I tried to be a little more organized this time! We’ll see how long I keep up with that.
Tuesday January 28th, 2025
Not to sound dramatic, but today felt like one of the first days I’ve had to breathe in a while. Of course, there have been days with minimal or no activities. Last weekend on Saturday I had no plans, tasks, or activities. I spent the day walking around Goesan-gun and sitting in a cafe reading. But I think the relief that came from today being lighter has more to do with the overwhelming amount of activities we have planned on the days we ETAs are busy. It’s like the business has created a relaxation debt for me.
Of course, it wasn’t quite as easy to enjoy my free time today as on Saturday. We still had a couple of scheduled activities. Those were fun though, and useful. I’ll talk about them more in a bit.
No, what really made it a little harder to feel like I could relax was the snow. Don’t get me wrong, I love snow. I’m a Minnesotan and I won’t be quiet about it.
Compared to Minnesota, the weather here (even with the constant snow in the last 24 hours) has been much warmer. But it was still slippery and difficult to feel like I could go out and about. Add to that the beginning of the Korean New Year here (설날), and it felt quieter than normal.
I still went on a walk for about an hour and a half after lunch. I’ve been finding more and more that since we spend so much time in the same two buildings on campus here at Jungwon University I need to go out or I become stir-crazy.
But let’s rewind for a moment.
The first activity on the schedule today was the Fulbright Engagement Fair, from 11:55 AM to 1:00 PM. It was over Zoom and went over various opportunities available to us as Fulbright Korea ETAs. One example is a mentorship program where an ETA can develop a bond with a student in their school and serve as support with bi-monthly meet-ups outside of the classroom. Another example was working on Fulbright Korea Infusion, a magazine “that has showcased the literary, artistic, and academic talents of Fulbright grantees and scholars.”
I had quite a few opportunities that I was interested in, but I don’t want to stretch myself too thin, so I will have to think more about what is important to me this grant year before I decide what I want to devote my time to.
After the Fulbright Engagement Fair, I went on my walk. Goesan-gun was somehow quiet and bustling. The street market which opens every 5 days wasn’t completely filled with stalls because of the holiday, but it was still there. The Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours were both packed (how nice it is to know that no matter the holiday, last-minute runs for a forgotten dessert seem to be a tradition across the world).
Once I felt like I had spent enough time outside with the snow still falling, I made my way back to Jungwon University. On the way up the hill, I passed by a coffee shop that I hadn’t been to (but had been meaning to visit) called Cafe Mongdorae (카페 몽도래).
I’m glad that I stopped in for a hot americano, and not just because that was the only thing keeping my fingers from freezing off for the rest of my walk back to Jungwon University!
The cafe had a lot of charm. It had classical music playing and was really big. The high ceilings combined with the quiet music and calm vibes made me think it would be the perfect place to study.
The mirror also had a really cute message above it: “You’re prettiest when you smile.”
I think that’s something I haven’t been doing much lately. Smithing. Not because I’m unhappy, but because I’ve been so busy. As silly as it seems, the message in this cafe was a really great reminder that I’m here in Korea. I’m doing something that I worked really hard for. Sometimes it’s nice to remember that two things can be true at once. I can be stressed and happy.
Once I got back from my walk I went to my room and watched YouTube cooking videos for about 30 minutes before my next and final program for the day began.
This presentation was on Budgeting for the Grant Year. I will say, I wasn’t as excited for this presentation. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on budgeting, and I actually already prepared a budget for my grant year. That said, I also understand that the topic is important for a lot of people who may not have budgeted before. It was also good for me because I haven’t ever budgeted for life in Korea. After all, there are plenty of expenses that do and don’t exist here. Also, I got some good suggestions for a cheaper phone plan, websites to shop for food and various other household items, and some expenses that ETAs could unexpectedly need to prepare for.
I suppose what I’m trying to say is that although I didn’t really feel like this was a necessary presentation for me, I still came out of it with a lot of information that I will make use of.
This presentation was over at 4:40 and honestly, I didn’t do much for the rest of the day. I went back to my room, where my roommate and I did our own thing while waiting for dinner to start in the campus dining hall at 6:00 PM. I got some crochet done (my hat is becoming closer and closer to being finished-my goal is to complete it before moving to my placement in Korea).
After dinner, my roommate, neighbor, and I found an odd (definitely AI-generated) website with a bunch of random information about our birthdays, and some odd suggestions for what our past lives were. Apparently, I was a horse trainer in 1250s Northern Europe. My roommate was in charge of human sacrifice in her past life. Don’t ask. We don’t know what this website was thinking either.
Wednesday January 29th, 2025
This was another chill day, I only had one mandatory event to attend, a meeting with my CIs for the two English classes I will teach online for Korean students next week. It went pretty well, and I received good feedback on my lesson plan drafts and ideas.
I also signed up for one of the extracurricular activities hosted by the Orientation Coordinators (OCs) and the Assistant Program Organizer (APO). It was a cooking class! As someone who loves cooking and baking, I was really excited for this. There were a limited amount of spots available, only 10. I was lucky enough to still be awake when they originally emailed the sign-up sheet (at 11 PM!), so I was able to go.
Before we began cooking, the APO (who led this extracurricular) gave a mini-lecture about how to find food in Korea, particularly focusing on shopping in local markets, what produce is in season-and therefore cheapest-when, and good grocery delivery websites. All the websites are in Korean, so I see rapid improvement in my future. At least reading and vocabulary-wise.
I may end up in a homestay, so then all the grocery shopping information would be less important. However, it’s still really helpful. If I renew, for example, I would definitely order groceries when I’m too lazy to leave my apartment.
There was a small fee for the cooking extracurricular of ₩12,000 (~$8.25). We made a few different dishes.
Something About Taste
*취나물 (chwi-namul) doesn’t have an exact translation that I know of, but wild greens is close.
About taste and process to make
We also made 계란찜 (Gyeran-jjim/Steamed Eggs) which you can see in this photo are covered in plastic. This is one of my favorite dishes and something I knew how to make already! It’s really simple to make at home, and all you need are eggs, plastic wrap, seasoning, water, and a microwave. I also find veggies or meat are nice to mix in before steaming the eggs.
Thursday January 30th, 2025
In all honestly, Thursday was pretty relaxed. I had an alumni panel to attend in the morning over Zoom, which was actually helpful. Although a lot of the specific experiences of the alumni we met were all different, it’s just nice to hear from other people who went through something similar. They also taught in an entirely new country and then went on to have varied and fulfilling careers. It makes me feel like that would be possible for me too. Not that I really had any doubt, but the reassurance is nice.
After the alumni panel I went on a walk (that’s what the picture above is from). The weather and air quality were nice, so I wanted to get off campus. I didn’t actually go anywhere though. Because it was still technically a holiday, many places were closed or opening late. I just wanted to walk around for an hour or two. Today was also our last free day before Korean classes start again, so I was trying to take advantage of having the energy to go on a walk.
Other than that, we had a couple of workshops, which I won’t bore you with, and I went to another extracurricular event to make a hanbok card (한복). I didn’t take a picture of my card though… my bad!
Friday January 31st, 2025
I actually have no pictures from today. Which is probably for the best, because all I did was go to KL (Korean Language) class, eat lunch, attend a Dynasty Bonding meeting, eat dinner, and finally attend a general meeting about our field trip tomorrow. Can you guess where we’re going?
We’re going to the Independence Hall of Korea (독립기념관). This is a history museum, and although it has a section for more general Korean history, it is particularly focused on the preservation and display of historical documents and relics related to independence movements during the Japanese colonial period. Here’s a link to the website if anyone wants to know more.
Saturday February 1st, 2025
This field trip did not involve waking up at 5:30 AM, so it was already off to a great start. I was really excited to go. I absolutely love museums and history. This is going to repeat what pretty much everybody already knows about museums, but I think they are so important because the past has so many lessons we can learn from, but also we shouldn’t forget about it. There’s a lot of good and bad that has happened in the world, and I think it’s all important to know.
On a bit of a lighter note, I was also very excited to go to the museum because it has a replica turtle ship on display. To make a long story very short, I have a deep academic interest in turtle ships.
The museum was absolutely amazing. There were lots of models on display. As someone who’s most interested in pre-modern history, I really enjoyed all of the displays and historical records on display from before the 1800s.
At the museum, we were all also given a bagged lunch of kimbap (김밥) (and other food), which we could eat outside on tables. There was also a convenience store and a small shop that sold tteokbokki (떡볶이), which I bought. I did not take any pictures of food. Honestly, I just forgot because I was hungry.
I didn’t take any pictures of the other halls in the museum, largely because they were about very recent and painful history.
This is a replica of the Battle of Myeongnyang (명량대첩). I won’t get into the details of this event here, but it’s really important to me. I wrote a large portion of my M.A. thesis on a film called The Admiral: Roaring Currents (명량) about this specific battle.
Here are the various other photos from this field trip!
Sunday February 2nd, 2025
We had a late start today (after lunch), which I was really thankful for. The field trip yesterday took a lot out of me even though we were back before dinner. I was also glad to have a late start because today is my birthday!
(Although with the time difference, I’m technically not a year older until about 11:50 PM in Korea.)
I took the opportunity with the free morning to head to a cafe, order a matcha latte, and eat some cheesecake. It was a great way to relax and just sit on my own. I didn’t realize how much I needed to not be on until I was able to spend some time alone.
Of course, after enjoying some alone time, I had to attend some workshops and a general meeting about our placement ceremony (it’s Wednesday, February 5th!). The two workshops were about navigating the different living situations we might end up with, a homestay or an apartment.
I was so excited about the general meeting, especially since it means I’m only a few days away from finding out where I’ll be living and working.
Once the meetings were over, I ended up going out with some other ETAs for a birthday dinner.
I haven’t had KBBQ (고기구이) before, and now that I’m no longer vegetarian, I decided to give it a shot.
On the way there we say this cute little snowman in town. I especially loved the hair he was given.
I didn’t get any great photos of the food (too busy eating and grilling the steak), but it was so tasty. 10/10 would eat again.
That was especially surprising because even though I’ve been keeping an open mind and trying everything, I’m still usually not the biggest fan of meat. It must have been the charcoal grill because it was so good. (Although no matter how hard I try I haven’t found any way to make chicken appetizing.).
After eating I also went to a karaoke place (노래방), which I haven’t ever actually done, despite having been to Korea before. It was really fun, although by 9:30 I was pretty tired, so we went back to Jungwon University pretty quickly after that. If you can’t tell, going for food and singing is about the most wild I’ll get. I also don’t have photos or videos from karaoke, but please believe me when I say that you wouldn’t want to see them. I’m not a great singer!
Monday February 3rd, 2025
Nothing too exciting from this Monday. I attended two short ‘Insights’ presented by different members of the OCT (Orientation Coordination Team) about their experiences in Korea/interests. One was about personal color (which I kind of want to try, even though I know myself well enough to know I wouldn’t actually trust the advice and I’d continue to wear whatever I want), and the other was about hiking.
I really was excited for both, but especially the hiking one. The OC (Orientation Coordinator) who presented this insight had a lot of great resources for finding good hiking trails and hiking groups.
The last time I went hiking in the mountains was in Alaska, and I’m really excited to hike some mountains here. Especially since I won’t have to carry bear spray with me.
I suppose one other thing that started this week was that KL classes were moved to after lunch instead of before lunch. Right now, the Fulbright English Program (FEP) is starting, and it all takes place before noon. Every ETA will have at least two days before noon when they will be in an actual classroom (over Zoom) with Korean students. On the first day, we will observe a lesson that our CI (co-instructor, a current or previous ETA) teaches the students. On the second day, we will teach a lesson to these students.
I volunteered to teach a second lesson, so I will actually have four mornings taken up by this. Luckily, I teach on the 7th and the 12th, so I will only be busy the 6th, 7th, 11th, and 12th. I think having the lessons I teach and observe in different weeks will make it a little less stressful. I already finished and submitted my lesson plan for the first lesson I will be teaching (Beginner-High English) and my second lesson plan is due on the 5th (for Advanced English).
I am definitely more comfortable and have more experience in lesson planning for beginner-high to about intermediate English students, so I’m pleased (and anxious) that I will be lesson planning for an advanced class. The practice will be good, but I’ve never done anything like it before. Luckily my CI for the advanced class was very nice and offered lots of helpful feedback in a meeting we had last week.
Tuesday February 4th, 2025
Still no FEP for me. I had a free morning so I went to get my nails done since the previous set was on their last legs. I made the appointment last week. The nail artist was very sweet and offered a lot of great suggestions for my nails. I don’t know if you can see it in the photo, but there on stars on my nails, and the purple color shifts in the light.
This was kind of a late birthday treat to myself.
In other news, once I entered KL class after lunch it hit me that the final exam is next Monday (February 10th) and the final presentation is tomorrow. I already wrote and memorized my presentation (which will be on the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), but it’s still a bit terrifying. I’m going to be a ball of anxiety tomorrow, especially since right after giving my presentation and finishing KL class, I’ll be going to the Placement Ceremony and finding out where I’m teaching!
Wednesday February 5th, 2025
I gave my presentation in KL class, and it went surprisingly well! I have no issue with memorization (thank you high school Shakespeare acting), but I get so anxious when everyone is staring at me. I definitely wasn’t perfect, but overall, I’m pretty happy with my delivery.
I’m also very proud to say that after my speech when my instructor was asking questions about the movie (she had never seen it), I had to explain that Spider-Ham was originally a spider bitten by a radioactive pig who then became a pig with spider powers. In Korean.
Now, I don’t think I explained it perfectly or fluently, but I did it. I feel like if I can do that, improving my Korean is certainly possible over the next year that I’m living here.
But now to the part I know that everyone is actually excited for and has had me filled with adrenaline since I found out. The Placement Ceremony.
It was a very formal event, and quite long. I wasn’t one of the first names called (I was one of the names called a little more than halfway through the event). Every time someone else’s name was called I kept waiting. They called people by province, so I had to be prepared to hear my name, stand up, make my way to the stage, bow to the director of KAEC, put a pin on a map, and take some photos at any moment.
Yet the more I waited the more terrified I became. What if they didn’t call my name? I wondered. I know it seems silly. I knew it was silly even at the moment, but I was so terrified that maybe they just hadn’t found a school for me and would be sending me back home. I’m sure a lot of other ETAs felt the same way, as irrational as it was.
I spoiled it at the beginning, but I did receive a placement. I will be teaching and living on Jeju-do (제주도) in Jeju-si (제주시), the capital city of the island. This is a pretty big city, a little less than 500,000 thousand people. Jeju-do also has the highest point in Korea, Hallasan (한라산), a shield volcano. I’m so excited to hike Hallasan!
When we had to fill out a form with our placement preferences, Jeju-si was actually one of my top five cities, so I couldn’t be more pleased.
Below are some pictures of Jeju-do!
I don’t have any photos of myself at the Placement Ceremony yet, but the photographer for the event should be uploading them soon, so I will either update this post or add the photos to my next blog post as soon as I have access to them.
Wrapping Up
I actually originally had up to February 13th in this post, but it’s already too long, so I’ll leave it here. I’m hoping to have another blog post uploaded before February 20th, but I can’t make any promises.
Thanks for sticking around to read this lengthy update.
Until next time!
Jena in Korea 