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.

Leaving is Always the Hardest, Adjusting is as Well.

As I write this I have been back in the US for a few months. Being back here is weird. I am loving being back with my family, but I am really starting to miss my friends and life back in Korea. it does not really help that I see them talking over social media about thing and realizing that I am no longer apart of it, that there is nothing I can do about feeling left out (because I am not there obviously), but it still stings.
It is like there is a constant ache in my chest that I am slowly learning to live with. Everything can relate back to Korea. All the differences between my two countries is glaringly obvious, but at the same time interesting.

Food: American food is blander and does not have as much flavor in some regards to Korean food. I guess it is more like the Korean food has the tastes of the individual flavors, but they all blend with the taste of the dish in general, where as American food really is mono-flavored but has notes of flavors, like the tangy-ness of mayo or the creaminess of cheese. Korean food is also fresher and more colorful.

People: Not going to lie, the first things that I thought of when I landed in Dallas was that the people here in America were bigger. Now I am not saying bigger in the sense of weight (even though Americans are a little heftier than their Korean counterparts) but rather the people were bigger in the sense that there was more diversity. Different skin tone, hair, clothes, facial structures. Everyone was so tan and so laid back and casual than the people that I saw in Incheon. There was so much diversity that when I looked at a crowd of people, everyone stood out and screamed for my eyes to look at them. Where  as in Seoul, even though everyone was different, they wore similar pallets, the dark hair kind of blurred together in a soft calming way that was not as "harsh" on the eyes.
But the main thing that I realized was small talk. In Seoul, I did not have many strangers talk to me. Usually it was just a person trying to practice their English, but it only really lasted for a few seconds and then we went back to our own little worlds.

Social Interaction: One thing that I have had to deal with, now that I am back at school is that my way of interacting with others has changed. I am very aware of age and experience levels of everyone that I come in contact with, be it professors, fellow students, workers, etc.  I have always been very polite person (in my own opinion), but after being in Korea for so long, I can now actively see myself changing my behavior depending on who I am interacting with.
Also the whole "small talk" thing is still a little weird for me. With sorority recruitment coming up, I guess I am going to need to practice with that, but I think I have gotten more shy about talking with people that I don't really now. I guess it comes from the fact that I am not really sure what to talk about; all of my American pop culture knowledge comes form two years ago, my school has changed and teachers that I took my sophomore year are teaching different courses or on sabbatical.


But despite theses differences, I am still glad that I was gone for the year. It really gave me insight to a culture and world that most people don't get to experience with a semester long exchange. I got to see all the seasons of Korea, got to experience all the major holidays. Would I change my mind about going for a year had I known that I would be having difficulty readjusting back to the US and my university, no. I believe that I made the right choice and would do so again in a heart beat.

My Last Days

So to make my last day in Seoul special. My friend Stephanie accompanied me for the day. We got to go to all of my favorite places.

After having free lunch with a friend of a mutual friend, we went to "Real SM" building and then explored the area to go find our way to CUBE Cafe. It was really fun to go there and hang out at the place where all m Kpop adventures really seemed to start.

After we finished going to the agencies, we got on the subway and made our way up the orange line to Dongguk University station to take the bus to Namsan Tower. It had always been one of my dreams to go to Namsan at night so I could look out at my city at night and see all the lights that Seoul had to show off.

I am no going to lie, I was tearing up on the road up to the tower. it was weird to think that this was going to be mu last night in the city. I was able to hold in the tears, but they threatened to spill when I was up in the tower. Seoul during the day is so vibrant and lively, but Seoul at night is breathe taking. Looking out over the Han is so hauntingly beautiful; the highways illuminated red and white, like veins pumping the life blood of the city even late into the night. I was struggling to hold in the tears while I was trying to say my goodbyes.

The next morning, the day I was going to fly out. I moved my things into Stephanie's room after I checked out and we went to Alice Cafe with our mutual friend Abby (see lunch from above) and got cupcakes and drinks for breakfast. Afterwards Stephanie helped me bring my things to the bus stop and waited with me until my shuttle arrived.

It may not have been the most glitzy and high rolling way to leave the country like some of my friends, but I would not have changed anything. It was perfect, it was just like my personality while I was there in Seoul. And hopefully am able to go back one day and visit all these magical places again ^^

AYP Coastal Trip Part 2

Ok, I last left off at the first night of the AYP trip, so let's start with day 2:

We had to wake up pretty early since we had a big day planned. So at 0800 we got up and since breakfast was still being made, we walked around the fields and even visited a privately own temple. Truthfully I kind of wanted to sleep more, since breakfast was not for another hour or so, but I rolled out of bed and put on my tennis shoes and went out side. I am so glad that I went^^

Baby birds outside of our room

Fresh mountain berries that our host picked for us so we could have a snack before we did our hike

On our way to the shrine

The shrines and the surrounding area was amazing!

Rice field and the drainage ditch off to the side that helps regulate the water levels

An old women working in the fields

Part of the Shrine. There is an older women that lives on the grounds. It is stylized at a representation of Buddhist Heaven. 

View of the valley and part of the compound that we were staying on  ( Right Side through the trees) form the Temple Grounds. 

I loved walking around and seeing all the fields and the people out in them picking and weeding. It really reminded me of my family farm out in Alabama. All the people up early working in the fields until later in the day when they would come in for breakfast and just hang out and shoot the breeze until is was time to work again.  I felt at home because it reminded me of my family there. Everything was just so peaceful. After walking around we can back to the MT/ factory that we were staying at and ate breakfast. It was so good. Even though the ingredients were simple and it was not fancy, everything was so fresh and perfectly seasoned that it was just absolutely wonderful and I could have eaten everything in sight had  that not been socially unacceptable/ time constraints.

Super delicious breakfast. Really considered bringing the 할머니 back home to Seoul with us so we could have all of her wonderful meals everyday^^

After breakfast, we drove to our next destination. It was a far drive (about an hour and a half) but all of us crashed in the van, so it seemed like no time at all when we arrived at the town next to Sorak-do for lunch. Now  one thing about CIEE excursions, is that you get fed very well (almost too much).

For lunch we got another seafood spread that was really good, even though I did not eat that much since I am not a huge seafood fan/ try to stay away from shell fish as much as possible. But it was really good all that same ^^

ALL THE FOOD!!

Again more crabs from all the marsh lands

After the huge dinner, we went out to Sorrak-do to tour the island. Sorrak-do is interesting because it has only been open to the public for about 15 years or so. Before that it was closed as a private hospital residence for the remaining patients that had opted to remain on the island  so that the government would continue to take care of them even though their treatments were complete.

I realize that I am writing all this history without telling you what the residences where suffering from. Sorrak-do was established as a leper colony during the Japanese colonization. Even after the Japanese left, the Koreans still used the island as a colony for the infirm. Even at the present, there are still patients that are there, but we were told that they were done with treatment, not that we were going to be around them anyway. The main reason that we went there was not only because it is one of the relatively "untouched" tourist places in Korea, but because it is well known for the garden that residents created themselves over the years. All the stones, all the flowers, even down to the upkeep was done by the leper patients, and it was gorgeous. Everything was in bloom and it was so pretty!

Sorrak can be roughly translated into "Little Deer" so there was this mural of a deer that was absolutely beautiful. At first I was not sure what it was, but once I got right in front of it, I could see the deer.

This was the room where the Japanese soldiers would do autopsies on the Leper prisoners that they had on the island (sometimes when they were still alive!!). Really felt like I should have been on an episode of Ghost Hunters International. 

What the island looks like from the air. See why they named it little deer

After Sorrak, we went to the grocery store to get food to take with us to the next island, because there was not going to be any types of food stores there, so  we needed to bring everything that we could think we would need. In the end we ended up getting too much food, but that is not always a bad thing; rather too much, then not enough.

After getting the food, we drove to the pension that we were going to be staying at for the night. It was right on the beach and really beautiful. We were the only guests there besides a group of businessmen, but we did not really see them all that much except for when we were grilling dinner while they were eating as well.

the girl's shopping list

Super good ice cream that you need to let melt a little so it tastes like a milkshake. Perfect on a hot day

Our pension where we were staying. The girls' room was the farthest on the left.

The A-frames that our program leader was staying in.

 After we settled in and relaxed some, all of us AYPs went down to the beach with our program director and just chilled for an hour before we started dinner. The beach was so cool, because there was really no sand, but rather the beach was made out of smooth rocks. We played around in the small area that was sand (making sand castles, playing in the water, etc) and just bonded until we all got hungry and decided to make dinner (삼겹살 again ^^)!

View of the beach from the back lawn of the pension

Drawings that someone had made on the rocks

Our finished sand castle

More meat for dinner

After dinner, some people went off to bed, while the rest of us hung out in the girls' cabin and played charades and just hung out and talked. The next morning we had to pack up and drive back to Suncheon to catch our train back to Seoul.