ETA Conference

This past weekend was the first ETA conference of the year. It was a four day extravaganza held in Gyongju, the first capital of Korea. The city itself was at one time the largest in East Asia, but most of it was destroyed during Japanese invasions and now it is home to about 300,00 people. I traveled with some of the other Cheonan ETAs by train to our destination on the southeast side of the country (we live in the northwest). Our ride was about four hours, but it was an exciting ride because at about every stop on the way at least one or two of our friends joined us on the train.

The whole group arrived at the Commodore Hotel and was greeted by Mrs. Shim, the director of Fulbright Korea. Our workshop included small group discussions about lesson plans, extracurricular activities, home stay issues and our overall experiences so far. We also had large group presentations from other ETAs about working with students outside of class, incorporating the arts into our ESL class and ideas for winter break.

The conference was a great opportunity to catch up with friends and discuss our experiences so far. I didn't realize how much I missed having extensive conversations in English or drinking at a bar filled with my friends. The conference allowed us to work and play. Following the workshop on Saturday some friends and I rented scooters and rode around town with a bunch of kids half of our age.

Throughout the weekend we were able to talk about some of the uncomfortable situations we have encountered and share many entertaining stories. It was really comforting to share stories and hear that the majority of my peers are having similar struggles as I am. Most of the stories either begin or end with the phrase, "only in Korea."

On Sunday, we traveled around Gyongju by bus from nine to five. We visited temples, ancient tombs and saw many traditional Korean artifacts. We learned that many of the sights and artifacts were replicates because the originals were destroyed by the Japanese. This was sad news, but we still tried our best to appreciate the artifacts for what they represented. Unfortunately for the person sitting next to me on the bus, I did not do well riding up and down the mountain on windy roads.

The conference concluded with a night full of storytelling and my first gin and tonic in Korea. Following a bike ride on Monday morning, we packed up our bags and headed back to the train station.