2016!

새해 복 많이 받으세요! Saehae bok manhi padeuseyo!

That's the traditional Korean greeting for the new year, which is used for both the Gregorian new year (January 1st) as well as the Lunar new year (the Year the Monkey will begin on February 8th). It literally translates to, "May you receive lots of happiness/fortune in the new year!"

Unrelated to the new year, but related to Korean, is a heartwarming animated short I watched recently called 어머니 (Eomeoni), or "Mother". It's about a mother who is overwhelmed with household chores and how her family pitches in to help. Enjoy!

Mother from StephanieC on Vimeo.

Wow. I can't believe it's 2016. I started this blog in 2012... almost four years ago! I know I don't write much here anymore, but every once in a while I'll come back to it to look at old photos and old stories, and it never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Months, even years after you leave a place, the impression it leaves can really linger. I am so grateful that I have this blog to look back on my time in Korea. This coming year, I don't know if I will have any opportunity to go back. But I am very grateful for the time I did get to spend there and for the memories I can relieve whenever I want to.

Have a happy and prosperous 2016!

Memories

I forget things easily, and I'm sad to admit it. The other day I was browsing my Facebook news feed when I saw that one of my former students had changed his cover photo to a cute picture of his entire class. I smiled when I saw the picture, then clicked on it to take a closer look. I saw three rows of familiar faces smiling for the camera, hands in the familiar "V"-sign I'd even begun to use after living in Korea for two years.

Nobody was tagged in the photo yet, so I tried to remember the names of the students in that particular homeroom class. And that's when I realized that I couldn't. Many names came back to me easily, but others escaped me completely. I had iterations of various Korean names floating around in my head, but I couldn't attach them to faces. I almost panicked because it dawned on me that my attachment to Korea has already begun to weaken and fade. I've been home for almost two months, haven't seen my students in nearly three, and despite all the messages I send on Facebook or the photos and status updates they post every day, I am beginning to forget who they are.

On one hand, this is only natural. We can pour our hearts out onto people and connect in life-changing ways, but when it's time to move on, the old links break while new ones form; the empty jar gets filled with other people. Social media and other forms of technology can only sustain it for so long. Maybe we just wern't meant to keep in touch with everyone forever.

Which do I fear more, forgetting or being forgotten? I hope that I left a lasting legacy on my students, at my school. But I know full well that I will eventually become nothing more than a memory, maybe also a photo. Courtney, who is now teaching at my school, has been doing an amazing job with my old students, as far as I can tell. And I'm happy about it. If they have so much fun in her class that they forget all the (boring) things that I ever taught them, I'll have peace of mind. But the jealous litle devil in me also wants them to miss me. To think, "I wish Andrew Teacher were still around," even though it's just a pipe dream.

Well, Courtney messaged me the other day with a photo she took of a second-year student's journal entry. And when I read what JH had written, I felt all warm inside. It really made my day.

"Since I have lived quiet good life, I have a lot of great memories. First, it is meeting teacher Andrew in CSHS. Andrew teacher is the most intelligent and kind teacher who I have ever met include Korean and foreigns. He always cheer us and keep us think optimistically. After I graduate BS in university, I'm going to meet him in US."

If you look carefully, you'll see that JH's second great memory is meeting Courtney at CSHS. I'm just so thrilled that English educators are making an impact on this young person's life. Maybe five or ten years down the road, he won't remember much of anything about either of us. (And maybe five or ten days for now I'll have forgotten what he looks like again.) But at least for now, we can know that we've done some good.

- - -

On another note, I will be closing this blog at the end of September. This is probably going to be my last post. There are some other things I've had sitting around in my drafts for a while, but it's unlikely that I'll ever get to them. If something does come up in my future that brings me back to Korea, then I see no reason why I wouldn't write again. But in the meantime, I'm starting up a new blog, this time on WordPress, that will document my adventures in graduate school. You can find it here.

I have loved writing and photographing my time in Korea, and I thank all my readers for having joined me at one time or another. If you were a friend from home, or the random parents of friends, or a complete stranger who stumbled across this by accident, thank you all the same! I hope you learned a thing or two and were inspired, possibly, to think or write or create in some way for yourself.

안녕히계세요. Peace.

Going, going...

A few letters from students, including a gorgeous poster from my third-years!

Should I have made a bigger deal out of my leaving? I've been downplaying my imminent departure so much that I wonder if my students have really digested the reality of it all. I know I haven't, not really. This has been the week of "last classes", and they have mostly looked like this: I pass out class awards, tell the students via riddle or just straight up that I'm going back to the States for grad school, and then show Video Game High School or play Mafia. Then the bell rings, the students leave, and I sit at my desk and wonder if I should be, like, emotional or anything. I think one thing I am going to regret is that I haven't set aside any time to take class photos with my students.

Tomorrow, the second-years are going on a field trip to Jirisan, and I will join them, so there's a good opportunity to "catch up," so to speak. All the photos I take will end up on Facebook, and now that my contract is officially over, I think I can start adding my students as friends. In this way, at least, goodbye isn't really goodbye, since we can easily keep in touch online. Still, what I'll miss the most is physically being with my students, and no social network can replace that.

I'm having my first-year students write letters to the new Fulbright teacher who will replace me this fall. The letters are very cute, and so far they give good insight into the students' personalities. Some students surprised me by writing very thoughtful letters or by writing more than I expected of them. Other students surprised me by writing me a letter instead of focusing on the assignment I gave them. Well, I'm not going to take issue with that. :) I've gotten a few other letters from students, which I will cherish. I'm really touched when students take the time to show me that I've made some sort of impact on their lives, as brief as my time here has been. So yes, even the sheet of paper that says nothing but, "I love you, Teacher! Forever," and a bunch of hearts is going in my keepsakes box.

All of my third-years wrote something in a large card they gave me today. Since it was our last class, and since I like them enough to hand them twenty bucks and permission to go to the corner convenience store, I treated them to ice cream! And we blogged, of course. Ah, these are the students I taught for four semesters. I'll miss them a lot.

Oh! Unrelated: our school cohir had a mini-concert today. One of the songs they performed was called "Flying Free"; it was very beautiful. The other was "Hava Nagila", and I thought it was strange to hear Hebrew being sung from my Korean students' mouths... but my Asian church choir has sung in plenty of different languages before, so I guess I shouldn't make a big deal out of it! I really enjoyed their performance! Check out the videos below.


So... really. I'm looking at nothing but a day trip with students tomorrow, and then Friday, which is just a half-day. The last day. But it still hasn't registered yet.

The Second Final Dinner

One year ago, Fulbright held the closing ceremony for the 2012-2013 grant year. I wrote in my blog then that the event was nice, but didn't feel so much like the end of everything for a few reasons: it was still a few weeks before the actual end of the grant, the programming was filled with talks and performances, which left little time to reminisce with friends, and, most importantly, it wasn't actually the end. Last year's "final dinner" was actually just the midpoint of my Fulbright grant period. I left the event knowing that although I was saying goodbye to some of my friends, I certainly wasn't leaving Korea: this country and I still had a whole entire year ahead of us

And now that year is over.

This past weekend was my second Fulbright Final Dinner, and it was also the last. Was it different? Surprisingly, I think it was a bit less nostalgic and emotional. I mean, it was largely the same as last year's ceremony, but I knew even fewer people. Still, as always, I enjoyed seeing my friends and having a blast in Seoul for a short weekend.

I was foolish enough to bring my camera but not my battery, so I couldn't take any nice photos over the weekend! I guess I'll have to use thousands of words instead. Haha, kidding, here are some highlights:

1. Volume 7, issue 2 of the Fulbright Infusion was released at the dinner! It is a beautiful magazine, and I'm excited to share it with my students and colleagues. Check out the website, too, to see some of my photos and pieces that were published!

2. A Fulbright Korea alumnus who did his grant year about twenty years ago was a guest at the final dinner, and even though he is a complete stranger, he came up to me and asked, "Hey, you write a blog, don't you?" Apparently, I have some dedicated readers who aren't just my Facebook friends! This little surprise made me very happy.

3. I went back to Acousticholic! Unfortunately, we only caught the tail end of my friend's performance that night, but it was great to catch up with him afterward. This guy is working for JYP Entertainment as a songwriter. I swear he's going to be really big one day...

Food from The Beastro in Hongdae (#6). Also, I'm about to stab my 삼겹살 sliders. Photo courtesy Neal Singleton!

4. A fundraising organization called Running 4 Resettlement, which was founded by a group of current Fulbrighters, held an event at a new restaurant in Hongdae called The Beastro. Donating money to help North Korean defectors adjust comfortably to life in South Korea? Check. Good drinks and company? Check. Chilling in on an open rooftop terrace in Hongdae on a cool summer night? Check.

5. That night, I stayed at a 24-hour sauna called Siloam (신로암), near Seoul Station. It's an amazing sauna, far better than any I've been to (though I haven't yet paid a visit to SpaLand in Busan...). I tried all the different hot baths and steam rooms, including one with walls made of charcoal and one that was like a pit of heated salt rocks. My friends and I chatted in the steam rooms and played Contact until three in the morning! (I may write more about this sauna at a later date, although it's too bad I didn't take any pictures!)

6. Lunch at The Beastro on Sunday morning. This restaurant is amazing! Need proof? Check hungryinhongdae. Also, more ice cream at Fell+Cole, where I finally redeemed the stamp card I've been using for a whole year. 

Katelyn, Clara, and me at Fell+Cole.

7. Followed by shopping -- I got a new shirt (and am now worried about what I'm going to do with all the clothes I've accumulated in this country over the past two years) and a nice afternoon 노래방 (karaoke room) session with friends.

And just like that, a too-short weekend came to an end. Final exams at my school begin tomorrow, which means I will still have nothing to do all day besides input grades, take care of administrative stuff, and... get things ready for the Fulbright teacher who will replace me next semester. Whoever they are, they will say hello to South Korea in one week. (Orientation begins for the new Fulbright class next Monday.) And one month after that, I will say goodbye!

June's a Circus

Hello, world. Would you look at that, we're halfway through 2014. Whew. Just a few updates for today!

1. My 3rd-year students' writing portion of their final exam includes a post on our class blog. They will get a few extra credit points if their post gets a lot of views, likes, and comments! So please take some time to look at the nine most recent entries (all made in June) and comment on anything that interests you. Thanks in advance! Here's the blog.

2. I submitted my Castleberry project report on Jeju-eo yesterday. At nearly eight thousand words, I'm actually kind of impressed with my work, especially since this is the first paper I've written in two years (since I graduated from college, reeling from Honors exams). It's far from perfect, and in fact, my research isn't even finished yet, but I'm definitely glad to have finally crossed that hurdle. I'll post a more substantial update on my research soon.

3. This week, as I predicted about a month ago, is the week from hell. It began when I listened to thirty three-minute speeches in my classes today. Only 130 left to go in the next four days! But that's not all: my hardworking students took my offer to correct extra drafts of their speeches seriously, and as a result, the door to my office opened countless times today as students came in shyly, holding out papers and hopes for last-minute favors: "Teacher, can you please check this draft until [sic] tomorrow?" Even though I already corrected 160 drafts -- twice -- in the beginning of June, well... I relish a challenge. Bring it.

4. In one week, I will take my blackbelt test for taekgyeon. Another source of stress, I suppose.

Basically, the month of June has been very, very busy so far, and the end is just coming into view. After next week, it'll be downhill coasting all the way to the end. I'm a bit excited and a bit nervous. In addition, it seems as if grad school stuff is picking up, too. The other day, I received an email that included the names of Cal Linguistics' entering class of 2014: my six soon-to-be classmates! Although I resisted the urge to Facebook stalk them all, I did Google myself really quick, just to see what would come up. And, well, you don't have to scroll for very long to find this blog.

I of course welcome friends and strangers alike to read about my life on my little corner of the Internet, but it sure is strange to think that people I am going to work very closely with for the next five years could know a lot more about me than I know about them before we even meet.

And now, apropos nothing, here is a photo I took at my favorite local bakery the other day.

Profound and mysterious bread. The best part is that this isn't even a mistranslation. 오묘하다 means profound and mysterious. I should have bought this to find out what exactly makes it so!

P.S. Happy Father's Day (back in the States) to my one and only Babi! I think he reads this.

My Students' Blog

My third-year students' semester-long project is a class blog. You can find it here.

The most recent posts are part of a series called "Introduction to CSHS", where they write about various aspects of our school, including the science departments, students' fashion, and sports.

I'm happy with their work on the blog so far. It's equal parts funny, serious, and incomprehensible. The best part is that my students' personalities really come through in their writing. Please read and leave a comment! They really appreciate notes from strangers, and they actually do pay attention to their page views.

Should've seen this coming

Long story short, my students have found my blog!

It was bound to happen. But I have to admit that it never occurred to me that it would. I definitely underestimated my wonderful, tech-savvy, Internet-addicted students. I guess they're not too busy studying to Google their English teacher, after all.

What started off as surprise when a student or two casually mentioned that they'd found my blog quickly turned into embarrassment when I learned that another student had shared it on his Facebook page, and then mortification when I remembered that I've attempted to write in Korean several times since I first started posting. And now they can all read it and will probably laugh at me the same way I laugh when I read some of the things they write for their speech tests. Awkward! I mean, today, a first-year student stopped me in the hall to tell me that she loved reading my blog, and added, "Your Korean is better than me!" Totally not true! Also not grammatically correct, but I didn't mention that. In fact, there are now quite a few things I should refrain from mentioning from this point forward...

So, here's the plan of action:
1. No more essays in Korean on this blog. I'm relocating my Korean writing practice to lang-8, which I should have done months ago, actually. You write short posts in your target language, and native speakers correct them for you! If you use lang-8 (and I highly recommend that you do), look me up!
2. I'm going to filter what I write in here from now on. While I have nothing to hide from my students or anyone, it's better to be safe than sorry! Also, I think just the knowledge that this certain population may now be counted among my readers will affect what I write regardless of how I feel about it, know what I mean?
3. CSHS STUDENTS: Hi. If you are reading this, you now have a new homework assignment. Practice your English by leaving a comment.

The Blog Post about Blogging

I have admitted in the past that I am a "pathological blogger". I just can't help but write what I'm thinking and put it on the Internet for everyone to see! I do use the term a bit facetiously, but to be honest, I sometimes think it's an unhealthy obsession. Not only do I willfully spend hours upon hours each week writing about minute details in my boring life, I also harp on my friends who blog and constantly tell them to update, update, update! I mean, I love keeping up with my friends by reading what they have to say about their own lives, but I acknowledge that it just isn't my place to tell them what to write and when. Sometimes, I feel like I've replaced my actual friendships with the blogger-to-blogger relationship -- like I've communicated more with a real-life friend online than in real life.

Over the years, dozens of my friends have begun blogs and ended them. Most were blogs about semesters abroad or random travels. A few were personal journals about daily life that went from the ambitious picture-a-day style to sporadic, one-sentence updates. More than a few simply stopped writing without saying goodbye.

As a result, I've accumulated many "dead" blogs on Google Reader. I didn't realize just how many I had until I decided to move to feedly (since Google Reader is going to be shut down in July), a web reader that can integrate perfectly with Reader. In Reader, I had the option of hiding from view any blog feed that wasn't updated, so I never knew how large my reading list actually was.

When I imported my reading list into feedly, I was a bit surprised to see that I was subscribed to over one hundred blogs and newsfeeds. Less than a third of them were being updated with any sort of regularity. So, I had to make the difficult choice of removing all the "dead" blogs from my feed.

With Reader and its "hide" function, I could always hold out hope that a friend would log in and write a blurb about whatever after years of no news, and I wouldn't miss this blast from the past, since it would pop up in my feed. But... I've decided that now is as good a time as any to start fresh. So, goodbye, (50+) dead blogs! If you are ever resurrected, I probably won't know. But to my friends, the writers of said blogs, well, if you keep in touch in other ways (e.g. Facebook, or, I don't know, real life maybe), be sure to let me know if you've begun to write again.

I myself will continue to write here for at least another year, and I have a handful of entries left in mind for my old Swarthmore blog, so you know where to find me.

Oh, and I guess this is probably a good place to plug my "Friends and Links" page, found in the navigation bar up at the top of the blog, which has links to the blogs of friends, fellow Fulbrighters, and more -- but only those that are 1) updated regularly and 2) I actually read.