November's Protests Against The Korean Government 2015

So for those of you who were reading the news, y'all may have heard about the protests that have happened here in Seoul. On November 14th, union workers, students,  parents of the Sewol Ferry victims, and any one else who has taken issue with Park GeunHee's presidency.  The protesters were marching calling for PGH to either step down or to apologize/fix her mistakes. From what I have heard, the straw that broke the camel's back was her suggestion of changing the history text books for all public schools to where they paint her father's reign as a dictator in a more favorable light. As a global studies major, very interesting  stuff to follow and to see how the response towards the protests has been.

Essentially all of Seoul police showed their force and use fire hose to spray the protesters and there was a lot of uproar from the populous after for how the protesters were being treated. For a good account, you can read the NY Times article here. But so far the reaction form my friends is that they agree with the protesters, no one really likes PGH that much any more. But the scariest thing I have heard is that when the government officials were questions about why they were so heavy handed with the protesters when most of the time they are not that violent. One of the officials made a comment about how since the US police force was being so violent in the US, that they were only following the example of a top tier developed nation. So yeah...USA needs to remember that the rest of the world watches and follows when they do, so they need to be careful about what they let their government do.

Then a few weeks later I got an email form the US State Department since I am registered in their database as living in Seoul (very good way to stay safe and get updates on news when you live abroad and go traveling--check out their site here), that it was best that I stay away from the Jongno area of the city, especially near the temple where one of the lead protesters was taking sanctuary. They (the police) were going to do a huge police raid that was going to shut down that part of the city. So the US-SD was giving people a heads up to let them know that they should plan extra routes of travel to avoid the area, especially since of there was a high change that there was going to be spectator violence.

But as of now, there has not been any major protest or anything. There have been a few people with megaphones chanting and talking about their grievances, but it is usually one or two random people and not in the city hall area (more in the residential places), but I am sure that the issues will not stay quiet for too much longer. They might come back in the spring once it is not going to be as cold as it is here.

My Korean Skin Care Routine

So there is a thing in the beauty realm call the Korean Skin Care Routine**** (don't worry I had to look it up too when I first heard of it, so I posted some videos to help down below) and I have recently adopted it for myself.

Essentially the Korean Skin Care Routine is a process where you layer on different creams and toners that if done right will keep your skin hydrated and healthier. The number of products that you use depends on the person, but most go from 5-10 depending on how many essences you use (mine has 6 steps with about 15 products I alternate depending on the day/what I feel my skin needs). I know it is a lot, but so far it has worked great!

My skin is looking better and I have gotten a lot of compliments from family and friends when they see me. Plus, it is turning into a relaxing nighttime routine that winds me down form my day and gets me ready for bed. Because I am not sure about you, but after I pamper myself, I always feel more relaxed!

My skin and I have always had a love-hate relationship. I hate really bad break outs of acne as a child and teenager and it was not until recently that I have gotten my skin clear and blemish free. My skin was also what some would consider combination (oily and dry in patches), so I decided to switch up my face cleaning routine and it has really made a difference.  For the most part, I just used a face scrub in the shower and would apply vitamin E oil when my skin was dry. I still use the vitamin E oil and a face wash, but I have added some more steps:

 1. First I use a make up remover oil (this one had green tea extract) to really get off all the make up on my face. I find that the oil is not as harsh as other make up removers and also moisturizes my face wile it gets off almost all of the day's make up.


2. Next I use a face wash to get the rest of my make up/dirt/grime off my face. Depending on the day/what I think my face needs, I will either use the apricot scrub or the volcanic pour cleansing foam, and if my skin really needs it, I have a blackhead specific volcanic clay pour foam that I use on my nose and T-Zone.


3. Number three is turning out to be one of my favorites so far. This is a mask made of organic honey and sugar and really helps to smooth and hydrate my skin. I have been putting it on and leaving it one as I clean/blog/watch dramas/talk to friends/anything really, since the longer it is on your face the more it hydrates and smooths. After I have had it on for a while, I will go back to the bathroom and wash it off with warm water.



4. Next is a Facial toner. This one is really nice since it is more of a water than a toner. For me, western toners tend to be very harsh and leave my skin feeling striped and way too dried out. But with this one, my skin feels more awake and clean, rather than feeling like it was cleaned with a harsh chemical.



5. Essence time!! Essence are pretty cool things if I do say so myself. They are kind of like light lotions that you layer on, but the cool thing about them is that they are all specified to do a specific thing. Sometimes I use all four, or I only use one or two. Plus they smell awesome and make my skin feel really soft!

Rose: Face brightening and helps skin elasticity

Acai Berry: antioxidants that help slow the aging of skin/helps prevent wrinkles

Green Tea Seed: antioxidants to keep skin youthful, moisturizing, redness prevention

Snail Mucin (mucus): surprisingly lightweight and really helps with super moisturizing my skin, helps with roughness and keeps my skin feeling baby soft.

6. "Skin" toner

The skin toner is a little heavier toner than the first one I put on in step 4. Instead of cleaning my skin of any toxins that may have survived from my washes, this one is formulated to renew the "dewiness" in my skin. Essentially it helps keep my skin looking hydrated and works as a good layering agent between my essences and my final step.



7. My final step is to seal everything in for the night with a lotion/night cream. I have three different ones I use depending on how I feel and how dry it is outside. Since it is winter (and Korea has really dry winters which is not good for my skin AT ALL), I tend to use the heavier creams and will only use the oil in the summer.

My good old Vitamin E oil from home! I have had this for about 3 years now (a little goes a long way) it is a great way to hydrate your skin without putting on heavy creams and lotions. I like to use this one in the summers or if I just want a lazy night where I wash my face but want to not do all the steps (aka steps 1 and 2 only).

You are never too young to start working on preventing wrinkles. This cream smells AMAZING and is specially formulated to help prevent and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

This cream is the heaviest and most "traditional" out of my night creams. It has a light mint smell and tingles when you put it on. Like the other two, a little goes a long way. This one is specially made to help reduce the appearance of pores and to (again) help with the appearance of wrinkles.

It might seem like a lot, but after a while it becomes less daunting and, as I said earlier, very relaxing to do at night before bed. Plus my skin looks and feels more hydrated and healthier!

Bonus:

With only being 4,000 won ( ~ 3 USD) this is one of the best things I have ever bought and i can see why people buy this by the tub-ful! It is essentially just pure aloe vera gel and I use it everywhere. It can be put on your body to hydrate, on burns, on your face, and (my personal favorite) on your hair. I put it on the ends of my hair before I go to bed and then put my hair up in a bun and go to sleep. Since the Korean winters are a little more harsh and windy than I am used to, my hair gets really dried out and tends to break easier (cure my love for long hair). But ever since I started using this on the ends of my hair, my locks have felt healthier and I have had less breakage.

The wonderful aloe vera, but in a smaller "on-the-go" tube. This one comes with roller balls, so it also massages the area as it releases the aloe. I tend to use this one under my eyes to massage away and puffy eye bags or dark circles, while at the same time moisturizing the area which (once again) helps prevent/slow the signs of wrinkles and aging.

So that is everything I am doing for my skin nowadays. It was a hard change and I need to remember to make myself do it, but it has definitely been worth it!

****Here are some good videos on Korean Skin Care Routines by a few of my favorite YouTubers. Also another (less intense one) by a great YouTuber who I follow who lives in Japan. ****

My Students: My Little Joys and My Occasional Headaches

I finished my first semester (currently 4 weeks into my 2nd) and I got to say, teaching is hard, but it is definitely worth the effort. At Sewanee (my university), one of my favorite professors made a comment to me after I lead a group discussion on Catholic Relics and their prominence in period works of literature that I should conciser teaching as a potential job after I graduated. As any potential global politics major will tell you, I was going to change the world either working for the US government or some NGO somewhere across the globe. I never saw myself as a teacher or someone who would like working with kids before. Sure I was a swim coach for a summer and work as a lifeguard at my local YMCA, but those were just summer jobs where I was with other people my own age for the most part.

Plus to be quite honest, when I originally applied for the job I was curious to see if my professor was right, but I mostly really wanted to come back to Korea (esp Seoul) to find out why I am so drawn to this country. But after the training and being put into a classroom with on average 10-12 students everyday, I learned I really do like teaching the kids the material and helping them hone their skills in the English language. I really like being in the classroom and interacting with my students. Of course I would like them to really learn more and to improve, but for me the best thing is when I can relate and really get to know my students. I am always asking questions about their life and interests. I really try to relate what we are learning/talking about to their own lives to make their learning more personal. For me, showing them that they are able to express themselves and relate to others in a foreign language is the ultimate goal (besides having them level up and improve their English).

Teaching is hard, I am not going to lie. I have to not only teach the students the material, but I have to always be aware of classroom management and make sure that the students are not playing on their tabs when they should be following the lesson (all my classes are taught on tablets). I have had to deal with kids not wanting to be in my class so they feel the need to just go crazy, distract others, or even to just ignore me. I have had students refuse to work with others and out right tell me they hate a classmate.

But I have had more instances of students joking around with me, coming together to create and imagine different view points in a story, see a connection to their own lives to the life of the character in our books, learn to voice their thoughts and opinions on a topic they might not be able to talk about outside of the classroom in a language they are learning (example the War on Terror, plastic surgery, Humanoids, and whether or not the government should provide free lunches to students). Teaching so far has been life changing and very rewarding.

Will I be doing this for the rest of my life? I am not sure, but for now I am just going to enjoy experiencing this new chapter in my life.

Why Korea, Why Return?

I have gotten this question quite a few times and frankly have been asking myself the very same question ever since I started to even entertain the idea of coming back to Seoul to teach after I graduated from University.

It is a very hard question to answer, and maybe there is no real answer other than there is something about South Korea that keeps drawing me back to it. It is like a feeling, a deep urge inside me that is constantly pulling me back. When I am here in Seoul, I feel free; like I belong and I understand how everything works. Now granted the language barrier is extremely annoying ( I am working on that my Korean, so hopefully it will get better).

But I guess that I am trying to say is, that despite being on the other side of the world, Seoul reminds me a lot of home. Most people would not think of it, but the Korean culture really reminds me a lot of the stereotypical Southern culture that many nowadays are trying to revive: respect for elders, being polite to others, having a hierarchy of respect based on age and position, a family that seems to be centered around the children and food--everything seems to really relate. Plus the fact that Seoul gives off a 1950s America feel may add to the feeling of home.

But at the same time, Korea is a fast paced and quickly developing country in the world. South Korea is the axis of Eastern Asia right now. With all the political tension between China, Japan, North Korea, and the US right now, South Korea is the focus of many of the world's top political watchers. Korea is also one of the only countries to have such a quick economic and political turn around. Just 70 years ago, South Korea was still colonized by Japan, and now South Korean technology companies are at the same level and passing Japan in most global technical presence. So as a global studies major I am in heaven right now since I can experience all the changes first hand.

But like I said before, I love the person that I am here; I am happier, more confident in myself, and feel like I don't have to pretend about who I am. Not that I was pretending before when I was home in the US, but I felt like I had to fit into a specific role that people and society had told me that I must fill. But here, I feel like there is no preconceived role that I have to be. Yes there are stereotypes that exist about foreigners and white females, but I feel like they are not present enough to cause much issue, plus the fact that I love breaking them and changing them for the better.

So what I am mostly trying to say is that I came back to find out why I feel this way and to keep becoming the Sarah that I love (the one I am here in Seoul) in hopes that when I do come home to the US, I can bring her back with me!

황사: Yellow Dust of Death

So many of you that follow me on twitter and are friends with me on Facebook know that I was really sick about two weeks back. I usually have an immune system of steel, but for some reason I am really prone to getting sick here in Seoul during the Fall and Spring. Why you may ask? Because of my greatest enemy: 황사 aka the Yellow Dust of Death.

Yellow dust is sand and other particulate matter that is blown over from the Mongolian Desert in Northern China. It is usually heavier in Spring, but there are some flare ups in the Fall as well. Usually if you stay indoors and wear a mask (and glasses if you wear contacts) when you are outdoors during a flare up, you should be good. But I was stupid and did not do any of that.

Since it is late Fall, it is really strange to have a flare up of yellow dust in the area, but for some reason the particulate matter pollution was up in the 100s for a few days (usually 0-60 is considered healthy, 65-90 being concerning) and it was a real surprise for most people. Because I was not showing signs of being sick and no one else was wearing masks in my area, I thought I was fine since I am farther out in the city where there is less pollution and the air is a little fresher, but that was not the case. Four days of not wearing a mask in the dust storm lead me to be really sick for about 2 days with a chest cold that lasted about a week. 

I ended up developing a fever while in the middle of teaching back to back classes. It got so bad that during my last 3 hour class, I had to sit in a desk and teach from  there because I was so dizzy and light headed that I did not think I could walk around the class like I normally do. When I got home I took my temperature (good call on bringing the thermometer mom!) and it turned out I had a fever of 101.7*F. Luckily I had some medicine from home that I took, plus my great-grandmother's hot toddy recipe, so I was fine in a few days (fever thankfully broke that night so I was good to teach my one class the next day). 

This was not the first time I had a really bad reaction to yellow dust. Back when I was studying abroad, I had a similar reaction in the Spring of 2014 when I did not wear a mask again and was bed redden with a fever and no appetite for about 2 days. So, I think I might just be very easily affected by the yellow dust because everyone else I have met only gets a slight cough if anything. 

You maybe wondering why I did not wear a mask even when I know I have bad reactions to yellow dust. Well for one, it is still kind of weird for me to wear one comfortably in public. In the US, people don't wear face masks/medical masks out in public (only robbers come to mind). You would get strange looks if you did that back where I lived. And to an extent you get stared at here a little bit, but only because you are a foreigner wearing a mask, since most foreigners don't wear masks.

But here in South Korea (and actually most places in North East Asia), it is very common to wear masks when you are sick so you don't pass the germs on to other people. Because of the high population density in major cities, it is very easy to get in contact with someone who maybe sick. So, it is seen as a curtsy towards other people that you wear a mask and not spread your germs. 

But I have started to switch back into the "Korean Mindset" as it is and am starting to wear my mask in public more comfortably and actually always make sure that i have one with me at all times, just in case. Plus it helps in the winter because it warms the frozen air, making it easier to breathe during the colder months.  

For more info on yellow dust you can look here and if you are on twitter, this is a good page that gives hourly tweets on the dust levels and tells you if they are healthy or not.

Looking Back: Lodging before "the Cave"

So I got a few requests for more updates that included pictures and you all are absolutely right, I am so sorry that I have not been putting any pictures on my posts. It has been a little hard to update pictures because I took a lot on my Galaxy S5 phone, but since I have been using an old Galaxy S3 (picture quality is not very good) I needed to find the time to transfer them over and then upload them to my posts, Hopefully next month (or by November) I should be using my S5, so it will be easier to upload pictures.

So I realized that I never really told you all about where I have been staying while here in Seoul. I did a rather long general post back in July about the Hostel that I was staying in for my first night before I moved to the hotel for training, so let's start there.

The hostel that I ended up staying at (thanks to my beautiful 여보) was "My Home" in Sadang. It is really convenient to get to from the airport, since it is walking distance from one of the airport bus stops in the Gangnam area.

I was on the second floor of the hostel, with was on the 4th floor of the building that we were in, which as I said before, I felt really bad/grateful for the guy that helped me bring up all my luggage to my room at midnight!

Picture of the hallway on my floor. The room with the light coming out of it is my room

My room came with a mini-fridge and a small TV. 

My bed and all my luggage, we all (barely) fit!

"My Home" was really nice and clean, and was a perfect crash pad for the night. My room came with a desk, cubbies, and a small wardrobe since most people who rent rooms in these kind of hostels tend to stay for a few weeks at a time (not for one night like me). But there were communal/gendered bathrooms, a computer room, a washroom for laundry, a kitchen with free rice and Kimchee, as well as free wifi in each room. And for 20 dollars a night, is was a great deal for a single room!

After my night at the hostel and the adventure of getting my things to the hotel (that you can read about here), I moved into my home for the following 2 weeks. The Coatel is a hotel and a business center in Gangnam were you can rent rooms for a few days up to a few months depending on how long you are in Seoul for your business conference, trip, whatever. And apparently it is where all of my company's employees have been trained (for at least the past 7 years now based off what I have heard form the older teachers). The rooms were really nice too! Every trainee had a roommate and were allowed to stay in the rooms for a whole 2 weeks, or until we found an apartment near our branches to move into. I was one of the last to move out and into my apartment on the 12th of August.

our beds in the hotel. Definitely not my pillow top from home, but still really comfy!

Smoking balcony and kitchen table

Full fridge, kitchenette, shoes closet (also place to take off shoes before entering the room), and bathroom.

 After training, I was able to sign into my current apartment, aka "The Cave," here in Junggye and have started making it feel more like home! I don't have any pictures of the current space with all my furniture because I finally just unpacked my last suitcase the other day ( I know it took me about a month and a half, I am a little lazy. What can I say ^^;;). But my apartment is a studio styled room with a loft where I keep my bed. My "first floor" is where I keep my clothes, dinning room table, desk, my folding clothes rack (since I don't have a dryer), and also where my kitchenette and bathroom are located. My "second floor" is just big enough for my queen mattress (tl;dr I ordered larger than I though and it turned out ok), a small side table/desk thing, and all my blankets folded up in a pile.

I promise to post pictures of my furnished place soon, but in the mean time I would love to get pictures of all my friends and family (plus lots of 3m strips!!) so I can make a picture wall, since my walls are dreadfully, college dorm-esque bare right now.

My first night's dinner in the Cave

No bed or anything, so  just slept on the two blankets that I has at the time.

Duck socks make any situation better~

Like I said, I will post more pictures of the Cave once I get everything just the way I like it (which let's be real, it will never be perfect), so just hold tight! For those of you on Facebook, you probably can see the video I posted last month which shows the basic shell of my house!

Love you all so much and I promise to keep you all updated about my life!

Going Back to School pt. 2

" To have another language is to possess a second soul." - Charlemagne

So I have officially finished my first full week as a teacher here in Seoul. My classes are good and most of my students are really sweet. I say most, because I have a few students that are really smart, but lack motivation and focus in the classroom. So even though they are able to keep up and finish the work quickly, once they are done, they tend to goof off and distract their friends from doing the work. Unfortunately for me, I am really bad at disciplining my students (I want to be a nice teacher that they want to talk to, not scare them), so I am having a little problem with class discipline and management, but hopefully I can get it under control before I have mass chaos on my hands. 

My schedule is actually not that bad either. I work Monday through Friday, with 2 days where I have 2 classes. So most days I am off by 7 pm (and on the days that I have 2 classes, I am done by 10 pm). It is a little more than what they told me I would be teaching, but in return I get to have a full weekend off twice a week (which is unheard of for new teachers at my branch). Most new teachers have to do most of the Saturday tutoring and proctoring for their first term, but because I have the extra day during the week, I get to have a few weekends off! So looks like I will be doing most of my exploring on the weekends now. 

Other than that, not much is going on really. I have a one or two students from each class that I really like, but am trying hard to not favor them over the other students. But it is really hard since they are all really cute and always follow directions. Hopefully they keep up the good behavior, since they tend to balance out the less cooperative students.

I have got to hand it to all the teachers that I know. This is a hard job, you have to make sure that everyone is benefiting from the class, but at the same time you need to know when to let a student off the hook and let them save face. You have to be careful about your wording and keep in mind the English levels of your students. For example, I had to talk about what a Latchkey child was and also talk about Miranda rights. It was so hard to think of a way to talk about these things with out waiting precious class time to talk about the historical background and also not only reference movies and shows that they may or may have not seen. Where if I was in the States, I would have been able to describe these things easier and my student would have had previous knowledge about these. But here, it is a different story. Guess I just have to get more creative with how I describe things!

Maybe once I get to know my students more, I will write more about them and tell you all about funny things that happen during my classes. But for now, I need to finish up this post and get going to the grocery store before it closes/free up the table in the cafe I am at across the street from my apartment since I still do not have any WiFi in my apartment. That is ok though, because the Citron smoothie that I ordered is worth having to lug my laptop with me to work every now and then!

My New Squad

I know that I have mentioned briefly some of my new co-workers, but I feel like I should talk about a few that have really stood out for me so far. I will be giving them nicknames just because I think it is more polite than to put them out on the internet without their permission.

First off, let me talk about my good friend Mr. Glasses (he was wearing glasses when we first met). Glasses is one of the Korean staff members that in in charge of helping the new teachers find housing and is really the go to guy in terms of living here in Junggye. I met up with him on Saturday morning and by that afternoon he had helped me find an apartment, sign the lease, and was giving me tips about the neighborhood and  a little bit about my branch. He is very nice and is always there to answer any question that I might have. Most recently it was about my stove. Because my apartment has been empty for a while, the landlady had turned off the gas for my room and for some reason it had not been turned back on for me when I got in on Wednesday. So after about an hour of trying to turn on the stove and having my Korean friend Aaron send me YouTube videos on how to turn on a Korean stove top (yes they actually exist), I messaged Glasses at about 9:30 that night letting him know that my stove was not working. Yankee (will talk about him later) had shown up by then and turned my gas back on, so by the time that Glasses got back to me about talking to the realtors in the morning, I had already  fixed the problem. Since I did not know at the time that it was ok for me to use the gas, I turned the main line back off just in case later that night before I got a chance to cook anything. I ended up using the microwave, which would have been the logical thing to do after I could not get the stove to work the first time.  

Anyway, since the following day was Glasses day off, I was not really expecting him to call in and ask about my gas. Well low and behold that morning at like 9:30 ( right before my bed arrived), I got a message form Glasses saying that he had talked to both the realtor and the landlady and confirmed that I was able to use the gas. Plus he promised me that once I got my bills, he would show me how to transfer the money via my bank account (which reminds me…need to put some money in to that soon…).

The next co-worker is actually my boss. So Mr. Bossman is suuupppeeerr nice. He is the Branch Manager and is Korean, but studied abroad in University. I felt really lucky that I got too meet him, since the other trainees have not meet their branch managers yet. When I got to meet Mr. Bossman, he was really nice and very sincere about everything he said and did. I gave me a cold vitamin drink and then had my resume pulled up on his computer screen and talked with me about some of the times that I had put on it. As it turns out, he was a rower while he was in university and so we talked about crew and that we live near the Olympic race site (need to look that up later)!  He also asked me questions about my time at Yonsei and suggested that I talked to one of the other teachers if I was interested in taking intensive Korean classes in the mornings at either Yonsei or Sogan Universities.  Aparently according to Glasses and Yankee, Mr. Bossman is one of the nicest branch managers in my company and is extreamly caring about his job and teachers (as long as you stay on his good side and actually do your job), so I think I lucked out with getting places here in Junggye!

So I have mentioned him before, but the next person I want to talk about is Yankee. His has been here at Junggye for about 5 years now and has been a major help to me since I moved in. My FM (Faculty Manager) gave me his number when I was asking about where I could find furniture and stuff for my apartment. Yankee is actually going back stateside next week, so he is going to be giving me a lot of his things that he has gotten over the years: tables, chairs, kitchen things, a full sized mirror (and hopefully his fan too!).  He lives in the same apartment building I do so he is my go to guy when I have questions about my apartment. He also gave me lots of tips about living in the area and about my branch. He is like my guardian angel while he is still here. The other night when my stove was not turning on, he came down and personally took a look at it and then showed me how to turn the gas line back on (and then told me I should turn it off after his girlfriend translated the notice that was on it saying that the gas has been turned off, lol).  The fact that he has been here for 5 years already has really made me more excited about working here at Junggye. The retention rate for teachers here in South Korea is really low, with most working about on average a year and a half, but the fact that at Junggye more than half of the staff have been around for more than 2 years since they first came on.  He also told me about living in our apartment, essentially that it is a nice place to live and that as long as you pay your bills on time that the landlady and the guard ajjusshi are really nice and friendly. The only drawback he told me about was that it is very easy to rake up a large bill on utilities.

Thankfully, I lived in a dorm with no a/c for two years and also spent time in our Mountain house during the winter time, so I have practice with dealing with weather. I may not really need to, but I have been trying to police myself with my utilities. I really only have the a/c on for a little bit (just enough to keep the room cold) and then I turn it off for most of the day and when I leave. I only have one light on at a time, and I have been making sure that I turn off the flow of gas to my appliances, so that the meter stays down. Essentially the only thing that stays on constantly is my fridge.  And for the winter, I am trying to see if I can get some space heaters from another co-teacher that I have not met yet (only talked to) and if that does not work, I have lots of blankets and comforters that I can use to snuggle up with!

Adulting Level: IKEA

So it is official, I am now a proud owner of an apartment just a few minutes’ walk from my school! I really lucked out with the rent and size too. Because I am out in Junggye (still in Seoul, but a little farther out), I get a lot more for my money. My other trainees that were placed more around the Gangnam/Center Seoul area found much smaller apartments for rent that was almost double for what I have to pay and since we have to wait a little bit for our first paycheck it works out in my favor, aka I still have to budget and be thrifty with my money, but not /THAT/ much (aka I can eat out once or twice a week and not live on dollar ramyeon until my first paycheck!). 

I am not sure how many of you have had to find apartments in Asia, or anywhere really, this is my first time ever owning one), but here in Seoul when you get an apartment it is usually completely empty except for a fridge and maybe an air conditioning unit. I lucked out in that my apartment came with both an a/c unit as well as a microwave!!! Microwaves here are one of those things that are a little hard to find and when you do find them, it is a little hard to justify the cost, so the fact that my apartment came with one is freaking amazing! But other than a fridge, one table, a/c, a kitchenette, and the microwave, there was nothing else in the apartment. Now I am not going to lie, I like my pillow top mattresses much more than I probably should (on my queen sized pillow top back home, how I miss thee!!!), so I needed to find a mattress asap. Traditional Korean style of bedding is usually a thick comforter on the floor. Even though it is warmer this way, especially in the winter with the floor heating, I just can never get used to how hard the floor is. So, I was looking all over the Internet (gmarket, craigslist, anywhere) to try to find a mattress that would not break the bank. 

And low and behold, guess where I found one (hint: look at the title of this post^^)!!! IKEA~~ Ikea is fairly new here in Seoul, only opening up within the last two years and has really made it easier to shop for furniture and housing supplies, that is if you know how to get out there since it is in the middle of nowhere/ at the far end of the Seoul subway system. So after getting lost and having to take a taxi there, I finally made it to the IKEA. 

Now before I get much further, let me just mention that I have NEVER been to an IKEA before, not even in the US. I have heard about them and the fact that they have good food as well as furniture that you almost need a rocket science degree to put together, but other than that I have never been exposed to IKEA before. So I was a little hesitant to since I 1) have no idea how you are supposed to shop there, 2) not exactly sure how to set up delivery, and 3) everything would be in Korean. But I tightened my laces and took the elevator up to the 2nd floor to start my journey into the depths of furniture heaven. And oh my gosh! There is so many types of furniture that I did not even know that I needed! Plus on top of that, there are so many different types of textiles and knickknacks that really can make your place look like it came out of a catalog. But I was very proud of myself, I only picked up what I came for which was a mattress and bedding. 

Half way through the store, I stopped and got something to eat since I had not eaten yet that day except for one hard boiled egg that my roommate made sure that I ate for breakfast (at this point it was about 4:30 pm). So I went to the food court and got the penne pasta with meatballs and a chocolate tart. I have never had such amazing food in all of my travels. The meatballs were so good and the pasta was cooked to perfection, but the winner was the chocolate tart. It reminded me of the chocolate that I had when I was living in Europe and it was so smooth and creamy to describe it like silk would not do it justice! (Dang, making myself hungry now, lol). 

But the real adventure of the day was trying to set up a delivery for my mattress. One of the reasons that I really wanted to go to IKEA was because I know that they offered delivery services for their products. The first information section that I went to was a really nice lady, but turns out I had to go to a different help center to set up delivery. So after searching and finding the right booth, I was able to Konglish my way into setting up delivery for Thursday (it was Tuesday when I went).  Not going to lie, I was a little nervous that I had made a mistake in setting up the delivery, but since my mattress came today, I guess there was no need to worry!

As for the other furniture that I will need (thinking of maybe getting chest of drawers/shelves for my clothes next) I am inheriting quite a few pieces from a co-teacher that is leaving next week to go back to the States. I think I am going to be getting two tables, some kitchen things, a Korean floor mat (for anyone who sleeps over), and also a stand up mirror from him. All of that will help a lot, but I am also starting to think of things that I will add over the months once I start making a steady paycheck!

Welcome Back To School

    So it has been about three days since I graduated my training classes. The training week was not too bad actually. I had read that is was a very grueling process and that it was really intense. Personally it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I did have to stay up late a few nights to finish getting ready for my mock classes that next day.

   The way that they set up the training was very interesting, placing most of the learning on the student out of the class room. Everyday most of training was us trainees teaching mock classes (usually part of the first lesson of the book), were after we would get feedback on the positives and negatives on our mocks from our instructors. We were also all given different modules of classes to learn. I was given A2 (IB TOEFL Test Prep) and V1 (Literary Contextualization with the goal of developing future readers), while the other trainees were placed in C1, V1, and the April program which is for younger students. Because I was the only on in A2, I was in a class where it was just my instructor and myself. Not going to lie, it was a little scary and intimidating to be in a class by myself with just the instructor there watching me all the time.  Even though it was really intimidating, I think I benefited the most because I got so much one on one attention from my trainer.

The scariest thing was definitely the final written part of the training process. At the beginning of the training week we were given syllabuses with the break down of all the major parts of our modules. Admittedly, I really focused the most of my energy on the mock lessons than looking at the syllabuses, since I am going to be spending most of my time teaching. So I was stressing out about the written exam the most. But I passed and all is good!

So after our last day of classes, we called our individual branches and asked about what our next steps were. Luckily for me, my branch really did not need me to do all that much. All I had to do was go find my apartment, apply for my ARC, and set up my bank account. So, since I do not start physically teaching until the 24th, I essentially have about a week and a half to get to know the area that is to be my new home for the next 1+ years! Really excited to start learning about Junggye~

Back in Sunny (and Humid!) Seoul

So I know it has been a while since I have updated this blog, but I don't think you all would want to read about me stressing over writing my exit thesis and trying to navigate the word of post undergraduate life; especially the job market. Luckily for me I was able to apply and be accepted to a private after school English academy in Seoul, South Korea. I have a few friends who have worked for this program and really enjoy it, plus the reviews of the job on ESL program review sites were very positive. Essentially, I will be living in Seoul until August 2016 and then have the option of signing on for another year.

So after about 5 months of paperwork, interviews, and getting things pulled together, I am finally back in Seoul! I arrived yesterday (7/31) at 8:15pm and then had to lug all my luggage with me to the bus station so I could get an airport bus into the city, because there is no way I am going to be paying the $80-$100 taxi fare into the city with all my bags. Luckily for me there was a US soldier coming back from leave who took pity on me and since he was going to the bus station as well, helped me out. At first he thought that I was military as well, since I have about a year and a half's worth of stuff with me.

I am so thankful that that was not a one time thing. when I got to the bus stop for my hostel, I had some difficulty getting all my bags while following the directions to the hostel\. People were walking right past me, or they were outside of the convenience stores chatting with friends and just watching me. Eventually a really nice lady (she was about my age I think) came up and  asked if I needed any help. She called the hostel owner who then called the hostel staff to send someone out to come help me. I feel so sorry for the man, because the hostel was on the 4 floor of  the building and the elevator was broken. But we both pulled through and before I knew it I had my own room and cool water to drink! After relaxing and taking a cool shower, I passed out. Now as much as my room at the hostel was nice and the amenities were amazing, it was like most older Korean buildings where the walls are thin and noise travels quickly (also need to get readjusted to living in a city again), so I did not sleep too well because of random noises and such, but it all worked out.

Now today I planned on meeting up with a friend of mine who was going to help me move my luggage to the hotel that my company is paying for while we are going to be in training. I decided to try to cut down on the amount of stuff that we would have to lug through the subway, all while trying to figure out if it would even be possible (elevators, stairs, escalators, etc). So I woke up at 7 naturally and tried to sleep more, but ended up taking my carry-on roller with me on the subway to the hotel and seeing if they could hold it while I went back and got the rest with my friend. Well good news is that I was able to check in early (it was 10 am and check in is usually 2 pm) so I took my bag up to my room, cooled off some and then went back to the hostel to get ready for round two.

Well like most uncontrollable things in life, my friend was unable to meet up with me to help me out. But it was ok (after a mildly panicked check in with my mom after not talking to her since I left Charlotte the day before), because I got the Hostel to call me a cab that would take me and the rest of my stuff to my hotel.

After an $8 cab ride and help from the front desk manager (who was very impressed that I speak a little Korean) I am currently sitting in  my room debating on if I want to take a nap or go out and explore/eat. My only hesitation on sleeping is I do not want to stay awake all night tonight, but on the other hand, I need to be well rested since I am going to a mini concert later tonight followed by dinner with some friends of mine. Decisions, decisions...

Anyway, this is a rather (long) quick update on my travels. I will be posting more tomorrow since it is a "work day" for me because I need to finish my pre-training info sessions online and also start getting all my accounts crossed over from their US settings. Maybe I will have a more in-depth post about my accommodations (with pictures!) since I have already had people ask about where I am staying.