My tattoo

Tattoo

I got a tattoo in Busan while I was here. I wasn't going to and I normally hate people that just jump into getting a tattoo like this without thinking, but this one has special meaning to me, as cliched as it sounds. I got the word "sun-saeng-nim" in Hangul on my right chest. It means teacher. This trip helped solidify the fact that I really do want to be a teacher when I get back to Eastern. I was unsure, but after teaching these kids, I know in my heart that it's right. I'll be teaching high school level, but I don't think the level matters. 

• • Okay, so Giran 2nd grade: Cha Min Gi. Omg. He's a class clown. Talks nonstop. The weird thing is that he's actually learning even when he talks so much and he does have a heart outside of class.
  • 4th and 5th grade and Namseon:
  • Tai Wan in a cute chubby 4th grader who loves drawing and action cartoons. Super funny. Eun Jin is a cute girl who loves to draw, do boy things like dirt and bugs and climbing. Park Su Jin is a skinny girl who likes to be the center of attention, but not always in a bad way. Hai In is a doll. Great English and comes from a really nice family. Gives you respect and helps you translate to the other kids. Eun Song is a little shy but I think it's because she's in 4th grade. Tak Su Jin is loud and thinks she knows everything. It's hilarious. Acts like a princess, I love it.
• • The fourth graders at Giran are another one of my faves. Unfortunately, I don't know all of their names. Su Min is really cute. She's the one in my Facebook profile pic. She helped me with Korean and helped translate to the other kids. Hai Min was a really cute 4th grader too. Into cutsie things, loves hugs, cries easily. Orange glasses. haha. LOVES Angry Birds.
• • My 6th graders at Giran are awesome too.
  • Brian is the class clown, but he's a super sweetheart. He'll listen if you shush him. His mom is the super nice librarian.

• • Sunny is extremely smart. Has perfect English. You can have whole conversations with her.
  • Sometimes it's difficult teaching that class because you have such different levels. Like Jenny hates to speak out loud in class, so I'm not sure if she knows it or not.
  • Sarah and Victoria are shy but very smart.
  • Paul and David are nervous about English, but if you get them involved, they love it.
  • My Kindergarten class at Giran: Don't know any of their names. Just teach them songs and find cute videos on Youtube to accompany it. I brought books from home and played flashcard games with them using the main words. This went over well for me. They looooove books.
• • The songs they already know are, "Head, shoulders knees and toes," Phonics Song 2, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (video of an owl and star), Little Snowflake, Hickory Dickory dock (video of animals crawling up a grandfather clock, ends with an elephant breaking the clock), Rain, rain go away, and Dem Bones.

• First grade at Giran, there's only 4 of them. They like to do calmer things and it's fun to have intimate lessons with them.
• All the boys in 2nd grade at Namseon are a hassle.
• ByeongSu was helpful.
• 3rd grade, I only had them once a week, they were great at Giran.
• 5th grade at Giran are hilarious. A lot of times they're tired and hungry and think they're too cool, but if you act silly, they open up. 
  
  
• Oh 1st grade boys at Namseon are a problem, but the teacher next door helped me because they don't understand English, so they ignore my instructions and discipline.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  You can't help but get attached to these students. I'm a teacher, and I'm proud of it. I couldn't love these students more if I tried. I cried when I had to say goodbye to them. A lot. 
  
  
  So I got a tattoo that says teacher. I'll always be one, whether it's teaching high schoolers, coming back to Korea, going somewhere else, joining the Peace Corps, or even teaching my own children in the future. I'm not ashamed and I can't wait to start my life when I get home. 

Dear TaLK Scholar

My letter to the next TaLK scholar who will  be in my apartment and working at my schools.

Dear Corey,

Welcome to Andong! Your first couple of weeks will be exhausting and overwhelming so I'm writing this so that maybe a few things can be cleared up and out of your hair.

About your apartment. I'm leaving you some school supplies, books from my orientation, and guidebooks underneath the television. Make use of them. Use "barryfunenglish.com" to help jump start your lesson planning as well. The Seoul book is very useful when you visit. Practice your Korean/Hangul while you're here. Things like motel, jimjabang, noraebang, hakyeo, and names of food are nice things to know in Hangul.

Your neighbor right across the hall is John Scott. He's a friendly Canadian who will gladly help you with the heating device, gas, and washing machine. Lucky for you, he makes yummy cupcakes often! You have hot water and great water pressure in your shower, so that's nice too. Toaster and kettle are easy enough. I left you coffee, spaghetti noodles and tomato sauce, almonds, peanut butter, canned fruit, ramen, butter, cheese, and ketchup. Enjoy! Homeplus is right down the main street so make use of it for groceries. There are small little markets around as well. I left you towels in the closet and cleaned the bed sheets and dishes. The bed sheets are kind of musty, I couldn't get that to go away in my time here, sorry.

You have two schools: Giran and Namseon. Mr. Park (a real character) is very friendly and will help you with anything you ask. Sometimes Giran will take advantage of your services so make sure you know your contract and stand your ground firmly so that you're not doing extra work with no pay. This is very important, I cannot stress it enough.

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, take bus 28 (to the left of the train station is your bus stop everyday) at 10:45AM to the very last stop in Giran. When it drops you off, with your back to the bus terminal, turn right and walk straight all the way through town. You'll see Giran to the right after you get out of downtown. Cross the street and enter. You'll eat lunch here probably.

On Tuesday and Thursday, take bus 21 at 12:20PM to "Namseon-Myeong Office." Press the button and get off. Ask people on the bus for help by saying, "Odee (where is) Namseon Chodon (elementary) Hakyeo (School)?" Walk along the river down a small road to the left of the fork in the road. Namseon will be on your right after a short walk. You'll eat lunch before you come here.

The principal from Giran had me teach him English before lunch. He's a super nice guy and speaks some English. In fact, almost all of the teachers at Giran speak English so make sure you always say hello to each of them and smile. They'll become good friends and help you out if you do. Anyway, helping the principal was nice because you build a relationship and he's more likely to say nice things about you and help with your vacation time. He'll also take you to lunch which is nice.

Sometimes you'll teach in the library at Giran so be flexible. The librarian is extremely kind. Say "anyong-ha-say-oh" and bow when you meet her, she'll love it.

Your co-teachers are ByeongSu and Yiseo. You really lucked out with them, as did I. Yiseo is really great with discipline and keeping the peace. He's also very nice to talk to during breaks. ByeongSu will be at Namseon with you. He keeps a positive energy and likes to keep the kids smiling. Use them to your advantage, they love this job. They'll let you lead the lessons and make the plans. They'll give you suggestions when things don't work, it's so nice. They'll also be your best friends and show you around Andong if they're not busy.

The only reason I didn't extend was because I have ot go back and finish my degree. I felt very fortunate in my situation. Above al, you will love these kids. My second grades (both schools) were difficult, but your CT's will help. Kindergarten is adorable and the 5th and 6th grades are fun to have conversations with. If you show love to these  kids, they will show it back in handfuls. Enjoy it.

Make sure you join the Andong Facebook page. (It's just "Andong" I believe.) There are some real cool cats in town who will help you out and hang out with you when you need a friend.

If you have any questions during your stay, you have my facebook and my email is _____.

OH! I'm leaving you a crappy pay-as-you-go phone that is only good for texting and calling, but it's cheap. You can refill it on the main street all the way to Homeplus, the last "T" store on the right. Enjoy your stay, make good memories, and have great experiences!

Shelby Eaton
8th generation TaLK Scholar

Better late then never.

I know the video is long. I'm very sorry about that. There was just so much to say. And there was no way I was going to type all of that out. Now you all are caught up though. I heard there were complaints about my blog not being updated. I know how you felt. I wanted it to magically update as well. I'll post pictures of cute children next time to make up for it and maybe give you a feeling of what exactly I've been teaching and how. I had to chop it up because apparently photobooth hates me. I had this 40 minute clean video, but then it only uploaded 4 minutes. So, I did my best. Love you all. Please comment or respond so I can hear from you. :)

The 14 hour flight, hospitality, and kararoke

Attention, friends and family,

I have arrived! It was a very uncomfortable 14 hours, but the destination is totally worth it. Okay, so the airport. After tearful hugs with my family, Kyle, and Kyle's mom, I went on my way. After security, I got to the other side and just stared at my boarding pass. What the heck do I do about finding which gate I was? I couldn't find a tv screen to look at, so I went up to a random stranger. Emotional after the goodbyes, I totally cried to this group of middle-aged men and women and asked for help. They were so nice, thank god. I found my gate and then decided that I did not want to be the helpless little girl on her first real trip anymore. You'll all be happy to know, I haven't cried since. haha.

On the flight, I watched Moulin Rouge, Easy A, Horrible Bosses, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Friends, and a few more I can't remember, played MarioKart, failed at sleeping, and stood up and stretched like 7 times. I was stuck in the middle of the middle of the plane so I couldn't look outside and I had to wake up the two sleepers sitting next to me almost every time. The one kid sitting next to me was super nice. He helped me lift my luggage and talked to me. He's originally from Korea and he lived in the U.S. for a year learning English. He was really excited that I was coming here to teach.

Moving forward. We took a 2 hour long trip on a bus to get to Jochiwon from the Icheon airport. Jochiwon is where Korea University is, and we're staying the dorms. They're so clean and spacious.

We woke up the next day (oh, wow, I can't believe that's today. My internal clock is soooo confused right now.) and we went to breakfast. Wieners, kim chi, eggs, and toast were the options. After breakfast, we decided to go around campus and see what was what. Our lecture hall is right across the street, the cafeteria and laundry (which they'll do for you) and the gym is behind our dorms. It's gorgeous. Everything's so new and every building looks different which is so helpful.

After that, we decided to walk into the city of Jochiwon. We had no idea what where we were going, just exploring. We found this cute Good Will-type shop and I'm not sure what made us go in. I think we wanted directions to the train station. It was the best decision in the world. We met Kim Mi Soon there along with her mother and her husband. She told us all to sit down (she spoke very, very broken English) and she gave us all delicious coffee and bits of chocolate. She asked us our names and our ages. She even made us guess her age! We all though 30, but she has great genes and is older.

We found out her daughter is/was Miss Korea and she was so proud. We all took pictures with her and she made us bring along grape juice. We tried to leave money for her hospitality, but she wouldn't take it at first. After we left and had walked a while, Aaron realized he had left his back pack in the shop. He went back and she told him that she had called the train station to tell them that she had his bag. She is seriously the sweetest woman in the world. I loved her.

We were exhausted so we ate lunch and dinner back the dorm. We surprised Julie with an ice cream cake we picked up at the convenience store and had a little Korean drama party in the basement. After dinner, we went out to karaoke and we had a blast! There was N'SYNC, Ricky Martin, and Destiny's Child, so where can you go wrong? I think a video will be posted soon on Facebook.

Overall, a great day and tomorrow we're going to Seoul for the opening ceremony and a scavanger hunt. Not sure what that means, we'll see.

LESSONS LEARNED TODAY:
Koreans are so helpful and nice to foreigners. Their hospitality is incredible. The man on the plane and the woman in the shop did nothing but help us out and I wish Americans would treat foreigners the same way.

11 more days!

Things are really starting to set in now. I've already said goodbye to clients at work, my dental hygienist, and some associates at JCPenney. Plans are starting to be made for my last hurrah with friends and family. A party here, a trivia night there, a dinner here, a lunch there, a bubble island date here, a brunch there. Everyone's been so kind, and more people than I thought are really interested in what I'll be doing and where I'll be going. 

I went out and bought some things for my trip. I got a couple of blazers so that I look extra fancy every once in a while. I feel like my wardrobe is business casual and not very formal. Hopefully the blazers will help. There were a lot of little things on my list like deodorant x3 because apparently Korean don't have terrible body odor. Must be nice. Razors, reward stickers for the kids, stamps, tweezers and clippers (no more free brow waxes from my mom, sadface), lots of toothpaste, floss, and three toothbrushes (thanks, Mrs. Kendall!!), a scrubbie, kleenex, vaseline, a USB remote for projectors, a 3DS holder and styluses, chapstick, an umbrella, washcloths, Q-tips, sunscreen, and wrinkle spray. 

It might all be overkill, but I just don't want to get there and have to shop for all that stuff right away. After a 14 hour flight, going shopping for the basics isn't something I'd be really excited to do. 

I've started giving myself a pep talk every time I get overwhelmed about the trip. My heart is completely in this, but my mind keeps asking if I'm crazy for getting myself into this. That's when I repeat to myself, "You are a brave woman. Some other people wouldn't have even filled out the application, but you did. You are personable and have a pretty smile. People will like you even if you act like a complete fool over and over. You're good with children. This will be so helpful in finding a job when you get back. Six months will fly by. You are a brave woman." 

It's worked so far. With 11 days to go before I leave on a 14-hour flight from Detroit to Seoul, I think pep talks to myself are the best form of stress-relief. 

Crazy Preparation Time

So for anyone wondering how someone who doesn't know Korean and hasn't really had any teaching experience goes to Korea and teaches English as a second language...let me be the first to tell you, it's not easy. These last couple of weeks have been the most amount of work I've done in school since...ever. I'm Queen Procrastinator and haven't ever re-looked at any paper or test that I've ever written in my life, but these lesson plans are not something that I should put off or half-ass, and it's killing me.

I'm on lesson 29 and I'm supposed to have 50 by Friday. They take about an hour to an hour and a half each. I have to come up with a song, find five pictures, create five words, do a phonetics chapter, then a "Learning Language" chapter which are normally 10 pages long, and then create my own daily lesson and activity, then finish with the song. Each chapter is about 60 slides in PowerPoint. That's a slide per minute if anyone's keeping track. With working 30 hours a week and trying to have time to see people before I leave, life is pretty crazy right now.

If that weren't enough, our professor is asking us to learn how to read Korean (she provided worksheets, thank god) by Friday as well. Then by next week we're supposed to have watched an entire Korean drama on Hulu. Those are normally 45 minutes each and there's about 16 of the one that I started watching. It's funny though, it's not like homework at all. Except that there's no time to finish it. That part is very much life homework.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Everything I'm doing is enjoyable because it means that in 18 days I get to leave for South Korea and start a whole new chapter of my life. What I'm saying is that maybe the prep classes should have been around 6 months long instead of one. I have about 40 people who want to hang out with me before I leave. I love the support, just know I'm trying my best. This is all so new to me since the only place outside the U.S. I've visited was England and Scotland for 10 days. I'm hardly the ideal traveler.

In our classes, Dr. Koh brings us traditional Korean dishes like bi-bim-bop and kim bop and a bunch more that I can't remember the names to. Bi-bim-bop is just veggies, beef, and red pepper paste on top of rice. Kim means seaweed and bop means rice, so kim bop is just like a sushi roll only with veggies and crab in it. Guess what I'll be eating mountains of. There have been other dishes with noodles and beef and veggies, cabbage kim chi, gim is just dried seaweed and good for iron, and rice cakes with bean paste in the middle. It's all so tasty and most of it is good for you.

Preparation-wise, I'll be getting my visa on Friday. My flight plans are being worked out right now. I've learned a lot about Korean culture. Apparently, the elderly get away with everything there like walking up in line somewhere and shoving away a younger person so they can be first. You always do a short bow to people older than you when you meet them. Give up your seat on the bus for the elderly and they'll love you. Always smile when you're around people at the school (This one will be NO problem for me. I have to rub my cheeks at the end of every day). Drink when people ask you to. Apparently not drinking makes you nerdy and you'll be more socially accepted if you at least have a drink with them.

I never really realized that other countries have other vegetables and fruit. I know that makes me an ignorant American, but it's true. They have fruits and veggies that resemble ours, but are their own like grapes and apples. The apples resemble fuji apples (which is awesome) and the grapes are close to concord grapes here. Another thing I learned is that kim chi comes in hundreds of types. I thought it was just cabbage, but it can be radish, cucumber, leek, green onion, or even kim chi in water.

So now you're caught up in what I've been learning and tasting and preparing. Sorry this one's so long, but I want to thorough so that I have a record for myself later on in life of the process. Plus, this is a nice place to put down all the things I'll want to remember even when I'm there.

18 days!!!

The adventure begins...

For those who don't know, on February 4th, I'll be leaving Michigan and traveling to South Korea to teach K-2nd graders English as a second language. My program is called TaLK which stands for "Teach and Learn in Korea." I heard about the program when my sister was applying for a scholarship at Eastern. My dad immediately thought of me and took down the study abroad director's name. After emailing her, she sent my email to Dr. Koh who runs the Eastern TaLK program. She told me that applications were due at the end of that week, so I rushed to get it all done.

After a long process, I was accepted. I had to get a criminal record check notarized and apostilled in Livonia. I had two applications to fill out, an essay and a lesson plan to write. I had to get my passport-sized picture. Then after I was accepted through Eastern, my application was sent to Chicago. Then, it was sent to South Korea. I've applied for my visa and I'll have it on Friday. It all felt rushed and I know that I just jumped in without looking back. I put in my two weeks notice at my job yesterday and it all started feeling very real. It hit me that I've been in denial for the last few months. It's strange realizing that it's the last time I'll see people in the next couple of weeks until August.

I already had my break down, but I know that as soon as I get to Korea, I'll have so much to do and so much to take in that I won't even be thinking about being homesick. My excitement is finally overpowering my fear right now and I'm starting to get really anxious and I can't wait to go! I think my friendly personality will translate very well in a foreign country, but I know I have a lot to learn.

I started taking my preparation classes on Friday and yesterday. They were 3 hours long and very informative. I'll take time either tomorrow or Tuesday to explain what exactly I've been working on and what I'm learning in my prep classes. For now this is just an introduction.

OH!

For all of you who are wondering why my blog is called "Seoul Pancake," it's a play on words of my favorite book, "Soul Pancake" by Rainn Wilson. It's one of my favorite books and inspired me to start my first blog, "Spiritual Strudel." The website his book is based off of makes the average person believe that maybe they can create and inspire and imagine. If you ever have a chance, flip through his book. It's one of my favorite books to read to just feel better about anything that's going on in my life. Anyway, if you're feeling creative or the need to be creative, I recommend it.

I'll try to update this blog once or twice a week. I don't know how busy I'll be, probably very, but I will do my best. I'll have pictures and stories and lists and pieces of advice, so stay tuned. Thanks for joining this journey of a lifetime with me!