Update: Teaching, Volunteering and Gyeongju

These past few weeks have been filled with new experiences teaching, a weekend trip to Gyeongju and my first time volunteering with the North Korean defector program, where Fulbright ETAs can teach English. Let me dive right in to updating you all on my life:

Mid October I finished my first round of teaching 4th grade, and started teaching 6th grade. The difference between the children is so marked. In just two years they turn from adorable little kids to teenagers who are tired of the system and don't mind telling you and showing you that they don't really care. The first week teaching 6th was a struggle, but I have since adjusted and am really starting to enjoy this grade as well. It is more challenging, because I have to work extra hard at engaging them, and I also have to discipline them more, something I don't like to do, but is necessary.
One of my 6th grade students gets up in the middle of class and starts hitting other students. This is unacceptable, so I had to keep him after class one day, to address this. Another of my students will start tearing out pages of his textbook in the middle of class...

Teaching one of my fourth grade classes 

Mid-October, Fulbright held its annual Fall Conference in Gyeongju, South Korea. All ETAs are required to attend various workshops on teaching, and other aspects of our grant year. The conference was a great reminder that I am here to teach, and offered new ideas and insights into our daily life as ETAs.

On Sunday the 16th, we toured Gyeongju and visited several sites, one of my favorites was Bulguksa Temple, which is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. Two reasons  this temple is so special is 1: Its size, and 2: It survived Japanese vandalism during the colonial period.  

Bulguksa Temple, Gyeongju

 My other favorite site was Daereungwon, where twenty-three ancient tombs of kings and noblemen of the Silla Dynasty can be seen. The tombs look like rounded hobbit hills, much simpler than the Egyptian tombs, but serving the same purpose. In one tomb over 12,000 artifacts including golden crowns, and jewels weapons, pottery and paintings were discovered.

Daereungwon, Gyeongju

Monday, the day of departure, a friend and I went to Wolji pond to spend a few hours journaling and sketching. Wolji pond used to serve as a "vacation" get-a-way for the royalty, and features beautiful buildings and landscape.

Wolji pond, Gyeongju 

 It was easy to imagine big gatherings of noblemen enjoying the finer things of life, while they gazed out across the water.

Wolji pond, Gyeongju

This past Wednesday, a friend and I took the bus to Cheonan, (about an hour away) where we volunteered with a North Korean defector program that offers English lessons to North Korean refugees for free. They are always looking for more teachers, and both of us have decided to commit our Wednesdays to volunteering. This means that immediately after work (4:40pm) we hop on a bus to travel the total 1 hour and a half to the language center. Then we teach one hour, and journey back to Cheongju. This means that we only come back around 10pm. So in other words, on Wednesdays I leave my house at 8:30am, and don't come back until 10pm. It's a long day, but definitely worth it! 

That is all for now! More updates to follow...

Fire drills in Korea

This past week our school had a fire drill. It was the most interesting and bizarre thing I've ever experienced. But by the end, I was convinced that we need to start replicating Korean fire drills in the States. It all started at 9:50am. The alarm rang, and my co-teacher and I quietly left our classroom.

Extinguishing the demo fire

The fire extinguishers 

My co workers attempting to light the box of wood. The lady in blue is my vice principal. 

We proceeded to merge with a vast column of departing students, who were all crouching low to the ground with handkerchiefs placed over their mouths. A few girls were giggling, but the majority of students took this drill seriously. All of us exited the front of the building and poured onto the sports field. After all students and teachers assembled on the field, two teachers carried a girl on a stretcher out of the building, to demonstrate the procedure if someone got hurt. 

The homeroom teachers took their classes to the back of the field, and lined up in orderly fashion, children still low to the ground. I understood now why there was a need for handkerchiefs, because red smoke was pouring out of the first floor windows. They had replicated fire smoke, because it certainly smelled like something was burning. A fire truck pulled onto the field to oversee the drill. My co-teacher, and another homeroom teacher lit a can containing wood and paper on fire. 

It took a few minutes to light up, and the fireman came and assisted them, but eventually the can was burning nicely, and after a few brief words from the principal, my co-teacher and the homeroom teacher proceeded to demonstrate how to use a fire extinguisher. After that the fire-department illustrated how to spray the field and the surrounding trees with water from a fire hydrant, to prevent flames from the burning building spreading. The drill ended at 10:10, after twenty minutes, and the teachers led their classes into the building once more to resume classes. 

When I think back to the fire drills at college, it's almost laughable. Because we knew it was only a test, when that alarm rang, my roommate and I would calmly put on our jackets, turn off the TV,  and stroll outside. I remember some people would finish their showers, or change from their PJs into regular street clothes, depending on the time of day. We definitely did not take the fire drills seriously. Because we never actually had a fire, this was not a problem. However, I think in the case of a real fire, we would have panicked. I admire the way the Korean system requires schools to perform at least two of these very detailed fire drills a year. After observing the drill last week, I think there would be a lot less panic in the case of a real fire. Maybe we need to start thinking of adopting such a system. 

In the back you see the children sitting on the ground, and in the middle one of the homeroom teachers is trying to light a can of paper.