Way-gook-in' it up in Korea!: A "new" sort of traveler

(**Sorry, I wrote this up last night, but my computer froze and I was unable to post it. Thankfully the website had saved a draft of it!! I found it halfway through re-writing it!!)

Today was another great day for me. Since Camp Fulbright is going on this week of orientation, our language classes only meet for 3 hours a day instead of 4. While I'd rather have more class, I have been enjoying sleeping in an extra half hour or so every morning!

Today was also a major success: I finally got hanguel stickers for my keyboard!! They are pink and purple and sparkle! :-) They definitely brighten my day. I also found more of the mini note cards I have been using to study Korean -- I had been panicking a bit because all the stores I had checked had run out of them with all of us Americans buying them. So I bought 6 more packs -- they should last me for the rest of orientation.

After language class and lunch, I went with Matt to Baskin Robbins for what has become an all-too-frequent tradition for us! :-) It's ok, everyone is losing weight here like crazy, so I don't mind packing on a few extra calories at the ice cream store! (아 이 스 크 림 -- pronounced "ah-ee-suh-kuh-reem") We learned how to order food, so I put that to use today too! Language class is really picking up the pace. It is neat to realize that I can read, understand, speak, and write in full sentences now! Granted, we only know things like "Do you sell cookies?" "I have a pencil!" etc, etc.

This afternoon I watched a really interesting documentary about the Mass Games in North Korea. The movie is called:
(2004) A State of Mind

Check out this link for some pictures: http://1stopkorea.com/index.htm?nk-trip5.htm~mainframe

I haven't read the text yet, but will as soon as I have time. The movie said there are about 80,000 gymnasts that perform at the mass games each time. There are also huge "backdrops" made by approximately 12,000 school children holding up different colored paper to make a design. It is incredible how much these kids train to get to perform in the mass games. The mass games are held several times a year to celebrate major holidays, like Kim Jong Il's birthday (Feb 16th, only one day after mine, darn!) and that of his father (now dead) Kim Il Sung (Apr 15). This is one of the few times that North Korea opens its borders to Americans (they want to show off their magnificent show of course) . A previous Fulbrighter talked to us about her visit there briefly and I thought it would be interesting to do. However, it seems like it costs around $2000 just for a few days, so I doubt I'll be making the trip over the border. I will, however, make it to the DMZ (border of N Korea) sometime this year, if not during the next few weeks of orientation. So overall the documentary was very interesting, but it was obvious that the homes and lifestyles being shown in the film were not representative of the typical lifestyle in Korea, or even that of the "privileged" city of Pyongyang (their capital). It also said that each person is only allotted one chicken and 5 eggs per month.

After the movie we had another presentation by the embassy here in Korea. I thought it would be boring since it was our third, but I actually really enjoyed the talk. He is a Foreign Service Officer and the career seems very interesting. You basically are paid to learn foreign languages and then move to the country and become an expert on the region and represent US foreign policy to that country. It would be difficult to have children in this sort of career, so I would have to think about it a lot. But I am definitely going to do some research about it when I get a chance. To get in you have to pass a test, which you can take once a year. I hear it is very broad general historical/cultural/political type questions. Who knows! Just a thought.

He also told us that Korean is one of the 4 hardest languages for English speakers to learn (as judged by the State Dept. Check out the list of language difficulties here: http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/learningExpectations.html). The other 3 are Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. He said that Korean might actually be THE hardest language, or the "furthest" from English. I had no idea! People always said that "hangul" (which is the Korean alphabet) is really easy to learn, which the alphabet is easy, but I thought that also meant the language itself was relatively easy. Additionally, the language has been called the most scientific language in the world. But, I guess it is still tough! This gives me a lot of confidence. Although I don't know much Korean, I have learned a lot! I am reading/writing/speaking/understanding full sentences! I can't believe it! We have made so much progress in 2.5 weeks. I am excited to see how much I know by the end of the year.

After dinner I have been busy doing homework (for Korean class, lesson planning, other activities we have to do...).

I titled my blog the way I did because I have really been noticing the past few days that this trip is a different sort of trip than any others I have taken before. I think I have a much more positive attitude (not that I had a negative attitude before by any means) and I am much more invested in learning the culture and language and everything I can about being in Korea. I have not been homesick at all-- which really surprises me. Now, granted this is only a couple weeks in to the year, and I am still living in an "American/orientation" bubble right now, so I will have to see how I survive once I move out to my school/home placement. I'm not sure if it is just the fact that I will be working and living here for a whole year, instead of just for a few months as a student; or if it is something about Korea. Either way, I have been very happy here lately and I hope it continues throughout the rest of the year (or longer if I stay longer!). I have definitely loved being exposed to the newness of Asian cultures. For example, I am now a chopstick wiz! Before coming to Korea I had used chopsticks maybe 5 times, and they weren't successful. :-) I am really looking forward to the end of orientation when I can get to my school and start teaching and meet my new host family and have another overwhelming amount of culture shock regarding everyday life! Anyway, that's all I'll say about this for now.

Have a good day everyone! And for those of you in the Midwest, enjoy the sweetcorn! I hear it's starting to really be ready to eat. Eat an extra ear or 2 for me!