Athens, GA -> Seoul-> ATL

Alexandria

2009-11-29T13:35:00.000-08:00

Grad school continues to be a good experience, and while this semester is winding down, I'm looking forward to next semester even more, as I'll be taking classes that interest me more.

Over Thanksgiving break I was able to spend time with my parents and my sister's family in Alexandria, right outside of D.C. It was a great time, and my brother-in-law is great fun to hang out with, plus he's become a home-brewer recently, and makes great brews that can compete with the best.

My nephew Henry continues to grow fast, and is becoming a better at communicating, as well as walking.

At school I'm mainly concentrating on cinematography and producing, as those are the topics that interest me the most. In my free time I'm working on various side projects, which I will share once they gain a bit more momentum.

Life in Film/TV Grad School

2009-10-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

It's been great to get back to doing something that I have a true passion for. While I could see myself becoming a teacher sometime in the future, right now I want to work on my art craft, and grad school allows me to do that. But it was such a great opportunity to be able to be a public school teacher in another country for an entire year. The skills that I learned as being a teacher in Korea will be skills that will be with me for the rest of my life.

One thing that is great about grad school is that I have three day weekends, which means that I'm able to make weekend trips. While traveling through out Asia I realized that there is much of America that I have not yet seen. One seems to forget actually how large America really is, I mean it's huge. Sometimes America can seem boring to travel, due to the over suburbanization of Walmarts and McDonalds, but there is still plenty of unique and independent minded cities throughout the nation. A few of the unique cities I visited since I've been back are Breckenridge, CO, Alexandria, VA, Washington D.C., and Savannah, GA. All of those cities have rich and deep American culture and a since of strong identity, an identity that is not that of Walmart and other corporate chains. And it's this independence and entrepreneurship that is abundant in these cities that I find inspiring. I hope that future communities in America will look to these cities for inspiration and wisely plan the infrastructure and culture layout of the city, because I think being able to walk or ride a bike around a community is pretty important.

I was able to visit my sister and her family in Alexandria, VA, which is right outside of D.C. Henry, my nephew, is growing quick and is a blast to be around. I'll be visiting them again for Thanksgiving. Their neighborhood is excellent, they can walk to the library or any other small store that they would need, and the metro, which goes directly to central D.C. is only about a half mile walk. Then last weekend I met my brother in Savannah, GA, which is another beautiful city.

Grad school is very educational of course, but I'm trying to stay busy with my side projects as well. Also on a note of interest, last week Vincent Laforet came and spoke at SCAD in Atlanta, here is his website: http://vincentlaforet.com/ and also gave a workshop that I found useful.

Instead of a thesis paper for grad school I have to do a thesis project, which will be a movie. I have the movie already down in my head, now I just need to put it on paper. Possibly the most important part of the film process will be getting funding. I plan to apply for various grants from organizations that support art projects, films, or graduate theses. But the most potent way I see myself funding the project is through micro-financing it through small donations, made nationally. I'll be making a website explaining my project sometime next year with my estimated cost of the movie. The movie will be slightly political in nature, so I believe people will help support an art that supports their views.

Bye Bye Seoul, Hello ATL

2009-08-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well it was a nice flight back to ATL, I got bumped up to 'prestige class', which is like a nice business class. Prestige class included four course and quality meals along with seats that can fully recline to a bed like position, which made the fourteen hour flight much more enjoyable. I left Seoul at 10:20am, local time, and arrived in ATL at 11:00am, local time, so technically it was only a 40 minute flight according to the local calender.

Summer camp was a blast, although it consumed a lot of my energy. The first graders have a lot of character, and really are quick learners. While the fourth graders did a good job, their English level was below that of many of the 3rd graders.

I've been thinking about what will come of this blog. Since it's titled "Seoul" one might think that it would end once I leave the country. I'll post some other Seoul media that I've not yet had a chance to at a later time, but I'll also probably turn it into an 'Atlanta' photo blog. It'll give me a reason to continue taking pictures.

Thank you for taking your time to view my pictures and ready my 'travel log' or 'blog'.

I started graduate school orientation the day after I came into ATL, and am extremely pleased with the communications program. I feel back at home already. :) Ironically there was a South Korean in the communications department, also as a masters student, whom was brand new to ATL and came straight from Seoul. I was able to give him some helpful tips and advice on how to live in this city, and how it differs from Korea and Seoul. He was completely overwhelmed by the differences of the two cities, much like how I was initially overwhelmed by Seoul and the newness of it's Korean culture, so I feel that I was able to understand how he felt. Even though we are in different programs within the department I gave him my e-mail address for any help he might need.

Shanghai, China

2009-07-28T06:58:00.001-07:00

Shanghai has a population of around twenty million people, making it the largest city in China. Before going to Shanghai I had no idea what to expect cultural wise, but I was extremely pleased with my experience there. My friend Ryan, whom is interning at China Economic Review, has really become immersed in the Chinese city lifestyle and was the perfect host/tour guide. His Chinese, Mandarin, is at a very impressive level and was very useful in getting around the city. One of the major initial differences between Seoul and Shanghai is that China is still a developing country, but things are rapidly changing in Shanghai as there are numerous construction projects almost every where you look. Also there is a much more apparent wealth gap in Shanghai, but this made the traveling experience even more interesting. Cost of living in Shanghai can be about as low cost or expensive as you can imagine, really it can go both extremes. Your basic necessities all cost well under a dollar, for example: a bottle of water cost about 14 US cents, or one Chinese yuan, and a plate of dumplings can cost around 73 cents, or 5 yuan. While on the other hand Shanghai has many of the Western franchises and luxuries which can seem very expensive when compared to the low domestic cost of living, but many of the people in Shanghai seem to embrace the international culture. While Ryan and I were sitting down some people would discreetly, and non-discreetly, take a picture with us. Ryan informed me that these people were most likely from the country where seeing a foreigner is much more rare. But being a foreigner in Shanghai also is also an indicator that you probably have money, and there are a few common scams that people in Shanghai try and pull on the unsuspecting tourist, other than that though Shanghai is supposed to be a rather safe city. When some sketchy looking person would come up trying to talk to us in English, Ryan would say a seemingly magical phrase with a small hand gesture sending the other person quietly and quickly walking away. This 'magical phrase' was just "I'm not interested" in Mandarin, which was a quick indicator that he was no tourist.

While in China I was able to experience a wide diversity of food. My two favorites being a dumpling that had a small soupy substance in it (fourth picture) and a giant breakfast egg roll with pickled ginger (second picture). Although not all food was pleasurable for me, I had a minor allergic reaction, that being my lip slightly swelling, to traditional Uighur food, a Chinese ethnic minority. The second to last picture on the bottom is the view from Ryan's apartment, and shows how quickly Shanghai is developing, small apartment buildings were in the desolate lot just a few days prior to my arrival.

I was happy I was able to experience a bit of China before leaving Korea, it helps put my Korean experience into greater context. Both China and Korea have many shared cultural norms, but both are also extremely distinguishable from each other. Although just being able to get out and see another city with an old friend really was great, and Shanghai was a really cool place to do that.

On a similar note, Shanghai's subway system is great and growing fast. While not quite as nice as Seoul's, it's still probably one of the nicer ones in the world and the subway system is going to have a number of additional lines added very shortly. So one is able to get around the city very easily, and taxis in Shanghai are another experience all together, which are another affordable option of getting around, as a typical fare would just be a few dollars or less.

Seoul in Summer, Schools Out

2009-07-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

Watering flower pots around the city on a hot summer day.

World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Botanical Gardens

So I went on a trip with all of the teachers to the botanical gardens somewhere north of Seoul. Don't really know where I was, but it took almost two hours to get there. It was nice to be able to get out of the city and relax while exploring the gardens. The bottom five pictures are from that trip.

Regular classes were finished last week and it was interesting and sometimes sad to say goodbye to all of the students. I will miss teaching all of the students. Each class gave a unique expression when finding out that I would not be returning next semester. The third graders were the most upset with my leaving, with supposedly one student broke into tears after the co-teacher and I left, other classes would attempt to not let me leave the class by trying to hold me back. Many of the sixth graders were very nonchalant yet polite about my leaving. It's nice to know that the students seemed to like English class.

I will start teaching an English summer camp later this week, and I'll be visiting Shanghai, China for a quick visit this weekend. Also tomorrow I'll be able to see one of the longest eclipses in modern history, only visible in Asia. Look for photos of the eclipse later this week. Here is an animation of what the eclipse will look like from Seoul. It's not a 100% coverage of the Sun, but close. http://www.eclipse.org.uk/eclipse/0412009/Seoul_South_Korea_2009Jul21_anim.gif

It's monsoon season currently, and it rains extremely hard when it rains.

Summer in the City and the Foreigner District

2009-07-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

It's starting to get much hotter and humid here in Seoul, but the humidity is not that much different than Atlanta, so I'm quite used to this weather. The hot summer is a much more welcome experience than the frigid cold of the winter.

This school year is coming to an end and I'm staying busy by having to plan a summer English camp. Most of the lesson plans I created for the last camp will have to be reworked since many of the students will be returning to the program.

While I'm continuing to enjoy my stay here in the ROK, I'm starting to miss my home a bit. Which is why I've started eating more western food again. A couple times a week I'll meet some friends up for some western style food, possibly in the foreigner district. The foreigner district has a bad reputation for being a dirty place compared to the rest of Seoul, but in the day time it's quite nice and there are extensive affordable western style restaurants to choose from. One small place, called Smokey's Saloon, is a regional favorite. The restaurant can maybe only fit about 15 customers and a long line can almost always be seen outside its doors, sometimes as many as 25 people. Koreans and foreigners alike enjoy the wide selection of interesting burgers that they have to offer, many of the burgers at Smokeys rival those of any steak house that I've ever been to in America.

Surf'n in the R.O.K. (Busan part III and Gwangan-do mountain stream)

2009-06-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

e

h

This past weekend I went on a surf trip to Busan, and the weekend before that I was in South Korea's north east province, Gangwon-do, hiking on a mountain stream in the middle of nowhere. The surf trip was a much needed vacation from the city of Seoul, as I always seem to forget how much I love the beach and surfing, also Gangwon-do has much beautiful nature to offer the traveler.

My friends and I stayed in a little motel right on a beach that is not frequented by as many visitors, which made it more relaxing and better for surfing. The surf shop, pictured aboved, had afforadble rentals on both boards and wet suits. And there was pleanty of good Korean and international food available in walking distance for when we took breaks for lunch and snacks. Nothing like a good kimbap after being worn out from the sun and surf.

About two weeks ago I went to a Korean baseball game with my friends, while the game was fascinating and fun to watch I was surprised by the amount of MLB hats I saw in the stadium. Koreans are big fans of MLB, and anytime when going out I often see a few Atlanta Braves caps. This is most likely because there is a Korean pop singer whom has lived in Atlanta and supports the Braves. Still interesting to see my home city's baseball team's cap being worn here. One of the biggest differences between going to a Korean game and an American game is the price. Besides the tickets being about $5 the food inside is hardly marked up from regular prices, meaning that a bottle of water costs less than a dollar and a fast food combo would cost around $5. Also, instead of individual owners the teams are owned by Korean corporations, such as LG, KIA, etc. Although it's not too much of a difference since the owners of sports teams in America are usually the CEOs or owners of corporations.

Another interesting note is that I think I'm allergic to all Korean alcohol, which is not the worst thing since Koreans seem to have an extremely low grade of alcohol here. I assume it might be the great presence of sulfates in their alcohol, but don't really know. Either way, probably a blessing in disguise. Soju is the social drink here in Korea, used in almost all formal social situations, and I found out quite quick that it was not the drink for me. I will go through the formalities of having a glass poured for me by an elder but just not drink it. It's also fascinating to note that I believe that Heineken and Budweiser, among other international drinks, are brewed here domestically in Korea, which does not help my situation.

Showing Respect

2009-06-04T09:17:00.001-07:00

Last week, while walking around Seoul, with a friend we came across a rather large gathering of people paying their respect to the previous South Korean President whom recently passed away. The people were reading news articles about President Roh Moo-Hyun while also paying their respects by standing in a line to bow as a way to show respect.

On a side note, a friend of mine recently moved to Shaghai, China for an internship with a magazine on economics. Hopefully I'll be able to find the time to make a short visit before I leave in August.

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend, and I'll be traveling to another province to go nature trekking through a river. Should be relaxing. :)

Coffee in Corea, and Nukes in the North

2009-05-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

I don't drink coffee, but I enjoy cafes, and Seoul has many of them. Most of the cafes are grouped together in certain districts of the city, as most things are grouped together in Korea. A couple of my friends are coffee aficionados so they enjoy tasting espressos from various cafes. This man roasts his own beans in a rather small, book cluttered, cafe.

Life in Seoul is much the same as before the North Korean nuclear testing of their bomb. South Korea is technically still at war with their neighbor, so they are quite used to the raised tension. Some of my fourth grade students painted some posters promoting peace and reconciliation between the two countries, and some were very creative. I'll try and grab a picture of a few and post them next week. Maybe there is hope that one day North Korea will rejoin the world instead of trying to provoke their neighbors.

blog.stevenswigart.com

2009-05-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

My new blog is up: blog.stevenswigart.com

I will continue to post my experiences in Seoul on this blog. :)

Teacher's Day

2009-05-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

Last Friday caught me off guard, because it was Teacher's Day. I was not really expecting anything from my students, but to my surprise I received flowers (real and fake), chocolate, and many letters. All of the letters were precious and fun to read. Most were in English, and a few were written in Korean where my co-teachers had to translate them for me. I was not expecting it to be such a big deal.

While waiting on some friends at a subway station a radio personality came up and interviewed me on what I was doing in Korea, the radio program being one that helps Koreans learn conversational English. Through the interview I learned that May is the month of family holidays in Korea, the main ones being: Children's Day, Parent's Day, Teachers Day, and a couple others I can't remember. The interview reminded me that I wanted to do some radio volunteer work while here in Korea, but I've managed to stay busy enough not to attempt it. But I imagine while in grad school I'll do some radio work again.

Later this week I'll have my Art, Tech, and Politics Blog up and running, and by politics, I mean general social issues and how they affect us. I uploaded it to my website earlier this week, now I just have to tweak it a bit and make my first post before I post the link here.

JIFF

2009-05-04T19:36:00.001-07:00

Went to a film festival this past weekend, as it was also an extended weekend because of a few Korean holidays. The film festival was called JIFF, standing for Jeonju International Film Festival, and it was quite impressive. Last year I went to Pusan's film festival, but it was much more hectic, JIFF was more relaxing due to its more laid back country atmosphere. In Pusan it was nearly impossible to obtain tickets, but since JIFF is not as well known as PIFF it's much easier to get tickets. Yet JIFF still has that raised excitement and a nice crowd for the movies which is important for a film festival and probably has even more excitement and a bigger crowd than Atlanta's film festival.

One of the highlights of the film festival was being able to watch a Korean film with a talk back with the directors and the two actors after the film; the film festival would have people translate to English so that foreigners would participate in the talk back.

Jeonju is a small city with a traditional Korean flavor. It's known for it's bibimbap and small traditional Korean village.

Last Friday we had a sports day because in Korea they are about to celebrate Children's Day, a holiday where children, or teachers of those children, under 12 don't have to go to school. Which is one of the reasons why I'm only working Thursday and Friday of this week.

Brief April Thoughts

2009-04-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

The weather this April has been beautiful. :) And it was nice having my parents be able to visit for two weeks, they were great travel companions. The amount of kimchi my dad consumed was amazing, especially coming from a guy who claims he does not eat spicy food. My dad before coming to Korea would say that too much pepper might be a bit to spicy for him. But in the midst of the Korean experience he ate and enjoyed more spicy food than I've ever seen him eat.

How fast time flies, before I know it I'll be looking out a plane window flying back Atlanta.

Living in another country has given me better insight into my own culture, which is probably the best part about living in another culture and country. Although, now I'm excited about going back and starting my education and continuing my career.

Grad School Acceptance, Busan part II, and Parents

2009-04-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

My parents have now been in Korea for about a week, and have proven themselves quite adventuresome. While I'm at work, they'll be out and about exploring the large city of Seoul. This previous weekend we all went to Busan via Korea's high speed rail, the KTX. The KTX is a great way to get to the complete other side of the country in around 3 hours time, with trains running just about every 20, or so, minutes.

Busan proved to be just as interesting the second time, and my parents might have even loved it more than I. This is probably because my family started off in Jacksonville, FL, and Busan has a similar culture to it in some subtle ways. (The most obvious cultural comparison is that they are both cities on the beach) During this past winter, I was wishing I chose Busan over Seoul. My Korean literature teacher was from Busan, and I should have listened to her when she said that Busan has an extremely nice and welcoming culture, because it's true. :) Since it was an off season time for tourism in Busan we were able to stay at a nice beach front hotel for a reasonable price, which made our short stay even more enjoyable.

I found out a few days ago that I was not only accepted into grad school, but also offered an assistantship, which means I will be to attend grad school tuition free with a stipend. It worked out nicely to have my parents here to share the good news, as this is probably the best news I could have hoped for. The school is Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta, and the degree I will be working towards a MA in Communications in the department of Moving Images (Film/Video/Media) with a concentration on production. Atlanta has a growing production scene, and the cost of living is considerably lower than other cities with comparable production work, so it will be an excellent place to attend grad school, and I'm excited to meet the faculty whom I will be working with. GSU offers many great resources where I will be able to build on my previous experiences and create some interesting projects in the process of learning, and the faculty is composed both of research and production oriented members, which I find important. I've been spending a lot of my time in Seoul just doing some basic research, so I look forward to trying to apply much of the knowledge I have been reading about.

The transition from Korea to Atlanta will be an extremely quick one, but it will be a satisfying feeling knowing where my next step will be once my time in Seoul is over. And attending grad school this year seems to be the perfect time for me to gain more knowledge that will help me continue my career and potentially broaden my horizons. I finish teaching in mid August, and the grad program also starts in mid August, so these next few months I will be working towards a smooth transition. On a side note, GSU has a great library, so it will be fun to have that amount of resources at my fingertips again. I did not see myself going back to school so quickly after graduating from college, but after teaching in Korea, I really value the importance of education more, and am extremely excited about continuing my education at a University.

Spring into Spring

2009-03-26T05:34:00.000-07:00

Well Spring for the most part is here, although this morning is started to rain, and then snow rather hard. I've never seen such a quick transition from one to the other.

This semester is going well. As previously stated, I feel much more comfortable as a teacher, and enjoy the company of my teachers even more.

The top image is of a group of tap dancers 'tapping off' to a live funk band. This took place in Seoul's artistic district which is surrounded by many universities giving the area a great sense of experimentation and expression. If I could pick where I would live, it would have been closer to there, in retrospect. There are many interesting shops, museums, and other culturally interesting things to do and see.

The second picture is of a friend buying dried seaweed at a traditional Korean market in Namdeamun. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namdaemun_Market

My parents will be here next week, and hopefully I'll find out about grad school in a week or two. So it should be an interesting April for sure. I did make another website for an online portfolio for grad school, but it's not much at this point, so I won't post the link here. But I do plan to make another more general blog on that site, which I will post when I do. The new blog will be an area for my general thoughts about current events, technology, and art, while I'll keep this one focused on my episode in Korea. Korea's been a great experience, thus far, and now that I'm past the six month mark I feel much better about the whole experience. So many interesting and kind people to meet, I must say I think Koreans are very welcoming.

Caves, Efficiency, and Education

2009-03-11T05:02:00.000-07:00

Gosu Cave is a famous Korean limestone cave which reaches 1,300 meters deep and is home to many impressive natural rock formations. My friends and I had a enjoyable time taking a bus and ferry to get to this cave from Seoul on a nice Sunday afternoon. There is a metal railing path that visitors take that winds up and down through out the cave; and was a little bit intimidating at parts due to either the height or narrowness of the pathway. Although spelunking most likely will not become a favorite pastime of mine, it was great to be able to see such grand natural formations underground.
-
Efficiency is what Koreans do best, and is one of the most appreciated cultural aspects I think. Whether calling a company for assistance via phone or 'standing' in line at the post office, prompt service is all most always given. I put 'standing' in marks because it's not really standing. When walking into a post office, or even some movie theatres, you just take a number and take a seat to wait your turn. This is not like taking a number at the deli in your local grocery store in America, this system is actually efficient. And when I ordered Internet, the company came to my office for the required information the day of the call requesting service, and came to my house the next day for installation at a time which suited me best. Thus I'm impressed greatly by the since of duty that people take in their jobs.
-
A new semester of school has began, and I already feel more comfortable and confident about it. My teaching abilities have improved greatly since the beginning of last semester, and thus the semester has started off on a stronger foot than last. Winter camp was a time when I really was able to develop my teaching skills since I was working with the same students for an extended period of time, and thus allowing me to become a better teacher for this semester. I have one new co-teacher whom is also new to teaching, so it makes the learning process of teaching more enjoyable. And the children continue to be great at participating, and this always makes going to class all the more interesting.
-
I should find out about my graduate school application in early April. Getting accepted would really help create an ideal transition into my future career. And my excitement for the program has continued to be extremely high. It's been a fun yet challenging process to apply to grad school while living in Korea, and if anything I'll at least have a larger vocabulary. One of the main things I miss most about university life is the large libraries that a student has at their finger tips; the internet still does not have the same quality of information that can be found in a university library. So if I do get accepted I will be spending a great amount of my future time in a university library researching various interests of mine; which is a fun thought.

While living in Korea I have been able to appreciate education in ways that I was previously unaware of, and because of this realization I now take education for granted less. It is my hope that the American education system can become better, because I feel that there is so much lost potential in our education system. So now I will share my two cents on the topic, and please don't be offended if you are an education major. I of course respect education majors and think they are vital to the education process.

Although, I do not think all teachers in K-12 should be Education majors and that there should be a more diverse educational background for the teachers. I feel that having the majority of teachers be Education majors can create a 'group think' mentality in the public school system. American universities continue to do well on an international scale, and the college professors do not all exclusively study the methodology of how to properly educate a college student. I'm not trying undermine the importance of Education majors, as I realize the importance of studying the methodology of the learning process; but teachers should not only be education majors. The more diverse the educational background of the teachers, the more interesting the education can be for the students thus allowing for more opportunities for the students to want to learn. Of course, I speak from only my own experience as a student, and I do not understand how the American education system works; but I'm glad I am able to gain some experience as a teacher so that I may have a better understanding from the teachers perspective.

Also being a teacher I now realize the importance of smaller classrooms. The larger the classroom the harder it is for the teacher to effectively teach. Larger classrooms allow some students to just coast through the class with out being individually challenged, or given proper attention. Because all students have different learning styles, and thus the larger the class room the more learning styles, making it more difficult to keep all of the students' interest. Personally I think any classroom with more than twenty-five students is too many to effectively teach.
-
My parents are coming to visit in early April, so it will be wonderful to see them. This past winter I did begin to miss my family a little more; so it will be great fun to be able to show them around Seoul and share the experience for a short bit. Spring in Seoul is supposed to be beautiful, and the weather is already starting to become much more enjoyable.

Japan

2009-02-24T04:56:00.000-08:00

I can't say enough nice things about Japan, I'm extremely glad I was able to visit. The food is amazing and the people are friendly and warm. There is an abundance of cultural diversity in Japan that is much more apparent than in Korea. Korea's culture can seem monolithic in comparison; and Koreans can sometimes be more xenophobic. But in Korea's defense, it's a much smaller country than Japan; but for how big Seoul is I thought it might be more international than what it really is. While I do enjoy Korean food, I prefer Japanese food. One of the major reasons why is because Korean cuisine mostly revolves around the red pepper, while the Japanese cuisine has a wider range of taste, in my opinion, and usually has a sweet/bitter taste that I find pleasant to the palate. Korea is a nation which has been strongly influenced by both Japan and China, and now that I've been to Japan, I have a better understanding on how the country has influenced Korea.

Three or four days is not enough to experience Japanese culture. So I hope that I'll be able to come back again some day. The cultural diversity here makes an American feel a little more comfortable and relaxed. Also, I just felt less 'foreign' here, which was also comforting. The fashion here is much more radical than in Korea, which was fun to see. And I have to say I'm a fan of Japanese Arcades, it was a great throw back to see so many awesome video game arcades.

Almost all of my friends and family assumed that I would be going to Tokyo, but I went to Osaka instead. I chose Osaka for a few important reasons. I felt that it would be a bit quieter and easier to get around in than Tokyo, but still have plenty to do and see. I think my assumptions were correct, because I really have enjoyed Osaka and my hotel was across the street from the testing center. Also there are many other small cities near by which are easy to get to by train and visit. I visited Kyoto, only 30 minutes away by train, which has many temples, shrines, and other classic examples of Japanese architecture through out the city. I would love to visit Tokyo someday, but for this trip Osaka just made more sense, Tokyo might have distracted me from my test.

The GRE went well. Although, it was a bit of a challenge to fly into a country that I had never been to before and take a test like that with in 24 hours after arriving.

I now am looking forward to completing and turning in my application for grad school; the program is for a Masters in Film/Video production. A chemistry professor who had a PhD once told me, the more your educated, the more you discover how little you know. And that's true with me; now that I've graduated college I want to go back to learn more, because I realized that an undergrad just scratches the surface.

Sheep and Backbones

2009-02-10T02:04:00.000-08:00

The picture at the top is from a cafe that kept a couple of sheep in front of the shop. If there was one thing I was not expecting to see in the middle of the city, it was sheep.

The second picture is of a traditional Korean dish, backbone stew. I'm not a real big fan of this one, although it did taste pretty good. It reminded of some type of dish that would be served in Star Wars, I know that's a bit immature of me to say. Some friends confirmed with me that I ate meat before ordering, I guess next time I should answer more specifically. One of my friends did point out that they thought it was cool that Koreans tend almost the entire animal, while in America we only have a relatively few cuts from our meat. I agreed with my friend, but pointed out that backbone meat is probably to be found in a hot dog. Backbone stew is usually considered a dish that elders enjoy more than the contemporary youth of Korea. On one hand I really wanted to enjoy the backbone stew, but I felt a bit too unfamiliar with the dish to be able to jump right in and think it was the best stew ever. All my friends who really enjoyed it were Korean American, so I'm assuming they've either had it before or at least had some familiarity with the dish.

I have everything booked for my trip regarding the GRE. Only having one month of studying is not an incredible amount of time to study compared to some people, but I hope I'll do well enough on the test. I'm looking forward to seeing Japan, although it would have been nice to be able to visit with out worrying about a test. It will be nice to have something to look forward to if I get accepted into the graduate program, and if I don't get accepted at least I'll have a larger vocabulary from the studying. My two favorite words that I've learned so far are 'circumlocution' and 'ineffable'.

I've found a few good burrito places to help with my craving of American food. I eat Korean food about six days a week, two/three times a day, so it's always nice to find a good burrito on the weekends. In America we take the variety of food we eat for granted. Although Seoul has many international restaurants, there are none in my direct vicinity, as I'm more in a traditional area of Seoul.

GRE, Japan, and the nearing end of Winter

2009-02-02T02:20:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of applying to a graduate program back in the States, which I'll talk more about if I get accepted. Although I am very excited about the possibility about being accepted. To complete my application I will have to fly to Japan to take the GRE, as the GRE is only offered in Korea twice a year, but in Japan you can take it almost any day of the year. So I've been spending my free time figuring out where I'm going to take the test, how I'm going to get there, where I'm going to stay, and studying for it. I went ahead and scheduled the test for later this month. I'll be back at work for the next two weeks, but then I'll have some down time again where I'll be able to fly over for a day or two to take the test.

This winter has been as cold as I thought it would be, but these last couple days have been really nice, as it has been above freezing. Spring should be beautiful once it comes.
--
The top picture is of coals that are used to cook your meat at your table during a Korean style BBQ. The second picture is of a snowy night.
--
Since I have been stuyding for the GRE I have not yet had the time to make any developments to my website, but I'll keep you posted once I put something up. What I'll probably do is at first put up a basic site, and build it up through out the year.

English Winter Camp

2009-01-21T20:20:00.001-08:00

This is the first grade class. I feel like I taught them the most out of all my classes.

This is my third/fourth grade class, they were the best behaved.

The second grader who was the overall champ of English. He read "Are you My Mother?" faster than I did when I was in second grade. He also completed the workbook I made in the first two days.

Another 2nd grade class, you can see the book I compiled/made being held up by one of the students.

--
So Winter Camp ended up being a good experience, initially it was a bit stressful lesson planning for ages I have not yet taught, but I surprised myself with making lesson plans that ended up being great for the kids levels. I tried to vary each lesson so that people of different levels would gain something from it; but all my first graders were at about the same level, thus making teaching them the easiest.

Teaching English camp was completely different than teaching during the regular semester because I was able to teach the same kids every day and see instant results. When teaching during the regular school year I teach over 300 hundred kids that I only see once a week, thus making it hard to know how much they are learning and what level they are really on.

During the last week with my third and fourth grade class we made a quick movie. The children really impressed me with how much they were able to get done in such a short amount of time. Sense writing the scripts were very hard for the children, that ended up taking most of the time, thus we were only left with 20 minutes of actually shooting time. So for the Summer English Camp, I think I'll give making a movie a full week so that we can have a bigger production. I made copies of the movie on CD for everyone in the class; so that they can look back at this video years after. I was really impressed by the script the girls wrote, it had a complete narative arch to the story. The boys script had some English mistakes in it, but I was not overly concerned about correcting what they wrote. The point of the exercise was to show that they could synthesize English sentences on their own well enough to convey a meaning.

Now that Winter Camp is finished I will have a couple weeks to rest, travel, study, work on personal projects, etc. I will have a completely custom website up in early February; I'll post the link here when it is up.

Just a couple of monks

2009-01-14T06:13:00.000-08:00

The other weekend I went out to Insadong; which is a fun area in Seoul to explore. Lots of art exhibits, cafes, and interesting shops are in the area. It always surprises me though how much little importance tea actually has in Korea. The most common form of tea here is corn tea; which I have grown to like, but kind of tastes what it sounds like. But there are plenty of cafes to find that have great green tea, etc; but it can be difficult to find a varity of tea in a regular grocery store or food market.

The middle picture is of a cafe in Insadong that had the interior of an airliner mixed with a rock garden. It was an interesting one to say the least; as it was -5 C outside, my friends and I felt very warm and cozy in our flight chairs while drinking some tea. I'm usually the one who is always saying "lets find somewhere warm guys; it's kind of freezing outside"; but being from Georgia I wouldn't have it any other way. Even my friends from LA seem to take the cold better than I.... Maybe it was because I was born in hot and humid Florida.... When it gets humid in the summer I'll feel at home.

Winter camp is going well, I'll share some pictures and video next week of it. I was worried about teaching the young ones; but they are extremely cute and good at participating. Lots of classic songs such as "Old MacDonald" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and other English games. Since it is a camp I try to make it as fun as possible while still educational. I made workbooks so that the students have the opportunity to learn how to read and write the alphabet as well as words. The children learn very quickly at such a young age, after the second day everyone could write the alphabet and tell me the sound that a letter makes. And my second graders want to watch this of this old Sesame Street 1-20 video over and over again; that I end up using it as a reward system at the end of class or before class starts.

Photography

2009-01-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

During this break I have been able to spend some more time with photography. Another native English teacher I've met here does some modeling, and so we joined forces to do a quick photo shoot one day. I've been studying some basic lighting techniques, so it was fun to be able to implement some of them. Through out my college career I was able to learn some lighting in film and theatre classes, along with my internship; but this was the first time, other than a short film I did, where I was able to put my knowledge to the test. I find it fun to compare the lighting in the photo above with Leonardo's Mona Lisa. It's amazing how lighting has been used much the same way through out the centuries.

To see the rest of the set you can visit my new flicker account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbswigart/

I will be starting work again on Monday for three weeks for the winter English camp. Will keep you updated on how that goes. I'll be teaching younger children than I was previously; so I'm not sure what to expect. But I'm sure they will be full of excitement and I'll have a lot of fun with them.

Winter Holiday

2008-12-22T06:08:00.000-08:00

This child gets himself 'pretend' stuck in his coat almost every lesson. He's pretty awesome.

This class is one of the best at English. Some of the 3rd graders are extremely intelligent.

Christmas is a National Public Korean Holiday; and thus there have been many decorations around the city. The class rooms have slight decorations to them that make it feel a bit festive. From the adult perspective Christmas in Korea is looked at as more of a couple and friend holiday than a family holiday. Koreans will spend a lot of time with their significant other or friends rather than travel long distances to be with their families. (They have other family centric holidays for that.)

I'll be spending my Christmas with other English teachers. Should be a great time!

Movie Protesters

2008-12-14T00:26:00.000-08:00

In the middle of the city I came across what I thought were a bunch of protesters, but once I walked closer I realized that people were cuing and filming them. Also another note of interest is how well lit their faces were; this is because of the reflectors that they placed at their feet to insure proper lighting. I'm curious what they were protesting though; protesting is larger part of the culture here. This was a small production; but interesting to walk by none the less.

Also in the middle of Seoul runs a nice stream. Many people jog and walk through this every day as it goes for miles; it's also well lit at night. This area of Seoul is a bit of a subway ride from my location, but its fun to visit from time to time. There is an abundance of western food (and international food in general) selection located around this area, as it is a big tourist attraction. There are western style restaurant that are completely Korean owned, even though many Koreans might not be aware of it. (Although its kind of obvious to the foreigner, because I've never seen a shrimp tofu burger in any fast food restaurant in the West.) But its kind of like in America when you go to an Asian restaurant franchise your not completely sure who its owned by. And in America the Asian food might be Americanized, but your not really sure how... It's also fascinating that forks here are as much a novelty as chop sticks are in the West. They only use forks if they were at a nice western restaurant for the most part; as we would at an Asian restaurant. After living in Korea you become quite used to using chopsticks; and its just as natural as a knife and fork. (well at least most of the time.) It's amazing how much skill goes into using a knife and fork properly that we forget about. It's as hard as using chopsticks, if not harder, for a new learner.

Each Asian country uses different types of chopsticks. In Korea they are long, thin, and made of metal. Also in Korea you always use a spoon along with your chop sticks, because soup is always served with every meal. So if you don't feel like picking up tiny pieces of rice with your long narrow chopsticks, no problem, just use a spoon. :)

I got sick all last week with a pretty bad cold. But I'm starting to feel better. I think it was that -11C weather... My body is starting to get used to the colder weather; and I imagine by January I'll be fine.

Winter is Near

2008-12-07T00:39:00.000-08:00

It continues to get colder. Today it snowed for a few hours. Last night the low was -11 C. Went to the market to buy some more warm clothes and tea.

Men in South Korea are required to give at least two years of service. So this means they can either serve in the military or do some other type of social service. Thus, it is not uncommon to see about 20 young police men with gear standing post outside a mall.

Public transportation is wonderful in Seoul; and is one of the most impressive features of the city. Seoul has an extensive bus system, which you can tell from the picture. (How many buses can you count?) There are also free transfers from bus to subway; which can be convenient. And taxi's are relatively cheap when compared to a NYC taxi; it costs about maybe 4,000 won to go around 9 miles, and about 25,000 won if you needed to get across city in hurry. And there of course is no tipping in Korea; it would be considered rude if you tried to tip in most cases.