Let's start off with the Fulbright conference last weekend in Gyeongju, the old capitol of the Shilla dynasty -- so there's lots of history.
I left bright and early Friday morning on the 7:30am bus to Daegu. There I switched buses and hopped on the hour long bus ride to Gyeongju. There was actually a car accident on the road near Gyeongju and traffic was stop and go -- and I saw ladies out looking at the damage dressed in their hanbok (traditional dresses, like in the dance vid below). Talk about juxtaposition -- interstate and hanbok. Anyhoo, traffic was actually quite horrible -- I guess some sort of festival going on, combined with the national holiday. Oh yeah, even though we were excused from school, it was already a national holiday (Foundation Day), so there was no school. Anyhoo, got to the hotel and checked in around 2pm -- OMG it is amazing! Beautiful view out over a lake and the beds have down mattresses and comforters and pillows. Incredible! And there are bath robes! I really liked this hotel, but I'm sure it was pretty expensive. At 3 until dinner we had the conference -- I wasn't expecting much if anything beneficial out of this conference. Not sure why I had such low expectations, I guess I just hadn't really thought about it. But, it turns out it was SUPER useful. We had many small discussion groups to talk about various topics and problems. Pretty much it involved everyone talking about problems or successes they've had and others giving advice or taking notes furiously. Lot's of good ideas were thrown around, both for in the classroom and in my personal life here in Korea. Besides all the good lesson plans, some ideas I got:
1. start playing piano 2 times per week -- just use my host bro's books and the keyboard in our apt! no lessons necessary! (Mom, can you believe it?)
2. I should start running for more exercise. Some of the guys have lost a decent amount of weight, and I haven't lost any. I need to snack less and work out more. Plus, I need to train for the 5k!!
3. Work with Beth C. on a possible project using the Alumni Funds for a community talk/presentation about agriculture and/or environmentalism in the US vs. Korea. This would be super sweet if we could figure it out.
4. Use part of my time in China as volunteer work -- maybe 5 days or so? This would be a great experience if I can figure it out! Elizabeth G. was interested in doing this with me also.
It's time for me to start figuring out my winter break plans, so that will keep me busy in any spare time. Anyway, back to the conference.
Friday we had an amazing dinner! I stuffed my face. Also, they gave us tons of snacks -- chips, carrots, oreos, etc. We even had brownies on Saturday! After dinner Friday night, I went with Matt R (since he lives in Gyeongju) and Shelby and Danielle and went downtown to see some of the tourist sites at night. They were gorgeous and I'm so glad we went. It was really nice to walk around in the cool night and catch up. The lily pads smelled like a moist cornfield on a cool evening, soon to be harvested -- reminded me of home! We went to Matt's fav coffee shop, owned by a Korean trained in classical Italian opera!, and I got an iced mocha coffee -- yum yum! Went to bed around midnight, but couldn't really sleep. My mind was racing! And I kept dreaming my principal and VP were sitting right next to me and I was all embarassed bc my PJ tank top was spaghetti straps, how inapprop!
Saturday morning I got up and took a walk after having an amazing breakfast -- french toast, cereal, fruit, grape juice, bacon, you name it! YUM! The walk along the lake near our hotel was gorgeous and so peaceful. At night the hotel area is very busy with all the tourists and the festival going on, but this morning was beautiful. The smell of the water reminded me of Grandpa Joe's cabin -- they say smell is the best way to remember things -- my nose must have been super attentive this weekend. Saturday during the day we had more of the conference, more good ideas! Saturday night was the karaoke contest, and 4 of the ETA's made it into the competition and did amazingly!! Jeannie even won an electronic dictionary/translator, which costs like $300 at least! Grace/Colby/Jane didn't win, although I thought they were the best act in the whole show! We were on our own for dinner, but I was stuffed from eating about 10 brownies (literally) and so just split a pork cutlet with Anne. I enjoyed a nice walk along the lake in the evening with Anne & Matt.
Sunday was the sight-seeing tour. It was ALL day and very exhausting, but great. The day started off with another amazing breakfast and a short walk with Anne. On the tour, we saw a palace, the oldest astronomy tower in all of Asia, large burial tombs for the kings, 2 Buddhist temples, and 2 palaces. It was lots of neat stuff! I also bought some gifts, including a painting from the Buddhist temple, a mini kimchi pot, a set of chopsticks, some key chains, post cards. Dinner was amazing, and it was not buffet style. There were all sorts of things -- spaghetti, chicken wings, sushi, kimbap, veggies, fruits, potato salad, and amazing desserts. I had several helping of desserts, but come on, is anyone surprised? I have a major sweet tooth. Sunday night I was feeling pretty exhausted (as I was all weekend) so I took a very hot bath and read my book and early to bed again.
Monday morning we all had to re-assemble for a group pic at 8am, even though we had taken about 10 the night before. Anyhoo, then another great breakfast. After packing up and checking out, I went hiking on Namsan (South Mountain) with Matt R, Beth C, Shelby, and Anna T. It was BEAUTIFUL weather and we had a great hike. Also, near the top, where the first Buddha carvings are, there is a small house where 2 Buddhist nuns live. They invited us in for lunch (bibimbap) and tea and cookies. They were soooo incredibly kind. The woman who was talking to us told us amazing things about her beliefs and why she became a monk. She has been a monk for 13 years, and started when she was 28. Which makes her 41 -- if I did my math correctly -- but she looked about 25 years old. She was so beautiful on the inside and out. She decided to become a monk because she was suffering about finding a husband, good job, etc, and realized that she needs to give up all these worldy desires. She joined the monastary, and went through a few years of training. One part was 90 days of silence! She told us that she did the 90 days of silence at an international center and when they were silent, all the monks could understand each other. However, after the 90 days were over, everyone could talk again, but they all spoke many different languages, so they couldn't understand each other. How interesting! There were so many beautiful images and poems she described, but I have forgotten them by now. I just can't get over the extreme kindness of these women -- they fed us so much even though everything they have must be carried up the mountain, including their water!
After the great lunch and discussion, we headed the rest of the way to the top to see the final carving of Buddha. It was very beautiful, as was the view! Clear skys and nice weather made this a perfect hike. After heading down, we walked back towards town and caught a bus to the terminal. I had missed the early afternoon bus from Daegu back home, so had to do quite a bit of waiting around in Daegu, which was fine by me. I just read my book (Queen), which I am actually enjoying quite a bit, and treated myself to sweet potato pizza at Mr. Pizza. It was amazing! No tomato sauce, instead the crust is covered with mashed sweet potatoes and has pineapple, ddoek (korean rice cake) and almonds on top. I will definitely try to make this at home! It was amazing! I slept on the 3 hour bus ride back to Suncheon and got home around 10:30.
Tuesday was busy with un-packing and trying to organize all the new ideas I have for my life. I started a new lesson where we read a story together, then I give the story to the students with each of the 16 sentences on slips of paper. The students must unscramble the story and write it in their notebook. The lesson has gone pretty well yesterday and today, except the students are getting very tired and have no energy because they are busy studying for their midterm exams, which start Oct 17 (when I will be in Japan). I feel so bad for them! I hope they go well. One of the classes was pretty rowdy, and they ran out of time before they had written the story in their notebook. Most of the class just left without writing it (so, 0 points), but about 10 kids stayed and scrambled to write it in their notebook inbetween classes. AFter about 5 minutes, I told them it was ok and that I would give them 4 (out of 5 points) and they could leave. One boy asked me if 4 was a perfect score, and I said no but it is good enough, and he said "no, I want to go to university". This demonstrates the pressure these poor kids deal with -- they must get perfect scores to go to a good college. I feel so bad for them!
Tuesday afternoon I went to the store to see what ingredients I could find to make chocolate chip cookies! I found everything in the recipe, except chocolate chips and vanilla -- so mom is sending those over in my care package! Yippee!! HomeEver has a much better supply of baking goods than E-Mart. I also spent $25 on mini candy bars to bring as gifts to the teachers in Japan. They better like them -- I didn't realize they'd be so expensive. Carrying home my groceries was probably not a good idea. It's a 15 minute walk, but the bag was SO heavy. My shoulders are still aching from it. I did laundry that night and went to dance. So much rushing around -- I should have skipped dance because the teacher wasn't even there! So pretty much class was a lot of goofing off with the girls and me still trying to follow along, not really being able to tell what was a real move and what was goofing off. Oh well. No class Wed & Thur because the teachers are in a performance, which I'll be going to see Thur night!
Today I had a teachers workshop and we finally got to watch another episode of Friends -- we watched a thanksgiving one where they play football (Episode 3.9). It was pretty funny and the teachers seemed to like it. Mr. Im helped me out more with my transportation to the Busan airport from Suncheon for my flight to Japan -- I can't wait! :D My day today overall was pretty good, except that at the bus stop on the way home I sat on a big wad of gum and got it on my skirt!! I am sooo sad! I put it in the freezer this afternoon and tonight scraped off more of the gum, but it didn't all come out. So, I will have to try something else -- the internet says maybe ironing it will losen the gum? Any tips anyone?
I received my absentee ballot today! WOO! I will be taking it to school tomorrow to show some of the teachers and then promplty voting and mailing it off. I showed it to my host brother and he and my host mom both said how important that ballot was. I think it's interesting that people from other countries would love to be able to vote in American elections, as they are greatly affected by American foreign policy, yet so many of our own citizens don't exercise their right to vote. How sad -- please vote everyone! I don't want to hear any apathetic voters out there. On a political note, I watched the VP debates this morning and afternoon and realized I love Biden and Sarah was pretty lame, as expected. The SNL skit of the VP debates was hillarious!! Especially the part about the Maverick drinking game!! Heehee -- I recommend you check it out online. I also watched the 2nd Presidential debate and was much more impressed by both Obama and McCain this time, thankfully.
Also, I brought back some Gyeongju Bbang (Little pastries stuffed with red bean paste) for my host family and the teachers' lounge. Both of them devoured it!! I brought a box of 20 for my host family and the 2 boys ate 10 of them the first day when they got home from school early. The whole box was gone by that evening. With the teachers, I didn't quite have enough for 1 piece per person, but I figured that was ok. Well, when I set it out, the teachers who were in the lounge just started sowing it! The VP easily had like 5. One teacher told me he was addicted so I needed to bring this every day. I'm like, psh! It's expensive! Anyway, not nearly everyone got one because they were eating them like hot cakes. Oh well! Not my problem I guess.... Just glad to know that everyone liked them.
Anyhoo, that's about it for now. I'm sure I left a ton of stuff out, but that's all I can remember! Plus it's bed time! :-D Have a great day everyone! Be sure to check out the pics below, and there are more that I emailed out!!
Korean traditional dance -- the kind I am studying! So hard!!! ㅠ.ㅠ
Traditional Korean music performance
Palace at night -- yay for relfections on water!
Oldest astronomy tower in all of Asia!
Lake near our hotel -- early morning walk.
Grace, Colby, and Jane doing the karaoke competition and ROCKING OUT!! "The one" by Epic high. great song.
Fall is arriving! YAY!
Anne and I on some very steep stairs. (Buddhist temple)
Pretty flowers!
The painting I bought at the Buddhist temple.
Palace as seen by day.
Huge burial mounds/tombs of the kings of the Shilla dynasty.
Namsan hiking crew with the super sweet Buddhist nun in the middle.
Atop Namsan! Check out my sweet outdoors hat I bought! Koreans are obsessed with shading their faces, and after my horrible sunburn line I got from the school picnic, I decided it was time to invest in some sort of hat -- I decided against the ajima visor.
Buddha at the very stop. I think from the 700s?
Atop Namsan overlooking Gyeongju and farmland. Beautiful!
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