Heading to Seoul

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Happy New Year! I know it's been awhile since my last entry, but to be quite honest, not too much has been happening around little old Yeosu. Early in January, I taught a two-week special class for my school (with about 5-10 students, focusing on writing and creative expression. Somewhere during that time, I went to Daegu (about 3 hours north of Yeosu by bus) to visit my friend Susie (I got to see some other Fulbrighters while I was there, too) and Andy, a friend of mine from middle school in Illinois who I hadn't seen in at least 6 years (and then, the last time, only briefly on a visit to Illinois). So, it was nice to catch up with him and to hang out a bunch with my Fulbright friends. Always good to have other native English speakers to support you!

I also celebrated my birthday here and made a good time of it. I got some nice gifts and a cake or two. I also had the privilege of indulging in traditional Korean birthday foods--namely a kind of seaweed soup special for birthdays. I ate it both during my breakfast (more like a "brunch" these days) and during my dinner. And then for several days after, because my host mom had made a surplus of it. :-) Delicious!

Tomorrow, I head up to Seoul to prepare for an intensive Korean class I'll be taking at EWHA Women's University. I'm looking forward to making some more academic progress on my Korean (I can already manage most day-to-day situations--shopping, traveling, taxi cabs, asking directions-- but I want to go beyond that!). So, here's hoping for that one! I keep joking with my host sister that I'll come back fluent, but my expectations aren't so high. Just being able to converse a little more freely with my host mom or other teachers would be plenty for me.

I'll try to post more frequently as exciting things happen in Seoul. Or should I say, hopefully enough exciting things will happen in Seoul for me to post about them. We'll see!

In the meantime, I'm enjoying my Korean vacation and am (almost) ready to begin teaching again in May!

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