Turn and Run

Well, I guess it's been almost two weeks since I've updated. So, here is the brief update.

Last week was my birthday weekend extravaganza. On Saturday a few friends and I got together downtown and rented a room to play Nintendo Wii. It cost us each about $3.50 for a drink and we could play for an hour. We had a lot of fun of course! Afterwards we all headed to the Outdoor Galbi Restaurant (aka Korean BBQ for those not sure what it is. You cook your own meat at the table). It was really good. We got ice cream and had a drink and were all home and in bed early. On Sunday, Megan, Josh and I went on adventure to Sangmu to check out the 5.18 Memorial Park. We sat in a park for a long time just hanging out and talking. It was really fun. We then headed to one of the best restaurants in Gwangju The First Nepal, for my 2nd birthday dinner. I didn't really know much about the dinner. Other than Danielle and Dan kind of planned it. A bunch of friends were there with cake and a cool necklace that says my name in Korean. I have some great friends here :)

On to school things.

I think I've talked about before on how we currently have only one Korean teacher.. She told me last week that she wants THIS Friday to be her last day. If that's the case it will be Dan and I plus our director. Dan and I basically do everything as it is. Several Korean's have been interviewed for the position. But she keeps saying how she is "too busy" right now to find a teacher. One lady was in for several days sitting in classes. I guess she was hired... she called and said she wouldn't do it. More people were in to interview. On Saturday we had to work and the newly hired teacher was in shadowing. She seemed pretty nice, despite not having much English skills. Yesterday was suppose to be her first day... guess who never showed. I think my boss has given up on finding a Korean teacher. Which is not really good for Dan and I. Also, we were suppose to be paid Friday. Money is finally in our account today, but of course, only half. I hope I can warn future foreigners on this train wreck of a school.

On the plus side of school topics. I have one class all afternoon who is my absolute favorite. They love to have conversations, are polite and just fun to be with. The girls all gave me birthday presents, which was really sweet of them. On Saturday we had school and that was the only class were I said, keep your books out. We will pretend to work but play games all class. They loved it and really were happy with me for it. 3 of the kids in the class have birthdays this month. So, I bought them all a snack as a little present to them. They were so happy and started chanting my name. It was cute.

And lastly, Saturday begins my 6 day vacation. WIN! Danielle and I both fly out on Sunday to Beijing. We will be staying with my friend from college. I'm so excited! After we get back I have to teach on Friday and then it'll be the weekend. September is almost over :)

Life is Good

This coming weekend not only is my birthday weekend (yay), but it's also my 4 month anniversary of being in Korea. I can't believe 4 months is already here! It's been a crazy ride so far and I'm sure the next 8 months will be just as crazy. I have had a lot of ups that have been pretty epic, but I've also had some serious lows. I know I absolutely made the right choice by coming here. I got out of the rut I was stuck in, in Limestoneville and get to experience and meet so many great people. I'm also meeting up with friends I haven't seen in years that live abroad, it has and will continue to be an amazing experience.

2 weekends ago Megan and I ventured out of Gwangju to the Boseong Green Tea Plantation. I've been hoping to go at some point and that Sunday turned out to be a great time for both of us. We jumped on a bus and with the help of some nice Korean's got off at the correct stop and then purchased another bus ticket to go to the Plantation. We left pretty early in the morning, so both of us only had a light breakfast. It turned out to be a gorgeous, but very hot day. We did plenty of hiking through the fields and up the mountain. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon, with the sun beating down on us when we made it to the top of the mountain. The view was beautiful. I don't know how those ajummas and ajosshi's climb that mountain regularly to pick the tea, but more power to them!

view from the top of the mountain

lines of Green Tea

me in the fields

more lines of Green Tea

This weekend is not only my 4 month anniversary of being in Korea, but also my 25th birthday. I'm getting old! I think I'm going to have a low key type of weekend and get some friends together for dinner and to play some Wii downtown and of course, eat ice cream!

Now, on to my children.... My one kinder Brenda is in love with me, most of the time. She gets mad at me when I make her read or write (haha). When kids in class (she is in a class with older kids, she is VERY VERY smart) say they don't like me, they like Dan teacher, Brenda will be the first to say "I like Megan teacher! She is my favorite friend!" It's cute and other times she'll say "Megan teacher is a Princess" Of course, 2 days ago she was angry with me and told me all the reasons I'm NOT a Princess. Want to hear them? Of course you do!

1. I wasn't wearing a beautiful dress

2. I didn't have a pretty crown (I said it was at home)

3. I didn't have a sparkling ring

4. I didn't have a horse

5. Where was my Prince? (I'm wondering that too!)

6. I didn't have heels on

7. My hair wasn't done properly

and finally

8. I wasn't wearing a bracelet

Clearly, someone watches too many fairy tales! It was pretty adorable and made me laugh. She was really excited to hear my birthday was coming up and wrote herself a note so she could bring me a present, too.

That's my update for now. Despite the bad things that have been thrown at me in my 4 months in Korea, I still love it here. There have been way more awesome times to even things out. Life is good and I know I made the right choice by moving halfway around the world to start a new path!

Excitement!

Hi friends and family!

Today I bought myself a new laptop. It was on sale, score for me and all the programs were loaded in English! WIN! I got myself a cute HP mini and I'm pretty excited about having a computer that works!

In other news. Beijing is happening in 22 days!

Sad Day

My computer stopped working.... So, for now I won't be able to update unless I use a friend's computer or the school's.....


Also, I just got my bangs cut. The people didn't speak a word of English but did a great job! And it only cost me $1.50.... WIN! I knew I loved Korea for a reason.

Urban Dictionary

Most of you probably don't understand my most recent post and the frustration I went through. I think Urban Dictionary has the best example. It's completely true and spot on for every point.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Korea'd

So, the last part in italics is funny, about having to teach a book that isn't in English. My boss decided to start a new class for me to teach. It is a writing and grammar class. I can handle that, easy enough. Except... the book was made in Korea. Therefore, there are so many grammatical errors! I'm constantly scribbling out words here and there. Changing words to fit properly or whole sentences. The best part of the book, the translating part from Korean to English. Or even the explanations in Korean. So, I'll be teaching and have to skip several pages until it gets to English. And then when the kids are doing the translating part, they will be confused and ask me for help. They laugh at me when I zone out and they are trying to get help, but really? How much help can I be for this? None at all. They give me a few words and I make up a sentence and they never know. Honestly, its a brilliant idea for me to teach them a Korean book.

Tomorrow I am venturing out for my first hair cut. Stay tuned.

The week from hell.

I hate being a debbie downer in blog posts. It truly was the week from hell. Most people avoid writing these blog posts. The one about school and how it REALLY sucks a lot of the time. How no matter what you do its always WRONG. No matter how hard you try to make things fun your kids are still bored and then you get in trouble for it. Or the whole having to read your bosses mind on what they want and when you didn't properly read your mind they bitch about you in Korean IN FRONT of your students. Yeah, it was one of those weeks.

Thank God for fantastic co-workers that can help you brush things off and make you laugh in the worst times.

I was more than ready for the weekend to arrive. I went out Friday night to meet up with the usual crowd. As usual, we had a great time together and stayed out way too late like always. I had a very very lazy Saturday followed by a night out again. This time though, I was home early! Today I did a bit of shopping with Meg and Tanya, my new friend from Michigan who has been here for only 2 weeks.

I'm thankful for my friends here that can help me forget the bad weeks and remember why Korea is indeed an awesome place to live!

To end, here is a picture of the ladies and I about to get on the 3D roller coaster

Tanya, Meg, me and Danielle

Locked Up Abroad... Shanghai Edition

Last weekend I had a much needed vacation out of Korea. This vacation couldn't have come at a more perfect time. I needed to forget about the frustrations with school, the kids, the boss and just everything. I got the bus at 1 am to Incheon airport Saturday morning with my co worker Dan and his friend Ben. I'm glad I didn't have to travel there alone, even if we just slept on the bus the whole way. We got to the airport around 5 am and slept on a few benches until the airport opened and we could get our tickets. My plane was to leave at 8:55 am. I had a connection in Shanghai with a 2 hour layover there and then flew on to Hong Kong.

You might be curious as to why the heading is 'Locked Up Abroad, Shanghai Edition' I'm just going to give the shortened version, since it makes me look less stupid. To be fair though, it was totally not my fault, I was following directions! I had a connecting flight in Shanghai with a 2 hour layover. I wasn't sure where I was suppose to go and when I asked the Immigration Officer plus an airport lady told me to follow the hallway. I listened and walked down said hallway. Turns out, I was suppose to go through Immigration and get some stamps, go through customs and then re-enter the airport, go through immigration and security again and then find my gate. Since I was sent the wrong way, it caused several problems. Luckily, the Immigration Police Officer was incredibly friendly, thankfully! She whisked me around the airport, taking me through security, immigration and getting everything in order that I should have done before. She couldn't understand what happened that I didn't do it in the first place, until everything was figured out and then she remembered that she indeed did send me down the hallway instead of through the doorway. She could tell I was worried and she just kept reassuring me that everything was okay. In the end, I had to get another flight. This worried me as well because I had a friend waiting for me at the airport and I had no way of contacting her to say I would be 2 hours late. But through the entire ordeal all I could think about was the National Geographic show "Locked Up Abroad" I knew there was a reason I shouldn't watch it!

I finally arrived to Hong Kong 2.5 hours late and my friend had already left. Luckily I got a hold of her and she came back to get me. It ruined our intended dinner plans for the evening. Cristina and I had a lot of catching up to do. It has been a little over 2 year since we have seen each other. We also were meeting up with Ithzel, another friend from Lock Haven. She was in Hong Kong getting her visa renewed for Beijing where she goes to school and works.

the beautiful Lamma Island

Cristina and I in Stanley

We had a beautiful weekend together. The skies were clear, it was sunny and a little too humid for comfort. The main reason I chose Hong Kong was to see Cristina, so it didn't matter what kind of weather we had, I still would have been happy to have this reunion! It was just a plus that we could meet up with Ithzel as well. On Sunday we wandered around seeing parts of Hong Kong and deciding on what touristy things we wanted to do. We decided to take the tram up Victoria's Peak to see the whole city from the top of the Mountain. What a great decision and sight! We also went to a little place called Stanley where they have a market. It was a cool little place with a beach and rocks to take lots of pictures on. Which of course we did!

On Monday Cristina had to work, so Ithzel and I made some plans to meet up in the afternoon. We met downtown and went to find a bakery called Complete Deelites. I was told that this place had amazing cupcakes. We found the bakery easily and picked out our cupcakes and they were amazing! It was so great to have this delicious sweet cupcake. Korea needs some lessons on baked goods!! On we went to find the Star Ferry to go to Lamma Island off of Hong Kong. It was another beautiful day with clear skies. Lamma Island was a cute little place, there are no cars on this island which made it so much better. We hiked around and then hung out on the beach for a little. We ate a little restaurant where we got a salad and grilled salmon. It was delicious. I was told to get a Lime Soda on hot days and we tried one, once again a fantastic suggestion! We headed back to Times Square to meet up with the working girl Cristina.

Ithzel, me and Cristina - overlooking Hong Kong

the girls in Stanley

I may not have done or saw much in Hong Kong. But I still had such a relaxing and great trip. The best part by far was being with old friends, catching up on our lives, whats been going on the past few years, what we hope to be doing in the future. There really isn't anything much better than that. I'm truly lucky to have had the chance to visit Hong Kong. I may not be a fan of the place since I don't luck the hustle and bustle of big cities. But I do appreciate reconnecting with friends! I had a great time, saw the quiet parts of the city, saw the busy parts of the city, saw the beauty and tasted some great food. That right there makes the perfect vacation.

I had another layover in Shanghai, which I got through with no troubles at all. Luckily. I honestly could not wait to get back to Korea. I love my life here. I love how quiet my area is, but being just minutes from downtown where I can have fun. I even missed hearing Koreans talk! I missed the friendliness of the country and people. And I had only been gone for 4 days!

Friday night I decided to go out with Megan and Danielle. We met up with friends downtown and met a new teacher who is from Michigan. She is a really fun girl and we became dancing partners on Friday night. It's amazing how time flies in Korea one minute its 11 pm and the next its 4 am. ha. On Saturday I met up with Tanya, the new teacher in a nearby area, and we headed to visit Megan. We got some food, did some shopping at some donuts and then headed back home. We were all exhausted from our fun night out. We decided a quiet night in would be a good idea. That quickly changed when we realized we wanted to go dancing again. So of course, we were all out again Friday night, again home by 4 am. haha. Life is awesome. It's so fun to go out and meet up with friends old and new. There are many good times and good memories made on nights out!

Meg, Danielle, Tanya and I

And now, its Sunday night. I'm ready to tackle another week at Little America. We recently got 2 new boy students at our school. The one is so cute and I gave him the name of Trevor. I asked him if he liked it and he got this huge smile on his face and shook his head yes. I loved it!