able to find some eventually in Daejon, about 30 minutes to 1 hour away. I've updated my new webshots with pictures from orientation! Take a look.

So my host brother and his friend went to the movies today. When the came back they started building Gundam figures(Iike transformers I think). I asked them a few questions and then went back to studying Korean. Later when I came out for dinner, there was a cute girl with them! I went out with Baum Sheik for some beers, and when I got back they were still building their Gundam figures, while the girl was bored and chatting with friends on my host brothers computer. Apparently I have some work to do when it comes to teaching them about girls. I asked them at dinner if they had ever heard of a middle school dance (they're in middle school)... but nothing. We'll see what I can do this year at school.

Teacher Ben

As I went to my first class with another English teacher today, he exclaimed "tgif!" I thought it was another case where I couldn't really understand the Korean english teacher, but no, he was really saying TGIF. It was great - it was just how I felt. I'm definitely looking forward to relaxing this weekend.

I started teaching on Tuesday. I didn't think I was going to have to teach, but not much surprises me anymore, so when my co teacher asked if I was ready to teach second period, and yes she meant today, I said sure why not. My first lesson was going to basically be an intro lesson where the kids can ask me questions and then they write a little index card about themselves. Unfortunately I didn't realize how much of beginners they are... so I had a little trouble telling them things since I can't speak Korean. But every day since Tuesday has gotten better since I am getting used to their level and changing the lesson plan a little each day. I also don't see any classes more than once a week, so that is really nice.

People at my school, Umsa Middle School, have been really nice. I was worried about not being formal enough with people and mistakenly offending someone by not doing a Korean tradition, but the atmosphere is very relaxed. I'll keep up the formal bows with morning greetings and end of the day goodbyes, but it really seems like the teachers don't care. So I can relax a little bit. My coteacher, Mrs. Park, is very nice, and today helped me to pick out a cell phone online. Yesterday she helped me open a bank account. And she gives me little snacks everyday. The other English teachers are very nice too, and the kids treat me kind of like a movie star, always saying "hello! hello! nice to meet you!" in the hallways.

The school's cafeteria also isn't too bad. It's definitely better than the Kangwon university one where it was sometimes a struggle to get more of the main course. At Umsa? The lunch ladies see me and I have to convince them not to give me too much. Today in class I taught some students "basketball court." That's because they asked me my hobby, and after I told them, I said I would be very happy when the school's new outdoor basketball court is finished.

On my own

I'm now in my placement city where I'll be teaching for the next year. I'm not staying with my homestay family yet, because they're still visiting America, but I'm staying with a really nice family for a few days. I'm not sure when I'm moving in with my permanent homestay family or when I'm starting to teach... sometime early next week but the language barrier prevented me from learning exactly when.

So yesterday was our last day together during orientation. It's been nice having a group of 60 Americans to talk to, some more than others. To meet our school principals, we went into the auditorium where they were having a workshop about "how to treat an ETA." We lined up around the front of the auditorium, and when our name was called we would raise our hand, and bow to our principal. We were told to make a full 90 degree bow. This was a formal occasion and no one wanted to make a bad first impression, so the pressure was on. But it turned out not to be too serious. The principals were eager to meet us, and one even jumped out of his seat, ran over to his new ETA (Jackie), and popped some silly string and shouted how excited he was. One ETA made the bow, but then fell on the stage as she was backing up. During the wait, both the ETA's and the principal's were thinking "Who am I going to get?"

I got a nice principal who was there with another English teacher. Luckily they could speak some English, so the 3 and a half hour car ride wasn't too awkward or too silent. It was tough to stay awake the whole time, and I almost fell alseep several times. But we finally made it to Gyeryong, and I met my surrogate host family.

Gyeryong isn't as small as I thought it would be. So that's comforting. I took a bike ride around today, and tomorrow I'll go to Daejon with my family to see a movie. We might see Stealth. I might prefer a Korean movie even if I can't understand it.

Seoul Searching

Yesterday morning we left Chuncheon and headed to Seoul. I slept most of the bus ride. Thanks to Sravan for sharing a bus seat next to me, and to my roommate Conor for reminding me not to forget a pair of shoes in our dorm. My first day in Seoul was pretty nice.

We're now staying at Yonsei university, a very prestigious university in Seoul. The dorm room is really nice, the campus is kind of pretty, BUT we have a curfew of midnight or else we can't get into our dorms until 5:30am, and boys can't go into girl dorms, and vice versa. I haven't been too excited about that.

Yesterday Shoni and I had a great afternoon and evening in the city. First we went to a huge bookstore that has a large selection of English books, and stocked up for our homestays. I'll be reading The Da Vinci Code and The Guns of August sometime when I'm bored at my homestay.

Next we went to the Coex mall. I was looking for a couple of things. We went to the Apple store there, but they didn't have the video connectors I need to connect my laptop to my future middle school TVs. I did find recordable CDs at an office supplies store. I found the Seoul funk while I watched some Korean breakdancers do their thing in the mall, and hung out and had a good time. We also found a cool salon. Haircuts in a Korean salon were interesting because of the language barrier. I ended up with a decent haircut, a little shorter than I'd like, but pretty good. It was also probably the first time I've had a shampoo with a haircut in at least 10 years.

There are so many western restaurants I didn't feel bad going to one, or two. For dinner, we went to an Italian style restaurant, and while the spaghetti was very delicious, there just weren't American sized portions. So after that we got a bucket of KFC for the subway ride back.

The subway in Seoul is huge, and very easy to use. We got back with 20 minutes to spare before our curfew. We considered going back out with people, but not being able to go to sleep until 5:30am killed that idea.

Leaving Chucheon in style

We're now in Seoul. Monday morning we left Chuncheon, saying our sad goodbyes to our great RA's Wie Tae and Hyun Duk, all of our other Korean friends, and the campus in general. I will definitely miss the stadium where David and I played a lot of basketball with Korean students. Some quick highlights:

1. Thursday night we went out for Rachel's birthday - it was also the day we finally finished our language classes - so it was a ton of fun and we stayed out late etc. We went to a hip hop club, and the DJ keep it going. I was really surprised by how good he was - he just kept the party going.

2. Friday morning - after staying out very late Thurs night, I had to get up early and practice my speech. I was one of 4 students who had "volunteered" to give a speech Friday morning during our final ceremony. In Korean of course. I think my teacher just wanted me to do it because she knew she could get me to make it funny. It was exaggerated and not entirely true, but I thought it would be funny. So the story went something like this:
I met a beautiful Korean girl at the gym, and we went out for Popingsu (Korean dessert). I wanted to ask her if she had a boyfriend, but I couldn't do that in Korean. Luckily in class we learned how, and then when I did ask her, she said yes, she did have a boyfriend. I was sad. But then she introduced me to her roommate!
The Korean teachers and Fulbright staff loved it.

3. Friday afternoon - We had a talent show. A fun one. I did the Napoleon dynamite dance. I even added some moves of my own onto the end - so I danced for the entire song, and did the Napoleon dance pretty well. It was awesome. Hopefully someday I'll be able to put the video of it online. Or you can IM me and I'll send it to you...

4. The weekend was pretty much packing, hanging out with people, getting ready to go. Sunday night was a big party because our English club language partners were celebrating their sports day victory over other English clubs, and the next day (Monday) was Korean independence day from Japan. It's not a holiday like the 4th of July, it's more somber and not many stores are closed.

5. Monday we went to Seoul to stay for three nights until we go to our placements on Thursday. I'm not too tired yet so I'll post about that shortly.

Winding down in Chuncheon

Today we had our Korean language final. I think it went okay. I wasn't too concerned about it. Unlike after some tests, I'll keep studying Korean, because I'm here for a year.

After lunch we had a cultural workshop. One of the topics was how to build relationships with the people at your school and in the community. It was really eye opening. Some suggestions were "say hi" "talk to people" "spend time them" and even "share meals with them." So I'm oversimplifying, but seriously, "common sense" was probably the only thing I needed to hear. I did learn some useful things from the workshop though, which do highlight some cultural differences between America and Korea, including:

1. When you meet someone senior than you, don't shake their hand. Wait for them to initiate the shake. Bow without making eye contact and give greetings.


2. Don't leave a room with your back to people. I think this one will take some practice before it's halfway normal.


3. Don't trip... see above


4. Don't forget to take off shoes before you enter someone's house, school, some restaurants, pretty much anywhere.


5. Stand up to bow when senior teachers come in. It's okay, I'm in the Army, so I'm used to this one.


6. And my favorite one - bring a toothbrush to school because after lunch sometimes the teachers get together and brush their teeth! Now this I'm excited about.

There's a talent show on Friday. I'll probably be in several acts. If you were here, you might see me 1) do the Napoleon Dynamite dance with Conor, Sravan, and Adam; 2)Participate in (win, although Shoni has a big stomach) a dumpling eating contest; 3)Perform in a modern dance interpretation of a typical day during orientation, choreographed by the talented Jackie; 4)maybe something else

On Monday we go to Seoul for 4 days before we head off to our placements. It's almost game time

Beach Day

Today was a free day, so Annie, Sarah, and I decided to go to a Korean beach! We agreed it was probably the first time we intentionally went anywhere that wasn't in a guide book. None of us speak Korean, and the bus we took from Chuncheon to Gangneung City dropped us off in the middle of a small city with no beach in sight. But somehow we asked a Korean woman selling stuff and she directed us to the right bus, and eventually when everyone got off the bus at the final stop it was the beach! The beach was 3 hours away but well worth it.

Some beach sights:

1. People buried in the sand to avoid the sun.


2. Come on beer! men with mini kegs on their back. People went around selling lots of other food like pizza and popingsu, taking beach bum to a whole new level.

3. Just being at the beach!

4. There was some sort of festival happening. There was great dance music blasting all day, some free product giveaways (I got free packets of olive oil after playing a dart game to see which kind of olive oil I would win!), and pretty Korean girls with bunny ears. I think if we stayed later we would have been able to see a concert, but we decided to get back since we had no idea about bus schedules.

5. Sarah, me, Annie

I already met my host brother!

One of the Fulbright camp instructors, Liza, just finished a great year at the school I'm going to. So she's been telling some great things about it. The people are nice, and the school is new. You can visit the website to check it out for yourself, although it's in Korean. Unfortunately I'll have to teach with a co-teacher in the room... which didn't excite me because I want to be in charge of my classroom and I feel like I can handle discipline just fine. I'll see if I can convince her that I'm able enough to teach alone.

But anyway, Liza and I were having lunch and one of her teacher friends from the school called, and told Liza who my host family is. And coincidentally I already have met my host brother, Ji Hyun, because he's going to the camp and I've already taught him in one of the classes. CRAZY! I'll have a little host sister too.

I might even have to chance to meet the family tomorrow when they pick up Ji Hyun. I don't think I'll mention that I'll be their staying with them... I'll probably just say it was nice to teach Ji Hyun and that he's a good kid. It might get awkward if I ask them if my room is ready yet...

Other recent highlights:
1. Played dodgeball again with the sports club on Thursday - you know how I love dodgeball. I think I've inspired the kids who've played it here too. I've got too new nicknames from the sports club. One is Spalding, because I wore my spalding tshirt a couple times, and two, dodgeball master, and you can guess how I earned that one.

2. Mariah's birthday party Thursday night - after cake at a little bakery it was 18 girls and I doing karaoke! My biggest hit was singing and dancing MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This, the e x t e n d e d version... so I was up there for a while. But I think the girls enjoyed it.

3. Went for a run Wednesday night - the first time distance running since the middle of June! It's okay though Army, I've been playing soccer and bball to keep in shape.

4. We have to take a Korean language final on Wednesday. Apparently if we don't pass there's still a chance we could get sent home. So the pressure's on for some people! For some reason that threat has been thrown around a lot by the orientation leaders recently... I think maybe some people in last year's group didn't live up to Fulbright's standards. But we're a good group. So there's no need to keep up with what I think are idle threats. There's more positive ways to motivate us to learn Korean.

5. NBA offseason is heating up. Check out this article for a funny comparison of quotes from the movie Anchorman and the NBA offseason.

First dance party with Korean middle schoolers

Every afternoon at the camp the kids get an hour of kind of free time to do any activity they want. Today was the first day I was assigned to work this "rec time," and so I thought I'd give the kids something fun. I decided to have a little dance party/dance lesson for anyone who was interested. I had about 10 kids who said they would come, but then one of the directors announced that the kids could do nap time since everyone was tired today. So our numbers dwindled. We still had 3 or so campers and enough ETA's so that we had a good dance circle. We had to start somewhere.

Yes, I finally changed the colors of my blog - they're a little more my style now.

The NBA's big day

Today the NBA Signing moratorium ends - in case you haven't been keeping up to date on NBA news, and I know not many people who read this have, today is the first day that NBA teams could sign/trade players since the summer started. The new collective bargaining agreement will keep the NBA lockout free for at least another 6 years, but among other things adds an age restriction (19 years old or one year after high school graduation) to the draft. So teams can finally sign their free agents, which should make the next few days pretty exciting.

The east is not looking quite as week anymore, with the Pacers and Nets having a good offseason. The pacers should be there with the heat in the conference finals. My celtics didn't screw anything up in the offseason yet, and had a great draft, so while this year won't be their year, there's hope for the future. With the Joe Johnson sign and trade, I like what Phoenix has done. I think Nate Robinson would have been an excellent fit for the team, but Kurt Thomas brings size and defense, and we found out again what wins championships.

Next year should be exciting because Amare will be more Shaqlike, my main man Dwayne Wade will be more Jordanesque, and Artest will be Artest. After the dust settles from free agency and trades I'll see if I decide to make a preseason pick for the champ.

I'm going to Gyeryong

So it's final. I got my placement and I will be going to a coed middle school in Gyeryong, a small town about 40 minutes outside of Daejon. Now I'll admit I wasn't too happy about the placement at first, because I wanted a big city and watched as 10 other ETA's were placed in the cities I requested. The commute to language classes in Daejon will be rough because I hate commuting, and I might not be able to find many people to play basketball with, but life will go on.

I have talked to someone who taught at the middle school last year and she had a great time. So at least the school will be a positive part of my experience. I'll still be a little nervous about just how small the town is until I get there, but I'll make the most of the situation. I will be traveling a lot, so the other ETA's should get ready for visitors.

I also don't really how know to pronounce my town's name yet.