Welcome to Ochang!

A view of Ochang at night, from my home...
I want to share with you about where I am, what I’ve been up to, etc! I’ll break up the below sections into my city, homestay, school, free time, and some prayer requests. How long has it been since I came? Since it’s Sept 5th, it’s been exactly two months!


Cheongwon/Ochang
Ochang is a small town that is centered around a foreign investment zone. In 2001, the population here was just over 11,000. In the middle of town, there are about 5 large apartment complexes surrounded by bakeries, academies (music, taekwondo, English), restaurants, and convenience stores. We also have Ochang plaza, where there's a Homeplus (think Walmart), Baskin Robbins, KimbabChungook, etc... On the edge of Ochang are smaller apartments surrounded by shops, and tiny plots of farmland where peppers and other produce grow.

The most famous person to come out of Ochang is Jung Sungha, the guitar prodigy and youtube sensation. He would be my student if he hadn't transferred to a some private school on a scholarship... T^T

I live on a hill on the edge of town marked with farm plots. Our house is a 2-story building and it’s about a 15-20 minute walk to the center of town where my school is located.

To leave Ochang, I need to go to the main plaza, where there's a small bus terminal with destinations to Seoul, Daejeon, Incheon, and Suwon. To go anywhere else, it’s a 45 minute bus ride to Cheongju’s (the capital of 충청북도) bus terminal, where I hear buses go everywhere in Korea.

Homestay
I live with a family of 4: Grandma, Dad, Mom, and homestay brother Hoomin. My brother is a middle school 3rd grade student. My dad is an architect that specializes in building kindergartens, and the mother is a director of 2 local kindergartens that homestay dad probably built. The grandma stays home for the most part, goes to prayer meetings sometimes, and does housework here and there.

I live in a mansion by Korean standards. It has two stories, 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, kitchen, office/karaoke room, den, backyard, and an attic (which is pretty much a 3rd floor). The house boasts such amenities such as a ping-pong table, elliptical machine, pool table, drumset, my own washing machine… etc. There is also an artificial pine tree that stands between the winding staircase. Some pictures…

This is my bed. I was sleeping last night and woke up with a start because something was biting me. I threw off my blanket to see a long bug crawling on my bed. It was a centipede!!! It was about 5 inches long and looked a little like this.


My typical day looks like the following:
Weekdays
6:30am wake up and get dressed
7:15am eat breakfast with the homestay family
7:55am walk to school
8:15am arrive at school, insa to the Principle and Vice Principal
4:30pm leave school, walk home
5:00pm get home, relax
6:30pm eat dinner with the homestay family
7:15pm relax, shower, read, surf the web, prepare for school, maybe play soccer with Hoomin

Saturdays and Sundays vary. Lately, I’ve been visiting different churches around this area. On Saturdays, I will probably try to meet other ETAs or Korean friends.

The homestay dad is home once a week because of his work. He is currently working on a project in Gwangju that requires him to stay there. I understand that many Korean dads work so hard that they rarely get to stay at home with their family.

My mom and I often talk about culture in Korea and America. She is a business woman. She'll often tell me about business propositions, and her ideas for opening opportunities for her son; Which leads to the next part about my host bro.

Hoomin is awesome. He is an amazing soccer player. We watch youtube clips of Cristiano Ronaldo, with my host brother playfully commenting about Cristiano's footwork, “I can do that!”… and he really can. Sometimes I will hear him banging on the drums, and I will bring up my guitar and we’ll do an impromptu jam session in the attic. He often comes into my room just to listen to music and do his work here.



Hoomin is moving to America soon. He is going to California to learn about America, and get better at English. His mom wants him to go to an American university so that he’ll have an easier time getting a job in the future.

Grandma is an interesting person. I feel a strong connection with her in some ways, most likely because of our shared faith. She also has a burden for her family because they don’t attend church, or really have strong faith. She asked me to join her church so that the family would begin going together. I understand how she feels, but I am more concerned with maintaining and growing my own faith.

School
I teach at a school called Gakri Middle School in Ochang. There are about 1,000 students there, and I teach only the 1st and 3rd graders (7th & 9th grade USA). That means I am teaching about 730 students.

3rd grade classes are separated by sex and 1st grade classes are co-ed. Girls tend to be faster learners in English, and are more prepared for class. The guys just want to have fun, which I understand. An invisible line separates my 1st grade classes, with one side of the room being guys and the other, girls. They don’t talk to each other – it’s pretty funny.

I see the 3rd grade classes once a week, and 1st grade classes once every 2 weeks. There are so many students that I abandoned my original goal to learn students’ Korean names. There are some that I know… but learning all of them is unrealistic.



I have 4 co-teachers, 2 for each grade level. Park Hyang-mi and Lee Kyung-ok for the 3rd grader boys and girls, respectively. Yang-hi and Hye-kyung for the 1st grader high and low level, respectively. Every other week, I also teach with Choi Na-hye, a 2nd and 1st grade teacher. All of my co-teachers are women, and they are ALWAYS in my classes.

Culture: Slippers, Uniforms, and toothbrushes. In short, school is way different from school in the US. Students are responsible for maintaining school cleanliness, including the bathrooms – no janitors.

Students and teachers brush their teeth after lunch, which is what they learn in elementary. Students wear uniforms everyday. For the most part, classes are separated by gender. Oh yes – and students always bow to teachers and adults that they pass in the hallways or in class. Did I mention that everyone, including teachers, wear slippers at school… some of them wear slippers or go bare foot while playing basketball in the indoor gym! I’ve stepped on many toes while clumsily trying to drive to the basket (in running shoes), only to find students grimacing while clutching one foot and hopping up and down on the other. One last thing – students are LOUD. I can hear screams echoing down the hallways in passing period, and before classes. Most of the time it’s some girl’s shrieking voice…

The cool kids: There are always cool kids, with the boys and girls. The cool girls wear thick make up and act like princesses in class. The cool guys and taller, “handsome”, and sometimes smell like smoke.


Last Friday, 6 3rd grade boys beat up 7 2nd grade boys for… having a bad attitude and not bowing to them. Sure – boys will be boys – but the 2nd graders were hospitalized and had some bad bruises on their faces. A few nearly lost some teeth. All 6 culprits could be described as “cool” 3rd grade boys. After an investigation, it turns out the 2nd grade boys were doing the same thing to some 1st graders, and several will be transferred to other school.

I have to prepare a new lesson each week for students like this. So far, I’ve taught an introductory class about my rules and about me. I also taught a class on American body language and hand gestures… Perhaps next time, I’ll teach about American poetry, and writing poems.

Free Time
Church & Spiritual Life
Since moving to Ochang, I visited Grandma’s church and an English service in Cheongju. Both are Presbyterian churches. When I was in Seoul for Yonsei day, I visited Jubilee, which is a church for English speakers in Korea.

Coming from a Baptist background, I wanted to find a Baptist church out here as well, but it’s not easy. Nonetheless, I see being in Korea as an opportunity to think about what is important in God’s eyes. To rise above denominationalism…

I want to get grounded in a church soon, and for the right reasons. I’ll keep you posted on that as more develops.

In the mornings, I’m reading the MacArthur study Bible. The notes have been very helpful. Thank you 작은아버지!

Friends
So far, friends that I have made here are other English Teachers, my co-teachers, my host brother Hoomin, and acquaintances through teachers at my school. I haven’t really bonded on a deep level with many people here – which is in line with my original goal to come and have a lot of time for self-reflection.

Family in Korea
Because one of the goals of the Fbright program is to promote cultural exchange, they recommend establishing a strong bond with your host family. Thus, they said it’s best not to leave for about a month. It’s been nearly 3 weeks, and I can’t wait for the month to be over so that I can see other family members in Korea.

Future Plans
Something that I have considered is what I will do in 2010-2011… when my grant year here is over. Will it be graduate school? Will it be another year abroad? This year is sure to fly by, and I want to prepare adequately for whatever comes next.

Prayer Requests
1) Homestay relationships
2) School staff relationships
3) Being a GOOD teacher
4) Health…
5) Friends
6) CHURCH

Food
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full, grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.” - Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew