Asia

Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

South Korea: Mid Program: “My Neighborhood and a Day in My Life” by Allison Ogle

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My Neighborhood and a Day in My Life

4/11/2017

In Korea, there is a large population and very little space. This means that there are many apartment complexes with many floors. I live in a small apartment complex and I am on the third floor in this walk-up. My apartment building is one of many in the neighborhood that are all sandwiched together. The streets are also quite small. They can fit about one car! I’m also quite close to a subway station. I am probably a 1 minute walk away from the subway! Overall, my neighborhood is pretty quiet and very chill, even though we are very close to a busy main street.

 

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South Korea: Post Program: “A Year Later” by Taiya Brown

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A Year Later

 

I often look at my Facebook feed and can’t believe that it’s been over a year since I first arrived in Seoul. It feels like only yesterday that I took hundreds of pictures with my new and adventurous friends. I often feel like it was a dream because the whole experience was surreal, and the only thing that reminds me that it really happened is the fact that I’m still paying for it a year later (that and all the pictures). Thinking about going back makes me feel nervous all over again for the same things I was nervous for in the first place, but then I have to just laugh at myself because nothing was ever as big of a barrier as I expected it to be. I thought the language barrier would be scary, and if anything it’s nice not knowing what everyone is talking about all the time. I miss the experiences I had in Korea and I miss being able to experience something new every day.

 

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South Korea: Arrival: “It’s a New Week!” by Allison Ogle

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http://boldnewadventures.weebly.com/

 

It’s a New Week!

3/7/2017

Things here at my school are going really well! I’ve co-taught one English lesson so far and I have taught a lesson about my hometown(s). Because I am in a public Korean elementary school, a lot of the instruction during the day is in Korean. This means that it is really hard for me to be a regular classroom teacher. Instead, I am what the teachers call a “subject teacher” my job is essentially to provide English instruction as a native speaker of English as well as to share lessons about my home culture. I am planning on teaching a 10 week (one lesson per week) unit on America and American culture. The scary thing is I will be teaching these lessons to all of the grades in the school. First grade through sixth grade. That is kind of scary but I’m really excited to take on this role of being a bit of an EFL (English as a foreign language) specialist which is extremely similar to my endorsement that would allow for me to teach ELLs (English language learners) back home. I will essentially be teaching the same lesson to every class but it will be tailored to meet the language and developmental abilities of each grade. I’m supposed to start with some fourth and fifth grade classes on Thursday so I hope it goes well!

Last night, we as a school went out to dinner! It was really great! We ate a lot of traditional Korean foods and we also went out for coffee afterwards. I posted pictures of this in the pictures page here. (Click it, it will take you to the picture page 🙂 ). I had a lovely night and tried several new foods like stingray/skate. It had a good taste but the texture was very different from how it looked.

I had a lovely time after school today with several of the teachers. Every Tuesday, the teachers get together to play badminton and have a good time. I really enjoyed badminton all throughout school but I never really had the opportunity to play it recreationally so it was really nice to be able to go play a fun sport with several of the teachers from the school (even the vice principal!). It was a great time! I really enjoyed how we could all play a sport together and not really need to use our language. We were all simply having fun! I am now glad that I was forced to take some of those PE classes in school 🙂 knowing some of the rules to badminton came in handy!

I know this post was a lot of different things smashed together but a lot has happened in just a few days! Please go look at the pictures page if you want to see some of the pictures that I have taken while I’ve been here! It’s a bit more interesting than just reading all of this :).

South Korea: Arrival: “Personal Space” by Allison Ogle

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http://boldnewadventures.weebly.com/

 

Personal Space

3/11/2017

So, I’m learning a bit about personal space in Korean public spaces.

I had read online before I came to Korea that because Korea is such a small country and there are so many people, it is common for people to bump into other people and not really worry about it. People wouldn’t say sorry or excuse me because it was so common and normal. I’m really seeing this now. It’s really weird for me!

When I was walking around and shopping in Myeongdong, I was often in a tight spot with a lot of people around me. I was bumped into several times and I even bumped into other people a few times. It really wasn’t a big deal and even when I said “excuse me” to pardon myself, people didn’t really care. It was an interesting feeling. The same thing happened on my subway ride home. On the last leg of my subway journey, there were so many of us in the car that I couldn’t move. People weren’t being rude or pushing and shoving. It was very civilized and everyone was very chill about it. Again, it was weird for me but I think I could get used to it.

South Korea: Arrival: “It’s Been Two Weeks!” by Allison Ogle

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http://boldnewadventures.weebly.com/

 

It’s Been Two Weeks!

3/12/2017

It has been two weeks since I arrived in Seoul. Now that I’m here, I’m really enjoying a lot of things about Seoul! Everything is really close and convenient. I have two convenience stores within 1-5 minutes of walking distance. These convenience stores have EVERYTHING! There is packaged and processed food and there is fresh food like eggs, meat, vegetables, and fruit. There are also household items and cleaning supplies among many other things. I’m also very close to the subway station. This means that I can go basically anywhere quickly for quite cheap. I’m also really close to the school where I’m student teaching. It makes my mornings really easy! There are so many things that I really like about Seoul, it’s hard to name them all!

There are a few things that are challenging. Culturally, Korea stays up very late. Though I like staying up late, I think it’s a bit tough for me to stay up late on a school night. I’m also having to learn a lot about speaking Korean. I wish that I would have studied a bit more Korean but I’m getting by. I can say a few things and get my point across as well as understand the point of the person with whom I’m speaking but it’s still a challenge. There’s also a difference in personal space! Overall, Seoul is living up to my expectations and very often exceeding my expectations which is great!

2017 Video Contest Entry: Madison Moore: Mongolia, 2016

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRPwsdsu7FU

In the summer of 2016, a group of WWU students and faculty went to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to conduct research on women leaders in the culture. Our days were packed to the brim of different interviews, research, and more, and we rarely got a chance to sleep or explore. However, in those moments where we did have a breath of fresh air and got the chance to drink in the culture, we had a lot of great laughs with the close friends we found there. While the trip was full of positive and negative experiences, we all learned a little more about who we are as leaders, who we are as human beings, and who we are as global citizens. While a lot of time has passed since the trip, I recently found the GoPro I used to capture some of the moments in the Mongolian countryside.I had forgotten about these special moments, and before I even knew there was a contest, I had already made this video to commemorate the times that make me laugh and smile. I included some of the spectacular landscape views, but the people that joined me on this adventure meant just as much to me and bring back happy memories of the adventure. I wanted to not only remember the sunsets and views, but the smiles and laughter of the people I was with. They were just as impactful as the history and customs of the culture. While this experience was a hard and difficult one, I know that because of it I learned so much about myself and others. I walk away with new perspectives and experiences, and while some of those moments may be negative, I know I’ve changed for the better. The song is also of significance to me- we would play that song over and over on the trip, and it slowly became the soundtrack of our adventure. Listening to it, I remember drives through the rugged terrain of the Hustai National Park, I remember climbing rocks and discovering abandoned eagle nests, I remember exploring ancient and uninhabited stone fortresses standing alone in a landscape, I remember marveling at the history of Ghengis Kham. But I also remember laughing in our bunk beds early in the morning, walking through crowded supermarkets trying to find an ice pack, playing card games late into the night because the WiFi was frustratingly spotty, and gripping the seats of taxi cabs as we weave through hectic traffic. These seemingly mundane daily activities were made into lifelong memories thanks to the amazing people I traveled alongside. There were lots of tears, lots of laughter, lots of pain, lots of curiosity, and lots of adventure thanks to this beautiful country.

South Korea: Pre-Departure: “Thoughts Before I Go” by Allison Ogle

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http://boldnewadventures.weebly.com/

 

Thailand: Internship: Pre-Departure: “So Much to Do, So Little Time” by Alexandra Rose

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I landed in Seattle only a month ago, and today I started packing to leave again on Friday. It has been a whirlwind of just over thirty days. Landing the night before Thanksgiving after almost three months in Madagascar with Stony Brook University‘s biodiversity and culture study abroad program, I have just begun adjusting to the cold and rain here in the Pacific Northwest. After four weeks of unpacking, writing a research paper, catching up with friends at holiday parties, and spending time with my family, it is time for my next adventure!

 

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Japan: Arrival: “Icebreakers” by Erica Virata

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Day 1: Icebreakers

Several things became immediately apparent to me upon moving to Akita, Japan: the washrooms are far superior in Japan (the whole world should have these showers), I am obscenely spoiled by my bed in America (I truly take for granted the ability to spread eagle on a temperpedic mattress), and I do in fact possess perfectly healthy sweat glands (despite some twenty-four years of not really using them until just this morning, when I stepped out into the humid air and promptly lost half my water weight).

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Japan: “Day 4: The Heart That – Rightly” by Erica Virata

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Day 4: The Heart That -Rightly-

Today was the AIUlympics, a sporting event held by the RA’s on campus! The turn-out was much larger than I’d  expected, which was lovely. It began with adorable warm-ups ala Radio Taiso, which truly put into perspective how uncoordinated we all are, then mozied along to a three-legged race, a scavenger hunt, Japanese “red light green light” (Daruma-san falls down), a chopstick relay, and extreme charades. Everyone involved got hilariously competitive in true sporting event fashion; friendships were ruined by the impassable divide between red shirts and white shirts.

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South Korea “My Adventures in Daegu” by Taiya Brown

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My Adventures in Daegu!

This past weekend was so much fun!! After a busy Friday running around, I took the train to Daegu to visit Hansol and her parents! It was so awesome to stay with a Korean family and see what life is like is Daegu. Daegu is a city about 4 hours away from Seoul in the South-Eastern part of Korea. I really loved it there! It’s still a city but much more manageable than Seoul. Since Seoul is so big, it feels overwhelming to me. I’ve never lived in a huge city, so it’s certainly a new experience. It was so awesome going somewhere else in Korea though. I loved it. Not only was it my first trip outside of Seoul, I went on my own too which was scary and also really exciting for me.

 

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South Korea: Mid Program “A Normal Tuesday” by Taiya Brown

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South Korea: End of Program “One Week Left Until Leaving Yonsei” by Taiya Brown

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http://taiyashoe.weebly.com/blog