Jeong-eup, the Vermont of Korea?

The Placement Ceremony - May the Odds Be Ever in your Favor
After months of waiting to see if we would be accepted into program, then weeks of wondering what school would be ours, we finally had our placement ceremony. At 7 pm on a Tuesday, we all dolled ourselves up. Mrs. Shim came down from Seoul to deliver our placements. We had a practice at 4:30 so everything would go flawlessly. Strangely enough, I did not expect how nervous I would feel. The placement ceremony was announced the day before. The entire night and day, I obsessed over my placement. Where would I be? What would my kids be like?

Would I be stuck teaching middle school girls? (Yeah...Middle school is a strange time for everyone)

Basically, I was a mess. I mean, I looked great in my new suit (who doesn't look great in a new suit?), but my mind wouldn't rest. Everyone was so antsy.

Finally, 7:00 rolled around. All dressed up, we stood single file. We lined up around the stage and waited for our names to be called. Different OCT members read out a province and all the ETAs listed in that province. Slowly, I saw friends stand up to receive their little slip of paper with their future school. Thoughts were racing through my mind wondering where I would be, who would be near me, would I forget to bow when my name was called?

Finally, "Alessandra, Baeyoung All-Boys High School" was called out. I bowed properly to Mrs. Shim, received my slip of paper and walked over to join my province. Despite all my worrying, I had received a placement. Unfortunately, considering my general lack of knowledge concerning Korean geography, it was practically meaningless.


My province crew

Our ETA map

Where am I again?
So what was the initial information? I got a look at my general area in Korea and a overview of my school.
This is my slip of paper:

It says "Baeyoung High School", the address of my school, and the number of students/homeroom classes. I have 6 homeroom classes per grade and about 170 students per grade. Most likely, I won't teach third grade so my total student class would be just under 400. Oh, and they're all boys.

Initial reaction: I was thrilled with my placement. Now, this wasn't a knowledgeable type of thrilled like, "I know about this place and am happy to be there." It was more like when a baby smiles and laughs at the sound of clapping. Does it know why? No. It is just happy. That is the same way I initially felt going into my placement. I hadn't wanted much. I didn't know much, but to finally be placed was awesome.

Also, girls kinda scare me. Boys are easier to deal with...I know, I might regret those words. Plus, I have another ETA in my town. She's the blonde one in the picture earlier. Our group in our province is really great. I knew I'll be surrounded by good ETAs for when I need a stress break.


The grey is my province. The red is my town.

The Vermont of Korea
Since my initial placement, I have learned a fair amount about my placement specifically. Unfortunately, I have learned nothing about my school in particular. About the town, however, I have gained some insight.

First, the stats of 정읍:
Jeong-eup has about 140,000 people. Population is in a decline. There is one university in the city. Transportation is easily accessible; all 3 Korean railways stop here, including the KTX fast train. Overally, Jeong-eup is considered a fairly small suburb in Korea. The county motto is "Happy Citizen, Proud Jeongeup."

Now why the VT of Korea?
The province is known for MAPLE TREES.
Yes. I'm moving from Maple capital, USA (yes I am biased as a Vermonter) to a place infested with more Maple trees. Also, there is a "mountain and lake" in my backyard. Winter runs from around November to March (sounds like a pretty mild VT winter).

In the next county over, there is also a place famous for making cheese. CHEESE! IN KOREA. I wonder if it is as good as Cabot. There is also a Cheese theme park.

Oh, and to the North of my province, there is a ski mountain.

Let's just say, for being a world away, this place sounds more and more like home everyday.

My area is also famous for our beef. Apparently, people trek all the way from Seoul to get our steak. They have the "you point at a cow to pick which one you want to eat" style beef. I guess that's a little less VT, but more US in general.

Jeongeup is known for outdoor recreation and a generally good well-being feeling. We're also known for organic/fresh food. I hope it feels like Burlington?

Special events in Jeongeup include the Maple festival and the Cherry blossom festival. Suddenly, my gifts of maple candy seem a little less interesting. In all seriousness, though, it would be nice to find some sugar on snow.

Overall, Jeongeup looks like a great place to be. The more I read about it, the more excited I get. There's a national park really close by and even a sizable downtown. We have a small movie theater, which is more than can be said about my hometown.

Here is a virtual tour Jeongeup:
http://tour.jeongeup.go.kr/
Er...just have your Korean friends read it for you.

Here's an English site:
http://www.jeongeup.go.kr/02en/01jeongeup/region/