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