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!