VIDEO: Kapsa Buddhist Temple & Mud Experience

Here are some videos that I took back in August (before my camera broke). 

You can read more about this cultural trip here.

Kapsa Buddhist Temple

Riding in a wagon to the mud flats

Mud flats: Eastern coast of South Korea

Greetings from Gwangju!

Arrived in Gwangju not too long ago via 3 hour bus ride with the other scholars who will be teaching in the Jeonnam Province. We are in the middle of no-where. The sky is overcast, and it is humid because we are further south. I read that Jeonnam has the warmest weather in South Korea. There is no shortage of rolling hills covered in endles pine trees. It's like Christmas Land everywhere we go.

Lunchtime was overwhelming. They catered a huge buffet, and there was heaps of good food such as kimchi, kimchi pancakes, smoked salmon, 3 different soups, noodles, fresh watermelon / pineapple, etc. It was also my birthday, so everyone in the dining hall sang, and the program gave me a cute ice-cream cake from a local French bakery called Paris Baguette. I shared it with my friends, and then I had to run to get my luggage from where I left it in the basement onto the bus. Everyone's last good-byes were sweaty and rushed from all the bustling, and before I knew it, we were in Gwangju.

For the next few days, we will be attending more lectures and coming up with mock lessons. We are staying in what I think is a place designed for conferences. We are all living in pairs, dormitory-style with our own bathrooms. On Saturday, they organized a mixer where we will have the opportunity to meet our Korean TaLK Scholars (other college-aged people who will be helping us in the classroom a few days per week -- some of us do not have Korean TaLK Scholars which sucks....but luckily I do). We will also meet 4th, 5th, and 6th generation Jeonnam TaLK Scholars (I am 7th generation), who can answer our questions and give us advice. Then we depart on Tuesday and go our separate ways within this province.

Dinner is in less than half an hour, and I am starving. I wonder what the cafeteria here has to offer. Since it is my birthday, they also organized pizza, chicken, and cake later on in the evening. Yum.

All in all, it has been a very dynamic birthday and past few weeks. Orientation has definitely been a blast, and I feel very lucky to be in South Korea as a TaLK Scholar. Applying for this program was a pain in the ass, but all of those struggles were more than worth it. Just based on the orientation, I would highly recommend this program to friends who are interested in taking time off to teach abroad whether it be 6 months or 1 year.

In my spare time, I plan to teach my self how to read and write in hangul. I also want to be proficient in Korean because it sucks not knowing how to say anything besides "hi" and "thank you." It would also help to know what people were saying even if it's just numbers and money. Whenever I buy anything, I always have to look at the screen on the register because I don't know any numbers in Korean....

Till next time!

First Full Day

I can't get the taste of kimchi out of my mouth. We eat in the cafeteria at set meal times 3x's each day. They call it "prison style," where you grab a tray (with little dish-sized compartments built into them) and serve yourself. The food is actually really good; it's like eating at an all-you-can eat Korean restaurant everyday. I'll have to take a picture later, but there is usually a tray of rice, some sort of meat in a stew (to go over the rice), dumplings / chicken nuggets / spam (aka more bite-sized meats), squid & radish / kimchi (aka side-dishes). Then at another station, they have lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, celery ... maybe some sort of potato salad or fruit and dressing. (The fruits and vegetables are really sweet & fresh!) And at another station are a beverages: tea, water, maybe soda (I don't venture that far.) Some people have complained about the food because they've been eating it for several days, but after eating at IH for one semester, anything will taste good by comparison. I think it's healthier than Oxy food too.

I hear that my province is one of the more (if not the most rural) areas. It's not known for anything besides the really good (and hopefully cheap) food. In my spare time, I should learn how to make kimchi or cook delicious meals. Korea town will have nothing on me!

While everyone is feeling familiar with life at Korea University, I'm still playing catch-up. Finding the classrooms, maneuvering the dining hall, meeting new people. I'm in Group 6, which is comprised of scholars going to Jeonnam (my province) and Incheon. Everyone already knows each other, so it sort of sucks to be a week behind everyone blahhhh

Korea University Campus

Breakfast started at 7:40am, followed by a 9 hour day (6 hours of lecture, lunch, 20 min breaks in between), and an optional Korean Language Activity/Class that I signed for after dinner. My jet lag kicked in during the second half of the last lecture, which was around 5pm here and 1am (aka my bed time) back in LA.

Lectures are boring. Don't get me wrong, they are very informative. We learn about classroom management, how to engage the kids, how to teach them effectively through simple songs & games, and what to expect when teaching in rural areas. Most scholars do not have teaching credentials and only really took this opportunity to go abroad and take a year off. (Hey, that sounds familiar.) The guest lecturers give us heaps of creative game ideas to teach English and even make us play them to help us understand how the games work. Oftentimes, I felt like the lecturers were talking to us like kids. Mix that with jet lag, and you'll understand why I felt like I was losing my sanity. I tried uploading a video snippet, but I accidentally recorded it in AVCHD and my computer doesn't recognize that. waahhh, ok well I'm sure there will be more to record next week, so I'll keep ya posted.

View from the elevator. I live on the 7th floor.

View from my room.

View of my room  :)