Almost Officially a Teacher

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This week was a rather eventful week. First, the university where I'm having orientation is currently hosting "Camp Fulbright," an English-intensive, two-week-long camp for Korean elementary to early high school students. So, although former ETAs are leading the bulk of the camp, we each get the chance to lead two classes-- including making lesson plans, etc. So, I taught a real class for the first time on Tuesday. My roommate and I actually co-taught it (we had that option for the first time we did it), and it went over really well! So, that was exciting!

This biggest news of this week, however, is that I received my placement for the year. I will be teaching in Yeosu (pronounced Yaw-soo), a city of about 325,000 people on the south coast of Korea. I will be teaching at an all-girls' private high school (of about 900 students) right in the city center. So, I'm looking forward to a lot of seafood and the sights of the lovely Korean coast! For more information on the province, city, or school I'll be at, check out these sites: english.jeonnam.go.kr (province), yeosu.go.kr/en/ (city), www.yscenter.hs.kr (school-- it's in Korean, but it has some pictures you can look at). We were given our assignments at a makeshift ceremony on Wednesday. It was pretty exciting, and I think most everyone is happy with their new placements!

In other news, calligraphy class is going well. This last week we moved from making letters to making a couple different types of nature calligraphy pictures. Plus, my calligraphy teacher asked if I'd done calligraphy before because my I drew my Korean letters well, which was pretty cool because I had no idea if I was doing it well at all!

Today, I went to downtown Chuncheon with my roommate and some friends, checking out the shopping scene and then going to the river area to go around in paddle boats. Pretty cool.

More Korean classes this coming week, as long as my second round of teaching. I'm looking forward to it! Then, in a week, I'll get to see a friend of mine who's from Seoul but exchanged to USC last year-- how exciting! My orientation continues until Aug. 17, so I'll be sure to make updates as things progress until then!

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Photos

A Kind of Swan Lake
One of the paddleboats we used to explore the river area. Yeah, we thought we looked pretty funny in them, too.

Chuncheon Walking Mall
Downtown Chuncheon

Having Fun
Having fun in downtown Chuncheon-- Melinda and Susie, fellow Fulbrighters

In the Statue Park
Downtown Chuncheon area

Out on the Lake
Paddleboating with friends

Lots of Swans
Yes, all the paddleboats looked like this. Needless to say, I was amused.

Glamour Shots
My roommate, Christina, looking like a movie star in the back of the paddleboat

Comments

[Tiff]

everything sounds so exciting! bravo on your calligraphy skills.... nik would be proud ;-)