내 한국 학교 | My Korean School

Last week was my first week back at school after the two month long winter break. The school year works differently from the United States, so during this break, the Korean students moved up to the next grade level. For the exchange students in my town though, we haven’t switched to move up a grade. Instead, our school has had us change focus from learning Korean during school to participating in the classes with the Korean students.

The front gate of our school.

For school here, the schedule is different for each day. It doesn’t get to confusing though, because we are in the same classroom for almost every class, with the teachers moving between rooms. I am required to arrive for 8:00 in the morning when our “Zero Hour” starts. During this first hour of school, we will sometimes have a class if the school decides that it is needed. Otherwise, this can just be used as free time. At nine o’clock, we start with first through seventh hour of normal classes, with a break for lunch after fourth hour, which is very similar to my experience in the US.

In the school's courtyard. The building on the right is where the homeroom classes and the library are; the building on the left has the faculty offices and the English classrooms; and the building straight ahead is the new dormitory.

Each week, I have five classes in English. This has actually been one of my harder classes, not because of the subject material, but because my Rotary Exchange Officer is the teacher, so she knows what level of Korean we exchange students have. Because of this, we have been assigned to study the same vocabulary lists for tests in the class and will be required to give a three minute speech in Korean later in the year.

We also have four classes each of Math, Korean Literature, Science, and Social Studies. In my Math class, I have really discovered how international numbers are. On a test they had, I was able to get half of the questions correct without even using a dictionary.  The class is below my level of Math though, so I only can get held up by figuring out what the questions are asking me to do. In my Korean Literature, Science, and Social Studies classes, I have not really been able to do much, because they both use language beyond my ability, but when the teachers give notes, I take them down in my notebook to work through later.

My classroom. We only have 12 students in our grade level!

Outside of this main curriculum, we also have classes a few times per week in Engineering, Ethics, Physical Education, Music, Art and Hanja Characters. In the Engineering and Ethics classes, I usually find myself in the same position as in some of my main classes with the level of Korean I would need. My Physical Education and Music classes have also mostly been lectures so far, but I will definitely participate when we start to do things later in the year. The last two, Art and Hanja characters have been two of my favorite classes. Right now in Art, we are beginning to make traditional stamps, which is very fun to do. In the Hanja characters class, we learn the Traditional Chinese letters that the Korean language is based on. This has been very interesting for me, because it is something that is just completely different from classes that I am used to.

A "hallway" at my School

All of the time that we spend on these classes each day brings us to four o’clock in the afternoon, but we still have another hour before our school time is over. On Mondays, we have a sports club during which we get learn how to play a chosen sport. The sport that I chose to do was Ping Pong, which has been rather interesting, because I had never learned much of the technique to play before. On the other days of the week, we exchange students go to the library while the Korean students have classes to prepare them for the standardized tests they take during the year.

After this class, the school day is over, but the school has the exchange students stay after to participate in Korean Culture classes. So, we eat dinner at the school  then have free time until 6:20 when the Culture class starts. This school year, we are getting to do classes in Dancing, Samulnori, and Calligraphy. My favorite has definitely been the Calligraphy class, because it was something that I enjoyed at Sup Sogui Hosu, the Korean Camp I went to last summer before coming abroad.

Eating Dinner at the new cafeteria.

The Culture classes finish at 8 o’clock, which means that I have a twelve hour day at school. It sounds rather harsh, but it really has not been too bad. Most of the Korean students even go to private tutoring schools, called hagwon (학원), after the normal school hours to get in even more studying. During the school day, I seem to find a lot of time to work on my own things, and there are also a lot of breaks, during which I get to interact with the other students in my class.

일월 (설날과 서울여행) | January Monthly Report (Lunar New Year and Seoul Trip)

This month, I began my two-month break from school. On my blog, I already summarized what happened during the first few weeks of break. During these weeks, I celebrated New Year’s Day, went skating, visited my extended host family in Gwangju, and attended my school’s English Camp. After the English Camp, I went to visit Sejin, one of my counselors from Korean Camp, in Suwon. In this monthly report, I will instead talk about the things following the trip to Suwon in more detail.

One of the major Korean holidays during this month was 설날 (Seolnal), the Lunar New Year, which was celebrated on January 23^rd. During this holiday, much like 추석 (Chuseok), which is a holiday I experienced earlier in my year here, Korean families go to the towns that their ancestors are from. Unfortunately, my new host family could not bring me with them because of a space issue, but I was able to spend the week surrounding the holiday at my first host family’s house instead. During this holiday, I was able to participate in 세배 (Sebae), a traditional activity during which the children of a family bow to their elders, receiving money in return. We also visited their ancestor’s graves and went on a hike during the holiday, along with eating the traditional soup 떡국 (Tteokguk). During the holiday, everyone advances in age by the Korean system of age, which makes me 20 years old here, even though I am still only 18 in the system used elsewhere.

 

쫑구 (Jjonggu), my first host family's dog and my exchange mascot, was happy to see me again.

The other major event that happened was that we went on our Rotary Trip to Seoul. To do this, we five exchange students took the train from Seocheon to meet with 지원 (Ji-won) and 효림 (Hyo-rim), two past outbound students from Donggang Junior High School who were showing us around the first day. The first place we went was to Gyeonbukgung Palace and Gwanghwamun. Although I visited some of the complex around these when I was here before with Sejin, this time I was able to see more of the attraction, which was very interesting to see.

 

Part of the Gyeonbukgung Palace Grounds

After seeing the Palace grounds, we went to Insadong and had tea, following which we shopped a little bit in the market. After being here, we went to a department store and spent our evening walking along Cheong-gye-cheon, a reclaimed stream that goes through part of the city. That night, we stayed at a place called “Rainbow Guest”, which was a nice bed and breakfast sort of place.

 

Salmulnori band in Insadong

The next day, we met up with another past exchange student, 예은 (Yea-eun), and went to the Korean Basketball League All-Star Game, which was a very unique and interesting experience. There were actually a lot of similarities to sporting events that I have seen in the US, but it seemed mainly to me as if the Korean style was more focused on making a show of the experience, while in the US, it would be more about the game. After the game, I was able to go up Namsan Mountain again to see N Seoul Tower. From there we walked to Seoul Myeongdong House, which was our place to stay for the night. At this house, we got to know one of the other guests, Richelle, who was visiting Seoul for a few days before embarking on an adventure to study in China. It was interesting to talk with someone who was just embarking on her adventure from the position at the midpoint of mine.

 

At the Basketball Game

On the last day of the trip, we went to the theme park Lotte World, which was a fun way of ending the trip. After we finished there, we went back to the train station to take our train back home. Originally, we were supposed to go on to have three more days in Daejeon, but those plans fell through. I was not to upset though, because I found myself rather exhausted by the intense trip that we had taken to see the city of Seoul.

Lotte World

수원하고 서울 | Suwon and Seoul

Last weekend, I went to Suwon to visit Sejin, one of the counselors I met at 숲속의 호수 (Sup Sogui Hosu), the Korean Camp at Concordia Language Villages. While there, I also got to see a lot of the city of Seoul, which I considered my first real visit to the city, because I had only seen a museum there during my first visit to the city. Upon visiting it, I felt that Seoul was definitely one of my favorite cities in the world.

To go to Suwon, I took the train from Gunsan. For me, the train ride was already an interesting experience, because it isn’t really a travel option for me in the United States. I have taken trains before, but never as the only mode of transportation for a trip and also never alone. It was not too difficult to do the trip though, because I only had to take one train and get off at the correct stop. In Suwon Station, I met with Sejin and we took the bus over to his apartment so that I could leave my bag there. After having lunch with him and his wife, I was going to be spending the day in Seoul. To get there, Sejin and I took a bus from Suwon to Seoul. It was a long trip, but Sejin had a movie on his computer that we watched.

Seoul Subway Car

Once in Seoul, we got onto the Subway and went to Insadong, which is a district of the city that has many more traditional shops. Where we first walked into the main street, a large crowd had gathered around a group performing traditional dance. They were wearing masks and were accompanied by musicians playing the traditional Samulnori instruments. From there, we walked down the street, looking at the many shops. One of the most memorable for me was a large tea shop that had free samples of their tea from Jeju Island. We got into the line that had formed inside the shop and had some of the best green tea I have ever tasted.

The Dancers at Insadong

From the market, we walked a few blocks away to wander the streets of the Bukchon Hanok Village. A hanok is a traditional Korean house, and this area was notable for the sheer quantity of them being preserved in one place. It was interesting to see the beautiful architecture of the houses in this part of the city. While we were looking around, there was a Chinese travel show that was also filming in the area, so there is a possibility that we might have made it onto Chinese television.

Sejin and I at the Hanok Village

After seeing the Hanok Village, we walked over to the National Folk Museum at Gyeonbokgung. It was part of a large complex around Gyeonbokgung Palace. We looked at some of the buildings in the area that we didn’t have to pay for, as I might be going back to see the Palace during the Rotary-sponsored Seoul Trip that I will be taking later in the month. From there, we walked by Gwanghwamun, the Gate to the Palace, and over to Cheonggyecheon, which is a reclaimed stream that goes through part of the city. Along the stream, they had walkways, bridges, art, and greenery that made it into an interesting walk.

We turned off from Cheonggyecheon after a few blocks, and we went to Namdaemun Market, which is one of the busiest market districts in Seoul. It was rather overwhelming, because there were people everywhere. Our major stop here was to get dinner. We went to a noodle shop, named 명동교자, that had extremely good food and was apparently rather well-known. When we went in, the restaurant was rather crowded, but we were able to get a spot very quickly, but when we were leaving, the line stretched out the door.

Namdaemun Market

Once we left Namdaemun Market, we took a cab to Namsan Mountain to see the North Seoul Tower (also called Namsan Tower). To get up the mountain and to the tower, we climbed up the stairs instead of taking the cable car that most people take, which has a very long wait. As soon as we reached the tower, they announced that they would be starting the tower light show, so we sat down, and watched the light show that was projected onto the Tower. We were extremely happy with our good timing to see that show. Although we didn’t go up to the observation deck on the tower, we admired the view and the attractions around the base of the tower. One of the most interesting of these attractions is the many locks that are attached to the fence on part of the viewing space on the top of the mountain. The reason for these are that couples will write a love message on a lock, attach it to the fence, and then throw the keys for the lock over the fence. After we finished at Namsan Tower, we took a bus to get back down. Because of the large demand to go up and down the mountain, the bus was one of the most crowded that I have been on. When we got down from the mountain, we took the bus back to Suwon and went to bed very tired.

Namsan Tower During the Light Show

The next day, I went with Sejin and his wife to pick up their kids from their Grandparents house in a nearby city. I spent most of the day with the whole family. We did not do as much on this day, because I was very tired, but I got to see more of the city of Suwon. We visited one of Suwon’s major attractions, Hwaseong, a fortress wall that extends around the main part of the city. Here, I walked around part of the wall with Sejin and his daughter. It was interesting to see the ties to all of Korea’s history still being visible in a major way. Most of that day, I got to spend with Sejin and his family, which was something that I really appreciated, but the next morning I had to take the train back to Gunsan.

신정과 광주와 영어캠프 | Solar New Year, Gwangju, and English Camp

The first week of the new year, while most people were going back to school after winter break, mine just started. I spent my New Year’s weekend with two Germans, Arne, one of the exchange students in my town, and Laura, an exchange student living in Seoul who came to our town for the weekend. To celebrate, we went to the beach where some community festivities were going on. We had hoped to wait until they had fireworks at midnight, but instead, we went back to Arne’s host mother’s house and watched the program on television to celebrate the new year. In this program, a large, traditional bell was rung multiple times to usher in the Solar New Year (There is also a Lunar New Year on January 23rd, which is supposed to be a much larger celebration).

Small fireworks being set off at the beach on New Year's Eve

During my first week of break, I was not really sure what to do. Besides my host mother’s birthday party, my week was pretty uneventful, so I began working on a list of the things that I want to see or do while in South Korea. At the time of writing this, I have already accomplished some of them and also added a whole bunch more to the list. One of the first ones to cross off my list was going skating in Korea, which I was able to do with Jeewon (My first host sister), Josh (the Taiwanese exchange student), Haerin, and Hweyoung (Two Korean friends). To go skating, we went to the same amusement park (in Janghang) that I had gone to on Christmas, where they had a skating rink set up. I was very pleased that I could rent skates in my size, as none of the shoe stores in the area carry it. It was nice to go skating, as it it brought something familiar into the foreign environment.

At the Skating Rink

After skating, I went with my host family to Gwangju, the major city in the southwest portion of the country. We went there to meet with extended family and to celebrate my host grandfather’s birthday. My host family’s grandparents and one uncle live in the same apartment complex, so the family’s celebration split its time between the two apartments. While in the area, we also went to Damyang Soswaewon, which was a traditional house and garden.

The Traditional Gardens

The following week, I had English Camp at my school, which is a school program for students to improve their English. Many schools offer them, but it still counts as a portion of our break. During this week, the exchange students were not able to participate much, as we all knew English beyond the level that was being taught. We were able to participate in some activities though, which was a lot of fun. For example, on the first day, Danna (one of the students from Mexico) and I teamed up in making origami as part of one of the activities that the students were doing. Although we didn’t finish in the time given, we finished the complete set of origami during the free time that the exchange students were given for most of the day. Another activity that we did during the week was making kites. After building them, we got to fly them on the soccer field. Although it was difficult to get it at first, I eventually got my kite working correctly and had a few times where it actually got up very high. During the week, we received our hanboks, which is the Korean traditional clothing, and finished up our hanbok vest sewing projects. Also one of the days, I went on a hike with Arne up one of the mountains in Seocheon.

The exchange students in our hanboks.

The weekend after, we were supposed to be going on our Seoul Trip, but it got rescheduled for the end of the month. When I found out that it was moved, I was able to schedule a different adventure, which I will talk about in my next post.

십이월 | December Monthly Report

This month was one of my most difficult months of my year abroad so far. I think that it was mostly due to the difficult language. Even with my difficulties on the language, I still got to do some interesting things this past month.

The first Friday of the month, my school had an English Day. For this, the school asked for us exchange students to give our presentations on our own countries. We were given the option of doing the presentation in either Korean or English. Josh, the Taiwanese student, was the only one to give his in all Korean, while the rest of us used varying amounts of Korean and English. They also asked for us to participate in a competition called the Speed Quiz. Only Josh and I participated in this competition, where we had to make the school body guess what Korean words we were trying to explain. I got nine out of the ten words, which I was very happy about.

Me giving my English Day Presentation

The week after, I switched to my second host family. It has been much more difficult, as my new host family is not able to communicate with me as easily as my last host family. I think that this is a good thing for me, though, because it will probably help a lot with my Korean.

On the second weekend, I went with my new host family to the boarding school that my host sister will be attending in the spring. While in the area, we also went to the Independence Hall of Korea, which was an interesting museum. Afterwards, we went camping, and I got to meet some of my extended family.

The Independence Hall of Korea

The following weekend, Kim Jong-Il, the leader of North Korea was announced dead. When I first heard the news, I was expecting some changes in the environment here. Instead, there have not really been any changes in what is happening here, besides the news coverage on television and the Internet about North Korea.

The next week, our school went on a trip to Seoul to see the National Museum of Korea. It was very interesting, and I hope to go back to Seoul soon.

The National Museum of Korea

On the third weekend of the month, my host family invited more of their extended family in order to celebrate Christmas. Although it was very unlike Christmas celebrations I have experienced in the US, I enjoyed the weekend very much. On the Saturday, it even snowed, giving us a White Christmas.

The week after Christmas (I had to go to school during the week following Christmas), we exchange students had our Korean language test, for our school to see how well we were learning Korean. It was not exceedingly difficult, but I had been studying a lot beforehand. I haven’t received my scores back yet, but I feel that I did very well.

On Thursday, we finished school after our hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) class for the exchange students, and we began our two-month-long winter break. During the break, we have trips to Seoul, Daejeon, and Jeju-Do. I am really looking forward to seeing more of Korea over my break.