winter update

Winter Camp is over now, and I'm back on regular teaching schedule for the next week. After that I'll deskwarm for about a week and a half, and then have a two week break again and start a new school year in March. I really enjoyed camp and the laid back atmosphere, but I'm glad to be back with my regular students, my rowdy 6th graders, and silly grade 4s. Both of my coteachers and I are getting along really well and I'm really happy about that. Now that I've introduced kimchi into my regular diet, I'm really enjoying my school lunches! before coworkers would stare at me and give me funny looks since all I would usually get is a small bowl of rice and whatever soup we were having, now they give me funny looks because I just keep piling on the kimchi; I even caught my principal laughing at me after he saw me chowing down. Yesterday I found out that come March we will be losing the other native teacher at my school, and I'll be in charge of grades 3-6, and I'm a little bit nervous about that. The third graders are really cute, but their level is also really low, almost nonexistent since in Korea most of them don't start english classes until grade 3. I'm also nervous because I'll be getting two new co-teachers on top of the ones I already have. These teachers will be new to the school, so I've yet to meet them. 
During my two week break I will be staying mostly in Seoul and hopefully travel through the southern provinces in Korea. I wished to be able to take another trip abroad, but my bad budgeting habits are still haunting me and I'm not able to do it this month. The disappointment of not being able to go abroad as I wished is hopefully going to serve as motivation to do better and be prepared whenever summer break rolls around. I'm still indecisive about wether I'll renew for a second year, specially now that I know there are changes being made to my schedule. But whatever happens, I'll just enjoy the moments I'm having now and the memories I'm making with my students, coworkers, and friends.

"One day when I leave this place I'll miss the people, the lives I touched and the lives that touched my life."

5 months

Today marks 5 months since my arrival in Korea. There is so much I still haven't done or seen that I'm starting to think one year just won't be enough!

to celebrate, here is a video tour of my apartment in northeastern seoul!

how kimchi won the battle

Winter camp is halfway over now, and I can honestly say that since my return from Malaysia, I have been having the best time in Korea! It's not even because I've been going out and doing anything special; I am just happy and content with my life at the moment. The weather is still pretty cold, so I've been spending my afternoons after school bundled up at home watching tv and reading. 

The only big development in my life as of now is quite a small one and yet large one at the same time. I came to Korea having never tried kimchi in my life, I had convinced myself that I hated it & refused to try it based on the smell itself. When I started school in August I avoided it like the plague, and my coworkers just assumed it was too spicy for me. It wasn't until the end of December while out for a KBBQ dinner with friends that I decided to give it a try, I threw some on the grill, watched it sizzle and then popped a bite into my mouth. It wasn't so bad, I thought, but still I couldn't get myself to eat regular cold kimchi at school. Then I was introduced to kimchi jiggae, kind of like a stew that comes with tofu (another food I had never been brave enough to try until Korea) and assorted veggies. I immediately became obsessed with kimchi jiggae, and now find that my two favorite foods in korea have kimchi as the main ingredient! Along with kimchi jiggae, I love kimchi Jeon (like a pancake with kimchi filling). I've started visiting a small mom & pop shop in my area that sells jigae and sundubu (tofu stew) and plenty of small side dishes. While waiting for my stew I found myself actually eating some of the cold kimchi that was set in front of me, and enjoying it! So there it is, I am a kimchi convert! As I type this I actually wish I had some kimchi to snack on in my fridge. Friends tried for years to get me on the tofu and kimchi bandwagon, and Korea accomplished it in under five months.. well done!

Hello 2013!

Happy New Year! I was on vacation for two weeks visiting a friend in Malaysia, but I'm now back in icy cold Seoul! I really enjoyed my time in Malaysia, spending time with my friend from university and her entire family; it definitely made being away from home for the holidays a lot less miserable. I spent the majority of the time in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, which was a destination on my My travel wish-list. Aside from KL,  I spent five days on Penang Island, which was beautiful and I ate seafood to my heart's delight! It wasn't an action packed, on the go sight seeing trip, but more of a relaxed spending time with family and eating type of thing which was great. I went parasailing for the first time, and welcomed in the new year on the beach. Malaysia has an amazing culture blended with Malay, Chinese, and Indian and It's so bright and lively all the time. I'm so thankful to have had this experience, and I'm only more eager to continue on my travels throughout SE Asia and the rest of the world!

Tomorrow starts winter camp which will run for three weeks, followed by two weeks of random classes and grade six graduation. After that I believe we have two weeks off until the new semester starts again, and then I will be halfway through my first full year in Korea.. wow!

four months~

Today marks the fourth complete month of being in South Korea, which means I'm now 1/3 of the way done with my first teaching contract! I'm not keeping track because I'm unhappy and counting down the days until it's over, I keep track more so because time here flies by, it's been four months, but to me it feels like I only just got here.

Today I taught my last class until January when winter camp classes start, and I spent the morning making Christmas decorations and watching the Polar Express with my grade 6 students. They were by far the most challenging group I had, but I have grown to love them, and I'll miss them when they graduate and move on to middle school.

The last three weeks in general have been really busy but non eventful. I have been focusing on my winter camp lessons, making the book and trying to come up with activities (winter camp is three weeks during winter vacation where a few students come in for extra English lessons). The Korean presidential elections were this Wednesday and we got the day off from school. Tuesday night some friends and I attended a nonverbal acrobatic performance of a show called "Flying". I wasn't really sure what to expected, but was really glad to have attended as the show ended up being really great. After the performance we took advantage of having the next day off, so we headed off to some bars and stayed there pretty much the entire night.

This Saturday one of my friends is leaving to go back home as the teaching experience wasn't everything she imagined, and tonight we are having a going away dinner for her. Tomorrow I am off to Malaysia for two weeks, where I'll be staying with an old friend from university and her family. I'm really excited to be traveling to a new place, and thankful for the fact that I'll be surrounded by a loving family during the holidays, even if it won't be my own.

welcome december

The first week of December brought on the first big snowfall of the season. All of the kids at my school went nuts having snowball fights and making snow angels. I really enjoyed watching the snow fall from the comforts of my office but became a little homesick for two reasons: it reminded me that Christmas is just around the corner, and although I will be spending it with familiar people, I will not be with my family. Second, the amount of snow we got in Seoul wasn't a whole lot, however, back home it would have been enough to get the school shut down for at least two days :P

I have two weeks of school before I head off to Malaysia for vacation, but luckily only one of those weeks consists of teaching. I'm not entirely sure what I will be doing the last week, maybe speaking tests? I'm never told anything until the day of. Winter camp, for example, I've been asking since October if I needed to prepare anything for the three week long camp we will be having in January, but nobody would give me an answer. It wasn't until a couple of days ago that I was told "by the way, you should prepare at least 40 pages worth of material, games, and power points for winter camp and submit by Monday". So, this is how I came to be at my current location, Capi Capi Loom Lom, a cute & cozy Rilakkuma themed coffee shop a few subway stops from my apartment. I really enjoy sitting here and people watching, maybe I will turn this into a weekly thing and find a new cafe to visit each time. 

weekend

I was too cold/sick/lazy to leave my apartment for the majority of the weekend. It was a nice break, since I'm usually running around Hongdae or Itaewon and staying out way later than any person should. I have been sick lately so I think it was definitely the right choice, since now my throat feels a lot better and I haven't been coughing as much.
On Friday I went to the grocery store and stoked up my pantry for the first time since arriving here, now that Winter is approaching the days are getting colder and shorter so I definitely foresee myself staying in a lot more.
On an exciting note, I booked my Christmas vacation to Malaysia! I will be staying with and old friend from university and her family.
Time tends to go by really quickly here. The workweek doesn't seem to be as long, and specially weekends just fly by. I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing.