JIFF

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.