Typhoon, typhoon!

Hello!

A typhoon has come to Korea!

This was my status post on Facebook:

Poor Okinawa! I've experienced some of their typhoons. The island is well-prepared, but they say this typhoon's the strongest they've experienced in 50 years. Now, it's heading to Korea, and even changing the path of the Taiwanese typhoon! It's so strong! ...Actually, hurricanes/typhoons excite me. ^^ BRING IT ON, TYPHOON BOLAVEN! *GAME FACE*

It arrived early this morning (earlier in the southern reaches of the country), and while I can tell the sun is shining brightly behind the thick clouds, a fine and very windy mist of raindrops has been falling the entire time. The wind is warm, very warm. All the people in town were walking as best as they could with their umbrellas, fighting the wind for control. I simply gave up and carried my umbrella at my side. I think it's starting to get damaged from earlier rainy days, and I would rather have a somewhat functional umbrella if the rain gets heavier later on today.

I really has been a long time since I experienced a "typhoon." If we assume that there was one in Okinawa every year I lived there, then the last time I lived through one would be 12 years ago. When I lived in D.C. there were hurricanes that brushed by or swept through. I think they're the same thing, just different names.

...Wow, the wind has picked up. If it's this windy here, I wonder how it feels on the southern coast (and Jeju) where the eye of the storm is nearer....

Anyway, it is Tuesday and I am at school. However, there are no students here. Why? Because of the typhoon warnings. So, why am I here? To be honest, I'm not sure. Another TaLK scholar in my area posted something on Facebook along the lines of, "the teachers have to be here to 'protect the school'." ...Yes, well, that's all well and good. I wasn't expected to work today anyway. Yesterday was some sort of school (only my school) holiday, so I enjoyed a lovely four-day weekend. This week, I don't have to teach (there won't be any after-school programs this week), but I am required to come to school and... prepare for next week? That's fine, too. I really want to get a lot done this week. Personal things, I mean. Like, making videos and posting them on Youtube. It's been ages since I did that. I'm really not turning into the vlogger I intended to be. I think part of it is motivation. I've settled for writing here on Blogger, but I've been filming since I arrived in Korea. What's the point in keeping the videos to myself? I should just post them, editing or no editing! Right?

I also want to study more Korean. Some opportunities have arisen where I have a better chance of speaking Korean on a daily basis. For this reason, I should study more often. I just finished level 2 of TTMIK's lessons, but I know I could be at 4 or 5 by now if I had worked harder. Oh well, that's what this week is for! I'll start today after writing here.

Another thing. I'm not sure if Blogger is erasing all my indentations and new paragraph spacings after I publish, but it seems that way on this school computer. Since I'm in Korea, when I log into Blogger, everything is in Korean. I'm not quite sure if my own view of this blog is a glitch or if it's that way on every computer. I guess I can check when I get home.

Let the work begin!

'Til next time, -Shirby

New Name & Weekend Fun

Did I tell you I got a Korean name? Some of the teachers at my school decided for me. I told them what my English name means, and they created a name based on the same meaning. My Korean name is 어 소 현, Eo So Hyeon.

I just realized this, but if I moved to many places and learned many languages, I could collect all kinds of new names. The thought is kinda inspiring.

Ah, so this last weekend was as tiring as it was fun. Let's start with Friday evening. I visited a Korean friend at his shop and showed him the video of me paragliding. He was really jealous, so we agreed that if he could plan a paragliding trip, I'd go with him and whoever else wanted to join. I told him I was going to Seoul the next day and needed to go to bed as early as I could.

Why? I signed up for a trip to theYeosu World Expo which was hosted by Talk To Me In Korean and ROKING Korea (not sure about the spelling, sorry). It was my choice to meet the group in Yeosu (almost the southern-most point in Korea), or join the team in Seoul and travel with them. I decided on the latter, and that meant catching a 3:50 AM train to Seoul from my town. Two hours later, I arrived in Seoul and took the subway to the meeting spot (about 30-40 mins away). At some point, I was confused about a subway transfer and decided to take a taxi in order to avoid being late. The taxi driver was a funny old man who spoke a bit of English and had been to Atlanta... or at least I think he'd been there. When I told him I was American, he kept saying "Atlanta!"  This guy was very kind and patient with my attempts at speaking to him in Korean. When we arrived at Ewha Woman's University, I wasn't quite sure where to get dropped off, but asked him to stop anyways. "Here?" he asked in Korean. Just then, we both saw a foreigner walk by the taxi. "Oh, yes, here. There's a foreigner," he said and chuckled.

I eventually called out to the foreigner and together we searched for the meeting spot. With the help of a couple phone calls and recalling directions from the email, we found it. It was really great seeing everyone meet like that. Seeing the TTMIK staff and cameramen... oh yeah. KBS came with us on the trip to film the adventure.

It takes 4 hours by bus to reach Yeosu from Seoul. We stopped twice on the way there: once for bathroom breaks, and a second time for lunch (which was some pretty tasty bibimbap!).  The entire trip was a sunny one, but once we reached the expo clouds covered the sky and it occasionally sprinkled with rain.

This wasn't just a site-seeing trip. We (100 of us) were put into teams of 5 and given various missions to complete. One was a creative picture-taking mission, and the other involved collecting 10 stamps from any random location at the Expo. Each team member had at least one person using KakaoTalk to send and receive info about each team's progress. Once we arrived at the Expo, we took some group photos, received final instructions, and were set loose to explore the various pavillions.

Oh... yes, so the cameramen. They followed various teams around, filming their progress and asking questions. They even interviewed some of us during the bus ride. ...Including me. I'm not sure when the program will air, but I hope I can see it.... lol.

After running around the Expo for 5 or 6 hours, everyone met up again by the buses for award announcements and final pictures. We even did a few chants, cheers, and poses for KBS. No, my team didn't win anything, but, really, just participating in the missions gave us a chance to really see a little bit of everything at the Expo. It was a really great opportunity, and a wonderful experience. Plus, free t-shirts are awesome! : D

We were allowed to stay at the Expo (and find our own transportation back home), but I decided to travel back with the buses. We didn't arrive in Seoul until 10 or 11 PM. By then, I just focused on finding a place to stay before the subways shut down for the night, and resting up for the next early train back home.

On Sunday, I made a rare trip to E-Mart, feasted on a cheese bulgogi hot-dog and 2 scoops of ice cream, did some grocery shopping, and got stared at by the other shoppers. Maybe I should visit there more often. They probably thought I was a brand new foreigner to Jecheon. Well, I was in the pots and pans section for awhile....

I'm going to try making a shepard's pie... or a pot pie. I'll tell you about it if it goes well. ...Or doesn't go well.

'Til next time,
-Shirby


::EDIT::  http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/shows/2012yeosuphotos/