More sightseeing!

It was a whole week the people of Seoul, and the rest of Korea, took off to celebrate Chuseok, or how more than one Korean explained it to the Americans with a smile, Korean "Thanksgiving." Which meant, for us, the traveling student teachers, one more week off before we had to start observations in our designated high schools.

This week I visited more palaces and museums (all free admission), a shrine, witnessed hundreds of older Korean men playing Chess on Chuseok, became more acquainted with the subway system, learned some interesting Korean male/female norms and did some shopping in a huge marketplace.

We enjoyed a traditional Korean lunch with new buddies.

We visited Gyeongbok Palace on Chuseok...there were many people there in traditional Korean dresses called Hanboks.

I discovered my zodiac sign is a "sheep" but I think he looks more like a ram.

Men playing Chess. Outside Gyeongbok palace. On Tuesday it rained so hard we did not leave the room for much of the day.  Honestly, I was perfectly content to sit in the dorm, watch American TV on the internet and catch up on my book.  Sightseeing can be very demanding and the previous day, Monday, was not only full of ancient culture but also contemporary culture when we met with two different groups of Korean buddies. Bonnie's group met us in the early afternoon and took us both to lunch at a restaurant known for it's hot spices.  A little scary for me as I am a wimp in the spicy department and the nagging cough that I have acquired is exacerbated by one tiny bite of something too hot.  The Korean buddies helped me though and cautioned me on what would be hot/mild/wimpy meals.   We went to Gyeongbok Palace afterwards with one of the buddies named Yuri.  She was very sweet and patient and, although she is not interested in museums and palaces like Bonnie and me, Yuri tried to explain what she could.  She even commented on her surprised reaction to our fascination with history and Korea.  This was certainly one of the highlights of the week, the palace was beautiful, there were many people there in traditional clothing and the Folk Museum was attached and very interesting. Afterwards we met with three of my Korean buddies.  We ate an "Italian" meal somewhat awkwardly as my buddies were "nervous" according to one girl named Mina and did not talk much.  They explained that they did not have any questions for us because they knew a lot about American culture.  A little unfair, I felt, as it the majority of their knowledge probably came from movies and TV as none of them had been to America.   During the meal, however, the girls shared some of their experiences while the lone boy in the group sat uncomfortably.  The ladies explained that many Korean women do not like the holidays like Chuseok or Chirstmas, they do all the work and the boys sit and play games or watch TV.  They do not like the double standard, which is understandable, we have a very similar one in the U.S.  But, I would argue, most women in the U.S. do not hate the holidays but rather enjoy them.  Maybe I am biased as I come from a large family filled with women who seem to love taking care of the family.  I think it might be fair to conclude that Korean women must have it harder on a day to day basis than their American contemporaries.  I get the impression, from having talked to a few Korean women now, that the men do not always pull their weight domestically with the housework or the children. Another fascinating, if not completely sad, bit of culture shock stemming from our conversation was how my two female buddies described Korean women.  It was explained to me that women do not eat a lot of food (no shock there!  you should see the size of these adorable women!) and do not like to work out so they do not bulk up.  They also avoid the sun and wear very light (to white) colored makeup.  Why? "To appear weak for their boyfriends/husbands," was the reply.  I am still somewhat confused if they meant most Korean women or the new/old generation of Korean women, or if they were referring to themselves or other women.  I have seen many older Korean women on walks throughout the city so they must be getting stronger muscles and sun, right?  I guess I'll have to ask more about this in the months to come.    It was an interesting dinner, however awkward, and I did appreciate the honesty.   On Thursday we were invited to our Korean coordinator's house for a traditional Chuseok meal.  It was delicious and a great experience.  The food was beautiful, all laid out in many dishes, one after another kept coming to the table by Dr. Lee's niece. It was also nice to sit and relax and discuss some of our experiences with Dr. Lee.   This past weekend we visited Souvenir heaven, a magical place called Insadong.  You can find everything here: artwork, crafts, keychains, bookmarks, scarfs, shoes, pottery, beautiful paper, clothing, food, and many foreign tourists.  It was a lot of fun and very productive! So next week we begin our observations and I am still pretty unsure of what will happen.  I guess it will take more explanations and a few days to acclimate before I feel comfortable with what we have to do there.  The schedule the teachers gave us is confusing and will need further explanation, so, again, I am in the dark when it comes to what is expected of us from here on out.  But, I am grateful for the couple of weeks of touring and sightseeing because we will be busy from here on out.

Our blog question is why did I choose to do student teaching in Korea and not in the U.S.?  There are plenty of easy answers: Love of travel, chance to live abroad and work with the people of that country, a desire to see South Korea itself had been talked about between a friend and me for a while, to step outside my realm of comfort and see what I'm made of, etc.  To be honest, I am actually still surprised I am here.  I always have grand aspirations and many times they do not become anything more than aspirations.  This is a chance to really stand out from my teacher certification-peers, to do something different that I am proud of, and because I have not really done much according to plan in the past so why start now?

The travel and experience was the initial reason for coming.  After I could think beyond those two reasons, I did realize what a valuable tool it would be to have a different cultural perspective for my work.
Teachers need this.  Teachers need travel, need experience compromising, being confused, asking for help, seeing things from a foreigners eyes, because we may have students who are the same. For the social studies teacher, we need cultural experiences so that we may bring a well rounded curriculum into the classroom that has innately different perspectives for students to learn.  This is a globally interconnected world through our sharing of culture through the media.  And teaching with different cultural perspectives and experiences will help make the class less one dimensional which, in turn, will help the students learn more and be interested.  This trip will help me to stay more connected to that globalization and I feel I will be less likely to trap myself as a one
dimensional teacher.

While pushing away the stress of packing my whole life into two fifty pound bags, I am trying to only think positive. I am suppressing the scary thoughts that I will soon be traveling to the other side of the planet and that I am sadly unable to safely pack my cats into my checked baggage. I know I have things to stress about other than Delta's ridiculous weight limits on international flights. In truth, it's not too hard to think positively, I am pretty excited. Living and working in another country will be a first of many firsts for me. The next three months in Seoul will prove to be challenging, and melt downs are inevitable, but I feel prepared. I guess that is really all I can ask for at this point.

I have fairly definite ideas of what to expect in Seoul. I expect to have a terrific time the first week. Orientation week will be filled with tours, museums, cultural meetings…basically we are spending a wonderful Korean vacation on UMSL's dime. Nice, right? It's the next week that poses the most concern. My old nemesis homesickness will set in. As will the fact that I am no spring chicken (or another clichéd metaphor for being old) and will be living in a college dorm room again, which, quite frankly, didn't go so great when I was a spring chicken. I know there will be times where I am completely overwhelmed, cursing myself for traveling so far from my realm of comfort, and wanting to give up and call it a day. I hope these days are few and far between, but to not give these issues serious consideration at this point would be a grave error on my part. I've traveled and lived away from home before and it's been hard, very hard, and I'm trying to remember the pain of the past so I can ease myself into the very near future.



However, with all that reality creeping through my mind, I think the cons will eventually be overcome with the warmness I have been told Koreans have, the good people I have back home anxious to hear how it goes (expecting their usual Crystal-type humor and folly), and the fact that I have a very nice cat-sitter watching my two boys. I believe the Korean students will spoil me greatly. I imagine a classroom of students very eager to do well, who take pride in their accomplishments, and who, most importantly, put their cell phones away before class. I hope to have the opportunity to really get involved with the school and the staff will utilize my weird American ways to teach the students about different cultures. Also, more pragmatically, after the longest summer in the history of the world …I actually cannot wait to get back to work.

While most of my family and friends are excited for me, I have had to defend my decision quite a bit. Here, for your amusement, I have compiled a list of the reasons I have been told to not go to South Korea:

1. It's too far away.

2. It would be a shame if you liked it so much you don't come home.

3. Kim Jong-Il.

4. You're going to be like one of those journalists who goes hiking and winds up in North Korea stuck in a prison somewhere.


My sister told me #1 but in all fairness I believe she was mainly joking. She is pretty excited for me. However, I was told by her recently to not look for a job there after my student teaching was complete. #2 was from Mom and I assured her that this would be unlikely as I would never feel the comfort of home quite like St. Louis. #3…yeah, yeah…I know, I'm going to get blown up. Well, look, if I do, then you can say you told me so…if I don't, just wait until I get back, I have a speech all prepared. And #4 was from a couple different sources but the first person who said it was my former boss. Now let me tell you why this scenario is the least likely thing to happen. I have been hiking, like real hiking, a total of two times in my entire thirty years on Earth. The first time I saw a bear…a live bear… who seemed just as scared of me and my friend as I was of nature in general. The second hike I took about three weeks later by myself. I couldn't get that bear out of my mind. I kept trying to recite the rules, regulations and policies set in place of what you are to do in a full on bear-attack scenario, but, I didn't trust myself to follow through and stay alive. When I saw the bear on the prior hike all I did was freeze…and I'm almost positive my heart stopped. It took me all of ten minutes to hike my butt straight back to my car, throw it in reverse, and get out of there. I haven't been hiking since.


So, yeah, there will be no hiking for me, rest assured…you're much more likely to find me sitting in a Korean BBQ than you are seeing me hike on up to Kim Jong-Il's crib.