Where has the time gone? (On a field trip!)

We had an interesting few weeks recently, and I'm only just starting to catch up with blogging--hence the series, "Where has the time gone?" A week after we went to Seoul, we went on a field trip with the whole Korean language school. In the days leading up to the trip, we had very little idea about what was in store--the words "sports," "mountain," and "dinner" were thrown around, mostly in Korean, and we knew we would be *somewhere* overnight (Thursday and Friday). Eventually, we understood that our class was to compete against the other classes in this Sports Festival, which led to an entire hour of class being spent ordering matching hoodies. (In the pictures below, we're the ones in red. 1B represent!)

On Wednesday, we learned a bit more about what it meant to participate in a Sports Festival. We each signed up to participate in the different events, a process which was conducted primarily in Korean, much to our confusion and entertainment. Very few of these activities could really be designated as "sports," and all of them were certainly... festive. As with any good Sports Festival, (I assume, this being my first,) there would be a three (plus one) legged race, an actual running sort of race, and arm wrestling. As for the rest... you'll understand soon.

After class on Thursday, (yes, they still made us learn,) we piled onto the buses and headed to our destination: a mountain near the city of 공주 (Gongju), about an hour's drive from Daejeon. (Unfortunately, none of us can remember the name of this mountain--simply that it had a snazzy Sports-Festival-appropriate setup and some nice cabins nearby.)

Getting super psyched for our field trip!

The festivities began shortly after we got off the buses--we dropped our bags nearby and gathered in a huge field where we would spend the rest of the afternoon. The teachers explained the rules--we were competing between classes for some events, and as the A team and B team for others. So it began! Once again, I think the pictures can explain things best on their own. Here are just a few highlights of the afternoon, some of which rather defy explanation.

Two-vs-one? Not fair!

Our classmate Cati rules at arm wrestling!

This might be the largest game of rock-paper-scissors in history.

The person in the middle mostly just sort of flopped around in this many-legged race.

This is supposed to be wrestling. Our teacher (affectionately
known as Man Teacher) is the one doing the lifting.

One... sport... involved spinning in circles and then hurling your shoe in the air.

You're supposed to catch it, but I thought falling
over was a better strategy.

I got it back eventually! That counts, right? .......right?

After a long afternoon of winning fun, the classes separated for dinner and relaxation. An excellent dinner of samgeopsal (again! score!) awaited us, complete with kimchi made by Man Teacher's own mother. We cooked dinner ourselves, sitting around a number of little grills scattered across the room.

Om nom nom :)

With such a sweet setup inside our cabin, and so many mosquitoes outside of it, we made the obvious choice--which is to say, we had a dance party outside with the help of Man Teacher's car stereo! Also, it turns out people dance more or less the same no matter where they're from, and in this day and age everybody has heard the same terrible pop songs. People from other classes joined in, too, and it was an excellent conclusion to a really great day.

At promptly eleven o'clock, it was bed time. The girls headed further up the hill to our own sleeping quarters, where we fell asleep almost immediately after setting up the beds. It's really just as well--we were awakened at 8 am for the rest of our field trip... which I will get to. Sometime. Soon!

One more time... 1급B반!

Where has the time gone? (To Seoul!)

Hi, everyone! I apologize for the long absence--it's hard to believe it's been a month since I last wrote. It's also hard to think of what I've been doing with that time. It feels like I've been very busy, but it's hard to say how I've been spending my time. My free time is a lot like it was in college--until the weekend, there's usually something I need to work on every evening. One of the biggest reasons for my blog-absence, I suppose, is that my weekends have been pretty busy too lately! So busy, in fact, that I'm going to take a few posts to backtrack a bit. Thanks for your patience ^^

A few weeks ago, we took our first YAV retreat... to Seoul! Right after class on Friday, we headed to the station to catch our train that left at 2:00. Thanks to our YAV leaders' careful planning, we were on an express train that only took an hour to get to the big city. (For reference, it's about a 3-hour drive.) Our train reached speeds of nearly 300km/hr, but the scenery rushing by was the only indication we were going any faster than normal.

As soon as we arrived in Seoul, we headed to the center for our denomination (sort of like the Louisville of Korea?) and dropped off our stuff for the afternoon. After meeting a few of the great people who have been helping us this year, the three YAVs set off on our first adventure. That's right, Uncle Simon and Haejung-Imo set us loose in Seoul! What did we do? What anyone would do in a big city: we went sight-seeing! Most of those "sights" were actually shops, but the people watching was fun, too. A few of the sights were truly special...

EXTRA special. BAAAAAAA!

We didn't have any idea where we were, but we had the greatest time just wandering the area and looking at everything and everyone. I think we were all pretty tired at the end of the week, so everything was pretty overwhelming... in a great way. We stopped for dinner at the most delicious-smelling place, where we managed to communicate that we wanted whatever smelled so good. It was 삼겹실 (sam-gyeop-sal), which it turns out is sort of like bacon. We had bacon for dinner. It was amazing.

What's better than grilled vegetables? Vegetables grilled with bacon!

After all our adventuring, we ended up going back pretty early. Uncle Simon and Haejung Imo warned us that we had a big day ahead of us on Saturday, and we were not disappointed. I'll let the pictures take over for now--we saw a lot of great things that day!

Starting the day with a healthy breakfast at Paris Baguette.

Fair warning: I have a pretty bad sense of direction, so I wasn't entirely sure where we were most of the time. For example, I don't know where we were going by following the river--but it sure was fun.

Don't fall...!

Safe! But where's Uncle Simon?

Walking along the river... so pretty, even in a big city.

Even more shopping?!

Well, sort of.

Look at the pretties!

We stopped for lunch at a tiny restaurant in an alley in 인사동 (Insadong), the neighborhood where we spent most of the afternoon. The whole area is known for combining traditional and modern, and this restaurant did not disappoint. The food was delicious, and it was great to watch the people in the kitchen making the noodles themselves. It started raining while we were there, and the sound on the roof was pretty much perfect.

Not even a leak in the roof could dampen our spirits! (Come on, I had to say it.)

After lunch, we made our way to the Korean Folk Museum nearby where we spent most of the afternoon. There was a huge outdoor area, so of course we had to take heaps of posed pictures in front of all the fancy things.

Photos like this. Usually it's "Say kimchi!" but this time it was probably
more like "Take the stupid picture, Uncle Simon!"

A beautiful roof to shelter us from the rain. But seriously, the detail is amazing.

It was still raining, so we did get inside eventually. We managed to sneak a few pictures, but mostly I was focused on taking in all the history. I'm a sucker for old cultural stuff, so this museum was a real treat. It also made me realize how little I know about Korean history--something I'd like to change by the end of this year. Anyway, back to the pictures...

How much do you think it would cost to send one of these home?

We learned how to make twisty-straw things. I'm pretty sure this guy
is fixing my mistakes in this picture. Whoops.

Back outside, this time to a mid-(19th)-century Korean street.

Stopping for a 1960s-style Korean tea party!

By far the cutest picture of the day. Thanks so much for taking us to Seoul!

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering that museum, and we even got to see a (semi-)traditional Korean dance performance before we had to leave. We returned to Daejeon on Saturday evening, tired but content from such a great trip--and already looking forward to another adventure. Next time, on "Where has the time gone?" -- On a field trip!

How to Teach English

Got any tips?

I wish I could actually write a post about that. Maybe I'll have some idea come July, but for now teaching English will be more of a learning experience than anything else. Thankfully, that's not really my job. Perhaps I should tell you what I actually do, hm?

To the untrained eye, it might sometimes look like teaching English. I have a little classroom, with tables and chairs and a whiteboard. I have students, divided into 3 groups by age. I take roll, but that's just to learn their names. Sometimes the older kids raise their hands to answer a question. At the end of our time, I give out stickers for good performance (read: paying attention).

They respond especially well to bribery. I mean, Angry Birds.

That's about where the school comparison ends. We spend our time playing games like hangman and pictionary, or even simpler games like shout-the-number/letter (really, what 6-year-old doesn't like shouting?). I have about half an hour with each group, and sometimes I only have one group a day. Kids in Korea have a lot going on, starting as early as elementary school. The youngest kids arrive at 3, but some don't get out of school until just before dinner time. When they get to the center, they have all kinds of options to keep them busy.

Ocarina lessons. I kid you not.

One thing I love about my center is that most of the activities are actually optional. Not all the kids attend science class; some don't take music theory; not everyone plays in the orchestra. There's a rotating schedule of available teachers, and they (we?) maintain the balance of work and play. The kids all get homework help as needed, and the teachers keep things running quite well. I don't know how they do it, but they always seem to know what everyone is supposed to do at any given time.

The teachers' efficiency is an excellent reminder that Beopdong would be absolutely fine without me. They have an excellent system, and I have a lot of respect for the teachers and especially the director, Rev. Kim (a.k.a. "the Chief"). They have welcomed me into their family, and their patience with me has been such a blessing. I spend a lot of time awkwardly wondering how I can help, and I'm sure a lot of things (rice scooping, cleaning, etc.) would go a lot faster without my "assistance."

Making dinner? They've got that covered. They *did* let me help, though ^^

That being the case, I'm especially looking forward to getting to know the students. They, too, have been incredibly patient. Most of them speak better English than I speak Korean, and I'm sincerely grateful for their help when I try to communicate. More than that, though, the kids have been just as open and welcoming as the teachers. I always have someone to sit with at dinner (yes, that's still a concern even after college) and they haven't given up talking to me even though it's not exactly a conversation.

"RT @ANNA - Nice to meet you!" Communication has many forms.

All in all, I'm anxious to improve but I'm also humbled by my welcome at work. The theme of helplessness continues, and every day of work is a reminder of what it means to be a YAV. I'm still learning to teach English, of course, but allowing myself to be helped is a learning experience I'm only starting to appreciate. I'm just grateful to be learning that lesson from this awesome group of people ^^

People like these. Say kimchi!

Back to School

Last time, I told you exciting things had begun. We've started our mission work, and already we're well on the way to solving the world's problems!

Oh. Wait, YAVs aren't supposed to save the world? Didn't I learn anything at Orientation?

Whatever we do here this year, it has to start with learning the language. We have class every weekday 9am to 1pm, which is actually not as bad as one might think. There are three different instructors, and (thankfully) they're all very nice. The class is pretty relaxed and actually very funny--most of us are complete beginners, so there's a lot of laughter and encouragement. The other students come from all over: China, Indonesia, Mongolia, Thailand, Pakistan, Colombia, and (of course) the US are all represented in our group. The wide range makes for some occasional communication challenges, as most of the non-Korean supplement is in English. I can't imagine learning a new language without using English, but the whole class has a great attitude and I'm glad to be part of Korean Class 1B.

The Korean Language School, affectionately known as "The Pink Building"

A few weeks in, things are starting to get pretty intense--4 hours of class means lots of new things to study every night. More importantly, we're already finding the best places to study around the neighborhood! Our favorite so far is a place called Deli Roti (yes, super Korean) that serves coffee and bread and these delicious shaved ice dessert things. We went there with Simon and Haejung on the first night, and the comfy booths are perfect for studying together. Unfortunately, (or quite fortunately, perhaps,) this means I need to set aside a latte budget. There are coffee shops everywhere, and Anna Curl and I plan to shop around a bit before picking a favorite.

For example, Caffé Pascucci serves excellent green tea lattes.

In the meantime, I start work tomorrow! We sat down with Simon and Haejung yesterday and each put together a weekly schedule that's a good balance of mission and self-care. My main responsibility is with the 법동 (BeopDong, more or less) after-school center, where I'll spend 3 afternoons a week. Our other jobs include reading with mothers at the library, working at a feeding center, and generally trying to be present (and useful) wherever we end up. More about that soon -- I have class in the morning ^^

Welcome home!

Welcome back, blog-reading types! Clearly the catch-up didn't happen, and I'm sorry for that. BUT now I have more interesting things to talk about. That's right--things have actually happened that are worth sharing!

First, I want to give you context for all the other exciting things that will be happening this year. The YAV program has been very kind to us--no matter what else happens to us this year, we have a lovely home to come back to at the end of every day. So without further ado... a photo tour of our house! (Apologies if you've seen this on facebook already. I promise I'll take more pictures, really. Sometime.)

We're living in one of a few missionary houses on campus. Simon and Haejung live in another, just a stone's throw away. That building in the background is one of Hannam's two international dorms.

Home sweet home!

Many things about this house are Korean-style. For example, we have a snazzy entryway and take our shoes off before going inside. I actually enjoy this quite a bit--our floors are so not-dirty!

I also never forget where I've left my shoes!

We each get our own room, which is pretty great. I inherited Katie's room, and it's treating me quite well so far. This picture is maybe 2/3 of my room... there's also a dresser and a closet and some more floor space, and my very own air conditioner. Much better than a dorm room, and it has a whole house attached to it!

My room, the cleanest it may ever be. Note the clutter on the desk.

The kitchen is equipped with everything we'll ever need. Especially a coffee maker. Apparently it's uncommon to have an oven in this sort of housing, so this particular baker considers herself quite lucky.

Orange and green and pretty much perfect.

This is ostensibly our dining/chilling/studying table.

We'd better make friends to fill all these seats!

This is actually where we do those things most of the time...

The chairs are super comfy!

...except when we're up in the attic. I've always wanted one!

We've made it more comfortable since I took this picture, but it still retains its hidey-hole feel.

Of course, most of this will change sometime in the next few months. We're moving! I don't really know the when or the why, but I've already gotten quite comfortable here and I'm sure the next place will be just as lovely as this one. For now, this is what I call home!

Hello, again

Sorry for the wait, everyone! Did I really leave home nearly two weeks ago? There will hopefully be more catchup posts over the next few days, and then eventually something like a schedule. Bear with me, please and thank you!

It feels like we've been traveling for years. Thanks to Irene, most people were later-than-expected getting to their sites. After multiple rescheduling attempts, the 3 of us Korea-types were ready to set off very early Wednesday morning (read: we left Stony Point at 2am). It took a *bit* longer than expected to get here, but that's another story. For now, I'll tell you a bit about what I was up to before the travel adventure began.

I arrived at Orientation on Monday afternoon, ready to learn what exactly I had signed up for. It was great to see familiar faces again, and I was quickly reminded of what had made me so sure of my choice during Placement in March. The YAVs are an amazing group, and I truly enjoyed worshiping and learning and (especially) unwinding with them last week. One of my favorite parts was having former YAVs (aka YAVA[lum]s) for guidance and stories and simply the assurance that we're not the first to go through this rollercoaster of feelings and events. Between the YAVA and the national YAVs, many of whom were not at Placement, it was a pleasure to meet even more like-minded and like-hearted people.

They kept us busy last week. We began each day with music (so much music) and devotions, then went straight into topics like Critical Cultural Competency, globalization, and more that defy explanation in blog form. After more lectures/discussions/activities in the afternoon, we had a break before dinner and processing with our small groups.

My small group! (Thanks for the photo, Mary!)

These lovely people are, from left: Rachel, Monisha (our awesome YAVA leader!) Austin, David, and Mary. The small group sessions were some of the most useful and relaxing times during the whole week. We had the chance to go over what we had taken in (which was kind of a lot) and the opportunity to vent our frustration/confusion/exhaustion in a safe space. Not everything we talked about was heavy or particularly significant, but the time together was really important.

Our formally scheduled activities ended on Sunday night, but by then Irene had rolled in and we did some YAV bonding by battening down the hatches and preparing for the worst. Though nearly everyone's plans changed because of the storm, one good thing that came out of it was that we had more time to process the week's events and simply to spend time with each other before parting ways for a year. Our group was among the last to leave Stony Point, but I'm glad for those extra days.

Time did pass strangely at Stony Point. Days would last forever sometimes with everything we packed in, but the week (and a bit) flew by. I'll post next about how we got here--you'll see how it was an extension of the strange passing of time. For now, thanks for your patience! Talk to you again soon :)

10 Days

Welcome to my blog! (Never thought I'd be writing that. Huh.) I apologize for taking so long to get to this moment, but I'll try to make it worth the wait in the coming months :)

This blog will chronicle my time in South Korea with PC(USA)'s Young Adult Volunteer program. With two other volunteers, I'll be living at Hannam University in Daejeon. First we'll be learning Korean, which has me both nervous and excited. I love learning new languages, but I've never experienced anything like the intensity of immersion. Our official work will be teaching English, and I'm really looking forward to getting started.

Thankfully we won't be thrown straight into things. In just over a week, I will be headed to Orientation before they send us to our sites. I've heard/read great things about the week-long gathering, and if it's anything like the placement event I know it will be amazing. Not only that, but perhaps at Orientation it will sink in that this is actually happening. 

Just 7 months ago, I didn't even know I would graduate this spring, and now I'm about to spend a year participating in an incredible mission. The time since then has been very good to me, rather a celebration of what's happened so far and what's to come. This summer has been a whirlwind of travel, and I've been lucky to see family and friends all around the country before I leave. Everything has been a great reminder that I have a huge support system back home, family and friends and church.As tempting as it is to sit and reflect on all these things, my countdown hasn't slowed and the 22nd is rapidly approaching. 

I should probably get back to packing. The next post will be less deer-in-the-headlights... maybe. No matter how this goes, I'll keep you updated!