Friday, June 22, 2012

The List

So here is the official list of the things that I would like to do during my Fulbright year.  I will probably be adding and crossing things off as they are completed.  So in no particular order...

- Become a better teacher.  This is one of the most important goals that I have for this experience.  Ultimately, I would like to become a teacher here in the States and anything that will hone my skills as a teacher will be greatly welcomed.  I would love to be able to observe several teachers at my school and see the different styles and techniques that they use and then, of course, implement the styles that seemed successful.  If I am feeling really ambitious and inspired, I might try to do some actual research and maaaaybe try to write up an article or something but no promises.

- Learn the Korean language.  This is kind of a given, but I still want to put it down.  I am not really expecting to be fluent by the end of the year but I expect that I will be able to at least carry a semi-intelligent conversation and be able to get around on my own.

- Learn to cook Korean food.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I love food.  Eating it, cooking it, whatever.  I love (almost) all of it.  One of the most important parts of any culture is their food and being the good little cultural ambassador I am, I have to eat basically as much Korean food as possible.  Also, when I eventually return to the States, I would like to give everyone back home a nice authentic Korean meal.  I also might try to do something like offer American cooking community classes in the city I am in, but we'll see about that when I get there.

- Practice/Regain long lost photography skills.  So in high school, I was very interested in photography and took three classes of it.  Theresa, my older sister, kindly lent her digital camera and, in addition to that, I recently discovered that film is common in Korea and therefore I will be able to bring my long-neglected 35mm camera.

- Go climbing or bouldering on real rocks.  At camp, I have climbed pretty much everything that I can and it has been awesome.  I would love to be able to try and go climbing on a non man-made structure.

- Be as open to as many adventures and opportunities as I can!  In this upcoming year, I know that I am going to do all sorts of new and exciting things.  However, I want to basically cram as many adventures into this year as I can.  As most everyone knows (especially my London peers), I loathe just sitting around in a hotel or similar place when I could be outside exploring new areas and having adventures.  In college, I was intensely focused on my academics and oftentimes neglected the social and fun part of college.  In Korea, I would like to find a better balance of work and free time.

- Live a healthier and more active lifestyle.  This shouldn't be too terribly difficult (I'm hoping) as food in Korea tends to be significantly healthier from what I have heard.  Mostly a diet consisting of vegetables, fruit, seafood, and rice with very little dairy, sweets, and fats.  It's going to be hard going without cheese on a regular basis, but I'll try to survive.  Also, I am hoping to be more active and continuing to run even while school is in session (which usually causes me to lose my summer habit of running) and find other physical activities that I enjoy.

- Be more neat and tidy.  Honestly, this is probably the most ambitious goal of them all.  Anyone who has seen my room at home or has had the misfortune of driving with me in my car knows that I have troubles keeping things tidy.  Since I am going to be staying in the home of another family for the whole year, I urgently need to develop a habit of keeping things proper and in order.  Organization of my room or whatever isn't really the problem as I know exactly where everything is all the time, but it would be nice to not have it look like a bomb went off.

Okay I think that's it for now.  I'll probably think of more things I would like to accomplish later on but this is definitely a good start.  Oh by the way, I'm leaving in 12 days.  Yikes!  I still have to finish mastering the language (about half of the alphabet is pretty good but still have a bit to go on the other half) and I am finishing up getting money converted and all of that.

Next time I post, I am going to be heading to Korea so until then, 안녕

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