Hey, so I see my summer job working at Concordia's Korean language camp, Sup Sogui Hosu, a language immersion camp as kind of an extension of my study abroad experience. I attended there as a villager (camper) in the summer of 2003. This summer, I worked there as a staff member. I was an assistant cook and co-taught a samulnori class. In the kitchen, I cooked Korean food for lunch and dinner (breakfast was cereal, fruit, juice, and sometimes some sort of meat ie. bacon or sausage, and break ie. scones, croissants, bagels etc.) I had one day a week off but other than that I worked every day. We had two shifts, 7-1 or 12-closing. There were seven kitchen staff, two of which were part-time. Four of us lived in HamHung cabin (함흥) along with Youngmi, a senior counselor and her son Hyun-woo (age 7). The other three were part time counselors so they lived with villagers. Our cabin had a serious lack of shelving and closet space, so we ended up putting all of our clothes in the cupboards in the kitchen!
The first week was orientation, held at Bemidji State University. Like I said in my previous post, I was home from June 30-July 12. On July 12th, Shinparam had a performance at the Dragon Festival. Right after the performance, my mom and I headed up towards Bemidji. We stopped by Peggy Olson (she is our neighbor and in Shinparam with me) and her family's cabin. Their sons Andrew and Charlie attend SupHo, so they were going to be heading up to camp the next week when camp started. They were kind enough to let us stay the night. We made the rest of the trek the next morning. My mom and I went to the camp site because that where we thought we were supposed to be going, but it turns out the Russian staff was still wrapping things up and orientation is held at Bemidji State University. The fist week was a little rough only because everyone knew each other from previous years and a lot of the American staff had been campers together. During orientation, I shared a room with Eunha. Because I wasn't a counselor I didn't feel I got to know all the other SupHo staff because we were always in the kitchen. We received our knife sets and learned how to properly wash our hands. We cooked all the meals served during orientation. It was fun meeting Kitchen Staff from other villages such as: Swedish, Japanese, French etc.
Camp started the next week. The fist group of kids were the two week-ers (이 주자) and the credit, or month long villagers. The first group of two week-ers were younger, from 8-13. Mary and I co-taught a Samulnori class which was really fun. I loved our kids!!!
first session class One night we had 무지개 밤, which translates to Rainbow Night. The campers were split up into groups and lined up. They would come up to us counselors and we would show them a picture and they would have to tell us what it is in Korean. If they got it right, they had 3 seconds to paint us with paint. It was so much fun! and afterward a bunch of us went and jumped into the lake. The paint was supposed to be non-permanent, but it sure dyed my bra pretty colors...
It was really fun having my neighbors Charlie (진혁) and Andrew (승현) at camp! Lots of fun to pick-on. Bwahahaha!
Charlie, Andrew, and me at I-Day The second week, the older two week villagers came (the credit month long villagers were still there). These kids were all high schoolers. Mary and I taught drumming again. During the first all of our kids were guys but the second session almost all of them were girls (plus a few of the guys who were in our previous session), and they were all members of ChangMi dance group, one of the traditional Korean drumming groups in Minnesota. So, all of our students knew how to drum, which was nice. It was funny and a little intimidating at first. The girls didn't seem to warm towards me. They all knew Mary because Mary had been in ChangMi, but no one knew me. I started teaching them different rhythms and they were apparently different from the beats the ChangMi girls already knew. During class one of them said, "What the heck are these!? I don't know this rhythm! I thought this was gonna be such an easy class..." Haha! Eventually the girls warmed up to me. I think it was after they found out I was 21. They probably thought I was about their age and didn't like me teaching them (new stuff too!). Somehow, one of the girls found out my age and asked me while she was in the kitchen getting seconds. I told yeah, that I was 21 and she FREAKED out!!! She just could not believe me. (How sad. hehe.) Anyhow, I was really please with our group. They did a great job performing at I-day with the fan dancers and a great job at the talent show. HyunWoo, the 7 year old boy who was in my cabin also took class. He was really insistent on playing Ggwengari. At first I was really hesitant because I figured he would just bang it and be really loud and disrupt class, but finally I caved and gave into his demands. He was amazing!!! - such a good student. He surprised me so much! I taught him how to play Jaksoe. We practiced during class and then outside class at our cabin as well, and we performed together at the camp talent show. He was so adorable and I was so proud of him!
HyunWoo and I playing Jaksoe - so CUTE! I made some really great friends and learned to cook lots and lots of Korean food!!! I also learned how to use an industrial size dishwasher and not burn myself, how to cook scrambled eggs for roughly 100 people, watch lots of youtube.com,
youtube
치킨 스태프 aka Kitchen Staff at Casino Night
The most awesome picture of HyunWoo Photo courtesy of Hannah Smith
I LOVE this picture. Eunha looks so angry! It was taken during a very stressful Sunday when they counselors were supposed to be cooking and we were supposed to be "Supervising..." Yeah right. Plus the German camp randomly decided to drop by. FYI they sucked at making Kimbap.
Our MEGA big freezer had some issues...
it looked like a winter wonderland inside
delicious mixture of butter and sugar. I promise we washed our hands after we took this and before we touched anything else!^^
me chopping loads of kimchi for kimchi fried rice. Yum!
Eunha and me goofing around in the dishroom. look at all the beautifully *clean* dishes!!!
Eunha making fun of the way I looked in the mornings when I served breakfast. I had to come in to work at 7:30 am. I would have wet hair, so I would place my bandanna over my head without tying it and pull my hood over it. hehe.
Ilan and me. He is half Israeli and half Korean. So adorable!
HynWoo climbed into my suitcase while I was trying to pack-up at the end of camp. So cute!!! ~POST SUPHO~ After the campers left, all the staff went out into the town of Bemidji to Par-tay!! We went to some really sketchy looking bar/dinner club type place. It was funny - there was literally an "Asian invasion" of this place. Becca, who I met at camp when we were campers and who had worked at camp the previous summer and told me how fun it was, was there visiting! yay!!!
Mary and Becca dancing it up at the bar in Bemidji She, Mary, and I snuck out and went to Cold Stone. We had the most delicious Blueberry Muffin Batter flavored ice cream! We were all so giddy and excited to be back in civilization! I was literally jumping up and down in the store. I also answered the guy in Korean. Oops! Given, I had been surrounded by Korean from the end of February through the end of July with a two week break at home. Afterward, we all came back and had a bonfire near the lake. Bomjeong oppa was so drunk. It was hilarious! He was trying to learn English so the American staff would give him words to say. Somehow he picked up the phrase, "Hello. My name is Howard. You can call me Howie." It was so funny to hear him say. So, while he was drunk MiSook was trying to get him to say all of these long complicated words and he got all confused. LOL! The girls all had a sleepover in one of the cabins and the next morning we all packed up to leave.
bonfire There was actually a scheduling issue because camp was supposed to have lasted one week longer but not enough campers signed up for the one week session, so it was canceled. However, most of the Korean counselors still had a week in America because they had already bought their tickets. So, they were all staying at Myunghi and Boyoung's houses. Peggy, Charlie and Andrews mom, along with Charlie and two other campers picked me up the next morning. It was sad saying goodbye to everyone, but I was seeing them later that day at Boyoung's house for dinner.
group photo taken at Figlios right before HyungJung Unni had to leave for the airport
another group photo taken outside of Urban Outfitters (since the lady got all mad when we tried to take a photo inside. Geez.) That whole week, staff were doing various things around the cities. I ended up going to Boyoung's house for dinner the day I got back, going to a picnic at Lake Harriet (I brought Katie and Monica along), lunch at Figlios restaurant in Uptown, and the State Fair!!! It was sad because each event I attended less and less of the Korean counselors were there... :( But it was a really fun way to end the summer.
!!!The Minnesota State Fair!!! ~THE END~
The first week was orientation, held at Bemidji State University. Like I said in my previous post, I was home from June 30-July 12. On July 12th, Shinparam had a performance at the Dragon Festival. Right after the performance, my mom and I headed up towards Bemidji. We stopped by Peggy Olson (she is our neighbor and in Shinparam with me) and her family's cabin. Their sons Andrew and Charlie attend SupHo, so they were going to be heading up to camp the next week when camp started. They were kind enough to let us stay the night. We made the rest of the trek the next morning. My mom and I went to the camp site because that where we thought we were supposed to be going, but it turns out the Russian staff was still wrapping things up and orientation is held at Bemidji State University. The fist week was a little rough only because everyone knew each other from previous years and a lot of the American staff had been campers together. During orientation, I shared a room with Eunha. Because I wasn't a counselor I didn't feel I got to know all the other SupHo staff because we were always in the kitchen. We received our knife sets and learned how to properly wash our hands. We cooked all the meals served during orientation. It was fun meeting Kitchen Staff from other villages such as: Swedish, Japanese, French etc. 
Camp started the next week. The fist group of kids were the two week-ers (이 주자) and the credit, or month long villagers. The first group of two week-ers were younger, from 8-13. Mary and I co-taught a Samulnori class which was really fun. I loved our kids!!! 
first session class One night we had 무지개 밤, which translates to Rainbow Night. The campers were split up into groups and lined up. They would come up to us counselors and we would show them a picture and they would have to tell us what it is in Korean. If they got it right, they had 3 seconds to paint us with paint. It was so much fun! and afterward a bunch of us went and jumped into the lake. The paint was supposed to be non-permanent, but it sure dyed my bra pretty colors... 
It was really fun having my neighbors Charlie (진혁) and Andrew (승현) at camp! Lots of fun to pick-on. Bwahahaha! 
Charlie, Andrew, and me at I-Day The second week, the older two week villagers came (the credit month long villagers were still there). These kids were all high schoolers. Mary and I taught drumming again. During the first all of our kids were guys but the second session almost all of them were girls (plus a few of the guys who were in our previous session), and they were all members of ChangMi dance group, one of the traditional Korean drumming groups in Minnesota. So, all of our students knew how to drum, which was nice. It was funny and a little intimidating at first. The girls didn't seem to warm towards me. They all knew Mary because Mary had been in ChangMi, but no one knew me. I started teaching them different rhythms and they were apparently different from the beats the ChangMi girls already knew. During class one of them said, "What the heck are these!? I don't know this rhythm! I thought this was gonna be such an easy class..." Haha! Eventually the girls warmed up to me. I think it was after they found out I was 21. They probably thought I was about their age and didn't like me teaching them (new stuff too!). Somehow, one of the girls found out my age and asked me while she was in the kitchen getting seconds. I told yeah, that I was 21 and she FREAKED out!!! She just could not believe me. (How sad. hehe.) Anyhow, I was really please with our group. They did a great job performing at I-day with the fan dancers and a great job at the talent show. HyunWoo, the 7 year old boy who was in my cabin also took class. He was really insistent on playing Ggwengari. At first I was really hesitant because I figured he would just bang it and be really loud and disrupt class, but finally I caved and gave into his demands. He was amazing!!! - such a good student. He surprised me so much! I taught him how to play Jaksoe. We practiced during class and then outside class at our cabin as well, and we performed together at the camp talent show. He was so adorable and I was so proud of him! 
HyunWoo and I playing Jaksoe - so CUTE! I made some really great friends and learned to cook lots and lots of Korean food!!! I also learned how to use an industrial size dishwasher and not burn myself, how to cook scrambled eggs for roughly 100 people, watch lots of youtube.com, 
youtube 
치킨 스태프 aka Kitchen Staff at Casino Night 
The most awesome picture of HyunWoo Photo courtesy of Hannah Smith 
I LOVE this picture. Eunha looks so angry! It was taken during a very stressful Sunday when they counselors were supposed to be cooking and we were supposed to be "Supervising..." Yeah right. Plus the German camp randomly decided to drop by. FYI they sucked at making Kimbap. 
Our MEGA big freezer had some issues... 
it looked like a winter wonderland inside 
delicious mixture of butter and sugar. I promise we washed our hands after we took this and before we touched anything else!^^ 
me chopping loads of kimchi for kimchi fried rice. Yum! 
Eunha and me goofing around in the dishroom. look at all the beautifully *clean* dishes!!! 
Eunha making fun of the way I looked in the mornings when I served breakfast. I had to come in to work at 7:30 am. I would have wet hair, so I would place my bandanna over my head without tying it and pull my hood over it. hehe. 
Ilan and me. He is half Israeli and half Korean. So adorable! 
HynWoo climbed into my suitcase while I was trying to pack-up at the end of camp. So cute!!! ~POST SUPHO~ After the campers left, all the staff went out into the town of Bemidji to Par-tay!! We went to some really sketchy looking bar/dinner club type place. It was funny - there was literally an "Asian invasion" of this place. Becca, who I met at camp when we were campers and who had worked at camp the previous summer and told me how fun it was, was there visiting! yay!!! 
Mary and Becca dancing it up at the bar in Bemidji She, Mary, and I snuck out and went to Cold Stone. We had the most delicious Blueberry Muffin Batter flavored ice cream! We were all so giddy and excited to be back in civilization! I was literally jumping up and down in the store. I also answered the guy in Korean. Oops! Given, I had been surrounded by Korean from the end of February through the end of July with a two week break at home. Afterward, we all came back and had a bonfire near the lake. Bomjeong oppa was so drunk. It was hilarious! He was trying to learn English so the American staff would give him words to say. Somehow he picked up the phrase, "Hello. My name is Howard. You can call me Howie." It was so funny to hear him say. So, while he was drunk MiSook was trying to get him to say all of these long complicated words and he got all confused. LOL! The girls all had a sleepover in one of the cabins and the next morning we all packed up to leave. 
bonfire There was actually a scheduling issue because camp was supposed to have lasted one week longer but not enough campers signed up for the one week session, so it was canceled. However, most of the Korean counselors still had a week in America because they had already bought their tickets. So, they were all staying at Myunghi and Boyoung's houses. Peggy, Charlie and Andrews mom, along with Charlie and two other campers picked me up the next morning. It was sad saying goodbye to everyone, but I was seeing them later that day at Boyoung's house for dinner. 
group photo taken at Figlios right before HyungJung Unni had to leave for the airport 
another group photo taken outside of Urban Outfitters (since the lady got all mad when we tried to take a photo inside. Geez.) That whole week, staff were doing various things around the cities. I ended up going to Boyoung's house for dinner the day I got back, going to a picnic at Lake Harriet (I brought Katie and Monica along), lunch at Figlios restaurant in Uptown, and the State Fair!!! It was sad because each event I attended less and less of the Korean counselors were there... :( But it was a really fun way to end the summer. 
!!!The Minnesota State Fair!!! ~THE END~
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