나주, where are you?

The day has finally come: We received our permanent school site placements. Staying with Fulbright tradition, we had an elaborate ceremony hosted by the Fulbright office. As our Orientation Coordinators described, this would be our "dress rehearsal" for Departure Day. On August 19h, our new Principals and Co-Teachers will come to retrieve us.

Since first impressions are huge in Korea, we were required to dress up for the placement ceremony in preparation for Departure Day. We were to use everything we had learned in both our Korean classes and our cultural workshops so we could make a good first impression on our new co-workers.

Our names were called according to our geographic locations, and our school placements were also announced. The whole ceremony only lasted half hour, but standing up there seemed like eternity. But finally, after much trepidation, my name was called.

Drum roll please......

I will be living in....

Naju-si, Jeollanam-do!

As Fulbright tradition, the name of every ETA is placed on a map. My friend Taylor and I are putting our names on Naju!

The locals call it Naju (or 나주). Located in the southwest province of Jeollanam-do, my quaint town boasts a humble population of 100,000. Although it is a suburb of Gwangju (population 1.4 million), Naju has created its own distinct identity as the leading producer of pears. The prospect of living in a city of 100,000 will take some getting used to-I grew up on a street thats was home to 4,000 people. Yet I have three other ETAs located in Naju, as well as another 12 or so ETAs located less than an hour away. Not to mention, I am a mere three hours from Seoul by train.

This is the Jeollanam-do province! Jim McFadden, Grace Huntley and I, (pictured first row) will all be in Naju. Taylor Kennedy (third from left, back row) will be in Naju also.

I am pointing to my town, Naju! As a point of reference, Korea is approximately the size of Indiana. This year, there are 73 new ETAs and 30 extendees, making the total amount of Fulbrighters in Korea this year 103. I will have lots of friends to visit!

A closer look at the map. The names are hard to make out, but my name is on one of those green stickers. The adjacent orange stickers are located in Gwangju, a mere 20 minutes away.

And another map. For those of you that don't know, I LOVE maps. Naju is the turquoise dot.

While I am excited to gobble down on delicious pears for a year, I am equally as excited to start teaching at Geumseong High School, an all boys high school. While most ETAs teach alone at their schools, I have the fortunate situation to be teaching alongside ETA and friend Jim McFadden. Our school is a private middle school and high school located on the same campus. Jim will be teaching lower school, and I will be teaching upper school. The prospect of eating lunch everyday with a friendly face will be comforting, especially since my fellow teachers will be speaking in Korean.

After our placement ceremony, our class took our Korean teachers out to dinner. Luckily, we just completed our lesson on ordering food. So 15 minutes later, a very frustrated waiter listened as 12 Americans tried to say "I want 2 orders of bibimpap and soup please." Utilizing all we had learned in class, we described our food, told our teachers where we will be living (in the future tense!) and told the waiters all about ourselves.

Go Fulbright ETA Beginner Class #4!

Back Row: Sean Sullivan, Jennifer Bryer, John Keith,

Top Row: Matt Miller, Me, Amy Larson, Eileen Ryan,

Middle Row: Kim Hye Sun, Tre Su Jeon,

Bottom Row: Corianne Etheredge, Grace Huntley, Elizabeth Lyons

Enjoying Korean cuisine with my buddy John. I even ordered it in Korean!

While I know where I will be living and what I will be teaching, I still do not know about my host family. Our home stays are arranged through our school sites, so now that we are confirmed at our specific schools, we will be put in contact with our families. Usually, the host family has a student who attends the school. It is not uncommon to have your host brother or sister in one of your classes. So for now, I have not met my host family. That being said, I still do not have my permanent address or telephone number. Once we meet our principal and co-teacher, we will be given a cell phone. Once that happens, I will make sure to post that information for those that wish to give me a jingle or send me a package. :)

Although placement day was exciting, we're still not out of the woods yet. We still have two more weeks of orientation, more teaching seminars, a Korean final, and a 5 minute speech in Korean! Yet soon enough, myself, Jim, Grace, and Taylor, self proclaimed as the "Naju Crew,"will leave the safety of orientation for bigger and better things. Stay tuned for more adventures from Pearville!