It’s already going to be March soon… time flies way too fast! It’s weird because I turn 24 in March in America so I’m technically still 23 as of now, but I have to say I’m 25 here in Korea even before March.  Koreans go up one year right on January 1.  I don’t like it at all, and now I’m starting to know how women feel here in Korea when they talk about “getting old, feeling old.”  I also am beginning to understand why people are so sensitive about being asked about how old they are and how some women don’t like answering questions like that. 

I have exactly 6 months left here in Korea, oh boy! It feels good knowing that I’ll be going back home to be with friends and family, but at the same time, I feel sad because I’m never going to experience this again.  Once I go home, I have to look at careers and grad schools, and I will no longer have the freedom to travel or have the benefits of living in Korea.  While I lived here, I took advantage of my vacation time and saved up money so I could travel to as many places I could in SE asia.  It’s much more expensive to travel there from America, so I took this chance to do it. I was able to see Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia.  Not that many, but it’s still a great list in my 4 weeks of vacation of my 1.5 years of being here! The cost of living is much cheaper here than America, (in my opinion), and I was able to save up enough to pay off all my loans! I also learned more about the culture, and how much more there was to it than what I could’ve learned just at home.  I am able to speak better Korean now as well, and my reading/writing has improved slightly.  My goal for the rest of the 6 months is to learn Korean cooking, and a Korean traditional instrument. 

Today I went to my new school because my elementary school that I taught at was suddenly switched to a middle school. It’s in a town called Osong, right next to the KTX stop. Brand new school that was built about 4 years ago, so everything is new.  There are a lot more young women teachers, which is great because my middle school has a lot of young male teachers.  All my coteachers are women this year, which I’m excited about because it means more chances to make new friends!  That’s all I know about for now… School starts this week! Hopefully I’ll be able to update this blog more often now… but until next time!

Enjoy the photos below!

It’s 2 more hours until 2011 here in Korea. Kinda weird though because Koreans don’t really celebrate Jan 1 like we do in America. To them, the lunar new year in Feb is more important. But these days, esp the younger generation, Koreans are starting to celebrate it more and more! Soooo.. I’ll be celebrating it Korean style which meansss: watching the sun rise in the mountains around 6 am (in the freeeezing cold snow), eating dduk guk, and going to a jim jil bang/sauna to “cleanse” myself for the new year.

But most of all, I wanted to wish everyone out there a happy new year, and may the new year bring more blessings than the one before! Love you all, and miss those back at home!

Here are some mini polaroids I took today, the last day of 2010, with my teachers and students at school during the Enterprise City event at the photo booth! Thanks to Korea’s photo deco pens, they’re nicely decorated as well! Happy New Year!

This month of December has sure been a packed one! As Korean schools all come to the end of the school year in December, teachers here just get busier and busier. Unlike America, Korean schools end their school year in December, and the new school year starts in March officially. Kind of an odd system, but makes sense when there’s just TOO much snow in the winter. So, Korean students have a longer winter vacation than summer vacation. On top of that, although students are on vacation, most of them are required to either take classes at school OR to go to private academies to CONTINUE LEARNING. It’s insane the education system here in Korea. Anyways… I went on several school trips during this month, and had many holiday parties in my classes!

Trip #1: Cultural trip for all Chungbuk foreign teachers, paid for by the office of education— They had a cool itinerary planned for us, which included the Nat’l Museum of Korea, making pottery in Ichon, and going snowboarding at a Jisan Ski Resort.

Trip #2: Middle School 3rd grade trip to Seoul— I was lucky to be able to tag along this trip! They went to the Nat’l Museum of Korea (my 2nd time), the nation’s General Assembly, and the KBS broadcasting station.

Trip #3: Middle School 2nd grade trip to Mi-won— Awesome cultural trip experience with the students! We made traditional Korean fans, pine tea, tofu, and Eem Jul Mi Dduk (rice cakes).  It was in a secluded village in the mountains and it really felt like we went back 50 years in Korea.  I was able to finally see how to make tofu and the rice cake that I’ve been eating all my life!

The rest of December consisted of Christmas cake making parties for my 5 and 6 graders, my last adult night class, winter camp lessons, and teacher hang outs! I was also really lucky to spend my Christmas Eve with my sister Victoria who took me to a JYP nation concert! We saw 2PM, Wondergirls, Miss A, San E, GOD, and Rain!! We got to go backstage too, where I got a picture with Nickhun from 2PM and Sunye from Wondergirls!

Although the school year has ended, I still have to teach English Camp! I have the 1-3 graders for storytelling, and some of the lessons have been from my favorite books like the Very Hungry Caterpillar and If you give a Mouse a Cookie. I have one more week of camp left, and then it’s my two weeks of vacation! This time, I’ll be going to Malaysia, Singapore, and Cebu/Boracay! Super excited and looking forward to traveling again (and also the WARM weather!)…

Check out the pictures in the album below!

Last weekend I went to Nami Island with some elementary school teachers.  I was really fortunate to join some Talk scholars for their cultural trip! We left Saturday morning on our ~2 hour drive to the province. It started hailing on the way, and soon we ran into snow in the mountains. First we stopped at Morning Calm Garden, where we walked around and looked at the beautiful plants, decorations, and various gardens. I was sort of bummed we came in the winter because everything was orange, red, and yellow… and nearly naked. I could just imagine how beatiful and colorful it could’ve been in the spring. But, at the moment, the garden did have its own kind of beauty… a very autumn look with some snow.

Then we went to have lunch and then visited Le Petite France. It’s a little village made after the famous children’s book “Le Petite Prince” that’s supposed to look similar to the streets of Paris.  However, I was a little disappointed because it didn’t really look too much like France, but it was still cute. There were mini museums, and Christmas decorations everywhere. The Korean drama “Beethoven Virus” also had filmed a scene there and we visited that hotspot. There was a delicious crepe stand that’s famous in Japan too! Then, we finally made our way back to the pension after getting groceries for dinner at a nearby mart. We, of course, had sangyupsal, go go ma, sausages and other grilled meat for dinner! It was delicious, but FREEZING cold to be grilling meat outside.  

The following morning we made our way to Nami Island by taking the 5 minute ferry. This island is also very famous for being the spot to film a lot of scenes from the Korean drama “Winter Sonata”. Again, because it was winter, everything was bare and colorless. However, I was fascinated by the designing of the island and all the crafty statues and exhibitions.  I also enjoyed the UNICEF exhibit where it displayed a couple of Korea’s UNICEF projects. It was also funny to see wild ostriches roaming around the island. We took lots and lots of pictures and did a lot of sight seeing…I hope to come back again during the spring! check out the pictures below!