Summer is Coming

After what seems like weeks, I have finally found a moment to slip away from my adorable, but demanding host sisters, to sit in my favorite coffee shop and try to formulate my thoughts into words.

The oldest and youngest host sisters (8,4) at our day at the park

Let me start by recounting a conversation my host parents and I had a few weeks ago. It went like this:
Host dad: Tessa, we have a problem.
Me: Really? What can I do?
Host dad: Can we fly to France with you in July?
-on the inside, I'm like, "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm------------"
Me: Yes...but I am not flying to France, I am visiting my grandmother in Germany.
Host dad: Hmm, when are you in France?
Me: August.
-here my host dad and host mom exchange looks and speak non-verbally
Host dad: Can we come in August?
Me: Sure!

And just like that it will be my turn to host my host-family for one week in August. I am excited for this, but I am also aware it will cut my time with my family a bit short, and leave me quite tired, right before my studies at Gordon-Conwell start...especially because my host mom cannot come, leaving me to share my host dad's burden of being sole entertainment providers for my host sisters (aged 8,6,4).

Jeungpyeong country side

My host family's upcoming trip to Europe has left the girls very excited. Every day they ask questions about what life in Europe is like. Often at the dinner table I will get questions like, "Do they have rice in Europe?" "Do they like spicy food?" "Do they have seaweed?"

A trip to the country side with my host family

Just recently the eldest makes me watch baking videos with her. Not just your average muffin, or cookie either, but elaborate recipes of unicorn cupcakes and kakao-talk animal muffins. She asks me after each one, "Can we make this in France?" Since their trip to my home is two months away, and I don't really know what we can and can't make, I don't want to say no yet. But it has gotten to the point where the list of things she wants to make includes:

• kakao-talk muffins
• unicorn cupcakes
• totoro pudding
• Lion (Korean character) cookies
• Spongebob cookies
• Pokemon cake

Now anyone looking at that list could tell that even making one item would involve a bit of work...add to that the fact that my host sisters are all under the age of 10, and don't know how to bake...recipe for disaster...

Lastly, one thing that has been on my mind a lot, partially because of my host family's trip to Europe, is Europe itself. In light of the London attacks that have happened over the past three months my host mom asked me the other day, "Is Europe safe?" Even just a year ago I would have replied without hesitation, "Absolutely. You don't have to be afraid when you visit Europe, nothing bad will happen to you."
Now the answer is so much more complicated, because yes, I still believe Europe is much safer than certain parts of the world, but one thing is clear: It is not the Europe of my childhood anymore. And this makes me sad.

A view of my neighborhood. My house is behind the white one in the middle of the picture.

March update: Mom's visit, and more

This past month has been a whirlwind. The new semester started, and I have been teaching 6th grade for the past 4 weeks. 2 more weeks with 6th grade, then 6 weeks teaching 5th grade, and 6 weeks teaching 3rd grade and I am finished. Time seems to both fly by and crawl very slowly. I see this especially in the fickleness of the weather. One day I am outside with nothing but a light sweater, and the next day it is so cold I am wearing a hat and scarf! At this point I am both happy and sad that I have only 3 more months.

Gyeongbukgung palace, Seoul

Last week my mom visited from France. I picked her up Friday the 17th, to spend a weekend in Seoul. The very day we met, I got the worst cold I've had in a long time. Monday through Friday we spent in Cheongju, where I was able to show her my workplace and introduce her to my vice-principal and principal. We also spent some time with my host family, and then returned to Seoul for the second weekend. Sunday the 26th I brought her to the airport and said goodbye until July.
Below are pictures from our time together.

It was special to have my mom visit for several reasons:

The palace gardens

• I have cool parents who will spend money on an expensive ticket just to come see me.

Cheongju

• It was an interesting experience to be around someone again, for an extended period of time, who actually understands what I say. 

Seoul, Korea National Museum

• It made me realize that I have a tendency to retreat into my own world around my co-workers or others who only speak Korean. It's both a blessing and a curse. At work, when we have a long meeting and I don't understand a single word, I can escape into my mind, and plan the to-do list for the week, or think about a book I've recently read and would like to write a paper on in grad-school. But at the same time it keeps me from actively engaging with the world around me....

The museum

• I realized that I will definitely have culture shock going back to Germany in the summer...it will be very, very strange to understand everyone around me, and I think it will be almost as tiring as NOT understanding anyone around me.

The museum

• I forgot what it feels like to be around family. After almost 8 months with my host family, I consider them to be the closest thing to family that I have in Korea. However, that doesn't replace the comfortable feeling of familiarity you get with your own family. :)

Saying goodbye at Incheon

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. 

Student life

It's been over two weeks, and teaching 6 classes of 5th graders, 3 times a week has allowed me a small insight into Korean students' lives.

A few days ago, my co-teacher gave each 5th grade class an exam, to test their knowledge of the unit we finished. Usually students sit in three rows of two students each, but on test day students came into the class room and upon instruction from my co-teacher immediately re-arranged the desks into six single rows of desks. This keeps students from being able to see what their neighbor is writing. What struck me about this was the familiar way in which students went through the action of re-arranging the classroom, taking the test and when finished, placing their hands on their head to indicate their completion. The comfortable way in which student performed all actions indicated to me that they were tried-and-true test takers. Their actions spoke of a weary resignation to dreaded exams. I have not taught in an American 5th grade class, but looking back to my own experiences as a 5th grader, I did not take exams and tests as seriously as they are taken in my Korean school.

Another observation:
Last week I went to the library a few streets from where I live. The library is close to my school as well. As I was walking up the stairs to the English section on the third floor, I passed the glass encased study room. Sitting at the tables were some of my students from 5th grade, diligently bending over their homework. My shock at seeing them working so studiously made me realize that, for me, 5th graders are still children. I don't think of them as serious students, trekking to the library after school to study. I certainly didn't think of myself as a serious student when I was in 5th grade. At that age school was about making friends, learning because it's fun, not more, not less.

The two observations above highlight an aspect of Korean student culture that (I think) differs from our own. In the US, 5th graders are certainly expected to learn much as well, however I think the US takes a more "what happens in school stays in school" approach. What I mean by that: US 5th grade students are expected to participate in school, and do their homework. But serious studying outside of school is not necessary. Instead, teachers and parents encourage students to balance studying with play outside of school. Here, in Korea, I think teachers and parents encourage students to study in school as well as out of school. Even in Elementary school parents pay for their children to go to academies for various subjects to study and learn so they will be ahead of their class. I think this is a big difference to the States.

However, I have also seen that more than anything, Korean 5th graders ARE still kids, and they joke and play as much as American kids do. It is just a different balance.

D-25 Let The Preparations Begin

What do European cities have to do with Korea? Not much, except that I am currently living with my parents in France, as I prepare for my year of teaching English in South Korea.

The view from the restaurant terrace

Yesterday my parents and I took a trip outside of our city, to the small village of Cassel, settled on top of one of the only hills in the region. This Flemish-French village featured a long, cobblestoned road that rattled our brains as we journeyed to the top of the hill, however the view was reward enough. After a wonderful lunch on the breezy terrace of a restaurant, we walked through the city square where a music festival was being held. 

I returned to Europe, the place of my childhood, the beginning of May after graduating from Roanoke College in Virginia. As I prepare for my year in South Korea, I cherish the moments spent under the shadows of ancient cathedrals. The historic aura pervading all European countries wraps me in a familiar cocoon. I am leaving for Seoul on July 8th, and before then will have visited Ireland, Belgium, England, France (where my parents live), and Germany (where my grandmother lives). Sometimes I wonder what it would be like not to travel so much, but then I shake my head. I am thankful, so thankful for opportunities to travel and see the world, that I have had all my life. 

The restaurant 

When I first moved to France as a 15 year old, I had to learn French from scratch, and it was hard. I still do not speak French fluently, but spending the time here preparing for South Korea reminds me that I have lived in a country that I do not speak the language or know the customs before. If I did it once, with God's help, I can do it again. 

Music festival Cassel

This is my first blog post, of many more to come, detailing my adventures as an English teacher with Fulbright Korea. I hope that this blog will be a help to anyone considering to apply for a Fulbright ETA. If you have any questions, feel free to comment! I began my own process of applying to Fulbright May 2015, and I would have never successfully completed this long journey without the help from my professors at Roanoke College and friends who have gone before me as ETAs. So don't be shy!