KMF10

I'm currently at the airport waiting on  my flight back home from a weekend getaway to Los Angeles for the 10th annual Korean Music Festival (some people refer to it as KMF10 because it's the tenth year, but I've also heard KMF12 for the year 2012); it was such a great experience & I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to attend such a great event! The trip to L.A. itself was a bit questionable as I hit a bump on the road with the company I had, but still I enjoyed myself. Aside from attending KMF, the second highlight of the trip was meeting up with a childhood friend whom I had not seen since we were in 4th grade! We kept in touch trough Facebook every once in a while, so it was really excited to see her again. While in L.A. I did the typical sightseeing at the Hollywood walk of fame, & window shopping on Melrose Avenue. I also ate a lot, I mean I ate a LOT of really delicious food! We went to Koreatown a couple of times where the best part was an all you can eat kbbq place my friend recommended. We were there for almost three hours & the waiter just kept the meet coming. Wow. Being in Koreatown & attending KMF gave me a sense of what it would be like to live in Sk if I'm accepted into EPIK. All of the signs where in hangul, and I couldn't understand 95% of what was being said around me. It was all very exciting though and not as intimidating as I imagined. Everyone was impressed with what little Korean I do speak (which honestly, only consists of 1 or 2 phrases I picked up from watching too many kdramas).  The festival itself was mostly in Korean as well. Before going I was a little disappointed in the line up as there were only two artists I recognized, but at the end of the night I came out a fan of everyone who performed. It was my first time hearing of Bobby Kim and G.O.D. and now I keep going on YouTube to hear their songs. I hope I have other opportunities to attend events like this, be it in the stated or abroad.

 --- EPIK update: I passed my skype interview!!! As mentioned before, I was scheduled for a Skype interview on a Monday, it lasted for about 30 minutes and three days later I woke up to an email saying I had passed and could now forward original documents to the Seoul office.  All of this happened about three weeks ago, but I've been waiting for final apostilles to come in, so I wasn't able to post my package until this past Thursday before I went to the airport. I tracked it like crazy this weekend, and last night I got notice that it had been received by my coordinator; thumbs up FedEx for being so fast!! In a couple of days my coordinator will look over my documents and verify that everything is correct. If not I'll have to resubmit, but hopefully that's not the case as it cost me $70 usd for shipping. Once she verifies my documents and forward them on to the office of education, whom will ultimately make the final decision if I'm placed at a school or not. So, basically I'm done with the paperwork and now I continue the wait.  The only EPIK related task I have yet to finish is the awful 100 hour TEFL course I'm taking. It's so tedious and time consuming, luckily I've already completed 70 hours and hope to complete the remaining 30 by this weekend so I don't have to pay extra to extend the course.  And that's the last week of my life in a nutshell. Tomorrow it's back to early mornings and full days of work for me. p.s. please forgive any spelling/grammar mistakes in this post. typing on an iPhone from a busy airport is not my forte.

I love the 90s

I've always felt like maybe I was born in the wrong decade. I'm enamored by the clean, sleek style of the 50s, and I'm a sucker for 60s car models. Lately though, I've really noticed that I'm more drawn to the 90s more so than any other decade; my favorite music, movies, and memories come from that time period. A couple of days ago I was watching tv with my 12 year old sister when a commercial featuring David Beckham came on, I commented on what a cute couple him and Posh made together. My sister starred, and asked "who is Posh?", I was a little taken back by that and I told her, "Posh, you know, the girl with the sleek hair bob from the Spice Girls" and that's when it hit me, my sister has never heard of the Spice Girls! She can tell you every song lyric to Drake or Lil Wayne, but is at a complete loss when you bring up spice up your life. So, now I am on a mission to educate my sister on the wonders of 90s pop culture. We will begin by watching the Spice Girls movie, then I'll slowly ease in to a few other of my favorites.

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A short update on my EPIK (English Program in Korea) status: I had my interview on a Monday evening, and Wednesday morning I woke up to an email telling me I had passed and was now free to mail in remaining documents! So two hurdles down, hopefully only a few more to go before I find out if I'm placed or not. Currently the only document I am missing is my apostilled Diploma, but hopefully that should be in next week, and I'll be able to submit final documents to my EPIK coordinator within the first two weeks of May. 

Easter.

Spring is here! actually, it's feeling more like "sprummer" lately with temperatures ranging in the high 80's! makes me wonder how brutal summer will be. As of late, I've developed a new hobby of painting my nails! I have racked up quite the collection of polishes, and I love browsing the net for new ideas. Last night I pulled out my favorite spring-ish colors and went to town putting little "easter eggs" all over my nails. I'm far from being a professional nail artist, but being as how I'm doing it for my own entertainment, I think I'm quite alright :)

Spring is my second favorite season (first favorite is Autumn, due to my favorite color being orange & favorite holiday being Halloween), I love seeing all of the pretty flowers start to bloom! my neighbors probably think I'm strange because I keep going outside and taking pictures of the flowers & trees, but I just can't let their beauty go unnoticed! I mentioned in my previous post that I am interested in teaching abroad through a program called EPIK, and I've got an update on that. I submitted my initial application with two letters of recommendation last Sunday, and a couple of days later I received an email stating that I had made it on to the interview process! My interview is scheduled for tomorrow evening, and if all goes well, I'll be asked to resubmit my application with additional government issued documents and go from there. There are probably a few thousand applicants and only 400 positions available so getting an interview in and of itself is pretty great. I hope it goes well!