Thursday was the centerpiece of my trip, if you will. This was the day I was going to present my talk on physics, but it turned out to be so much more than a simple talk.

I spent much of the morning finishing the presentation up. I wanted it to be as good as possible. But I still managed to get it to a point where I was comfortable with it and went to lunch at the cafeteria with Steph. Corn dog day. Who would've guessed? (It was a side dish, not the main course.) Good lunch, anyway.

I expected to show it to Mr. Kim (Steph's co-teacher), but he said he trusted me to do a good presentation. So, after a couple finishing touches on the presentation, it was off to the room where I'd be giving the presentation to do a tech check. We open the door, turn on the light.... and THERE IS A BANNER WELCOMING ME! A 15' long or so banner. Welcoming me for my talk at Changpyeong. I'm not a Nobel Laureate. I'm not a tenured professor. I've only given one talk at a conference before, and that was a small one. And here I am being welcomed like a celebrity scientist hero! Steph didn't know this was coming either, she had done an English check on the message, but didn't expect it to be made into a banner. In any case, I knew, then, this meant far more to the school than I could have imagined before.

Good thing we had the tech check. The network connection in that room didn't work. The computer teachers were called and they converged to try to solve the problem. It was really nice of them to help, they didn't really speak any English, though. I only needed the internet to include Cully's supernova video in my presentation. Anyway, while the computer teachers worked on it, I had to go see Steph's second year boys (these are 11th graders, by American count) class that she really wanted me to see.

These kids were hilarious. It was to be another speed-quiz class, so while Steph downloaded the presentation onto the class computer, I entertained questions. Of course, we have the mandatory questions about Steph and my relationship. Apparently, in Korean culture (and I cannot understand Korean culture), it's weird for a guy and a girl to be friends without dating. So strange. So, I learned that "chingu" means friend in Korean, just from hearing Steph use it so much to describe us. When the students would ask us if I had a girlfriend, I'd say "Yes" (since it is simpler than explaining "Kinda, kinda not"), but that it wasn't Steph. Then Steph said she didn't think I was sexy since I had hair like a girl. Then I told the class I didn't think she was sexy either. Both of these statements were met by a unified "oooooooooooohhhh" followed by laughter at the fact that the entire class was in unison. These guys were really goofy. They named their speed-quiz teams "IT" (I guess...information technology?), "John K" (which, to them, meant that the kid in the class named John was gay, it didn't make much sense to me, but Steph and the guys thought it was hilarious, and this was one of those attention grabbing kids, so he wasn't offended or anything), and "slaves" (which they were absolutely delighted about, for some reason). I could see why Steph liked the class so much. They were a riot, and they weren't afraid to be a riot in English, which is great when you're trying to get them to learn the language.

I had to leave the class early to go down and prepare for my presentation. Did I mention I was dressed up for it? This was the only day in my over-a-month trip to Asia where I wore long pants. Also a button down shirt and nicer shoes. Anyway, I'm glad I brought the nice clothes, it helped me feel like I came remotely close to the level professionalism I think they were expecting.

The computer teachers were still working on restoring the internet connection. They had actually brought their own laptop in to help. I was all ready to give the presentation from my own laptop and just forego the video, but, as the students started coming in, they got it to work. So I started the supernova video loading, loaded my presentation onto that computer, and hoped that the loading would be complete by the time I got to that part of the presentation.

We had, I think, somewhat over 100 students there to see me. I was told it was about 150. This was supposed to be the students who were in the science club. The front had the girls, then there was an empty row, and then all the boys. These students really weren't used to co-ed classes. Mr. Kim gave the students some directions, and I think some kind of introduction, and then passed it off to Steph to introduce me. The welcome was very warm. And then I presented.

It went perfectly smoothly. I got the sense that the students (at least quite a few of them) were following the presentation. It can't be easy to follow a scientific presentation in a language that you aren't very proficient in. I did try to keep things simple, and I used lots of pictures. All in all, I think they really liked it! They gave me good feedback during the presentation. Ooohs at impressive images, laughter at jokes, and nods of understanding at appropriate points. It was a great feeling to know i was being understood.

I finished the presentation after about 35 minutes. This was about 5 minutes shorter than I had intended, but it was far from rushed, and I still happy with it. Then it came time for questions. The students were VERY shy about asking questions. I tried warming them up by asking them a few questions first. I learned that the girls at Changpyeong High School aren't allowed to take physics. This was very disappointing to me. I hope that changes. Who knows? Maybe my visit will inspire the girls to ask for a girls physics class to be started.

A fire drill kind of interrupted the questions part (we didn't leave the room, but we had the bell ringing for about 5 minutes, it made it tough to do Q&A). Only one student came up to the front to ask a question. He asked if any Koreans worked on the Super-K collaboration (the answer was happily "yes", with some explanation). Eventually, the students started leaving, guys first. Here is where it became apparent what was happening. After the guys left the room, the girls started asking questions. I actually ended up with a whole bunch of them right up at the stage to talk with me.

They asked all sorts of stuff, including some very impressive questions. One of the girls asked me about quarks. It's awesome that a high schooler knows about quarks, even more awesome that she can talk about them in a language which is not her native one. They also were asking if I could give them some contact information so they could keep in touch with me. And they really were very enthusiastic about that last point. I've got about 8 facebook friend requests from Korea waiting for me when I finally get around to it.

I was really touched by how excited they were to have me there. I realize now that their shyness was just because they weren't used to having members of the opposite sex watching. Later on, in private runnings-in-to, students have asked me about everything from Fermilab to biology to how I like Korean food. These are really great kids. I really want the very best for them all. Unfortunately, I know that most of them won't be able to fulfill all their dreams, because getting into a good college in South Korea is really difficult. Also really important. Too important, really. In South Korea, enormous value is placed on your college. There are about three schools there which are pretty much golden tickets to any job. Going to a lesser school in Korea means that the top jobs are virtually off-limits to you. In any case, I'm definitely wishing the best for them, and I fully plan on staying in touch, and maybe even being a bit of a mentor from afar.

While I was still talking with the girls, I was asked to go speak with the principal, who had wanted to see me. I had met him briefly on Tuesday, but this was slightly more formal. We went in, and Mr. Kim and Steph both were translating for us. He was very grateful to have me come to the school, and we talked about my future plans and how I liked the school. Then he gave me a gift to thank me for coming (as if he needed to, after the welcome I received), a beautiful box of rice candies. Steph and TH thought it looked pretty expensive. I resolved that I would have to give gifts back to the school for showing me such a warm welcome.

On the way back from the high school, we stopped at a stationary store, and a supermarket, to get gifts, gift-wrap, and stationary to write notes.I was going to give gifts to the principal (a chess set, kind of symbolic, I used chess as an analogy to physics, youtube "Richard Feynman Chess" to see why), the vice principal (some cookies and pretzel sticks), Mr. Kim (coffee!), and the IT staff who helped me make the presentation go smoothly (chocolate!). I wouldn't wrap them and write the notes until the next day, but it was good to at least get the gift acquisition out of the way. I also ordered a cake from the local bakery, for all the teachers to share.

Steph and I decided we were too tired to bother going to Gwangju again, especially since Lindsay wouldn't be available to hang out with us. Thus, TH came to Changpyeong and we all had dinner at a local place. This was a very authentic, home-cooked kind of place. There was probably a grandmother back there cooking the sidedishes (which were all there was, this place only did sidedishes...lots of them). It was all right, not my favorite meal there, but it did the trick. Finally, we (Steph, TH, and I) went for a walk down to the local elementary school playground to look at the stars (or, rather, for me to look at the stars while the two lovebirds did...lovebird things...it's cool, I found the big dipper).

Really, all afternoon I was pretty much in a state of shock. Before that day, I hadn't really understood what Steph saw as so special about the school, what it was that kept her there for an extra Fullbright year. But I was just blown away by how hospitable the teachers were, and how bright and eager to learn the students were (to say nothing of their sense of humor). That is not a day I will soon forget.