Korea Week 4

I spent most of this week still recovering from my illness L.  I wanted to be able to help out at the English camp starting on Wednesday, but wasn’t quite feeling 100% yet.  I took another day to rest and then joined the camp later on Thursday afternoon.

The camp ran for three days and included 28 students from Gyeongwon High School.  The camp was organized by some of the teachers at the school.  All of the students that participated in the camp had to first be recommended by a teacher and then apply and interview in order to be accepted.  The students were organized into four teams.  Each team was made up of seven students and created a team name.  The teams participated and worked together throughout the camp’s activities and lessons.  Each team also had one native English-speaking teacher and one university student helper assigned to it.  The university students chosen to help out at the camp are all English education majors at a nearby university.  I was supposed to help lead one of the teams, but since I was only able to be there for half of the time, one of the Korean English teachers stepped in to help instead. J 

The purpose of the camp was to expose students to educational and life experiences that they may not have had before.  The students had the chance to explore cultural and historic sites around their city, go to a dinosaur museum, and eat non-Korean food J.  It was an overnight camp so we stayed at a nature education center in a small village out in the countryside.  Here are some pictures from the camp and the surrounding countryside:

 

The main building of the nature education center

This used to be the village school and was built around 1900

Hello spider!

At the camp, students were in charge of cooking and cleaning up after themselves.  It was interesting to watch their curiosity – and clumsiness! – in the kitchen as they were learning to cook.  There was also time during the day to play in the river and one evening, a camp fire!  The students had a blast.  The camp fire was a first for most of them.  We toasted marshmallows and the students spent the time bonding and taking pictures.  When we arrived back at the school on Friday afternoon, each team of students then had to share their reflections of the camp with the group.  It was obvious that they formed strong bonds of friendship with each other and really enjoyed the experiences that the camp had to offer.  As high school students, most of their time is spent at the school studying.  I think this camp was a great opportunity for them to have their eyes and curiosities opened to the world around them.  It is always a special thing to see young students eager and curious to learn and experience new things.

On Sunday, Yeji and I will be heading to Seoul for a few days to explore the big city!  We’ll be taking the train up and staying through Tuesday.  After that I only have a few more days left in Korea before I head to Mongolia.  I will be in Mongolia for five days and will have the chance to visit some of my friends and former students from my time as a Peace Corps volunteer there.  It has been five years since I was last in Mongolia so most of my students are now university students!  It will be strange for me to see them as little adults J.  I am looking forward to it!