Ok, so as you can tell from my archive, I have been doing a pretty poor job at keeping up with my posts here, or well at least keeping them more frequent. I guess all I can say about that is that life happens. I have been busy with getting every thing lined up for one more year here in Seoul, plus I got a promotion at work, so I have had to adjust to a slightly more demanding work load; plus with learning to live on my own (laundry to wash, dishes to clean, the crazy Korean trash/recycling system, balancing work and play, "minor" Netflix addictions, etc) I might have neglected my blog a little too much. But I promise I will try to make a stronger effort to post here.
Alright so where to start with my update...well I guess since I touched on it earlier we will start with what I am going to do for the next year. I have as of 8/26/16 extended my visa until Sep of 2017, I have taken over the security deposit of my apartment (so now everything is in my name, not my company's), and I have signed on for another year of teaching at my academy. Anything past next year is up in the air. I am not sure if I want to go to grad school, if I want to go home and find a job, if I want to go to another country and do something there, or if I want to stay here for another year; I just think I will focus on this year first and the later (maybe around Nov.-Dec.) figure out what my next steps will be. But no matter what they are, whether that will be going somewhere else, working, or going back to school, I know that (hopefully) it will all be for the best!
Moving on to work related updates, If you have not head through the grapevine that is my family's gossip, I have been given a promotion to Head Instructor at my branch and even got a raise when I re-signed for my 2nd year. As a head instructor, I help out the faculty manager and help give feedback and help to the other teachers (even though I tend to work with the newer teachers the most). I also seem to be given all the new and special classes when they are launched, because according to my manager " we only trust our best teachers with the job," so I guess that means that I am doing a good job as a teacher, right?
This weekend is Chuseok, aka the "Korean Thanksgiving"( Thanksgiving because it is there autumn harvest festival where most Korean have large family reunions with lots of traditional foods), so that mean that I got an extra 4 days before I take my week long vacation. I had asked for the week off before I knew that we were going to get the full 4 days of Chuseok off, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was going to be getting almost a full week and a half off for vacation! First vacation in over a year, so I am really looking forward to relaxing and unwinding!
For my vacation, I am going to be going to Jeju Island for about a week and the going to Busan for a few days before coming back to Seoul. Jeju is advertised as the Hawaii of South Korea, with beaches and palm trees, and for having a really relaxed attitude--aka the perfect place for me to relax and explore. I am so lucky that I get to stay with a friend of mine who moved there recently, so I did not really need to worry about booking a hotel! After a week in Jeju, I am planning on going to Busan and meeting two of my friends who are going to come down from Seoul, and we are going to explore over the weekend!
Other than that, nothing much is going on, but I promise if anything exciting happens, I will keep you all updated! And of course, I will update here about my vacation^^
Until next time~
Sarah
Moving on to work related updates, If you have not head through the grapevine that is my family's gossip, I have been given a promotion to Head Instructor at my branch and even got a raise when I re-signed for my 2nd year. As a head instructor, I help out the faculty manager and help give feedback and help to the other teachers (even though I tend to work with the newer teachers the most). I also seem to be given all the new and special classes when they are launched, because according to my manager " we only trust our best teachers with the job," so I guess that means that I am doing a good job as a teacher, right?
This weekend is Chuseok, aka the "Korean Thanksgiving"( Thanksgiving because it is there autumn harvest festival where most Korean have large family reunions with lots of traditional foods), so that mean that I got an extra 4 days before I take my week long vacation. I had asked for the week off before I knew that we were going to get the full 4 days of Chuseok off, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was going to be getting almost a full week and a half off for vacation! First vacation in over a year, so I am really looking forward to relaxing and unwinding!
For my vacation, I am going to be going to Jeju Island for about a week and the going to Busan for a few days before coming back to Seoul. Jeju is advertised as the Hawaii of South Korea, with beaches and palm trees, and for having a really relaxed attitude--aka the perfect place for me to relax and explore. I am so lucky that I get to stay with a friend of mine who moved there recently, so I did not really need to worry about booking a hotel! After a week in Jeju, I am planning on going to Busan and meeting two of my friends who are going to come down from Seoul, and we are going to explore over the weekend!
Other than that, nothing much is going on, but I promise if anything exciting happens, I will keep you all updated! And of course, I will update here about my vacation^^
Until next time~
Sarah
