Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, the Kindergarten had an all day Christmas party.

Santa even joined in the fun.

I left my camera at school over the weekend, so no pictures of Christmas day yet. I will steal them from everyone else soon...we had a great Christmas Day. In the morning, I met Linda for mass and later in the day everyone met at Linda's apartment for delicious food, Christmas Vacation, and of course it wouldn't be Christmas without Love Actually. All in all, a great Christmas with new friends. When I got home that night, I thought to myself, how lucky am I to have such amazing friends and family back home that make it hard to be away, but also how lucky I am to not only have people here that I could spend Christmas with, but that I wanted to spend Christmas with...

Finally getting settled

I am finally getting settled into school and my new apartment. I'm really enjoying the school so far. I was conflicted when I first learned of the job, because I knew it was at a hagwon. A hagwon is a sort of school where Korean students go for extra study in just about any subject. There are all-around academic hagwons, foreign language hagwons, computer hagwons, music hagwons, and even driving hagwons. Essentially, it's school after school. While getting to know my students, I asked them about their schedules. One of my 8 year old students wakes up at 6:30 am for baseball academy, goes to school at 8:00, is home from school by 3:00, takes a nap until 3:45, math academy from 400- 5:00, then English with me from 5:15- 6:25. When I asked what time he went to bed, he told me 12:00 or 12:30- whenever homework and studying is complete! UNBELIEVABLE! I'm actually finding that to be the hardest part of my job- sometimes by the time the students make it to me, they are (understandably) exhausted.

my classroom

view from my classroom

view from my classroom

the outside of the art classroom- a little Seurat, Klimt, Van Gogh, and Degas that you cannot see

the inside of the art classroom

Now to my apartment: it's a little (well, maybe a lot) smaller than I had expected. It's one large room. At first, I was a bit surprised, but spent this past Sunday making it feel more like a home.

My bed...so, in Korea, there is no such thing as a mattress and a box spring (or at least not in the 2 places that I've stayed so far. So, my "mattress" is actually a box spring. Nice. I splurged and got a mattress pad, which has helped, but it's not a mattress.

To give you an idea of how close everything is- to the right is my kitchen area, and to the left you can see my green comforter and desk from the first picture.

Here is the kitchen area...at least I have a proper refrigerator.

My bathroom...and laun dry room. I didn't take a picture, but the shower head is just next to the sink. So, really you could shower and do your laundry all at once.

It's the small things in life...

Pretty excited about my successful trip to the grocery store!

peanut butter, Special K, water crackers, 1% milk, apples,
and tupperware- what more does a girl need?

surprised to see Sebastian...

First Day at Avalon

My first day at The Avalon School was not an eventful one. For the most part it was a day of observing the other teachers, Nichole and Steven, who I will be replacing. Although I thought I would just be teaching Kindergarten based on previous converstaions with the school, I will actually be teaching Kindergarten, Elementary (6-9 year olds) and Middle School. With that, my schedule is a little different than I had initially thought. Mondays and Wednesdays I will work from 11:45- 7:40 with breaks from 11:50- 1:10 and from 1:50- 2:45. Tuesdays I will work from 1:10- 7:40 with a break from 5:15- 6:25 and Fridays I will work 11:10- 7:40 with breaks from 11:50- 1:10 and 1:50- 2:45. I'll have more about teaching when that's what I'm actually doing...

Steven, the teacher that I will be replacing, is a member of the drumming club at a nearby university, so he brought a few members of the club into the school for a performance and afterwards the students got it to try it out for themselves. Here are some pictures:

Chuncheon...

I expected today to be pretty boring- go for a run, eat, walk around and try to meet people, but it was anything but.

First, I headed out to find breakfast...there was a restaurant down the street that looked friendly where I had the most delicious "soup" with thinly sliced beef and enokitake mushrooms served with rice. I don't know what it was called, but I am determined to find out, so that I can order it again.

After lunch Mr. Lim introduced me to another teacher at the Avalon School, Nicole. Nicole had plans with Linda, who also teaches in Chuncheon, to attend the hockey game. They were kind enough to invite me along and so began my first day in Chuncheon.

This banner reads, "Chuncheon...the city where hope flows like the river"

A group of ladies, one of whom was the mother of a player on the Korean team, invited us to sit with them.


Our Korean High 1, whose mascot is apparently a lamb? beat the Chinese Dragons 8-3...


lamb mascot

WE WIN!!!

After the game, we had a pretty difficult time getting a taxi, because we were in the middle of nowhere, so we decided to walk. Some of the sites we saw along the way:

scenic views of the mountains in Chuncheon

ice fishing

Yes, it is that cold!!

After walking for about 10 minutes, we were still in the middle of nowhere. The managers of the hockey team drove past us and happened to recognize us from the game; they offered us a ride to their hotel, so that we could grab a taxi. Then, we headed to Myeong-dong meaning downtown. Myeong-dong is a famous shopping district in Seoul, but is also the name for the shopping district in Chuncheon.

Myeong-dong

After walking around a bit and having a coffee to carry me through the jet lag, Linda and Nicole treated me to my first dakgalbi- a popular South Korean dish, which is a local specialty in Chuncheon is generally made by stir-frying marinated diced chicken in a gochujang (chili pepper paste) based sauce, and sliced cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, onions and tteok (rice cake) together on a hot plate. We had ours stir-fried with noodles, but it can also be served with rice. You can enjoy dakgalbi on its own or wrapped in lettuce leaves. The best part was after eating for 15 minutes the noodles would stick to the bottom of the hot plate develop a crunchy crust. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Nicole called it Korean comfort food and that it was!

dakgalbi

Chuncheon has an entire street dedicated to Dakgalbi...you turn the corner and it's all you smell:

Dakgalbi Street

Dakgalbi Street signs, which line the side walk

All in all, a wonderful first day with 2 new friends. Tomorrow is my first day at the school...I can't wait!

33 hours after leaving in Atlanta, I made it to Chuncheon!

So, I made it!!! And, with only one suitcase…here’s me before we left for the Atlanta airport at 3:00 am.

It was really tough going through security and leaving Doe behind. Of course, I am sad to just leave everything behind, but I just wish that we could share this amazing experience together. We’ve done and seen so many amazing things the past 3 years, it feels weird to head out alone. But, I did and I’m looking forward to the next 12 + months.

Yesterday afternoon I boarded Asiana Airlines from LAX...a little bit of a delay, but nothing worth complaining about. At first I hadn’t heard of Asiana Airlines, so I deemed them Korean Air Tran…not true. After browsing the Asiana website, I had high hopes. "Flying with Asiana Airlines will give you indefinite pleasure. Feel a rest on the sky with various movies, music, and games of your preferences." Yes, I'm always game for indefinite pleasure, and resting on the sky sounds like fun.
Keep in mind, the past 2 times I’ve flown to Asia, I flew first class thanks to my Dad’s 2389278364839102 frequent flier miles, but this time, the school paid for my airfare, so no first class. I’m used to eating out real china and a seat that turns into a bed, but I have to give it to Asiana Airlines, it was one of the best flight experiences I've ever had for the following reasons:

1. A lot of leg room…always important for talk people like me.

2. Impossibly friendly flight attendants

3. The ridiculous movie and music selection…you could choose from 14 international blockbuster hits…I watched Inception and Eat Pray Love…strategically chose “Long Distance” and “Killers” for dozing off to. If you haven’t seen the latter two, good choice, but Inception and Eat, Pray, Love might be worth it. And, my favorite part, they had full albums to choose from…of course I chose Usher and the Korean pop sensation, Rain!

3. The warm wash cloth rolled and placed gently in your hand by tong wielding, impossibly friendly flight attendants…I got these in first class, but was really excited about having one in coach!

4. Gift bags. Sort of like the kind they give away at the Oscars except instead of an iphone and a gift card to Saks, I got a travel toothbrush and synthetic socks…and the best part- slippers, so I could take off my flats that were becoming increasingly more uncomfortable as my feet swelled from sitting for 13 hours.

5. The food was seriously good...and explanatory. I ordered the traditional bi-bim-bap which is an assortment of vegetables mixed with rice, sesame oil, and red pepper paste. The happy consumer (me) is responsible for mixing the vegetables, rice, sesame oil, and red pepper paste together. As this sort of responsibility can be intimidating for beginning bi-bim-bap eaters, the meal came with a how-to guide offering helpful tips on creating the "greatest harmony" of flavors. Here’s what it looked like..the tube is the red pepper paste…use as little or as much as you like!

After more bad movies, Usher, and Rain that I could handle I finally landed. We were a bit delayed, so I had to catch the last bus to Chuncheon for the night at 9:30. After a 2.5 hour bus ride, I made it. Mr. Lim (the Director for The Avalon School where I will be teaching) picked me up at the bus terminal. Snow from the day before still dusted to roads and the air was a bitterly cold 23 degrees.

I had big plans for last night…get un packed in my new apartment, hang up pictures, hang up clothes…but, nope. My apartment is currently occupied by another English teacher- Steve from Canada and he will not be leaving until December 23rd. My temporary studio isn’t too bad…everything I need.

Bed…I made it my own, by adding my purple fleece blanket…you know I have to have my fleece.


Kitchen…not sure if I’ll use this one…it will be annoying enough relocating my luggage, let alone food.





Bathroom…yes, that shower head over the sink is my shower…coming from Thailand where my first shower was a spicket on my balcony, I’ll take it.




Fridge…stocked with OJ…I think that’s what it is and Pepsi.

Now, I’m off to explore and find some breakfast…

Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

In an attempt to not fall asleep, so that I can sleep on the plane, I decided to write my first blog entry. Those of you who know me well also know the struggle I've had with starting this blog. Those of you who don't know me well, I won't bore you with details, but long story short- do people really care what I have to write? Apparently so...


I leave on December 17th at 5:30 a.m. …destination Chuncheon, South Korea. I will land at 6:15 p.m. on December 18th in Seoul and then hop on a bus for 2.5 hours before reaching my home for the next 12 months- Chuncheon. Here’s a photo of where I’m headed…

I first fell in love with teaching english on my first trip to Thailand in 2006. It’s been my dream ever since I got back from Thailand to move back abroad and teach again. I feel so fortunate to have this amazing opportunity, but also to have so many amazing friends and family who have made saying good bye so hard. How lucky I am to have a best friend and better half that despite how sad he is to see me go or how sad I am to leave, he supports my dreams no matter what. Thank you everyone for your support. Follow me to South Korea and wherever the next 12 months might take me. I won’t say good bye, just see ya later…