Placement Ceremony

Photo by Alex Suryapranata

It happened. The moment I have been waiting for since I was notified about being a Fulbright Finalist. I now know where I will be for my grant year here in South Korea. We had the placement ceremony today, and it was a lengthy process. First off, we had no idea when we were going to be called up, so all of us were waiting, wearing our professional clothes, so we can go up to the stage. I know I was sweating. As the weight got longer there just seemed to be a buzz of anxiety in the room. It was an odd feeling. It reminded me of junior year when my classmates and I were waiting to find out our student teaching placements, except on a much larger scale. Once our names were said, we had to collect our slips of paper, bow to Director Shim as a show of gratitude, and then place a flag note on a big map of Korea where our placement it. Luckily there were OCTs there to help us. I don't know Korea's geography very well.

So as the fourth group that got called up, I am proud to say that I have been placed in Hwacheon (화천군) in the Gangwon (화천군) Provance at Hwacheon Elementary School (화천초등학교). I don't know yet what grades I will be teaching, but I know that I could be teaching anywhere 3rd-6th grade. There is also another ETA that has been placed at the school with me, so I'm assuming we're going to split two and two. That would be really nice. There are also three other ETAs that have been placed in the same area. In the picture to the left, we are the little collection of color at the top of the map in the green portion.
From what I have heard about from two previous ETAs that were placed in that area, it is really lovely, and they both had a delightful and gratifying experience. I'm excited to get in contact with my Co-op and start planning!

Hwacheon is a small military town, really close to the DMZ. Less than 100 students per grade, so that is really nice. It's also a rural area with lots of farmland and mountains, and there is a river that goes right by my school. I can't wait to see the land and to meet all of the people there. Now I just need to improve my Korean skills, and I can do just that. I am really excited to experience the next year of my life. When am I ever going to be able to do this again in my lifetime? I'm going to take it one day at a time, experience South Korea as much as I can and try and get as much as I can possibly get out it.