Yippee!! Great News!! Miss Avery has been accepted to participate in the Korea Society's 2007 Summer Fellowship in Korean Studies. The program is part of the Korea Society's mission to allow teachers firsthand experience of Korea in order to introduce Korean culture and history to their students. It also helps teachers collect relevany materials and educational resources to enable them to teach effectively about Korea.

Miss Avery was chosen from over 100 teachers nationwide to participate in this fully funded, 17 day experience in South Korea from June 18th to July 5th. She will participate in an "intensive worshop" consisting of lectures at Korea University in Seoul, an opportunity to teach English to a class of fifty Korean students as well as an extensive field trip experience throughout Korea. Miss Avery will be joined there by educators from New Zealand and Australia.

I'll let you know more about my journey to Korea as the summer approaches!

Well, my Korea journey is less than TWO weeks away!! I'm busy, busy, busy these days finishing up the school year and packing eveything needed to take with me. Korea is in their summer season and the weather will be very hot and humid. So I'm making sure I take clothes that are light and wrinkle free, plus some rain gear for the rains that will come as Korea is also entering their monsoon season. Below are some highlights of my upcoming trip, I have taken off of my itinerary...

• Teaching an English lesson on American culture at Daeil Foreign Language High School in Seoul. Thanks 8 Yellow for helping me out with this lesson!
• Studying about Korean History, Culture, Society and Language at Korea University in Korea's capital city of Seoul.
• Experiencing Korean Culture with the Yoo Family (www.yoofamily.com)
• Visiting the Demilitarized Zone, the site of the division of North and South Korea since the end of the Korean War
• Visiting Gyeong-ju, the 1,000 year capital of Korea during the Silla period starting in 57 BCE  and today an open-air cultural museum.  We will be visiting the Bulguksa Temple and Seukguram Grotto as well as Tumuli Pavilion in downtown Gyeong-ju.
• Exploring Namsan, the mountains south of Gyeong-ju, filled with Buddhist temples and monasteries, stone pagodas and Buddhas, rock-cut figures, pavilions, royal tombs and the remains of mountain fortresses and palaces of the Silla Kings.
• Visiting Hwasung Fortress in Gongju, the capital of ancient Korea during the Baekje Kingdom, in 475 AD.
• Visiting Haeinsa Buddhist Temple, in the Gaya Mountain in Hapcheon-gun region in South Gyeongsang Province, one of Korea's most important temples and home to the Triptaka Koreana-81,340 woodblock prints of the Buddhist scriptures completed in 1251 AD during the Koryo Kingdom.
• Observing a Social Studies class at Jungrang Middle School in Seoul

Two days before takeoff and I thought I'd share some information on The Republic of Korea......


National name: Taehan Min'guk

• President: Roh Moo Hyun (2003)
• Prime Minister: Han Duck Soo (2006)
• Land area: 37,911 sq mi (98,189 sq km)
• Population (2006 est.): 48,846,823; life expectancy: 77.0 years
• Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Seoul, 10,287,847 (city proper)
  Other large cities: Pusan, 3,504,900; Inchon, 2,479,600 (part of Seoul metro. area); Taegu, 2,369,800
• Monetary unit: Won
• Languages: Korean, English widely taught
• Ethnicity/race: homogeneous (except for about 20,000 Chinese)
• Religions: no affiliation 46%, Christian 26%, Buddhist 26%, Confucianist 1%, other 1%
• Literacy rate: 98% (2003 est.)
• Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $965.3 billion; per capita $20,400. Arable land: 17%. Agriculture: rice, root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit; cattle, pigs, chickens, milk, eggs; fish. Labor force: 23.53 million; agriculture 6.4%, industry 26.4%, services 67.2%. Industries: electronics, telecommunications, automobile production, chemicals, shipbuilding, steel. Natural resources: coal, tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower potential. Exports: $288.2 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): semiconductors, wireless telecommunications equipment, motor vehicles, computers, steel, ships, petrochemicals. Imports: $256 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery, electronics and electronic equipment, oil, steel, transport equipment, organic chemicals, plastics. Major trading partners: China, U.S., Japan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia (2004).
• International disputes: Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; Liancourt Rocks (Take-shima/Tok-do) are disputed with Japan.

Hi From Seoul, Korea!! After a 14 hour plane journey from New York up over Canada, Alaska, and down over Siberia, Russia and the East Sea I've safely arrived in Seoul, South Korea.

After we checked in, our group took a a walk along the Chonggyechon River where locals come to relax and put there feet in the water to refresh themselves on a hot day.

We made our way to the downtown area of Seoul and had dinner in a Korean restaurant. We all had Bibimbap, which is the leading health food in Korea, filled with bean sprouts, turnips, greens and slivers of beef and then mixed with gochujang (red pepper paste), sesame oil and white rice.

You @ Seoul


Today was our first full day in Seoul. We began the day with a journey through the Seoul subway system to Gyeongbokgung Palace. This was the main royal palace for the Emperors of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty.

Afterwards, the group went to have lunch in a Korean restaurant. We ate “Korean style” which is seated on cushions on the floor around low tables. We enjoyed pork dumplings and cold noodle soup (and kimchi of course).
After lunch we toured the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art which has a large collection of traditional Korean art such as Paintings and Calligraphy, Ceramics, Metal works and Buddhist Art. I loved the Celadon Pottery and the Buddhist Paintings and Buddhist Sculptures the most!
The day ended with a opening session dinner at the Korean Restaurant, Daejangeum were we had an opportunity to meet the educators from Australia and New Zealand. There are over 40 of us so the table was the longest I ever sat at! And the food was amazing! Exotic eats of the evening-octopus and jellyfish cucumber wrap. Yum!

Korean Studies Workshop 2007

Today we had our opening session at Korea University. We were welcomed by the Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies as well as the Vice president of the Korea Foundation. They wished us all a wonderful learning experience over the next 14 days. Today's seminars covered lessons on the History and Art of Korea. We also took a tour of the University's museum and campus. We ended the day with a lovely welcoming dinner hosted by the Vice President of Korea University.

Today we headed off to Korea University for morning seminar on the relationship between North and South Korea. Korea has been a divided country since the end of World War II, and Professor Kim Sung-han shared with us his insights on how the North and South of Korea can move forward in peace and unity. Later in the morning and again in the afternoon we all had a fun time studying the Korean language and Hongul, the Korean alphabet. The Korean language I learned is is the 10th most spoken language in the world. Check out my Korean Language 101 link and give it a try!
In the afternoon I had the best experience so far on the trip. We visited Dae Il Foreign Language High School. My student guide and host for the day and evening was Shirley and she was a very sweet young lady. She gave me a tour of the school and then I was given the opportunity to teach a class of 35 Korean students for 50 minutes. It was so exciting for me to be there with the students as I shared with them all that my 8 Yellow students had written and drawn about their favorite things. I next gave the students and opportunity to draw and share their about what they enjoy doing in Korea.


















Here's what I found out.....

• Korean Teeanagers Like:
• to cook La Myun (A traditional Korean spicy noodle dish)
• to sing in Noe-Rae-Bangs
• going to the movies (Secret Sunshine is a big hit now; Harry Potter to text message and call friends on their cell phones
• to use Samsung products! (Samsung is a Korean Business that makes cameres, PDA's etc.)
• to ski (Korea is 70% mountains).
• to eat Rayeon noodles for snacks
• *to travel
  *talk with friends
  *take pictures with their digital cameras
  
  
  
  
  
  
• to read
• watch handsome or beautiful entertainers
• conduct science experiments
• play golf
• sleep (because they study a lot)
• have good times with their big families
• watch movies on their PMP's (i station).
• going to museums
• watch Harry Potter movies
• to study
• play basketball
  

After the teaching sessions I went over Shirley's house for a memorable dinner with the Han family. I took my shoes off and entered their lovely apartment. We had a delicious homemade dinner that Shirley's grandmother had been preparing all day-bibimbap, bulgogi (grilled beef) and kimchi (pickled vegetables) as side dishes. For dessert we had watermelon. After dinner, Shirley's younger sister Ashley played the piano for us and we talked about Korea and America and what we have in common and how we're different. They were very gracious hosts and I enjoyed my time with them so much and hated to go, but soon it was time for Shirley's dad to bring me back to the hotel. While aying goodbye in the hotel lobby, I knew that I had made some meaningful friendhips that day that I would never forget.