"With Love, From Korea"

a picture so great, it deserves it's own post.

My First Haircut in Korea!!

Korea, I am sold!! Today I went to get my first haircut in Korea and I was pretty anxious because I've had some not so great experiences from korean hairdressers in America and who knew what they would do to me once I was in their homeland, but to my unexpected surprise, I had the BEST experience ever!!!!!!! I really walked into this place expecting to come out with a bowl haircut like every other korean girl in korea has right now, but thank GOD she understood what I wanted.

I walked into this posh little place called Leechard Prohair, which I'm pretty sure they mean "Richard" but hell, that's their version of it. First, they provide refreshments for me and my friend - we ordered ice tea and jasmine tea off their refreshments menu. Then these two really cute and pretty girls whisked us away to another room where they prepped me on what she thought was the best way to cut and style my hair. Also included was a personal hand massage from one girl while the other was flat ironing my hair! She even gave my friend a hand massage while she was waiting for my hair to be done! It felt nice to be pampered... all for the price of: (brace yourself) 10,000 won which is $8.55 USD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus there is no tipping here in Korea. So basically, I saved myself way more than 10 times the amount I would usually pay for this kind of service in America, and you know what? They do it better here too!! So Korea, once again, I LOVE YOU.

Here are some pictures:

me smiling nervously just before the first snip

snip - snip - snip! the girl in the white was my hand masseuse :)

the finished product!! me and my hair stylist, Yuri :)

What a great way to start off my birthday month :) I also found out today that all of my 8am classes this month have been cancelled meaning I work 2 less hours in the day now!!!! :) YAYYY I skipped all the way home after hearing such great news!

Oh and I finally figured out my "english" address so here it is:

123-48 Han Ma Eum Villa Apt.104, Oo Ahm Dong, Sanddang-Gu, Cheongju, Chunchongbuk-Do, Republic of Korea

It may or may not be exact, so try sending me a note or two and I'll let you know if I got it!! :)

One Month In!!

Album of the month: Jay-Z Blueprint 3 (this is what I listen to all day everyday)

Hello all! Sorry for the lack of updates! I have been here teaching for just under a month now and I have been busy settling in~ I paid my first bills this week, so I guess it really seals the deal! I am here for good!!! My time here in Cheongju so far has been pretty great! Not gonna lie, my first week or so here was rough trying to get used to the fact that I was living all alone and desperately missing having my roomies and friends to call upon whenever I wanted to chat or hang. But I've slowly realized Cheongju is a mecca of foreigners, all who came here to teach so it's been comforting to meet people in the same situation who can empathize. Plus, everyone here has been super nice and friendly~

My students are great!! I teach college students and working professionals so my hours are a little interesting -- I teach MW and every other Fri from 6:30am - 8am and then again at night from 6pm - 10pm. TuTh and every other Fri I teach from 6:30am to 10am and then the night shift again from 6pm to 10pm. It's been a little rough getting into a decent sleeping schedule but I usually get about 4 - 5 hours of sleep in the night and then catch up on sleep during the day. I really wanna try and not nap in the daytime because it throws off my whole day, so that's something I gotta learn to work on. But anyways, teaching is really fun -- I teach Pre-ESL, Intermediate and Advanced conversation classes so its fun to hear what they have to say. Sometimes it doesn't make any sense and other times I'm truly blown away but how much depth there is to our conversations. Some of my students are way cooler than me too, so hopefully once classes are done, I can hang with them and be their friend too! All of my students really want to learn english every chance they get so in the process I end up getting spoiled by my students :) they take me out to coffee and lunches and dinners~ and today when i came back to class from the break room, one of my students left me little chocolates on my desk :) it's great!! (even tho chocolate here taste like wax... i am dying for some good ol' barks of chocolate from Henry's). But really, everyone in Cheongju has been so nice and accomodating, the lady who lives above me even brought me a watermelon my first week living alone because she knew I had just come from America and was quite new to it all. I was so touched :)

Anyways, here are some pictures of my school/ hagwon (private school):

the bane of my existence. i have to pass this HUGE, UGLY poster everyday i walk into my school. I like how my director used this picture without even asking me, it's actually my visa picture while everyone else has glamour shots ha ha

my classroom door :)

my classroom - look at the big tv! I plan on showing many a harry potter movies and friends episodes so that I can educate my students haha

So this is my teaching life. I wake up every morning at 5:30am and get to my school by 6:20. I live only 10 minutes away from my school so it's a nice morning walk~ I'm not looking forward to the winter though, when I know it will be especially hard to wake up and leave my heated apartment and have to brave the cold every morning. But my students are all worth it, some days I just want to get the hell out of there but most days I always end up having a really good time. I'm glad I teach college students and adults because it's more about teaching and conversing whereas my friends who teach english to korean kids have to discipline their students as well. In Korea, a teacher is a highly respected position so even though I am younger than most of my students, they treat me with a lot of respect so it's been a pretty smooth transition. No one here believes I am korean though. They think I am like the mudblood of koreans, no one believes I was born here and no one believes I am full korean haha.

On the weekends is when we all just go crazy. Whenever the weekend comes around I am just so grateful to take a break from my schedule and relax, hang and actually explore Cheongju. I have met some really great people who are here from all over the world -- New Zealand, Australia, UK, South Africa, Ireland, Canada, you name it, they're here. There are also a few Americans here as well -- I even met a guy who graduated from UCSD!! What are the odds!!

Josh, Janine and I at about 6:30am. Random korean guy passed out drunk in his car. Hahaha

my first korean sticker picture experience. it's a serious business - so much work involved in taking pictures haha

me and ju-young (my sista - she has been my shining beacon here in korea) in a coin karaoke machine - you just put in coins and sing!! I saw a lot of little kids belting their hearts out in these things

my american friends! kate and cassidy -- doing it the korean way with 2 hands haha

Anyways, I want to hear how you are all doing!!! I miss each and every one of you, although I am loving my time here in Cheongju there is not a day that goes by that I am not nostalgic for America and the freedoms that come with it. hahaha give me some love in my comments and let me know how you are doing! I will try and update my blog more often :) If you stick around, I'll try and get some pictures in with my students so you can see the fruits of my labor :)

"Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will"

- the quote that is on every computer of my school

One Week In!

Song of the Week: Taylor Swift - A Place in this World (cheeeesy peasy i know but it's been an emotional week for me I know Amy will appreciate this)

Hello All!! Just wanted to let everyone know I am safe and sound in Korea. This week I have been staying with my grandparents in Po Cheon which is a little north of Seoul. It's a country town, so not a lot of hustle and bustle. Not too many people probably know this but I was actually born in Korea, so coming back here is like coming full circle. But no I am not a FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) because I came off the boat 21 years ago, as a two month old baby haha. Anyway, the other day my uncle drove me by the house I lived in for those 2 months, it was pretty cool to see even though I of course have no memory of it whatsoever. Tomorrow I am heading down to Cheong Ju which is where I will begin my teaching! All next week I have orientation and I will be settling into my apartment sometime towards the end of the week.

* * *

Some of my observations, learnings and experiences so far:

* The first thing my family did when I got into the car from the airport was make fun of me for wearing a seat belt in the back seat. Now, in America asians are known to be terrible drivers but I have now learned that the ENTIRE nation of Korea should have their licenses revoked. People drive like monsters! Sometimes they don't even pay attention to the traffic lights or lanes! I just don't understand, I plan to stay alive during my time here so I think I will be wearing my seatbelt regardless of where I sit in a car thank you very much haha

*There are so many cute, chubby Korean babies everywhere I want to steal them all!!

* I went to watch G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra the other night with my cousin and the guy who plays Storm Shadow is a major Korean movie star, so every time he comes on the screen people in the theater are gasp in excitement LOL. It got even funnier when *spoiler* he gets killed in the end (oh come on, get over it, you know one of the minorities have to die in these kinds of films and since we are in the Obama-age, you know Marlon Wayans HAD to be kept alive hahaha), and everyone gets all sad when I'm the only one in theater thinking "HELL YEAH GO AMERICA, TAKE HIM DOWN" hahaha so glad I got to watch this movie in Korea and experience it on a whole different level. Thank you annoying people who sat next to us and talked the ENTIRE time about how cool it is for him to be in the movie.

*Korean women and their fashion. I read somewhere that when it comes to fashion, labels and brands the Koreans are just as notorious as the Italian. Now that I am here, I can tell you that this is 100% true. These women, regardless of rain or shine, or even age, don 4 inch heels and stilettos like they are tennis shoes! It's borderline ridiculous considering the pavement here is pretty shitty. I envy them and mock them at the same time. Yeah, yeah, yeah beauty is pain, but nothing kills your day faster than blisters on your feet. I didn't even like wearing heels to monday night meetings hahaha.

*Korean couples that dress alike. BARF. enough said.

*So I have seen a lot of swastikas on signs here in Korea like this one, and I was both a little confused and worried, thinking uh oh what did I get myself into and what kind of place is this but I recently learned that the swastika is a sacred sign in Buddhism that represents good fortune and the heart of Buddha. But there is a difference between the Buddha Swastika and the Nazi Swastika... the Nazi one is backwards. Oh the irony and power of a graphic symbol, interesting how in one side of the world it is sanctified and revered to signify the beautiful and the good and on the other it denotes the evils of a very disturbed and unattractive man named Hitler who had issues swiping his razor from one end of his upper lip to the other. HA!

*Last night, I met up with my LOVELY friend Monica in Seoul. I was very proud of myself because I was able to figure out the metro on my own and only had to ask 2 people for help finding my way to Insadong, which is a street in Seoul that is very popular with both the locals and tourists and is famous for staying true to its traditional roots. Queen Elizabeth visited this street in 1999! The street is filled with tons of shopping, vendors, antique shops, art galleries and lots and lots of souvenir shops. We had a delicious dinner with her family, the bulgogi dduk bok ki was BOMB and I even got to try some Korean rice wine which got me tipsy fast. Afterwards we walked around to all the stores and vendors when a little Korean girl overheard us speaking english and ran over to say "hello" and show off her english speaking skills to us. So to humor her, we didn't let on to the fact that we all speak korean and asked her how old she was and what grade she as in, she was SO CUTE, I could tell she was so proud of herself for speaking english to 'Americans'.

So far my time here has been wonderful! I am so thankful to my mom for sitting me down on a weekly basis when I was a kid to teach me how to read, write and speak Korean. I have been told that my korean is quite good and I hope to expand my vocabulary some more throughout the year! Next week I will have my address and cell phone number all set up so I'll hook you guys up with that soon! Toodles for now!

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine