2014 Spring Conference | Jeju Island, KAL Hotel, and Angel-in-Us Cafe

THE BEGINNING OF MY JOURNEY

It seems just like yesterday that we had Fall Conference! I had my backpack (yes, just one) all packed last night for the next four days. I was determined to have as hassle- and stress-free a flight as I knew was possible for other people in movies.

At around 5 a.m., I could already hear my parents stirring in the kitchen. I got ready and was able to hitch a ride with my host Dad, whose workplace is a mere 15 minutes away from Gimhae International Airport.

Here's what my day looked like traveling from Busan to Jeju Island:

Host Dad calling a taxi for me so I could continue commuting to the airport and he could continue on to his workplace

The hotel we stayed at for four days and three nights

Didn't I label this post "Official Stuff"? 

HOW I SPENT MY FIRST FEW HOURS IN JEJU
09:00 a.m. - Landed at Jeju International Airport

09:30 a.m. - Got on the Limousine Bus that would take me to the KAL Hotel in Seogwipo

11:30 a.m. - Arrived at KAL Hotel, and noticed I was the only ETA around. Not surprising, since conference was slated to begin at 2:00 p.m.

11:35 a.m. - Hailed a cab to drive me to the nearest Angel-in-us Cafe, which just happened to be 5 minutes away (\3,400)

I arrived extremely early for conference

11:45 a.m. - Read my Bible at Angel-in-us while eating honey bread with green tea ice cream and sipping on a hot caramel macchiato with whip (or "whipping cream" as they say here). Savored the post-flight and pre-conference peace I was afforded in my little corner at the cafe. Resisted the incredible urge to fall asleep due to exhaustion.

01:45 p.m. - Hailed another cab to drive me back to the hotel. Felt legit hailing all kinds of cabs from point A to point B when the distance is a mere 5-minutes.

01:50 p.m. - Discovered that the conference time had been moved to 2:30 p.m. due to late arrivals. Grabbed my Fulbright ID badge and room keys from the lobby and headed to the 8th floor, where I power-napped.

02:25 p.m. - Rolled out of my super comfortable bed and mentally pumped myself up for the presentations up ahead!

Okay, fine, I traveled with a backpack AND a purse...This is still a huge improvement from having a carry-on bag

How many cups of caramel macchiatos have I consumed here in Korea?!?!

The perfect recipe for a quiet, peaceful afternoon to myself!

After the Conference welcome remarks and presentations, I had dinner and wandered around the hotel grounds with Gabrielle and Hope.

Even though it was dark, the three of us could still feel how beautiful the place was. We plopped down on the fake grass and just took the time to share how our respective experiences have been since we saw each other at Fall Conference. We shared our highs and lows and punctuated the end of our walk by praying for each other. I was hungry for this kind of fellowship, and am extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to visit with these two young women tonight.

Arriving At Jungwon University in Goesan

The huge welcome sign that greeted us on our way to Jungwon University. Those who saw the sign outside their
bus windows started cheering and clapping. 

I arrived in Korea at 5 this morning with no incident!

MY YEAR AS A U.S. AMBASSADOR STARTS NOW (AKA ON AN ALASKAN AIRLINE PLANE)
Except for one small episode on my flight to LA which involved a Spanish-speaking mother of two who had taken my assigned seat and was refusing to look at my boarding pass as proof. I tried to see if I could then switch seats with her, but she was also refusing to let me see her boarding pass for some reason. Thus, I was the awkward person standing right in the middle of the aisle, apologetic in barring everyone else's way to their seats as I attempted to explain the situation to her in Spanish. A woman sitting behind the lady tried to help me help her understand but in vain. As more and more passengers came on board, I had less and less room and became more and more stuck. At this point, I was sweating in my gray UW sweatshirt, and growing panicky and indignant. It took the flight attendants a while to notice my dilemma. I was able to flag one of them and, luckily, he was able to more assertively plead my case with the lady. Because of her two children, the lady still wouldn't give up my aisle seat, which I had quickly gathered. I explained to the flight attendant that I was willing to switch seats early on, but she refused to let me see her boarding pass, thus, preventing me from making the switch. The flight attendant nearly had to pry her boarding pass from her before she gave it to him. By the time she understood that the seat really was assigned to me, and that I was willing to make the switch, I had been standing for nearly 20 minutes, with every other passenger on board seated, and just looking on. A few gave me sympathetic glances, which actually helped me keep my composure and remember the reason why I was on the plane in the first place.

I stomped all over my frustration when I remembered where I was headed and what my future role was going to be. I was very glad I did.

The flight attendant offered me "free drinks" during the flight as an apology for the inconvenience. There was no where else to stow my carry-on but some folks promptly rearranged their luggage to make room for mine. Once we arrived in LA, a man quickly got up and started a chain made up of folks who ensured that I got my luggage handed to me from the back of the plane. Unexpected acts of kindness like these really helped pump me up for the rest of my journey!

THE FULBRIGHT ORIENTATION COORDINATORS GREETING US AT THE AIRPORT
I flew with Alaska Airlines from Seattle, WA to LA, CA and then switched to Asiana Airlines to fly out from LA to Seoul. Once in Seoul, a team of Orientation Coordinators (OCs) met me along with 77 other ETAs at Incheon Airport and bused us to Jungwon University in Goesan, a county in North Chungcheong Province. The OCs wore neon green Fulbright T-shirts at the airport and were strategically placed throughout the place to help welcome us and guide our exit out of the building.

I believe there are a total of 7 Orientation Coordinators, including Ashlee, who is the Chief Orientation Coordinator.

They were a very organized bunch. Immediately we were given name tags and ETA numbers (I'm ETA #5 out of 80), room keys, an electronic card that allows us access to food in the cafeteria and entrance into the building, as well as our first weekly stipend of 70,000 won (roughly $70). From reading the ETA Handbook they had given us, I was actually expecting around $49, but I suppose cost of living has increased between now and then.

Either way, I was quite pleased.

Two buses took 40 ETAs each and two big trucks hauled our stuff right behind us to Goesan, where we would be staying for the 6-week Orientation.

JUNGWON UNIVERSITY, THE MARBLE MANSION
Once in Goesan, the sight of Jungwon University loomed over us, and many were quite impressed with the big school. Compared to the UW-Seattle campus, however, Jungwon is very small.

Jungwon University in Goesan, (aka the "Marble Mansion"). Taken during a campus tour with one of our RAs

Jungwon University sits in the middle of nowhere. This is a view of the field, hills, and mountains that surround it.

By a quick estimate, it is probably the same size as the Health and Sciences building. The university is a neat stack of mostly gray buildings and is immediately surrounded by a wide field, and by nature and mountains off in the distance. The grayness of the building matched the sky. I have been describing the weather here to friends and family back home as being a cross between Seattle's norm of overcast and rainy and the Philippines' humidity.

MEETING MY ROOMMATE AND MOVING TO OUR ROOM
My roommate is a very sweet young lady named Tara. We settled into our new home, which is a very small but cozy triplet.

Jungwon University, Room #1017. I share a small and narrow triple bedroom with one other Fulbright ETA. 

So far, everything looks good except the fact that our air-conditioner doesn't work. Several other rooms have the same problem so the OCs and RAs have assured us that everything will be fixed soon.

We unpacked, took turns taking a shower, changed from our sweaty attires, and went downstairs for our first meeting as a group. To help combat jetlag, the OCs had set up activities designed to prevent us from crawling to our new beds and sleeping our first day away in Korea.

This is Anthony, the OC that I corresponded with the most regarding all things of concern while I was still in the States.
Thank you for your prompt and thorough responses, and for your patience with me!

JUNGWON CAMPUS TOUR
One of these activities was a campus tour with our RAs. We practically circled this vast building, got lost in its many halls (our tour guide/RA got lost with us), and saw where the mart and pool were. Here are some photos I took:

More of Jungwon University!

The full schedule on our first day in Korea worked. I was exhausted by the end of today! Imagine me sleeping as early as 9 p.m. That's how utterly beat I was. My roommate a wall away from me was out, too.

Flying From Seattle, Washington to Seoul, South Korea to Start Fulbright!

My family, the ones who will keep me going long after any journey of mine has
ended. They chilled at the airport with me until the realization of my impending
departure got to be too hard to handle emotionally. 

My precious days with my family and friends flew by irrespective of my level of preparedness.

LAST QUARTER OF COLLEGE
I had presented at the UW's 21st Annual Pacific Northwest McNair/EIP/GO-MAP Research Conference, wrapped up the CHID Focus Group I was facilitating, flown to the East Coast to participate in the 7-day Rutgers English Diversity Institute (REDI) Program, flown back to the West Coast to take my Finals after missing a whole week of classes, wrapped up my year as President of Sigma Tau Delta, attended two graduation ceremonies, applied for my visa and rushed multiple critical documents to the Institute of International Education (IIE) office in New York to finalize my Fulbright grant, written my McNair research paper, and helped inspect the rooms of over 50 of my own residents, and close down Haggett Hall for the academic year - and I had done all of this back-to-back within the span of a little under a month.

While it is not unusual to be busy during one's senior year, I had wrapped up my undergraduate career with 255 credits (75 credits over the 180 required to graduate), had done so without taking a single break from coursework for four years (including Summer Quarters), and had "finished strong" (my mantra this past quarter) with a 3.92/4.00 cumulative GPA.

Needless to say, I was fried. I looked forward to home and to being able to recuperate there without concerns over speech outlines, paper drafts, book editions, room condition reports, medical bills and post office receipts, and new officers application forms intruding upon what would amount to be an extremely short two-week summer vacation sandwiched between my graduation from college and orientation in Korea.

With Dr. Gene Kim, Associate Director of the
EIP/McNair Programat the UW. This man is one
of my best mentors and fiercest advocates at the
University. You can tell this based on his
enthusiasm as we pose with my 2013 Dean's
Medal in the Humanities.After the photo was taken, he
borrowed the medal, poppedout of the room, and, later,
was heard going from office tooffice showing it off to his
colleagues. Who can not miss this man?

MY TWO-WEEK VACATION
During this time, I managed to say goodbye to most of my academic mentors at UW, guest speak at a class on campus, do four photo shoots, enjoy a graduation picnic my family put together for me, entertain a handful of lovely friends who were able to attend said picnic, receive prayers over Skype from a couple of other friends, meet up with a few of my now-former residents who insisted on seeing me before I left, appreciate a thoughtful and tear-jerking video my sister made me for a graduation present, delightfully navigate my first-ever smart phone (another graduation present), go on a hike with and cook a Thai dinner for my best friend, learn Hangul, (the Korean alphabet), accompany my mom many times to the grocery store, and pack up a year's-worth of personal belongings in two suitcases, one carry-on, and one backpack.

HEADING TO THE AIRPORT
Before I knew it, Mama was driving me to Sea-Tac airport, Christy looked as if she was fighting back tears while at the same time trying to induce it in others, and Emily - well, Emily was actually the most well-composed out of the three of them - though she did jump and fly about inside the building, clapping her hands, and laughing gleefully at no one in particular. Her happy countenance inspired many smiles at the airport and led me to wonder whether she understood that I was going away, for a whole year.

KEEPING EMILY IN THE LOOP
I had tried to communicate this fact to her many times, saying, "Ling, Mimi going Korea! Yes! Me going! No, no, no, you can't come. Only me, okay?" She would look temporarily crest-fallen until I reminded her that she could always google "Incheon Airport." Remembering that we had a layover there a couple years ago on our way to the Philippines, she would smile and nod and confirm, "Mimi going Korea!" "Yes, yes, Mimi going Korea..." Despite how oblivious Emily seemed to my very obvious, impending departure, I know that she processes a lot more than we usually give her credit for. I know that she knows.

SAYING OUR GOODBYES
Internally and externally, I was the calmest in the family. I had forecasted earlier that there was a 70 percent chance of my mother crying, and so I steeled myself in order to avoid being swept up by the currents of her and/or Christy's emotions. I resolved, (much like I did before viewing The Passion of the Christ and Les Miserables), that I would reign in my emotions until such a time when I could express them very far away from the sight of other mortals, especially my family.

Mama and me before and after she started to realize that I was really for realz going. Everything she did for me and with
me in the three months leading up to my departure was done to show me the utmost love and care. The only reason
why I'm not also crying in the second picture is because, unlike her,I still haven't realized that I'm for realz going. 

As the eldest daughter in a family that immigrated to the U.S., I have tried to take after my mother's lead in modeling strength, especially during critical times. I figured that my presence needed to be a source of quiet strength since, according to Christy in her 20-minute video, my absence will be quite "loud."

I have so much to look forward to in this upcoming year in Korea, but I also have so much to return to back in the States.