First Day of Korean Language Classes & KAEC Site Visit

Today is a big day for two reasons:

1. We begin Korean language classes and
2. We are meeting Mrs. Jai Ok Shim, Executive Director of the Korean-American Educational Commission (KAEC), which operates the Fulbright Program here in Korea!

DRESS TO IMPRESS

Everyone was told to dress up in our nicest, most business-looking attires today (no skirts above the knee, if wearing skirts also wear a pantyhose or tights, and absolutely no cleavages and shoulders showing). Apparently shoulders are on the same level as cleavages here! We were only required to really dress up for Mrs. Shim's visit, but since it was also the first day of Korean language classes, most ETAs decided to dress up for the whole day. 

Fun! Fun! Korean is the title of our textbook and workbook. We also have a blue workbook for practicing our writing.

FIRST DAY OF KOREAN LANGUAGE CLASSES
Our Korean language classes run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (4 hours each day) and are usually followed by teaching workshops. We have two teachers: a man and a young woman. I like the man better because he talks to us in slow-to-normal Korean while he teaches, while the young woman doesn't - usually just making a lot of awkward noises like, "Oh!" or "Ohhh" or "Ohhhh..." or "OHHhhh" or some kind of variety of "Oh" applied to basically every situation, which can get old pretty quickly. I think this annoys me because it doesn't seem natural. On the positive side,  I can tell that these two teachers coordinate very well because when the first teacher leaves, the second one picks up right where the first one left off lesson-wise. They definitely know what they're doing. 

We were told that our Korean language teachers are from some of the most prestigious universities from Korea. Kind of awesome. 

PREPARING OUR GREETING AND PRACTICING OUR BOWS
Before Mrs. Shim's arrival, the OCs reminded us what the appropriate, formal greeting to give her in Korean, and rehearsed with us how to give our 90 degree bows. I usually am seated at the very front of the room, but, today, the front was already taken up. I found myself seated in the middle right, closest to where Mrs. Shim would be entering the room.

Even though I knew she wouldn't specifically remember me, the fact that I would be one of the first faces she'd see made me feel a bit self-conscious about my greeting and bow. Fortunately when the time came, everyone else's voices drowned out my own as we all pretty-impressively greeted her with a very polite "Annyeong ha shimnikka."

MRS. SHIM'S WORDS OF WISDOM
The OCs, especially Anthony, had really thought-provoking things to say. When he finally introduced Mrs. Shim, she joked that he had said everything she had to say and that we didn't need her at the Opening Ceremony after all. This was completely untrue however. Mrs. Shim, with her over 30 years of experience working with Fulbright, had so much to offer us in terms of practical wisdom during our stay in Korea.

One of her most important piece of advice to us as ETAs was: Do Not Compare Yourself and Your Situation to Those of Other ETAs.

This definitely resonated with me as someone who has often been plagued by the crippling effects of comparing myself and my achievements to my peers in an academic setting. Knowing how competitive I am in basically all areas of life, I know that I will need this piece of advice to apply even in this setting, and will be making a concerted effort to avoid devaluing my experiences.

Over the years, I have slowly but surely learned to deploy the amazing powers of counting my blessings, of being grateful to help attenuate the frustrations that come with not being first, not being the best, not being perfect.

Mrs. Shim's talk reminded us that we are all unique, and that our assigned locations, schools, administrations, co-teachers, students, and homestay families will all be different, too. This, of course, makes a lot of sense, but it helps to have someone verbalize it.

From Day 1, I have had the sense that we're in very good hands here.