greetings from naju...

So I'm blogging, although truly I have no idea when I'll be able to put this on the internet, because at the moment I'm reliant on my host family's computer, which has been dominated by my host brother and cousin for a few days, and which is now behind my host mother's closed door. She's not actually here, but I'm still discovering the ins and outs of the house, and I'm not sure if someone else might be there instead. Allegedly, Koreans almost always have their doors open, so
when they don't...

I suspect this will be a fantastically long update, however, so it may be best that I'm composing it here. But first, I have to pee.

Okay. So I'm not actually sure when I last updated, and I can't get online to check, so I will just wing it. Actually, I think I last updated around Sunday, after I went out and drank Soju to excess for the first time while in Korea. I have a lot of catching up to do. My host mother just informed me that we're going to the supermarket sometime tonight, so hopefully I'll be able to get some of the things I need. Which also means I need to make a list.

So I went out roughly two more times, I think, during my remaining nights in Chuncheon, and both were a success. During one, we (Tim, Amy, and I) ended up just going to dinner and then drinking in a park on campus, which is, I should add, totally acceptable. I got pleasantly drunk, spent some quality time with my favorite people, and went home. For some reason, we kept having to get up early on those days... once for a workshop and once for... oh, to leave Chuncheon. The other
night we actually went to a bar/dance club (called a hof, for reasons unbeknownst to me) with many of the other ETAs. I had a nice time, although I don't think I drank much, and danced a little. But those three days of partying proved plenty sufficient for me, and I was happy to leave Chuncheon... Wednesday for Seoul.

Oh wait! The reason I had to get up early on Monday morning (after drinking on Sunday night!) was because we went to the DMZ. Now, this wasn't nearly as cool as you might think. First off, I had a really runny nose the whole day, which was gross. We spent roughly two hours on a hot bus driving on really hilly terrain to get to... I'm not sure where really. The place is Hwacheon County, and it's certainly on
the border with North Korea, but it's not the cool place in the center where all of the historic things happen... that's Pammunjon. First we went to a place near the border where South Korea has built something called the Peace Dam.

To get one thing straight... the whys and such of this are really unclear to me. Perhaps because I was a little hungover, hot, and uninterested on the bus, but also because I just don't think they explained it well. We did, however, hear a funny guy who apparently won a Pulitzer (nobel?) prize or something. Someone was translating for him, but my favorite part was when he said, in Korean... "I know
English, and I would like to speak to you in it, but I learned my English in the 18th century, so you wouldn't understand it." It was pretty humorous. But apparently at some point North Korea built this dam which stopped water coming to South Korea. It also had the (unintended? intended?) effect that if the dam were to collapse (due to shoddy NK construction?), it would flood Seoul. We watched several movies, including a computer generated 'if that were to happen'
sequence, which only really left me more confused. Anyway, South Korea built its own dam, called, perhaps ironically, the "peace dam," to protect itself if NK's unpeaceful dam were to break. Apparently, however, all of this damming has messed up the fragile ecosystem of the DMZ (or whatever), which is, I don't know, bad. But the peace dam does not, in fact, hold back peace, as I thought. Also, it doesn't serve any hydroelectric purpose either. It's just dumb, and a really boring
stop for a trip, I promise. There was something about a peace bell, as well, that some South Korea hippie scientists were going to (already) create out of melted down bullet casings from conflict zones all over the world (or something). It was very liberal, and moving, but I just wasn't in the mood for it. Also, they referred to Korea as the only remaining divided country in the world, which I was dubious about it. I suppose it may be the only country still divided along Cold War lines,
but...

The next part was the high point of the trip, which was a visit (another hour and a half on a bus) to the actual DMZ border. We got to sit in a room and look out through the window at the border, and over into North Korea, where roughly nothing was happening. There was also a scale model of the border and stuff, which was cool, but we weren't allowed to take pictures of it or into NK, which was dumb. We listened to the commander of that particular post tell us some things about the border, including showing us a Powerpoint presentation that included
pictures of NK soldiers playing basketball and bathing in the river. The experience was for me, surreal, but not because it was really interesting or anything. I guess you had to be there. Then we took pictures with the commander (linked later)... and ironically despite the big effort they made to stop us from taking pictures, you can catch a glimpse of the big NK in the background. I stick it to the man wherever I go.

Then another long bus trip toward... an otter home. There's some scientific reason that they're big on studying otters in Hwacheon County--I believe because it's the only animal (mammal?) that can travel safely from South to North Korea. But they're doing badly, I think, because of the damaged ecosystem caused by the dam. The funny guy told us how they implanted the otters with radio transmitters
so they could keep track of them, and lest the North Koreans capture the otter and think he's a spy, they've taught it to say "I am not a spy" and "Go DPRK!" ahahahaha. Sorry. Anyway, I glanced at otters in a pool and then got back on the bus, because really... otters?

It was a somewhat torturous experience at the time, but cool in retrospect as only character-building experiences that are now past can be. Anyway, that explains why I drank again that night, probably.

Back to Wednesday, when we got up early to get on the bus and head for Seoul. It was... an okay trip, I think. I was pretty tired, since we came home around 2am and left around 8:30, but I managed to force myself to sleep very miserably and uncomfortably for most of the four hours. Success! The first day was the only when we had any free time, so I wanted to get a few things done. Amy and I checked into our dorm room at Yonsei University, and it was amazingly big and comfortable (no bunk beds), and most importantly, it had air conditioning, which we had on super-high the entire time. The only downside was its lack of internet, which explains why I've been out of contact so long. Anyway, we went to lunch with Tony and Tim, and I had some pretty awesome meat which I chose at random from the menu, as I had no idea what it was, and still don't actually.

After that the boys, like the losers that they are, went back to the dorm to sleep, although Tim had a date, so I supppose that was justified. Amy and I set out in the great unknown with our credit cards burning holes in our pockets. I sensed the trip would be a disaster, since we had no map or plan, but we managed to find a department store, buy her a cute and inexpensive dress, find a faux-Italian restaurant at which to eat, and go to a DVD Bang. It was a highly enjoyable trip.
When we got home, we just wanted to crank up the A/C and crash, so not much packing got done. Once assured that Tim hadn't, in fact, been murdered by the foreign national, I slept more soundly, and then had to get up early for a workshop.

Thursday was arguably the biggest waste of time of my life. Perhaps wisely, perhaps not, the Orientation Coordinators told us we had to be at the Fulbright building at 9:15, when in fact the first presentation did not start at 10:00. So we were just really early, and thus, I was cranky. Ironically, two people still showed up late, but that was two hours late, something the 45 minute buffer couldn't account for. I got a chance to raid the book exchange shelves and got a few classics I'd
said I wouldn't read unless they were the last English language books on the planet, which now they are... (Moby Dick, Henry James's The Ambassadors, and a collection of short novels). We did hear a helpful talk from Dr. Linton, the American who runs an international clinic in Seoul, where Fulbright encourages us to go if we are sick. He was woefully politically incorrect, at one point referring to the five
black ETAs as "my African American brothers and sisters" and the rest of us as "honkies." (He was white, btw. Awkward.) He urged us not to stay out late or engage in sex with the natives. More interestingly, he informed us that crossing the threshold of a hotel room in Korea is considered consenting to sex. Note to self, don't go to any hotels.

Then we ate lunch, got some information about our homestays, and then listened to this guy read our entire four page contract to us. I'm still not clear why we couldn't have a copy to look at for ourselves, but it was a painful two hours. Then, we went to the ambassador's house for a pool party. Again, a painful endeavor. The ambassador wasn't actually there, nor did we get to see his house. We sat around the pool in the hot hot heat. The dinner buffet was pretty exciting (bean
dip!), and the soda was flowing, but I didn't get up the nerve to go swimming, so it was a bit of a wash. By then I'd developed a mean sore throat and headache, so Amy and I retired again to the dorm to begin the arduous task of final packing. And throat-wise, I've been pretty miserable ever since.

Friday was the BIG day when we met our co-teachers and principals. I woke up early, loaded my suitcases onto the bus, got dressed, walked a million miles to the location where it was being held, changed into my good clothes in a million degree bathroom, got nervous and scared, then got called into the room with the other 70 ETAs to be presented en masse to our new school administrators. Our names were called one by one, then we stepped forward and bowed to our people (who
waved excitedly to us). I actually had to fight tears when they called Amy's name-- her school had made a colorful sign that said "Welcome Amelia Schubert!" I was so happy about that, because she'd been really nervous about teaching at a vocational school and them not knowing English, and I realized that I was about to be separated from the friends I'd made over six weeks. Truth: I didn't really connect that much to many Fulbright people, but I really really grew to like the
friends I did make, and I'm sad that I will no longer be right down the hall (or in the same room) with them. But alas. Then they called me and the other five people coming to Naju, and our principals came down to us with a big bouquet of flowers and gift bag for each of us. It was amazing.

Then we went to lunch at a restaurant, and we sat awkwardly with our people. I met: 1) the principal of NMS. He's a nice old guy who doesn't speak much English, but who seems very friendly. I sat directly across from him, and he stared at me most of the time, commenting to my co-teacher frequently that I was beautiful. I also met
Mr. Kim. He's one of my co-teachers at NMS, and another nice old guy. He speaks considerably more English than the principal. And I also met my co-teacher at
DMS, Miss Kim, who is a really nice 30 year old woman who speaks near-perfect English. She was a life-saver during lunch, because she translated a little for the others and asked me questions, to avoid super-awkwardness. The principal from DMS couldn't come, but it's a woman, which is unusual in Korea, and cool for me. After lunch, we split again, and we had time to gather our things together and say our goodbyes while the school administrators were in one last workshop.

Unfortunately, I was feeling really horrible by that point. Fevery and with a bad sore throat. So I spent most of our last bonding moments with my head on the desk. It did happen suddenly, our administrators coming in to steal us away, and I was doing okay at first. I mean, I'm sad that Tim can't be my next-door neighbor, but he's only 30 minutes away by bus, and Meghan is in Naju with me. I was sad to see Dana and Tony go all the way to the south Island, because I probably will only
see them at the two conferences, but you know. But then I was saying goodbye to Amy, and she started crying, so then I started crying, and it was a tearful time.

All of the people in Naju (and principals and co-teachers) took a bus back to Naju, which was not ideal, considering how sick I was, and it was a four-hour ride. I sat beside my co-teacher, who is super-nice, and continued to ask questions to avoid awkwardness, and then I fell miserably asleep for some time. It was very late by the time we got to dinner at Gwangju, and I was started to show how sick I was, I think. They were very nice, but I felt, you know, fevery and gross, and I wanted to make a good impression. Dinner was awkward, because it was huge and I didn't know how to eat most of it, so I just sat next to my principal feeling embarassed and awkward. Still, he seemed to like me. He offered to be my 아 버 지, which means "father," because he has no daughters. My male co-teacher also said he would be my father and I didn't need to worry about anything because they would all take care of me in Naju. Then my co-teacher remarked that her female principal could be my mother. I will have many Korean parents, apparently. By the time we reached Naju it was almost 9:30, and I was exhausted. I also discovered, embarassingly, that I had left my flowers in Seoul, so I hoped no one noticed. And... I had to pee really bad. Awkward. I got off the bus and met my host mother and her two kids, and it was dark in a park. So I barely managed a Korean greeting and then we were debating where to put all of my luggage, because it would not fit in her car with the kids. They'd called a cab, so they put me and my stuff in it and sent me off, with only a quick goodbye to my co-teacher and principal. I arrived at the house, which is the top two stories of a three-story building. I think they own the whole thing, though. More on that later.

The first night was very awkward and miserable, although it has improved substantially since. There's no A/C in the house, which is devastating, at least for another two weeks until the end of summer, but there are many fans. My room is actually very big, with a desk and a double bed. There's not really much storage, a rack instead of a closet, but I've got things stacked on the piano and it's worked out okay. I have my own bathroom, which is pretty awesome, although I've get to figure out if I can flush the toilet paper. I should probably find a way to ask soon. Anyway, I was sweating up a storm in my dress by then, so my host mother told me to take a shower, which I did, and it was pretty good. My host mother speaks very basic English, and my host sister (who is eleven, I just asked her) speaks a little better. So we sat on the floor with some water and said some very basic,
awkward things to each other. Then I went to bed, and it was rough. Thankfully I was super-tired, so I only laid awake for a little while. There is, however, a weird wooden beaded thing on top of my bed which I've been sleeping on, though I don't know if I'm supposed to. And I have the weird cylinder shaped pillow again, which sucks.

The next morning I woke up early and finished unpacking, and had an awkward breakfast with the family (except for our father, who is in Japan, I think until tonight.) Wait, quick, let me tell you about everyone.

Mom (English name: Lucy)- She is very nice, although it's sometimes a little awkward and frustrating, mostly for her, when she tries to communicate with me.
Daughter (English name: Stacy)- She's very cute and we've started to bond, thanks mostly to Monopoly (more on that later).
Son (English name: Allen)- He's 9, I think, and very rambunctious, with almost no English. The first night, the mother looked up a Korean word in the Eng-Korean dictionary and showed me the translation - "naughty." I think that's about right.
Also here for the weekend were the aunt, who I think left today for a far-away province and her son, I think, whose English name is Ike. I think he might be living with us now, but I'm not sure. And grandmother lives here. She speaks no English, but she's very funny. She talks to me in Korean and doesn't seem fazed by the fact that I don't understand her. She's a cute old lady, anyway.

So Saturday morning we sat around, I wrapped the presents (badly), and I gave them to the mother, but she didn't open them before she left for work. She and Dad own a greengrocers shop that I haven't seen yet, so she works a lot apparently. Grandmother is home most of the time, I think, watching the kids. Saturday I had to get spruced up for a lunch meeting with the other Naju ETAs and co-teachers. Host Mom drove me to a restaurant where we ate duck (amazing!) and met the mayor of Naju City (interesting). Then we drove to nearby Gwangju to pick out a textbook. (Note: most ETAs don't teach with a textbook, and them taking
all of us to choose one is particularly unheard of. I'm not actually thrilled, because I'd rather not have to teach from one, but it will at least give structure to what I'm doing, and take a little of the lesson planning off of my back, I suppose.) After that my co-teacher (Mrs. O), a different lady, who speaks English almost as well as the other, drove me home, and we hung out around the house. Then, the magic happened. The host kids opened the presents, discovered Monopoly, and to my
surprise, they wanted to play. I was a little dubious about my ability to explain the rules in Korean, but we got started, and they really liked it. It's ESPN edition, so none of the places mean anything to them, but it's still fun for them to buy stuff and charge each other lent (that's rent, by the way). It's good practice in counting English numbers, too. We played for almost two hours last night, and they never got bored of it. Mom came home while we were playing and declared bedtime, which saved me having to figure out how to explain the end of the game, and I gave her the Korean letter from the Fulbright Office, which helped us talk a little.

She asked me some basic questions: what time do you go to bed? what do you like to eat? and so on, so we bonded a little, and she thanked me for the family picture frame. Then, I went to bed. Oh... meals here, btw, have been mostly slightly better versions of meals I've already seen. It's okay so far, anyway.

This morning I woke up, we ate breakfast, and the kids set up Monopoly of their own volition, so we played again. They've become adept at cheating, and I don't know enough Korean to stop them or explain what they're doing wrong, so I just let it go. I won, anyway. I spent a lot of today trying to get ready to teach tomorrow. Oh yeah, about the schools:

I will be teaching at NMS, the slightly larger school with 6 classes total, on Monday-Wednesday. And I will be teaching at DMS, with only 3 classes total, on Thursdays and Fridays. I'm a little perplexed, because apparently I will be driven to both by other teachers at the school, which means I won't be able to leave early when my classes are finished. But maybe I'll get to work it out.

Anyway, here's a link to pictures from the DMZ trip. Pictures of my homestay, family, and schools to follow later in the week. :) This is way too long to proof-read, btw, so I'm sorry.

the DMZ and such