Week 2

Time for rest and relaxation.

These past two weeks have been pretty stressful for everyone, and so Mrs. Shim, the executive director of the Fulbright program, and the rest of the Fulbright office, organized a beautiful vacation trip to the beach city of Donghae. It was one of the prettiest places I have ever seen because it not only had a beach, but also mountains. The experience taught me many things, including: 

1.  Korean food is actually probably the best food I have ever eaten! It is only cafeteria food I have to worry about . . .
2. I don't know if I'll ever understand Buddhism, but I'm going to try!
3. The Sea of Japan is not actually the Sea of Japan, but the East Sea. 
4. Sleeping on the floor and sitting on mats around a low table to eat, both traditions of Korea, is actually really comfortable.
5.  Mountain hiking is super fun, and I'm going to have to look up the best mountains to hike during my time here.

On Friday night I sat around on the boardwalk with other Fulbrighters, listening to music and talking. It was gorgeous outside! Every store was selling fireworks and even late into the night there were many people on the beach setting off fireworks. When we went to the shore you could see so many lights in the distance--I was with Jihye, our Korean RA, who told me that they were lighthouses, but a lot of things can get lost in translation with Jihye, so they may have just been boats. I think Japan was still too far away to truly see lighthouses! It was beautiful, though. :) A group of Fulbrighters also started a dance party with some Koreans, and that was really fun to see. On Saturday, I went on one of the most intense hikes I've ever been on to climb to this old fortress. It was terrifying, but beautiful. We also went to some waterfalls and then hung out at the foot of the waterfalls, sitting on rocks and dipping our feet in the water for a while.

I wish I had more time to describe the weekend that I've had, but we just got back and there is still a lot going on tonight! My life is about to get really intense--Camp Fulbright, an English camp for students in 5th grade through 9th grade, starts tomorrow. During Camp Fulbright I have to teach three lessons. My first lesson is on Wednesday and two the following week, but I have a lesson plan due on Tuesday and will still have four hours of Korean language class a day. There will also be lots of times where I am supposed to hang out with campers! This vacation was very nice, but now I worry that I won't be able to get everything done.

Please check out my pictures on facebook! Love you! :)