Summer Fellowship 2013

From June 25 - July 7 I will be learning and traveling in Korea on a Summer Fellowship sponsored by the Korea Society.  In April my superintendent e-mailed me from Korea, on his own fellowship with the Korea Society (You can read his blog at koreafellowship.wordpress.com). He highly recommended the program, and wanted to let me know that there was a trip for teachers in the summer.  Oh, and by the way, the application was due in one week, so don’t delay!

I hesitated briefly, but then went ahead with my application.  My travels outside of North America have been very Euro-Centric and comfortable:  Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Germany, and Iceland.  Asia, however, was a different matter in my mind.  I haven’t studied much Asian history and culture, and I can barely use chopsticks.

One of my goals as a teacher is to open my students’ minds to the world outside of Fairfax and Vermont, and I thought what kind of example I could set by embarking on this adventure.  So, I completed the application, and found out in early May that I was accepted and would be traveling with 39 other educators from across the United States.

I have done A LOT of background reading, and now have the basics of Korean history under control.  As much as possible, I’ve been eating with chopsticks and am fairly confident I won’t totally embarrass myself.  I have pored over the orientation and background materials and I’m pretty sure I won’t cause any diplomatic crises with any breaches of etiquette.

What I’m most looking forward to:

1. Getting the 14 hour flight from JFK to Seoul over with.
2. Spending an afternoon in a high school in Seoul.
3. Visiting the DMZ.  (Maybe I should be apprehensive, since we are advised to wear shoes suitable for running.)

What I’m most apprehensive about:

1. The 14 hour flight from JFK to Seoul.
2. Unfamiliar food.
3. Being away from my family for almost 2 weeks.  (Although I’m sure I’ll come home to find that I’m not as indispensable as I think I am.)