"I love MOGA"

Marble Mansion and Archery Madness

"I told Ben, ZEN!"

Rockin' Cheongju

First Family Picnic

gettin' funky in Seoul

Songnisan

Haeinsa

Where to begin in this epic journey of Jillian Shee (“shee” is Konglish—as this is added to a name to indicate Mrs./Mister)?

I suppose I must backtrack. Yikes. I can feel the weight of this train lugging. The wheels have slowed majorly, but I assure she is still a choo-chooing away.

For one, where am I? Right now, I have arrived safely at my homestay in Cheongju, South Korea—approximately 1.5 hours south of Seoul by bus. But let’s not forget the enduring traffic, so that number could rise easily. At any rate, I live in what’s considered a “house;” however, an apartment is a much better title I suppose. Granted size is limited—majorly limited in this country with a rising population of nearly 50 million crammed in a hilly slab of land comparable to Indiana—my living quarters still feel cramped. Maybe this because it’s “rainy” season—or more appropriately, STIFLING HUMDITY season and there is no AC in my room—just one overworked fan and this silly orange foam thing I purchased in Goesan but neglected since I had extraordinary AC at my previous location. Needless to say, I am sweating healthily.

Furthermore, I now have a family to grapple with. Let’s be frank, folks. I haven’t been a family member per say for quite some time now. It’s the silly stuff that gets me—like when is it okay to leave the living room after I stare at my host brothers and giggle for 45 minutes while they make airplane noises and make helicopters out of one another—or when can I get up from the dinner table—and do I have to watch the “family” TV shows (Korean TV shows are like Disney/Nickelodeon on speed—WHA! As the Koreans would say)—and my favorite, Why does the fruit have to be stored next to the kimchi? It always has a faint taste of that rotten cabbage.

Besides the logistics, I’ll share some knowledge I have acquired about myself. Perhaps this will be humorous—it was for me at least.

1) The first day I arrived at my school (Thursday, “D-Day” or Departure Day when my co-teacher came to Jungwon University to claim me among 100 other Fulbright Grantees/ETAs) I went to the principal’s office. Now, let me preface this—Korea is a hierarchical society. Titles are important and honored. Thus, the principal holds the most prestigious position in the school. At any rate, I am sitting across from and my beautiful and thankfully, English-speaking co-teacher is seated next to me translating my awkward introduction/small talk conversation with my principal.

Grace (co-teacher) turns to me and says, “Did you understand him?”

Me- “No, sorry…” Of course, I am smiling.

Grace- “He said you are very beautiful.”

Me- Blushing, “Oh, well, thank you.” Giggle.

Grace- “Is that, uh, okay? Okay to say that?”

Me- “Well, yes. Well, maybe, that is not to common in the U.S., but I understand it is different here. It is okay because other people have said similar things here.”

Yes, my principal digs me. Good start so far.

**Side note** Korean culture is a high-context culture. It is offensive to make direct statements and requests. Thus, there is a lot of ambiguity in conversation marked by the use of “maybes,” “I think it may be difficult…,” “Perhaps, we can…” I thought it would be challenging to adopt this style of communication, for it differs quite staunchly from American’s low-context style; however, it is so common that I have inevitably adapted to this style without too much effort. Ironically, I am here to teach English and my English is suffering. I am forced to speak slower to ease comprehension and in return, my brain is now processing English less fluently. Language is a sly beast.

2) All students, boys included, flock to ask if my hair is “real.” The first day I mistakenly thought they were insinuating that I was wearing a wig. Silly me. Some of my girl students have shared, in choppy English, that they want “same, same!”

3) Yesterday a boy screamed out that I was “handsome,” only to be corrected by his students that that is for boys.

4) My first lesson is a Jeopardy style game with questions about me. Students must form two teams and select an English team name. Some of my favorite names: “I love Moga,” “Tom and Jerry,” “IndianaJOHNS,” and “Sexy Perfect Pig.” These innovative names came from the male gender.

5) I went to the “Hair Shop” to have my hair colored (basically my roots touched up) and trimmed. However, I left with broke, bleached, and bewildered. Here is my Korean hair salon experience: Go to shop, sit down, have some coffee at the café within the shop, look at Korean-style fashion mags (Marie Claire, GQ, and Vogue), have hairdresser evaluate the quality of my hair, find quality is “not good” so I need a “treatment” or “nutrients” for my hair, then discuss how my hair is highlighted not colored, find comparable Korean color, hold my breath that it will not turn orange, have my head massaged, then receive “treatment,” have scalp massage again (AWESOME!), and then begin the cut, learn that they spilt the forehead in sections of ten, decide to get a 7/3 cut so my bangs cover a little more than 2/3 of forehead, learn that layers are not too popular in Korean, get “Essence” on hair (or more appropriately, “serum”), see that I am blonder or more of a “Korean blonde” as my boyfriend likes to say, learn that that my hair is finer than Koreans and I must buy special shampoo to help restore the condition of my hair, learn that shampoo and conditioner and treatment costs nearly 70,000 won or ($70), too bashful to say no, purchase that and hair treatment, and leave store without my phone and empty pockets. This was the second day at my placement. Phew.

6) I shared a small photo album with my host mother of photos from the past 5-6 years. She told me I look “so cute” in some. Also, that I look skinner with my hair pulled back. She said I look too chubby and my face looks fat with my hair down. Oh yeah, she said my dad is “so handsome.” At least someone passed the tough scrutiny of Korean beauty standards.

7) I live above an art academy. The hallways are colorful and cheery.

8) “Angel in-us Coffee” has become my personal haven. It has the “World Best Coffee.” That slogan just makes me smile.

9) Korean doctors are legit and remarkably affordable. Possible sinus infection?? Take a head x-ray. Strained vocal chord? Provide images of inside throat. Incredibly precise and informational. Also, the ENT doctor (Ear, Nose, and Throat) spoke bloody good English and his father studied at Ohio State! What a small world I tell ya.

10) As I mentioned before, Korean culture is a group culture. Therefore family meals are served from one or many dishes in which they all eat from. However, since I am westerner, I get my own plate. I feel like a princess sometimes.

11) Obsessive cleaning mother: my mother vacuums religiously every morning at 7:45 AM. We do not even have carpet!

12) Tissue paper in trash: Tissue paper is not thrown into the toilet, but rather into the trash can. This is especially true in public areas.

13) Brush teeth: Koreans love to brush their teeth. It’s like a bonding experience. After a meal, all flock to their toothbrushes.

14) Slippers in school: I wear “slippers” in school. So, my routine is: wear flats to school daily, take them off, slip on funny little slipper socks and then slide my feet in my awesome BIRKS. It’s a little strange, because students still wear their slippers outside? So, I am not sure of the purpose.

15) Asking about boyfriend: all girls want to know if I have a boyfriend. Besides my hair color, they all want to know this precious bit of information.

Long-winded I know. I apologize. I am up-to-date now, though so as I promised before, I will try to stay on board.

p.s. MOGA is a type of fruit in Korea. I am not sure which, but I will be sure to share the details when I find out! This is of constant amusement here.

One time I went to the moon pan gu...

Well, folks. The story is simple...I have had very little time to fulfill my writing obligations. This is will be brief, but I assure you more will follow after the dust settles here in the next few days.

Updates:

1) Host Family: Dad- Businessman; Mom- English Instructor; Sister- First Year High School; Brother- Elementary Age

2) Korean Language Class Graduation at Korea University (equivalent to America's Harvard)--I won the "Best Effort" Award. Go me. No, seriously, GO ME. I earned that biatch.

3) I partied until the sun came up in Seoul. It was beautiful and destructive.

4) I am teaching first year of Middle School. Classes are separated by gender.

5) My home is a FIVE MINUTE WALK! More on that though after I arrive.

Yikes. I need sleep. I promise juicy details very soon!

Cheongcheongbuk-do: Landlocked in South Korea

Placement Announcement:
My province, Chungcheongbuk-do (CHUNGBUK), was announced dead last, so I was left standing the entire time—nearly 45 minutes—before I got to hear my name called, step forward to bow, walk to the stage, perform the formal Korean handshake (bow while either using two hands or shaking with the right hand while using the left hand to support it—ALWAYS USE TWO HANDS!), and proudly plop my sticky tab on the “suburban” city of CHEONGJU, South Korea. Ironically, this is the ONLY city I have visited in South Korea and now I will call it my home for one year. I am quite pleased with my placement. Stay tuned and I’ll share more details.

Logistics:
Province: Chungcheongbuk-do (Chungbuk)
Population: Approximately 1.5 million
**Country’s Lake District (Chungbuk Lake)
**Only landlocked province in South Korea
**Three national parks: Songnisan (GIANT BUDDHA) National Park; Woraksan National Park; and Sobaeksan
**Produces apples, peaches, and chestnuts (All Korean cities have something they are famous for—even the itty bitty cities)

City: Cheongju
“Green Capital of Korea”; Capital of Chungbuk Province
Population: Nearly 700,000 people
Reputation: “city of education and culture”
City Flower: White Magnolia
Points of Interest: Compliments of Wikipedia:
• Sangdangsanseong (Sangdang Mountain Fortress) lies on the slopes of Mt. Uam within the city limits. The fortress is mainly a 3-4 metre tall wall that stretches over 4.2 kilometers in circumference. The present walls date to the 1716 restoration of the site. Within the walls lies a small tourist village that has several restaurants.
• Cheongju National Museum also lies near Mt. Uam, and houses several exhibits of cultural artifacts from the nearby area.
• Heungdeok Temple Site is the home to the Early Printing Museum, and is purported to be the site of the printing of Jikji, the oldest existent book printed using movable metal type. The museum itself contains exhibits related to the art of printing through the ages.
• Yongdusaji Cheoldanggan (The Iron Flagpole of the Yongdu Temple Site) is designated Korean National Treasure number 41, and is located near Lotte Department Store in downtown Cheongju. Made of twenty iron cylinders, the flagpole stands 13.1 meters tall, and was formerly used to hang flags to honour the Buddha


Job: Conversational English Teacher
Location: Cheongju, South Korea
School Type: Co-Ed Middle School
School Size: Roughly 1,500 students
Class Size: approximately 39-44 students

Information provided about Province (from previous ETAS):
** Compared Korean wives in this area to that of Orange County, California wives
**Nearly 100 miles from Seoul; thus, high emphasis on learning English and will invest heavily to achieve high level
**GDP of province and neighboring one to the west is comparable to some of the richest Western countries
**There is an airport!
**In some ways, functions as suburb to Seoul
**Nearly 28 ETAs are in this province.
**Neighboring Province, Chungcheongnam-do (Chungnam) is home to one of the most popular beaches on the West Coast: Daecheon Beach. This beach resembles Las Vegas architecturally. This is a must-see for me!
**Further, Chungnam (Province to the West of me) once housed the capital of Korea. Therefore, legally the capital could be moved there again. Currently this is being debated given the congestion and sprawling of Seoul.

All in all, I am quite pleased with my placement. Not only am I placed closest to Seoul, I am in a navigable city with great access to transportation. No TKX (high speed train system) in Cheongju, but one in a neighboring city (Daejeon—population approx.1.5 million). Further, I am placed near many ETAS. This was a primary concern. Although I am not teaching high school as I originally wanted, I imagaine middle school will bring many adventures all by itself. As for now, I have two more weeks of language class.

Day-to-Day Business:
1) I experienced a traditional tea ceremony on Tuesday. Imagine this: we are sitting on the floor with a four-person tea set in front of us in a Taekwondo room while three women in traditional Korean dress and one admittedly adorable old Korean man instruct us on how to sit and position our hands (left hand joined under right placed half-way up one’s right thigh—fingers together and thumbs hidden), taste the five flavors of ginseng tea, its marvelous ability to clear the mind, and finally how to conduct a tea ceremony complete the brewing process and all. Of course if anyone knows me, sitting STILL for two hours on the floor in a dress (I was not prepared for the floor crossed-leg style of sitting whatsoever), having the patience to either sit contently with my hands positioned or methodically perform the meticulous and precise serving procedures, was not an easy task for me. My childhood nickname of “Jill Jill who can’t sit Still” rang true once more. And further, memories of my mother telling me I am a “bull in a China shop” (just as a reference point, I thought it was “bowl in a China shop” for the longest time growing up, which of course muddled my understanding of this idiom) reverberated as I over poured the water into the kettle, causing the water to flow ceaselessly out of the spout and all over the tray while everyone turned to stare and for some reason, I kept pouring and pouring. My tea party “guests” understood my sincere efforts to perform each task flawlessly, so this catastrophe caused a loud outburst.

2) My Korean language teacher announced to the class yesterday that my Korean sounds the most natural and comparable to a Korean accent in the class. I was absolutely floored, for since day one I was easily one of the worst speakers in my class. I could not distinguish sounds and I avoided reading aloud. Learning a language at the capacity we are here has broadened my appreciation for learning a language in general. Each day is a puzzle. Some days I construct the pieces in such a way you can see a vague image, while others the image is very blurred. Whatever the case, it motivates me to create a clearer, more concise picture. I want to continue studying Korean beyond Orientation; this is something I sincerely thought I would never say.

3) Please keep in touch. Send me facebook messages or email me (jillian.moga@gmail.com). I miss each and every one of you. I will try to respond as quickly as possible.

Jillian+South Korea+Living+2 Weeks: A Bulleted Guide

** Hiking in South Korea is intense. These are my conclusions:
- I’ve encountered zero switchbacks. Thus, trails consist of escalating lodged rocks. There is little light at the end of the tunnel.
- Rock steps appear at a 90-degree angle from the base.
- Korean hikers, as they are for every other occasion, are exceptionally well dressed. Outfits are neon and sharp. They also cover almost every inch of the body. Sun protection is critical here.
- There are hikers, GOOD hikers, of all ages.
- They drink soju at the summit. (Okay, that’s not too bad of a gig).

** Hiking at Songnisan National Park (san=mountain)
- Name refers to “Remote from Ordinary World”
- Some background compliments of Wikipedia: Beopjusa (법주사), initially constructed in 553, is a head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism situated on the slopes of Songnisan in Naesongni-myeon, Boeun County, in the province of Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea. Golden Maitreya Statue of National Unification at Beopjusa is a 33-meter-high, 160-ton Buddha covered in 80kg of gold leaf erected in 1990 at a cost of $4 million. Yes, you read that right; there is a giant Buddha in the middle of the mountains covered in gold. Hmm…
- The mountain's highest peak is Cheonhwangbong, at 1,058.4 m. I made it there! Great hike, except my tush was so sore I slept through my alarm the next day, which besides almost making me late to my Korean test, it also took away from my study time. I failed. My legs felt like bricks the whole day. I wasn’t too friendly.

** Our trial lessons at the English Camp finished last week. These Korean students ranging from 5th to 10th grade were absolutely brilliant. We were spoiled in comparison to the actuality of our students. I taught 3 lessons: Learning Pop Culture through Fortune Tellers (recall Elementary school days of asking students their favorite color and number to extract who their crush was on those origami-shaped paper fortune tellers); Writing Realistic Dialogue; and Social Studies lesson on MLK where students devised their own versions of “I Have a Dream.” Each lesson got subsequently better. Our role is to teach conversational English. And to be quite frank, we are supposed to do so in an “entertaining” way—rather than following a strict objective format. This is quite different than I anticipated given the Korean style of rote learning. More on teaching later, though.

** I ate "PahtBingSu"—see attachment for picture.
http://www.kokoliving.com/women/2010/07/korean-shaved-ice-desert-pahtbingsu.html
- While walking back from Goesan, the small gritty town where I currently reside, my friends and I encountered a group of young Korean children frolicking in the murky water under the bridge. Sweaty and without supervision, these children ran up to us. Upon finding out our nationality, they started chanting “MeGuks!”—or Americans.
- What followed was amusing and slightly scary. They immediately attacked my tall, attractive male friend, flicking his head, yanking at this arm hair, and even trying to push him off the guardrail.
- In the next five minutes, we were flicked off, swore at, and given the “shocker” (hand gesture—if you don’t know what it means, google it and brace yourself).
- Mind you, the oldest kid in this gang of Korean monsters couldn’t be older than ten (American age, that is—In Korea, a newborn is accredited one year of life) and they live in a rural, inland city—where students have far less experience with English than those in metropolitan areas.
- Needless to say, my face was pained from laughter.
** I practiced archery from Coach Kim's training center. This location is the training center for South Korea's 2008 Olympic-winning team! What a rush! By the end of 4 rounds (6-7 arrows each), I finally got two bulls-eyes. Oh yeah, baby.

** I SUCCESSFULLY navigated my first travel experience this past weekend in Chenogju, South Korea.
- Staying in a small, but exceptionally clean/non-sketchy motel, myself and two other girls explored this nearby “suburb” (suburbs are constituted by population and are not what American conceive of suburbs as in they sit on the outskirts of a larger city). This city has a population of nearly 600,000 people.
- I got to eat American food! After rice, soup, and kimchi for every single meal, I was thrilled to dine at “Pizza Hut.” I never thought I’d see this day come. Sigh.
- We explored Chungpuk National University area. Not for academics, but for the nightlife.
- From recommendation of past ETAs and my “Lonely Planet” travel guide, we ventured to a small bar called “Pearl Jam.” No Koreans heard of it as we asked approximately 7 people for directions along the way. This s because it’s the hotspot for foreigners—English teachers—Canadians, Australians, and Brits tossed back 2000 won shots at happy hour (11-12 PM).
- Everything is open late in Korea. Boutiques were still buzzing before I had my first drink at 11:30 pm. Good thing too because I got to raid the goodies at “Paris Baguette” at 1:40 PM. Chaa-ching. Success!
- Lastly, we went to the gook jang (movie theater). “Inception” was a dynamite selection for their state-of-the-art theaters. For 8,000 won, we were assigned a seat in a mammouth theater—and not just any seat, an overstuffed, reclining velour Lazyboyesque that is—with 12 inch armrests on either side to ensure that BOTH people could rest their arms. Also, there are aisles—people don’t have to trip over others to make a quick qwayjanshel (bathroom) break.
- Also, my Korean friend told me there are “love theaters.” Yes, couple seats with cubby hole-like quarters. He also said blankets are supplied. Ahh, yes.

** What I do in my free time:
- Watch TV on my beautiful new MacBook (thank you, Mom and Dad—she is treating me well here). I am currently on season three of my new addiction, HBO’s “The Wire.” Yes, I am little behind but I need some form of catharsis after four hours of Korean language study a day.
- Study Korean. We have to pass our class to fulfill requirements of our grant.
- Ponder writing in my blog. Emphasis on “ponder.”
- Pinch myself. I need to remind myself I am in the middle of South Korea.
- Practice “Insa”—the formal introduction that includes bowing and saying the proper form of “Hello.” I have to put it to use very soon—as I will be meeting my principal and co-teacher very shortly. Not too mention, my host family! Yikes.
- Countdown the days until Peter comes to see me.
- Skype.
- Hang out on the “Veranda”—the “chill” spot here. Sort of. Since our halls are segregated, there are few places both sexes can congregate comfortably. This is one of them.
- Miss all of you!

** What to look forward to:
- PLACEMENT! I find out in two days where I will be placed for the entire year. In addition, I will know what type of school (middle or high school);, age of students, level of students, gender, and size of school where I will be teaching. There will be a formal ceremony where we get “pinned” in front of a very influential crowd. Pinning means we put a marker on a giant map where we will be located in South Korea. Keep your fingers crossed for a good placement!
- More information about Korean culture as we are participating in Korean culture workshops for the next two weeks.