Easter in Korea

Easter is another one of those holidays that make me miss family more than ever as well as a holiday that most Koreans don't celebrate. Now I have mentioned before that most Koreans aren't religious, therefore there is no purpose to celebrate Easter. But in the US, where the Christian religion is so ingrained in our foundation, I found myself feeling odd walking into school on Easter Monday. Much the same feeling I had walking into school on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

I had mentioned previously that Easter was coming and that I wanted to do something to celebrate it. I originally wanted to make the family my mom's flapjacks (that never happened) but instead we enjoyed the nice weather. In the US, there might be storm after storm, but in Korea the weather has been beautiful. It has been warm and sunny and nice. I really wasn't expecting them to do all they did that day. Just to reiterate, my host family isn't religious. Especially not christian, so they don't celebrate christian holidays. First, we went on a walk back on some property through fields and up a mountainside that I didn't realize we owned. We even walked past the house that my host mom was born in and she pointed out her mountain and the graves of her mother and grandfather.

After the walk, we all piled into the car (My host parents plus their three kids plus the three cousins plus me) and went to 'flower road.' This was just a paved driveway with cherry blossoms on either side. But it was still beautiful. My host mom got out her camera and took lots of pictures. I didn't know there were going to be pictures or I would have dressed better, but it was a nice experience nonetheless. When we got back, my host dad told me there was going to be a BBQ. I don't know if they did all this for my sake because of the holiday, or they just wanted to enjoy the beautiful weather (it was one of the first really nice weekends) but I appreciated them and what they did for me regardless. It was a nice day and a nice evening.

If only we didn't have so much fun. I had to wake up at 4 am to Skype home and then get up for work the next day. But you know what? I wouldn't trade the whole experience for anything.

Newspaper Review Project

Since I am now teaching in the homeroom classrooms for my 5th grade, I have discovered that I now have a lot more control over the class and what we do. Now this lesson was in no way my idea. For 5th grade, as well as all the grades, we have a textbook to follow, but this year we have a new book to use. Just like with the old one, they have fun review like activities every few chapters. In the old books, this review would be in the form of a story time (which I did a post on last October).
But in this new book, it is a bunch of new activities. Now these reviews are supposed to take three days, but because of my trip to Jeju for the conference, I actually missed both the test for the previous unit and the first day of this review. The star of the review was a newspaper project that I made into much more than it needed to be. I just love creative activities like this and I will try and get my students to make things any time I get the opportunity. I hope the textbook allows for more days like this one in the coming reviews.

The final day of the three review days was a 'newspaper' of sorts. Since the first two chapters were on where you are from and what you like to do on the weekends, it was perfect for personal stories and interviews for a newspaper. Now in the book, it says we were supposed to spend more time on the actual reading of the example newspaper, but I was way too excited. I just wanted them to make their own news bulletin as it ended up being. Each class is made of about 22 or 23 students if everyone is there. I decided I wanted to put them in five groups. Each group was assigned one part of the project. They were so excited when I told them that they were going to get to choose their own groups. That rarely happens for them, just like in any elementary school, I suppose. Once they were in the groups I gave them their choices and each group picked one. If two groups wanted to do the same thing, they would rock, paper, scissors for who would get to do it. In Korea, rock, paper, scissors can solve world problems. Literally. I've seen grown men use it.

The project was split into five parts:
1) Welcome Friends- Students would write a profile of sorts introducing themselves. (two per class).
2) My Weekend Pictures- Students would draw a picture about what they do on the weekends and 'caption' it (two to three per class).
3) Teacher interview- Students would interview the teachers and write up the dialogue. (Two per class).
4) Comic Strip- Write and illustrate an amusing comic using the vocabulary. (One per class)
5)Designer- This group designed the poster and would layout all of the pieces the others created.

Now this wasn't the same for every class. Depending on what students ended up in each group determined where I spent most of my time and helped, but it was so fun and the students were so proud of what they created in English. It was also really nice to see all the really cute pictures. Korean kids are so artistic. I couldn't and still can't draw that well. Each class came out with something just a little bit different and it really was a testament to the different dynamics and personalities of each class.

Spring Conference On Jeju Island!

So, last November, I posted about the Fulbright fall conference in Gyeongju. Well, not long ago, Fulbright hosted their second of the two conferences. Spring Conference is on Jeju Island. The beautiful island just south of the Korean peninsula. There are a few ETAs that are placed on the island and teach in middle and high schools, but the rest of us had to fly in.

The whole adventure began on Thursday after school when two other ETAs and I began our trek from Hwacheon. We decided that since we had to fly out so early on Friday morning to make it to the hotel where the conference was held, on time, we would have to stay the night before in Seoul. From Hwacheon, to Chuncheon to Seoul. The three of us were exhausted by the time we got to the Airbnb. But the place was so nice and I ended up getting a really soft bed all to myself. It was a really nice break from the harder beds that are more common in Korea. The pillows! They were so squishy!!!

Friday morning, the three of us pack up and head out to the airport (after turning back because of a forgotten phone). We actually get there way too early. Going through Korea security is a completely different experience compared to the US. Especially since we were flying domestically. The whole process was super quick, well for the other girls. I got held up a bit by the version of my ticket I had didn't have the QR code (I had to pull up another one, easy but annoying), and then my bag got stopped because of a nail file that was in my backpack. But it was really short and quick.

We flew down to the island (about an hour) and then took a bus to the hotel. For reference, Jeju airport is almost dead center on the northern coast of the island. The hotel we were staying in was on the south coast of the island. Right on the water too. It was so beautiful. But the bus ride there took about an hour. All in all, it actually took less time compared to some of the other trips I have taken in Korea, but I think just lugging a duffel bag around just adds to exhaustion. But there is no rest for the weary because we had to get right into our conference clothes and get ready to spend the rest of the day in various presentations. Some were more fun than others but the overall experience is always good. I really enjoy these conferences. Anytime we get to just hangout together and talk about the highs and lows of teaching here as well as bounce ideas off of each other is always a good experience.

I have to take a moment to tell you how beautiful this hotel is. It was right on the coastline and there was a little path that you can take to go down to the beach. Inside the hotel, there was a giant koi pond with fish that you could actually buy food for a feed. In my room, the balcony didn't have a great view of the water, but it had a bit of a view. That didn't matter too much because when I had free time, I spent it down by the water or walking along the paths.

Saturday was much of the same, with the only difference being that the junior researchers joined us that day, and in the afternoon, the conference changed from being about the ETA experience to the Junior Researchers projects and the data/results they had at this point in their grant year. There was actually some really interesting projects that I enjoyed listening to, as well as some that were just outside of my scope of interest, but I still listened to.

Sunday was where the real fun was. Just like in Gyeongju, KAEC had organized a tour of some popular places on Jeju. Of course I had to go on this tour. I was way too excited to see the beautiful places that were on the itinerary. The first place we went to was literally five minutes from our hotel. In fact, I actually have a picture. The first place we went to was Jusangjeolli (주상절리대). These are cliffs that formed when the volcano erupted over 200,000 years ago. We didn't spend very much time here but I could defiantly spend all day there if I had the option. The water was so beautiful.

After the cliffs, we went a bit further away. We went to Jeju Folk Village (제주민속촌). It is 40 acres where they have reconstructed buildings and places from the 1890's to take you back in time in Korean history.
It was really beautiful and really interesting to see the architecture from over 100 years ago and how far the country has come in such a short time to modernize.
Before going to the final place on our itinerary, we took a quick pit stop to a beach were we got to hang out, climb on rocks, walk in the water or just enjoy the view.

Afterwards, we went to the final place, and let me tell you. I am very glad that it was the final stop. It was exhausting. The last place was Seongsan Ilchulbong (성산 일출봉) otherwise known as Sunrise Peak. This is a crater 600m in diameter and 90m high, with 99 sharp rocks lining the rim. It had a path along the side that took you up to the top. I am very much not in shape, so it took me a bit to actually get to the top, but once I got there, it was such a breathtaking view (well it would be if my breath hadn't already been taken away from the climb).

I can't believe that people climb up this early in the morning just to see the sunrise, but it must be spectacular. The hike down, I got to see some other views around the crater as well as the famous Jeju female divers which are famous for their work. It is a craft that is passed down through generations and these divers swim without any breathing equipment. They were very graceful in the water.

Monday, we spent the morning listening to presentations about the projects the researchers were working on, then off to the airport we went to catch a flight home. I am so thankful for the trip out being split into two days because the trip home was long and tiring. From the hotel to the airport to Seoul to Chuncheon to Hwacheon to home. Left the hotel around 11:30 am and I finally walked through my door at about 9:30 that night. I was really happy to be home.