Just when I thought the world was ending...

StartFragment...they served broccoli and tofu in the cafeteria.

This past week has been intense. Learning Korean is unsurprisingly difficult- the class is immersive so for four hours we play a sort of charades-type game where the professor makes a lot of unfamiliar sounds and with a lot of mumbling to each other and calling out phrases, we try to guess what she is teaching us. I typically learn best from activties and explicit instruction so this kind of guess and move on structure has been challenging for me. Additionally, we are swarmed with vocabulary- up to 60 words a day- and I'm having a hard time memorizing without any ​​reference points to hook on to- the words just look like a mix of symbols. Thus, it didn't shock me when I sort of bombed our first quiz. What's awesome about this setup is that it gives me a very real reference point to understand where my students might be coming from ad how they might feel in the classroom (frustrated, lost, #overit) and I'm frequently making mental notes of good teaching practices and ideas I have for how to structure my lessons.

In other news, life has been good here- I can't believe its almost been two weeks since I arrived! I've enjoyed getting to know people and learn more about this country- it has a very charming quality to it, with customs that are meant to make others feel more comfortable and a fixation on being cute :-). I'm also missing and thinking a lot of home- studying for the aforementioned Korean quiz on Tuesday (which was ultimately futile) I was feeling a little worn down until I got a text from Julie, had a conversation with Mark, messaged my family, and got a call from my mom. It is so incredible to know that I am supported from far away and I'm so grateful to everyone I love at home for continuing to love me all the way over here!

Tomorrow, we're leaving for a weekend trip in Sokcho- a city a few hours away with beaches and hiking and a lot of interesting Buddhist history. We've been told to live it up, as our teaching program with Korean studnents begins the day we get back. We also have to make our final preferences about placements by next week so this place will no doubt be buzzing with panicky rumors. I'm trying to be super open about where I end up (though Jeju island, essentially a tropical resort, sounds nice).

I'll be sure and post pictures from our trip- and please reach out and/or send me peanut butter.

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