Officially hit my 3 month mark!!

Did Someone Say CHEER?

I have officially been in Korea for THREE MONTHS!! Woah! Let's just take a minute and soak that in...90 days (approx). It is amazing at how fast time flies by.  It's very exciting for me to finally hit this mark in my journey because this is the point that most people have said a person either decides to love Korea or hate it.  I have decided to love it and can now feel the drastic changes in my experience.  It's now my home, a place where I am learning about and meeting new friends (I finally met more CANADIANS, even one girl who knew my mother...weird right?).  I have officially lived through 3 typhoons, sang karaoke multiple times throughout the week, got new glasses, had Korean bbq on the roof patio of my school after work while drinking wine in the presence of all my coworkers and went to my first Korean baseball game.  I must address the baseball game...it is an incredible experience where cheering with your fellow fans seems to have more importance than the actual game (cheering is my forte, even in Korean aka I was in my ELEMENT).  I am having some really great opportunities and starting to get the hang of my new job and lifestyle.  It is now something that has become my life and no longer something that I can distance or separate myself from, this is my new reality and I am really enjoying it!

My Homeroom Kinder Class

This week has been fantastic and emotional for a variety of reasons but through it all it has allowed me to realize how much I really am enjoying my life here.  Through the turmoil, struggles and emotionally exhausting periods of the past 3 months, I have now come out of the storm and feel even stronger and better prepared for what the next 9 months have in store.  I wake up every morning looking forward  to going to school and seeing what my little munchkins will do today.  This past week the kids made me laugh hard every day and I am able to see how young they begin to develop huge personalities.  Watching the kids dance, communicate with each other and how thoughtful they are with one another warms my heart. 

My co-foreign teachers <3 Bye bye Jenn Teacher!

This past week was amazing but also emotional because this was one of my coworkers last weeks before moving back to the States after 14 months living in Korea.  It is amazing how after 3 months she has become one of my close friends and having her leave so soon after I have gotten here has been a challenge.  She was the teacher who trained me and my first real friend in Korea.  A group of people and myself went out with her last night and sang some rockstar songs, eating chicken and beer as we talked about how we would miss her.  Watching her say bye to the kids and my other coworkers was tough and emphasized a few things for me;

1) How amazing this opportunity is

2) The amount of influence I will have on some of these people and children

Baseball field <3

3) How quick a year flies by

4) How deep and real the friendships are here

5) How to make the best of every opportunity

The new foreign teacher came in this week and I was asked to show her the ropes, which was a new experience for me that has made me realize how fast things have gone by.  Sometimes I feel like I just got off the plane but in reality that was 3 months ago...wow.  I am looking forward to no longer being the new one and instead being able to test my abilities by helping teach the new teacher some things. 

One my favourite little ones :)

Next week is the last week of school before Chusok (Korean Thanksgiving) and I am super excited to have 5 days of chill time.  I am excited to spend some time with a cousin of mine who is passing through Seoul with her family as well as getting some time to sleep in, watch Disney movies with friends and explore areas of Korea...I am thinking I should climb a mountain next week or maybe go to a temple stay, possibilities are endless.  I feel that people from home have been so encouraging this past little while and I want to thank everyone for their support, emails, kakao messages and so on. 

I miss you all at home and cannot wait to see you again...after I have grown and developed into a better person in many areas of my life. 

Time for an update

So life in Korea is officially over the excitement of a foreign place and although I have a lot to learn and explore, it has now become my life.  I finally feel like I am slowly belonging more and more and finding my place in both the school and the environment.  I don't feel like a foreigner anymore, however due to my non-Asian features, I know I still appear as one. 

The weather is finally getting cooler which encourages my entire being (I am now able to walk outside without sweating like I have just run a 500km race).

Last week there were 2 typhoons (which I have just found out is the same thing as a hurricane), one was built up and all the schools in Seoul were closed.  Since all the schools were closed, my director decided to cancel school in our hagwon which meant NO WORK!!  I would like to say I was able to sleep in, however that was not the case.  The two foreign teachers and myself were afraid that we may die and didn't want to be alone, not to mention I live on the bottom floor of an apartment and if there was a flood it would most certainly be happening in my place.   We woke up at 8am and all met up at one of the other girls house, each bringing loads of snacks and wine in order to enjoy what may have been our last meal on this earth.  The typhoon was a complete fail, it didn't even rain let alone have strong winds...basically it was an unfortunate first typhoon experience (which is a good thing).  On a positive note, I AM ALIVE and well :).

Then two days after the first typhoon there was another, this one was much stronger and flooding occurred in the town I live in.  Of COURSE that day was one when we had to go to work and mission it home in the flooded streets (we took a taxi home and it only came out to 2 dollars, yay for Korean taxi's who don't cheat you!).  This week was most certainly memorable for a variety of reasons but the whole weather change is causing a change in the calmness of mother nature.  One thing is for sure, I am enjoying the change and CANNOT WAIT to walk around with a sweater and jeans in the cold winter weather. 

One of the downfalls in being a foreign teacher in Korea is that most people have contracts for a year and then they are headed back home.  Unfortunately for me, both of the other foreign teachers at my school have finished their contracts and will be heading home soon...we just started becoming friends too :( I just know that this means new people and new experiences so I am trying to put a positive spin on it.  I wonder if I will be able to train the other teachers, I don't think I know enough to do that but we shall see how the rest unfolds.

On another note completely, today I discovered another fascinating thing about Korea: they have specific underground floors for WOMEN parking only.  At first I thought it was for pregnant women but then my Korean friend told me it was a WOMAN'S only parking area because women are bad drivers and some men don't feel comfortable parking their cars in the same place. :O WOW feed into the stereotype why don't you!!! I laughed so hard and had to take these pictures as proof!!!  (Although I am no longer a visitor, things continue to amaze me!) HA!

I am enjoying working with my kids more and more each day, seeing more of their personalities and how much they love me makes me happy as well.  The other day my students kept telling the other teachers that "Erika Teacher is a very very very nice teacher", "Erika Teacher is a very good teacher and looks pretty today" they key word TODAY!  haha

I am REALLY REALLY looking forward to next week, not because it is the first week of September, which means it's closer to Korean thanksgiving (more holidays) but because my friend is coming to visit me from home for a week! I am SOOO pumped to have a taste of home and I feel like it is the perfect timing, God knows exactly when it is needed. I work next week so she will have to be a lone for most of the day HOWEVER I plan on making her weekend full of exciting Korean adventures (not sure yet but...something cool!)

The longer I am here (2 months and bit) I have realized that Korea may be one of the hardest things I have ever done both emotionally and spiritually but it is such a blessing in disguise.  I can see myself learning so much about myself and my personal journey to adulthood.  I am learning so much and cannot wait to continue to see what is in store for my future.  BRING IT ON (nice things would be appreciated :)!).

The Best Teaching Week :P

This week has been the best week of school because I have really only had to work 3.5 days! I wish every week were like this :P ha  

Wednesday was a national holiday and SUPER rainy but I was able to go into Seoul and hangout with some of my friends!  We did some shopping for our families back home and it was a pretty exciting experience.   As if that wasn't super fun on its own, I was also able to celebrate my friend's birthday and go out to dinner!  It was a super awesome Wednesday off!!  I then returned back to Dongbaek and went to school Thursday morning to have a FIELD TRIP with the Kindergartens! We went to a Korean play, fortunately for me it was a play about Peter Pan so I did a pretty good job following the plot.  The kids were so excited and screaming out at Captain Hook when things were happening that they didn't like, I don't remember seeing the kids so excited!  All in all it was a pretty good time, I am starting to fall more in love with these kids every day...who knew? (this is where all the mothers say "OF COURSE WE KNOW :p).

The Cast and one of the kinder classes :P

 I have been able to do a few exciting things the last couple of days that consist of some pretty great opportunities.  Thursday night my coworkers had a welcome party for me while also having a goodbye party for another person who works here at the school and is moving to Canada.  It was a lot of fun getting to know the teachers on another level.  Seeing who people are outside of work is truly a hilarious experience and the bonds that it creates are wonderful.  To start off the night we went to a restaurant called Pasta Bene (a lot of places here take on Italian or French names...very interesting) which is owned by a American-Korean guy from NYC.  Apparently he owns a bunch of restaurants in the States and is pretty much a BIG deal :P He also happens to speak fluent English and is super kind from the ONE interaction I had with him.  I will definitely go back and eat there again, the food was great! The teachers paid for both myself and the other girl who was leaving, which was SUPER encouraging.

The front of the room

After dinner we headed to Nora Bong which is their version of Karaoke.  It was AMAZING!! SO much fun!!!! First of all the room was huge, there were two large televisions with a flashy stage around them, so singing here is on a WHOLE NOTHA LEVEL! haha They gave us three microphones and a bunch of tambourines! It was truly an experience I will never ever forget and now that I know what it is like, I will be visiting again in the near future.  One of my coworkers and I really rocked it that night, we sang almost every song and had some actions to go with it. 

The Other side of the karaoke room

After the group split up and we went to a bar where I played darts.  I GOT A BULLSEYE!! I was so excited, however I lost twice against a drunk individual, which speaks volumes about my lack of skills OR her awesome skills.  Either way it was a lot of fun, I felt like everyone in the bar was cheering us on or at least watching us and making comments...it was a small bar and very community oriented.  We got free drinks and played darts for an hour or so before going home.  It was great to meet different people in my area and also spend some time with my coworkers. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and work with some really great people.

To make this week even better, I got a letter from a friend at home AND it is my sisters birthday and I was able to get her some pretty neat Korean things.  I am missing home but not in the way I have ever missed it before...it is more of a 'I miss the people but I do not want to leave Korea'...ha I am sure once my year is up I will be ready but I am looking forward to another 10 months here :)

This weekend I am heading into Seoul where I get to work on my TESOL while also going onto the army base to bowl with some friends (which should be super fun).  We shall see how the rest of the weekend unfolds.  This week was the perfect teaching week for sure :)

Oh Korea how I love you

As my time in Korea continues to unfold, I am finding myself feeling a lot more comfortable with the way things work here.  I am getting used to the smells, the missioning around from place to place with absolutely no personal space, being surrounded by children all day every day and finally, living on my own.  I'm finding myself becoming more and more aware of customs and instead of everything surprising me, I am trying to incorporate myself in the culture. I am asking Korean people to teach me different sayings and trying to memorize certain things that I use in my day to day activities such as "how much is this" or "Can I have a plastic bag".  The Koreans tell me my pronunciation is good but I think they are just being nice, if I were to say hello to someone here in Korean they act as if I just accomplished the greatest thing known to man.

It is amazing that I have been here over 7 weeks now, there are still a lot of things I am still getting used to such as my lesson planning which I keep finding ways to mess up (crying shame).  I think travelling abroad is a great step for almost anyone, it really does help a person mature and become more independent (at least for a moment in time :P). 

The "plum" candy is a lie..it looks and tastes like a peach...fail on the plum front (One of the many glorious goodies we munched on while studying)

This week went by very quickly and I was very excited to start my weekend as I would be sleeping over at my friends place on Friday night and working on our online TESOL course for the evening while eating Korean snacks and chatting.  Friday after work I got on a bus to Gangnam station and then caught the subway to my friends stop however on the subway this very obnoxiously drunk man approached me.  My instinct was to be prepared for an attack but since he was pretty small I just looked down at the floor as he came up to me and started staring as he circled me (he was very much in my bubble).  He began to talk to me and put his hand in a bag he was carrying and handed me a red pepper (which is pretty expensive here).  I tried to tell him no but he insisted and put it in a bag for me.  Everyone on the subway was watching us and I wasn't sure what he was saying to me.  He held the pepper and kept saying "tomato" to which I told him it was a pepper but that was a fail, he just escalated yelling tomato even louder. Luckily the next stop was mine so I hastily got off the subway with the pepper in hand, I was pretty pumped to have gotten a vegetable since they are expensive and it was a beautiful pepper. :)

I headed to my friends place and although it is humid outside, this past weekend has been pretty nice compared to last week.  We stayed up till 3am and worked on our online course while eating some interesting candies and snacks.  The next day we woke up and headed to meet up with some people where we had a bible study and headed to a Dongdehmoon which is an ALL NIGHT market.  The negative with having a all night market is that it is cheaper as it gets later but the subways stop at around midnight which is a no go.

We got to the market and walked around only to find a few book stores open and a man approached us saying that the market was on holidays for the next 10 days (fail).  We were pretty bummed but then one of my friends who had been her a while mentioned another market that was really nice and sold traditional Korean things if we wanted to buy souvenirs.  We headed over to the cutest little market village type of area I have seen in Korea thus far.  There were many tiny little shops and people on the streets singing, it had a community feel to it and I will defiantly be returning.   I bought a few small things but enjoyed the atmosphere more than anything and the street vendors :P.

Us eating deep fried hot dogs in french fry batter and ketchup on a stick...mmm haha  (no idea how these Asians stay so skinny with this kind of food around)

After walking around for a few hours we headed to a little restaurant that was known for its pork cutlets.  Most of us got different kinds of pork cutlet: jumbo, cheese, pizza, fish...etc.  The restaurant was SOOO cold that I had to put on a scarf however it was a lovely change of pace from the constant sweating that has been going on.  We headed home after dinner and one of my friends and I stayed up till 4am working on our TESOL course and chit chatting about life.  It has been such a joy to have a friend from home that is going through the same "newness"  and culture shock at the same time as myself.  It is comforting to be able to talk to someone who understands the exact feelings at the exact time I am feeling them.  Yay for my fellow Canadian buddy :P

We headed to church in the morning and met with some people before going shopping in the subway system.  It is pretty funny how memorable we are just because we are not Korean.  I find that if we ever return to a store or cafe, the people there greet us as if we are old friends (hugging us and saying hello while proceeding to follow us around and offer help constantly).  It can be both a good and bad thing however I do enjoy the kindness I have been shown many times throughout my Korea experience thus far.

I GOT MY FIRST PAYCHECK AND IT FEELS SOOO GOOD!!! :) I also have Wednesday off this week, its a holiday!! PLUS on Thursday we have a field trip to see the play Peter Pan with the Kindergarteners which means no class in the morning :).  This week will be a glorious experience, I feel it!!!

Not sure who this man is but I felt he seemed like someone who could be leaned on...? 

All in all I am feeling more and more at home as time continues to unfold and my Korea life is turning from a learning experience to something I am beginning to love.  I have a lot to process but I am feeling much more confident and I KNOW that having a great support system really helps with that.  

Where to Begin?

I am officially on Summer vacation and it has never felt sweeter! I get a FULL week off and have thoroughly enjoyed the sleeping in till 10:30/11 and hanging out and exploring Korea with some friends.  I have not had to wake up before 10:30am and it has been a blessing, I feel my body can FINALLY rest.  Being on go mode since I got here, I haven't really felt I had some time to relax but this week is perfect!

So let's go back to Friday since some pretty exciting things happened :P.  Friday morning the Kindergarteners went on a field trip to the swimming pool, which is not like the circle swimming pools we have in North America with the deep end and shallow sides.  This was more shaped like...swirly lines and it only came up to my knees.  The entire pool was this deep and allowed for a lot of children to crush in there and have some fun.  Now I was not under the impression we should bring our swimsuits and so I didn't.  However after much pressure from certain teachers and the amount of fun the kids seemed to be having, I rolled up my pants and went on in there.  I was not thinking about the fact that I would get incredibly wet or even the fact that I taught later that day...at that point in time the only thing that seemed to matter was playtime.  After many kids splashing me and making me increasingly damp, we had to get out and change the kids which made my soaking self feel a little jealous :P (only for a second though).  The bus ride home was pretty exciting, making the seat wet and dripping all over the nice bus while everyone else was dry and warm (the dampness did truly help keep me a little bit cooler). 

Once we got back to school some of the parents had gotten us kimbap and some fruits and veggies which was scrumptious.  All of the kids had packed lunches and we all sat in the multi-purpose room on mats on the floor and dug in.  There were a few interesting things upon sitting down to eat lunch, the first is that only one kid had a sandwich, all the rest had full out Korean style buffets :P.  The other thing that surprised me was watching all the teachers go around the room and look at what the kids had for lunch, going over to them and taking some of it.  The teachers walked around and peered at all the kids, some of them shared and some of them did not want to and yet it was completely ok for the teachers to take it.  I could not bring myself to do it however I watched in awe.  I know a day will come when I feel comfortable doing that as well so we shall see how long it takes :P So many cool cultural differences that I see on a regular basis.

The weekend was a good time, one of my friends had a birthday so a bunch of people got together at the church building and had a little thing for him.  There was SO MUCH PIZZA (the slices were literally like 3 times the size in Canada) and I was loving life very much. I have no idea how Koreans eat the amount they do and still stay so small...it amazes me.  As the party was going on, I met some nice Korean campus students and they introduced me to a game called "I am Ground".  It is a Korean game about memory and speed and is a pretty good time...until you lose and then have to kneel in the center while everyone hits you on the back.  Once my friend lost and got beat she left the game and refused to come back in...I got away by choosing to leave the game when I lost and no beats were delivered.  I don't know if I will get used to the physical assault that is involved in the games here haha it is all in fun though.

Over the summer break, a few friends of mine went to see the Batman movie, went shopping and got some stellar  knick knack in the subways.  It amazed me at how cheap things are and how large the world below the surface is, I am honestly amazed at the amount of things going on below ground.  So many stores with amazing jewellery and makeup and wow...so cheap.  I bought a few lovely odds and ends and some perfume that smells amazing for only $10.  It has been pretty lovely and exciting and I CANNOT WAIT to get my first pay check August 10th! No more worrying!!! yippeee!! :P

We also we able to go to Itaewon (the area near the army base that has A LOT of foreigners which is refreshing to see) and ate at an American Deli which was scrumptious.  A moment happened that I have never experienced, a group of very handsome army men in their uniforms walked past us and I can say that I was very...excited.  Ha I have never seen a group of men in the military that are dressed in their uniforms walking down the little cobblestone streets before but it was a lovely sight and they were very nice.

The busses here are so jammed that I honestly cannot express in words the feeling I get when I have to get onto a bus that I can see is going to be a nightmare.  When I got on my bus today there was no room at ALL and I was wearing a backpack so I had no idea how that was going to work.  I looked a little concerned and then an older man who had a seat took my backpack and put it on his lap and smiled at me.  It was such a beautiful moment and I felt so hopeful at that point in time that everything will be alright.  I was still crushed into a small area on the bus and the bus driver asked me to move a few times since he couldn't see (I was right up against him, awkward I know).  However the kind man held my bag on his lap the entire 1 hour and we got off at the same bus stop and I just bowed to him and thanked him.  He seemed so kind...little things like that give me hope.

There has been a lot going on here, the weather is KILLER...humidity is OUT of this world and sweating is a very very very common experience here this week, One step at a time.  I know that everyone says SUMMER is where it's at but I cannot WAIT for Fall and Winter to approach.  I am feeling the excitement just thinking about it! :P A girl can dream..only 3 months left!

Lovely Break from Reality

This weekend was a lovely lovely break from reality! :P Or I guess a start of my new reality...either way it was wonderful.  The weekend started off with me staying up madd late on Friday to sleep in till 1130 on Saturday afternoon.  Now some of you may find this sluggish, HOWEVER this was the first time I was able to sleep in since I have been in Korea and it was such a lovely experience that word cannot descrive it! :P I woke up and immediately called my friend to ask her about plans that day as I laid in bed on the phone knowing I didn't need to be out and about until 2..oh the joys of not working Weekends! :)

I painted my nails, made some lunch, killed some fruitflies and got ready for the day ALL in my time.  I do not remember ever being so relaxed here and the awesome part is that this is the last week of school till Summer Vacation (1 week long break).  Another positive thing is that I found out in the entire month of August, I only have 10 teaching days due to summer vacation AND random Korean holidays.  Encourage my soul.com is how things seem to be looking :).

I headed into Seoul for a study, coffee and some hangout time and later that night went to a Jazz concert at church which was a lot of fun.  We grabbed some 김밥 (A Korean sushi but the cool thing is there is rarely fish in it which I don't like and so you can get the yummiest of rolls with beef and cheese and radish and mmm yummy) anyways we grabbed some of that and headed on our way to the Jazz concert thingy.  A friend and I started a little dance section at the back of the seating and it became a pretty hip happening place where people were joining us and people were taking videos of us (which may be used as blackmail in the future BUT in the moment it was a fun time).  After the concert the plan was to go get some ice cream before going home but ALL that changed in a blink of an eye.

In a random moment of decision making one of my friends (who has a car) decided we should go on a road trip to the mountains and stay the night.  With no change of clothes, makeup or anything for sleepovers we headed to 711 to get the requirements needed and some snack food and made the journey.  Oh my goodness was it ever beautiful.  Since we got there late into the night, we didn't see the glory of the scenery until we woke up this morning and WOAH.  I was breathless and encouraged to see all the mountains.  One of my friends and I went on a seat swing thing and just looked at the mountains while swinging and talking about how perfect the moment was.

Due to the fact that it was going to rain, the weather outside was overcast but cool, with fog on top of the mountains making for an even more beautiful ora.  My Korean friend than had the idea that we should go to this lake in the morning that is ONTOP of a mountain but as soon as we got there is started POURING and so we went inside a hotel and had coffee while watching the rain pour down.  It was an excellent opportunity for a quiet time and we enjoyed the beauty while being given perks of refills due to our foreigner status.  Everything felt perfect. 

After the mountains and beauty we drove back to Seoul while eating corn we got on the side of the road, a very common food to eat on the go here (the corn is so different here and yet scrumptious).  We left around 11am in order to get to church on time and we made it back safely as well as early, so I got introduced to the most amazing Korean food (not dessert) but FOOD I feel I may ever experience.  This food is called dak galbi and it is family style so you go out and there is a HUGE skillet burner that you all sit around and the servers come and put all this cabbage and diced chicken and rice cakes and sweet potatoe and onion with some delicious sauce onto the skillet and it is cooked for about 10 minutes, the servers (usually older lovely ladies) cook it in front of you and then you go to town and eat that stuff up...with lettuce or rice or solo. Oh man, I cannot even describe how good it was! MMMM! They also gave us free pop in a glass bottle which I was excited about! Oh was it ever amazing.

As you can tell food is a huge part of the culture, everyone wants to go out and eat or feed you or...craziness like that but it is all a joyous occasion and an opportunity to try new things.  My saying this week has been "When in Rome you must do as the Romans" and it has been going swell.

This weekend was honestly perfect and I CANNOT wait for the future weekends I will have.  As for now, I shall look forward to teaching the little kiddies tomorrow :).

Tomorrow is Thursday

So....today was an interesting day as per usual.  Woke up early and painted my nails, so it started off on a pretty good note.  Once I got to school I had a lovely morning chat with two of my colleagues over an iced latte and the day looked brighter than yesterday.  I also walked into a room to find a bunch of the kids playing together, so sweet! Look at these adorable kids:

 My Kindergarteners were sooo cute today, I will have to post a video of them tomorrow that I will be taking to give you an example of the cuteness I work with on a daily basis.  The last Thursday of every month we have a speech competition between classes which is basically when each of the classes sing a song with actions that their teacher taught them and the best class wins! I am hoping we win, I have only been practising since the FIRST week of this month (No Big Deal or anything...).  We are singing the song "I like to eat, eat eat Apples and Bananas", they seem to enjoy it and it was the only one they ALL agreed to so yipee.

My afternoon classes were a little silly today and the older kids were not being as receptive as they usually are, I think it is time for summer vacation!! I have a week off (in 2 weeks) OMGOSH I cannot wait! I am going to sleep in, explore Korea, having fun times without kids around all day (I can only imagine how parents feel for 18 years).  So it is safe to say that when I was walking home today I wasn't in the best of moods from my rowdy kids but then this adorable little boy came up to me and said "Hello, what is your name"  I shook his hand and we talked for a bit, cutest 6 year old ever!  The awe and excitement of a child is something I need to focus in on more often...after all I do work with kiddies all day.

My nails and ARC :P boo yah

Good news everyone, I finished the lesson planning for the elementary kids all on my OWN today (not sure if they are right but they look super awesome to me).  I also FINALLY got my ARC (Alien Registration Card) I am officially an Alien in this lovely country!! With my ARC card comes more responsibilities like having the ability to get a phone or open a bank account or get an ONLINE password for the school website so I can do Kinder reports for my students (yay more work).  However I do enjoy it and I get it done pretty quickly so it actually is a good time.

I went to the store and bought some cookies which are the best thing ever! The wrapper tells me to try it with milk so I am considering going out and buying some in the near future...

(Not a super interesting blog but hey, my life can't be super intriguing all day...or can it?)