Coming Home

One year can seem really long and sometimes it just flies by. I'm counting down the days until I say goodbye to Gwangju. I'm already thinking that I will visit in the future and see all the good folks who have made my time here possible. But for now, good bye Anna teacher! I finished my summer English camp (students go to school for half days during summer vacation), said good bye to the kids (I'm glad there weren't too many tears only one student cried -a secretly sensitive 5th grade boy). Now all that's left is to settle my affairs here, some packing and cleaning and catching up with this blog. Next stop a 9 day visit in Berkeley (starting August 27th) to see people and dogs and then I'm settling in for a year of Czech living while teaching English in Ceske Budejovice. Stay tuned for Dearest Ceske Budejovice, I hope to be more consistent in my writing.

GRE

I decided that in one year I will go back to school, so I took the GRE (graduate record examination). I haven't prepared for a test for years and the biggest challenge was just making a schedule to go ahead and study. But once I got going I remembered how much fun math can be, really. Taking the test in Korea means it's divided into two exams, which I think is actually helpful because a marathon exam can be really painful. The first portion is a written analytical essay and the test center is in Seoul at the Fulbright Commission (any reason to go to Seoul is a good one). The second exam (given one month later, at the public university in Gwangju) was the doozie, 4x30 minute bouts with concentration (why does the woman behind me have to constantly clear her throat). All in all I did just fine, hey I'm not a math major (yet). My next step is to send applications to schools in California!

These aren't my scores, just an image from the web :)

Gwangju Yoga

Gwangju Yoga is a group of people who get together to practice yoga on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The fearless leader and founder of the group puts so much love and care into making the practice challenging and good for a variety of abilities. She's not a certified teacher yet, after completing her English teaching contract here she will study for a hatha yoga teacher certification. I know she will do great!

Sometimes class only has 2 people sometimes there are 8. Our practice space is provided by the GIC (the international center) and in renting a room above a local foreigner run grocery store (The Underground Grocery)
If it wasn't for this group of people I know I would have had a really different experience in Gwangju. Thanks Andrea and Laurie!! And of course Jamie and Trevor too.

Teachers' retreat

The Gwangju Office of Education took all 160 native English speakers on a little retreat/ teacher workshop. We spent the day in a nice little fishing village.

Boseong Village and rice fields.
The next day we went to a green tea field, it was rainy and misty so everything looked extra lush and beautiful.

Ja Yun Kwa Hak Ko

Did I mention that I live across the street from a high school. The school week is Monday through Saturday (every other week a free Saturday) from 8am-10pm. That's a lot of teenager traffic, and those kids like to scream- I would too if I had to be in school 14 hours a day. The other weird thing is that the school has a loud speaker that begins to play "inspirational music" at 8am. I usually find the music choice really odd, favorites include Tchiakovsky and Stravinsky. The principal must have some grand idea behind this theme. The high school is a technical high school for agriculture (Ja Yun kwa hak ko), nutrition, and cooking (or should I say food science, I imagine the students learn how to use artificial flavoring).

Bike rentals

Bike riding is always a good time. The city lends bikes for free at the subway station. Just stop by the security booth, hand over your I.D. card, they give you the key to the lock and off you go.

There are many stations for stretching a playing along the river.

Bali

I went on a little trip to Bali. It's such a beautiful island, the plant and animal life is amazing, so many good smells and sounds. The people I met were so nice considering they have to put up with so many tourists.

penjor decorate the street for the holiday.
Lots of stray dogs, who are in the Bali Hindu religion thought to be reincarnated humans. The healthy dogs seem to have an ok life, but there are many with rabies and mange and worms that don't get any care- they just sun themselves and wander around looking for food.

Rice fields: brown rice, basmati, and red rice. Indonesian food is delicious with yummy ingredients like tempeh, tofu, coconut, greens, and peanuts.
Legong performance characterized by intricate finger movements with really expressive gestures and facial expressions, it's really interesting to watch all the detailed movement. Traditionally danced by girls before reaching puberty, the dancers would begin training at an early age. These days the performers are older and not necessarily going to be wed to a wealthy merchant or royalty.

Shadow puppet show. Lots of music playing in the background and some English jokes thrown in for the tourists, total entertainment.
A palm alter in front of a family home. I was in Bali for a month long holiday called Galungan. Every family weaves a palm alter and a really tall "penjor" to celebrate Galungan a time when the Balinese gods visit the Earth. Lots of daily ritual, the little palm baskets are made and put out a few times a day with offerings.

A temple with holy spring water.

I went to Bali to take part in a Iyengar yoga workshop. The teacher was great and I met some nice folks too. Our accommodations were in beautiful bungalows that were visited by geckos and frogs at night.

Mosquito netting can be so romantic.

Korean food

I think it's been a while since I've pointed out how amazing Korean food is. This is a photo of lunch for one person, rice and soybean stew are the main meal which is mixed with the bowl of fresh vegetables. The little plates are different sides of pickled vegetable and condiments. Lucky for me the city I live in is surrounded by farmland and the produce is good! I've been living on watermelon all summer, actually I've moved onto nectarines now...
This is the lunch we ordered for delivery at school, one of my favorites, a hot stone pot full of rice with vegetables. The amazing thing is that a man on a moped delivers all this food and then comes back an hour later to pick up the dishes. The only waste is wooden chopsticks and some paper and plastic wrap. I like the minimal use of packaging in this delivery, but unfortunately it's also popular to have ice cream delivered and that is packaged in a one time use styrofoam cooler. (Packaging and wasteful over packaging is a big issue here, combined with carefree littering it can get really ugly on the streets.)