The last Fulbright conference

Last weekend I went to Jeju-do, the island off the southern coast of Korea. It's billed as Korea's Hawaii, but really... it's kind of like Charleston, S.C. temperature-wise. It was supposed to be a momentous occasion- the Spring Fulbright Conference, the last time everyone on the program would get together.

Back during orientation, we looked ahead to the Jeju conference with wonder, awe. "Who will have dropped out? Who will have been sent home? How awkward will the conversations be with people I haven't talked to since August? How much will this crazy country have changed me?" These questions were on all of our minds. Jeju was supposed to be a turning point. But it didn't have that feeling of finality. No tearful speeches from Korean teachers that I've gotten used to at every transition point so far. Most of us ETAs don't see many other ETAs very often anyway, just our close friends. And we still have to teach for three months. So, it just kind of happened. I guess it only makes sense that since we've all been on our own we'll have to deal with getting ready to go on our own.

Jeju was great, don't get me wrong. These pictures with flowers prove that much. Forest and I got there early Thursday night (we didn't have to be there until Sat afternoon) so we helped Henry teach Friday morning and then went to lunch with his vice principal. The VP bought us so much meat. I ate raw beef- complete with a raw egg yolk mixed in... maybe salmonella and ecoli cancel each other out. When we met up with the rest of the ETAs it was great. I love the excitement of having 70 people I can talk to together. Quite the opposite of my town. We went to singing rooms, we drank traditional Korean wine, and we talked about what we're doing next year. We lived it up.