Heart & Seoul Tower

September 20, 2011June 1, 20131 Comment

In my last post I said the next post would feature a drawing by one of my students about eating dogmeat and how it’s SOOOO delicious. Well, this is trumping that for the time being and I’ll show you that disturbing drawing in an upcoming post about how much I freakin love my students and teaching them English while slowly losing all my brain cells 🙂

The place that trumps dogmeat is Namsan Tower, also known as Seoul Tower. On Friday night Katie and I slept over at Abby’s (again) in the HBC (Hae Bong Chung – AKA the super cool and hip foreigner dwelling area near Itaewon). She lives at the base of Seoul Tower, so hiking up to the top seemed like an awesome plan to kick our hangovers come Saturday morning. Our lovely friend Steph came over to Abby’s where we all lounged for quite some time before making the journey to the top. Here is a tale of the 3 really awesome things about Seoul Tower.

First is the gorgeous hike to the top. For those who know me quite well, I’m not very agile on my footsies when it comes to hikes, or anything outdoorsy for that matter (eh hem Jtart lol), but this one wasn’t bad at all, as we did NOT go off-trailing 😉 Along the hike we got to see glimpses of Seoul below us. I must say this city is so gorgeous when you get up and see it from above. Another silly thing about the Koreans is that they love their outdoor exercise machines. We stopped at the little gym about half way up to test them out. Unfortch no photos though (shocking, I know). Next time. I’m sure it will only be a brief time before I stumble upon another outdoor gym.

Second, and most awesome thing about Seoul Tower is that once you get to the top, you kind of get overwhelmed with love, as lametard as that sounds. But, once you get up there, there are thousands upon thousands of love locks secured to trees shaped like Christmas trees, and all along the outer edges overlooking the city. It’s a place where couples, and I’m sure friends, come to leave a lock as a token of their love for each other. It really is so beautiful when you see it. It made me think about a lot of things. My first love, all of my friends who I love so dearly back home, and of course hopefully coming back here with a new lover someday to leave a lock of my own. But, for the time being, I was atop this gorgeous tower surrounded by so much love and conversation and 3 girls who I am very fortunate to have met and call my Seoul sistas (again with the lametardness, but shut up).

The third awesome thing about Seoul Tower is that it is the geographical center of Seoul. So, of course, just like tourists (hello, still in tourist mode!), we all took our turn standing on the mound that is the center of the city. Then we all attempted to hop on it together. That was funny.

As if I wasn’t already in love with this city and my choice to move here, coming to Seoul Tower really made me even more happier about my decision.

And last but certainly not least, a post wouldn’t be complete without a creeper shot of an adorable Korean baby (or two….or three if you count the one above). I CAN’T HANDLE THE CUTENESS.

PPS: Though not from my day at Seoul Tower, this felt suiting given the theme of love. For all my asian lovers in the states, this is just for you. I learned this from the best ❤

PPPS: For those who aren’t in the know, I finally got an iPhone like a real human being. Let me know if you didn’t get my digits and I shall send them to you so we can Kakao or WhatsApp again!

Weekend Jaunt to Muuido Island

September 13, 2011June 1, 20134 Comments

I took my first mini-vacation this past weekend for the long Chuseok holiday, which is Korean Thanksgiving. We have 5 days off so a bunch of pals and I ventured to Muuido Island, which is off the west coast of Incheon (on the China side). Katie, Liz and I all slumber partied at Abby’s Friday night, and woke up at the crack to take turns showering and then make the long and epic journey to the island. From Itaewon it took us about 2.5-3 hours, which was a bit absurd, but it was an awesome journey with my 3 new Seoul sistas 🙂

After about 50 subway transfers, 2 buses and a 4 minute ferry ride, we made it to the shore where we snagged a cozy little hut-for-four right on the water. We immediately threw our backbacks (and pillows, and towels, and sweatshirts – eh hem Liz) down, made a quick change from our typhoon attire, which had us scorching hot, and ran off to meet the rest of the crew who made it much earlier than us. We ate lots of sodium-filled spicy ramen noodles and mystery flavored chips, imbibed lots of 1,000won bottles of soju and Powerade, played some silly animal games and took lots of awesome photos. It felt so great to be enjoying myself with such a fun and sweet ass group of new pallios on a little island in the far east.

The amazingness struck at sunset, when the tide drew back about a mile, exposing the softest mud (and some glow in the dark penis fish). The 4 of us, with soju bottles in hand, literally ran out like we were running to the edge of the world, and shared what I would like to say was the best, most happy moment of my life. It was yet another one of those “I’m so happy I’m in Korea” moments. Certain people and times popped into my head, and I realized that even while not present, they still have such an impact on where I am today, whether I like it or not. And all I could be was happy. Ch-ch-check out the videos below to see the most gorgeous sunset of life, and some ugly (what we think are) penis fish (and cute little Korean boys!)

I love taking photos, of course you all are aware of that since you love when I take awful photos of you (love you), but being in this place, this weekend, with the people I was with, just made me want to snap snap snap and do lots and lots of reflecting. It was just so breaktakingly beautiful.

Hope you enjoy these little nuggets of beauty, because next post will be some bomb diggity drawings of me by some of my very creative students, and one of them involves eating dog meat. Enjoy the beauts!

Mini Internal Freakout Take 1!

September 9, 2011June 1, 20132 Comments

My co-teacher, Leni, asked me last week if I wanted to join the “Nowon Club” at my school. Basically, it’s all of the teachers and school people getting together over Korean BBQ and lots of soju with a side of cider (the equivalent of Sprite) a few times a month after school. I said of course I would join since I think it’d be fun to hang out with all of them even though I need a translator 24/7. But, they’re all so freakin funny so I don’t mind being the odd ball out. You know me 🙂

So I’m sitting there, the sides come out, the drinks come out, the coals come out, and then the plate of meat comes out. On the drive over Jin told me it was probably going to be pork, so I already had in my mind that I’d be eating iceberg salad, kimchi, and turnips for dinner (and would just fill up on brie later at Jason’s cheese/housewarming-ish gathering). But, when the meat came out, there were two different types, so I asked Jin and Leni what they were. They said pork and what I thought to be DOG. I instantly went into internal freakout-wanting-to-vomit mode. This was THE cultural moment I have greatly feared since before coming here. Jin started placing the meat on the BBQ and I just kept thinking omgomgomg this is what cooked dog smells like and I kept thinking of my little Presley and Cilla back home. They asked me if I had ever tried it before and I said “Noooooo. It’s too weird for me. I just think about my baby puppies at home. It’s just too weird. Sorrrrrry!” Apparently this didn’t translate though, and they nodded like they understood it was weird for me. The meat keeps cooking, and then Leni asked me if I wanted to try LOL and I repeated again how it’s too weird and how I just think about my puppies. To which she goes “It’s DOCK! DOCK! Swim in the water!” I instantly lost my shit and let out the biggest sigh of relief. Between the 3 of us we couldn’t stop laughing allllll throughout dinner. They asked me AGAIN if I wanted to try DUCK (since it clearly wasn’t DOG), and I’m sorry judgemental Mama Schaeff and Jacq, but I tried it. I had never tried it before, and for those who know me, I used to be a vegetarian, so I’m pretty finiky with meat. But, I know duck is like a delicacy in a lot of Asian cultures so I gave it a whirl, and was actually quite pleasantly surprised. It actually tasted pretty good, however I smelled like shit the entire rest of the evening at Jason’s. I showered that night, and when I was on the bus this morning I smelled the stench again and realized it was my purse that still stunk! AHHHHH! DOCK DOCK! QUACK QUACK! STINK STINK!

After quite the hearty meal (these Korean’s like to EAT), the soju imbibing carried on, and my Principal poured me a shot and then said something to Leni in Korean to translate to me, along the lines of “I think you will be a great teacher and wish you lots of good blessings and luck.” I poured him one in return and we took our shots. Twas a lovely evening, but I had to cut it short to go help Jason and friends dig into the big wheel of brie that he bought. I said “ahn-yang-haseyo” to everyone, and then the Principal asked Leni if it was ok for him to hug me goodbye LOL. Apparently this act is very rare. We hugged, and everyoneeeee cheered and screamed and applauded. They like me! They really like me!

On top of them all liking me, and successfully completing my first full week of teaching, I received my ARC card in the mail, so I’m officially a resident of Korea!!! Today Leni took me to open a bank account in Nowon, and we attempted to get me an iPhone, but they wanted me to buy the phone up front for 800won which is absurd, so I will be getting an iPhone in Itaewon on Wednesday after the Chuseok holiday. They hook it up for foreigners there in terms of 2 year phone contracts and just paying for the phone as part of your monthly bill. So, all you pesterers, you will be able to WhatsApp and KakaoTalk me as of Wednesday of next week. Hold your horsies.

Now, I nap. I’m going to have a slumber party with Katie, Abby and Liz tonight at Abby’s since we’re getting up at the crack to catch a bus to Muuido Island for the long holiday.

A Real Teacher! Jnet&Carmen! And the Aquarium!

September 7, 2011June 1, 20134 Comments

I have completed more than half a week of officially being an English teacher…and it’s three things….fun, repetitive, and EXHAUSTING! I honestly always underestimated what it takes to be a teacher, because after teaching 5 regular classes and 1 after school class to 1st and 2nd graders, I was as pooped as they come, and my feet were throbbing from standing in slippers all day! This whole week has been about me introducing myself (over and over again) to each class of students. I made a powerpoint with lots of pictures of me and my life back home, which the kids really seemed to love. Their favorite is this picture of me eating a fried twinkie at the rodeo in Texas, but I just tell them it’s a hot dog, it’s easier to explain haha.

I also feel like a celebrity walking the halls which has pretty much been my dream since I could talk. You know this if you know me. Attention whore. Well, South Korea is giving me the attention I desire. Little 5th grade boys yell out in class “I LOVE YOU TEACHER!” and stop in their tracks and stare at me. I showed them a picture of sista too and she’s a mini celeb as well. “Teacher’s sister Ja-kwee is BEAUTIFUL!” They don’t get how to say her name (Jacquie). They also now refer to my brother as Michael Jackson since his name is Michael 🙂

I must say these kids are damn cute, and their English names are so freakin hilarious. On Monday I had 3rd graders who were named King Kong, Vanilla, Boss, Money, Albert Einstein and a little boy named Rainbow. I also had some other kids named Good, Nice, Percy Jackson and Obama. How creative these youngins are. I often find it hard to keep a straight face when calling on some of them (you know me!) I also received my first penpal letter from my student normal-named student, Olivia. If my memory serves me, she’s in one of my 4th grade classes. Here is a letter she wrote me 🙂

As far as classes go, all of my classes are taught with one of my two co-teachers, Leni and Jin. During my normal school hour classes we do a lot of stuff out of the book and CD-ROMs that go with them. I’m assuming as I get more well-versed in teaching I’ll help get more creative with them. I also have 3 after school classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Mondays and Tuesdays are 40 minutes each and with the baby 1st and 2nd graders who don’t speak a lick of English. I want to squeeze them and put them in my pocket. Instead of being a creep, I pat their backs and let them give me big hugs, and then I let the little girls pretend they are putting my earrings on as they press them again their cute little faces lol. I also started teaching them the ABCs. I was pretty nervous for these after school classes because they’re entirely open and up to me. I started playing them songs, did some matching games and had them create name tags with their English names which was fun. With the 3rd and 4th graders, it’s an 80 minute class once a week. I told them about my summer vacation and what I did, and then had them all write or draw me postcards of what they did. They then had to get up and tell me about their trip. I’m going to take some pictures of the really good ones tomorrow so I’ll post for you! I’ve got some budding artists on my hands! All in all, the first half of my first week has gone amazingly well which I’m so relieved about. Maybe I am a good teacher after all 🙂

Aside from the work ish, Jnettybear and Carmennnn came to visit me in Seoul this past weekend! It was AMAZING and I’m so excited that some of my friends from home got to see my new life and meet my new friends and fall in love just like I have 🙂 I love when new friends meet old friends and begin a love affair. It was also so nice having them here because it gave me an excuse (other than living here) to go out and explore my neighborhood of Danggogae (Dontgogay), which I like to refer to as North Korea since I’m so far North in Seoul. We met a precious little Korean woman who served us noodles (Jnet, picture please!) a couple doggies who we have fallen in love with, especially Mr. Kim Chi, and we dined out at a lovely establishment across from me called “Chicken The +” with Cricket Mr. Name Awesome. We also found some cute boutiques which could prove to be danger on the dance floor. As far as the nightlife goes, we ended up staying out later than I have ever stayed out in a ridiculously long time because I’m old and get tired by 2am. We partied like we were Katie’s age (aka in college again. Love you). We stayed out til 5am both Friday and Saturday night and I honestly can’t believe it. They also had to book it by 7am on Sunday morning. Apparently Jnet had a fun trip to the airport.

Sunday a group of us made like kiddies and went on a field trip to the COEX Aquarium which is south of the Han River. It took about an hour for me to get there for NorKo. It was a really nice aquarium and some of the things really made me laugh. For example, they had some sort of rodent there running in a wheel as part of an exhibit, weird, and some of the fish tanks had Korean style temples in their tanks so we knew they were Korean fish, and the foreign fish from Holland got to swim thru windmills. How thoughtful to make the fishies feel right at home. The coolest part I thought was the shark tank, obviously. There was a moving sidewalk that went alongside and under the whole shark tank. Bomb diggity. Check out some pictorals below!

Here is a photo of a cute Korean baby to meet my creep quota for the day. Enjoy!

An I’m So Happy I’m In Korea Moment

September 1, 2011June 1, 20131 Comment

There have been a couple times so far since arriving in Korea where I had an “I’m so happy I’m in Korea moment.” The first was during orientation when we were at the folk village. We were watching dancers do a native dance where they had these crazy streamers on their heads and it was like they were dancing with their heads, but they were also jumping and playing drums. It was just so cool.

Last night I had another one of these totally feel-good-about-my-decision moments. It was my Vice Principal’s last day at my school and all the teachers went out to a Korean BBQ dinner at a super fancy restaurant close to school. My 2 co-teachers felt awful because I don’t eat pork and that’s what we were eating, so they ordered me this cold noodle dish in a super spicy red sauce. I completely forget what it’s called, but I thought it was bomb. And their version of spicy is not comparable to mine. I want more spicy! We also ate probably the 100th different type of kimchi I’ve tried since coming to Korea, salad, raw onions in this soyish type of sauce, and some other dish which I have no idea what it was and neither do they. It seemed sushi-ish and was tasty, but I’m clueless. For dessert we had this rice cake type cake that none of them liked, but I thought it tasted like bread so I enjoyed it haha. The dinner was awesome because I got to actually hang out with my co-teachers and meet some of the other younger teachers. Many of them don’t really like to speak English because they are nervous about the language, but they were speaking with me, so I felt quite happy about making them feel comfortable enough to talk to me. The night went on, we ate, talked, and drank. And drank. And drank. At one point I looked over and saw my Principal downing shot after shot of soju with some of the other teachers. I think he kind of looks like my 5th grade teacher Mr. Miyamoto. Only I never saw Mr. Miyamoto taking shots.

Here are some pictures of the food and of my 2 co-teachers and some of the others. Leni is the girl on the left making a peace sign, and then Jin is the one in the picture with me 🙂

THEN the fun continued. To those of you who don’t know what a Norebang is, it’s karaoke, but in your own private room. The Koreans are nuts about this shit! SO, you have about 15 happy drunk Koreans and lil ol’ American Danielle piled into a room, tambourines are handed out, water and more drinks are brought in on a tray, and the book of songs is opened for people to pick their song. I never karaoke. As many of you know, you probably don’t want to hear me sing because I am that god awful. But no, I was forced to sing. And I was forced to sing a duet, in English, to a song I’ve never in my life heard before…with my Principal (who doesn’t speak a lick of English, but knew this random song). He was dancing like a little Asian man and I was dancing and singing and laughing the entire time. OMG it was fun. Everyone has to sing, and Mr. Principal was not letting me get off the hook by only singing with him. I had to sing again. This time I sang with my adorable co-teacher Leni. OMG she is so cute and loves to sing, and she’s super teeny so she was super drunk! We sang a song by Lenka that she chose because I didn’t feel comfortable enough yet to whip out some Bieber Fever. In due time it shall come.

This brings me to the moment I had that “I’m so happy I’m here” feeling. After everyone sang, we all stood in a circle in this little tiny room filled with tambourines and disco lights and held hands. Principal sang a song in Korean which I had no idea what he was saying, but I could just feel it was a happy/sad song. The Vice Principal then went around the circle and gave everyone hugs and cried a bit. I only met her a few times but she was so sweet. It was amazing how I didn’t even know the words, or really her for that matter but I really did feel overwhelmed, but maybe just because I was so happy in that moment to be there. The teachers are all so kind and sweet to me, and I love watching them bow whenever they say hello or goodbye. I used to think it was a little weird and awkward, well, I still kind of do, but it just comes off as so respectful and you can just tell they’re all such nice people. Anyways, I had my moment and it was awesome.

I’m sure I’m going to have many “get me the hell out of here” moments too (like when the little 3rd grader with severe ADHD came and took over my classroom yesterday), but it’s nice to know that these ones just pop up out of no where 🙂

Now I shall leave you with a video of my amazing duet with my beautiful co-teacher Leni. Enjoy the norebang (before my memory card space ran out) and my super sexy singing voice!

My First Real Week in Korea

August 30, 2011June 1, 2013Leave a comment

Since my last post I have successfully ridden the bus to and from school and got off and on at my correct stops and transfers, I’ve figured out the heating system so I have taken many a hot shower in my smelly bathroom, I figured out how to open my washing machine after washing one load twice because I can’t read the Korean on the machine, I’ve gone grocery shopping for some necessities, and even cooked myself dinner last night and breakfast this morning. Looks like I’m settling in. Here are some pix of my new digs and my new friend Marky Mark as the model.

ANYWAYS, here I am, sitting at my desk, doing what they like to call “desk warming.” Basically, this whole first week I’m doing nothing. My 2 co-teachers teach their classes English lessons for the week while I kinda grab my bearings, though I must admit, I’m still completely lost about where to begin. I haven’t observed any classes, but I’ve perused the teacher’s manual from a couple years ago because it’s all in English, but I haven’t really seen a class book or anything. However, it wouldn’t make a difference because their English books are in Korean. It’s weird, but I guess it works for them? Thankfully the previous English teacher left tons of powerpoints and lesson plans to go off of. Thank you Shana!

Now let me recap the past week or so since I’ve lagged hardcore on the updation (yes I made that word up) of this here bloggy blog. This past weekend was my first official weekend out on my own in this big city. Luckily some of my friends live within a few subway stops from me, so we all met up at Nowon Station (2 subway stops from most of us) and then headed out to Hongdae on Friday night. It took us a little under an hour to get there. We started with dinner, where I got mad at Jason (my Aussie friend) because I really wanted Korean bbq, but he just hopped up, pointed at the concoction on the next table over’s table and said “We’ll have THAT!” Turns out it’s soldier’s soup and it has something like cut up hot dogs, Spam and ramen noodles and it’s in a spicy broth. I did not eat this because I don’t do the pork sitch. We did however also order some bbq so that satisfied my craving. Between 5 of us, we downed 4 bottles of soju and went on our merry way to the bar Zen. This was a fun night for all, and an interesting night for some boys who cry in alley ways. It ended up being a 35,000 won cab ride back to North Korea (aka Danggogae aka my apartment), and luckily I had a homeless friend to split it with me. We couldn’t take the subway because it doesn’t open til 4am and we were pooped.

The next day my new friend Mark, who might be one of my new favorite people, played tour guide. He was here 2 years ago, so he knows a thing or two about a thing or two. We went to see the huge golden statue of King Sejong which lies in front of Gyeong Buk Do Palace. It was so breathtaking to see, because I really have always looked at Asian palaces in textbooks and could only imagine the magnitude and intricacies of the structures, but now I was standing in it. Pretty sweet. Here are some shots of me and some of my new seoul sistas in front of the statue and then in this gorgeous and serene (and humid) palace.

Later that day we went to a Canadian bar in Itaewon, and turns out my new friend Liz had a friend who was going to the same party as my friend-thru-the-Dicecca’s, Andrew. I don’t know if she met her friend because we were literally there for maybe an hour, but I finally met Andrew in person for like 5 minutes and then we were off. Hopefully I’ll get to hang out with him more before he leaves (he’s been here for 3 years!) We ended up meeting up with a bunch of other people from orientation, went to some Korean BBQ and then went out to the most ghetto bar ever. It was super weird and had quite the poopoo platter of people. Itaewon at night kind of reminds me of Hollywood Blvd. Super dirty and kinda grimy. But it was awesome during the day! But I was in a funk that night and my feet felt like I had rocks in them and I just wanted to bounce. So after some super spicy schwarma we bounced on back to North Korea.

Now for the reason I am living here!! My school! I have such an amazing classroom that these pictures don’t even do it justice. One of my co-teachers told me that my English room is the best in Bukbu. So much for the name “Nowon” because apparently they spent Lotsowon on this room. Check it out!

I have 2 co-teachers and their names are Chan Young (or Leni) and Jin. Leni is 27 and Jin is 29 and they are both single and both super sweet pretty girls. I’m so excited to get to work with them! In the classroom the students are supposed to call us Miss Danielle, Miss Leni and Miss Jin. This is different because everyone else tells me that the students say your name and then teacher, so Danielle teacher. I think that’s more fun, but whatevz. Since I haven’t been teaching, the students are still super curious about me. During their breaks they poke their heads in my room and yell “HELLO TEACHER! WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” Some ask how old I am, most stand and giggle and stare, some come in and run around the room and play tag, and one little boy already told me he loves me. Aw shucks.

I took a break from Facebooking for the day on Monday when Leni and Jin took me on the long haul down to the Immigration office to get my Alien Registration Card (ARC). I don’t know how I would have done it without them since I don’t think the people there speak English. I also probably would have gotten stuck making the trek back 2 weeks later, but Leni told me to pay 4,000 won so I will get it mailed to the school within the week! Then I can get a cell phone and open a bank account. AHH!! Aside from me getting to be a real person in Korea, it was a great trip because we had lots of girl-talk, figured out that Jin and I are both obsessed with Dexter, and even talked about our blood types. In Korea, asking someone “what is your blood type?” is like asking someone “what is your sign” in America. Blood type tells a lot about you apparently. I’m O+ which according to Korean culture is very desirable and means I’m outgoing, trustworthy, loved by all, and will never get passed over because apparently I stand out very much. Well, blood type, thanks for the ego boost!

Now it’s Wednesday, I’m still sitting at my desk keeping it warm and attempting to figure out how to put together a lesson plan. I think I know what to do but I feel like I don’t have a jumping off point. I’ve also been working on my About Me power point for when I officially start teaching next Monday. Tonight I’ll be going to dinner with the other teachers since it’s my Vice Principal’s last day. I’m sad because she has been so sweet to me in just the few times we’ve met. My co-teacher even told me I didn’t need to come tonight because they will be eating pork and they know I don’t eat that (proving to be quite difficult!). I told them I don’t want that to be a reason I don’t come to things and she was so excited and told me I’m awesome 🙂 So, I will be eating rice and kimchi for dinner. Tomorrow I will also be broadcast to the entire school and introduce myself to them. The school has a fancy broadcast room and I sit at a big chair behind a huge desk. I feel like I look like FDR having a fireside chat or something. I will be doing this every 2nd 4th and 5th Monday of the month. I guess I’m supposed to tell 5 minute stories and play true/false games to get the kids excited about learning English. Wish me luck!

Well, I’m off to go try and do some work. Hopefully the next post will be sooner and not as long. Sorry, I’ve just been running around like a mad woman. Oh, and Jeanette is coming to visit me this weekend! AHHHHH!!!

Ok, PEACE!

I am alive and in my apartment!

August 25, 2011June 1, 20131 Comment

Yes! I am in my apartment and it’s way bigger and nicer than I had anticipated. I’ll show pictures of it later because I feel all discombobulated and don’t know where the heck I am and it’s giving me anxiety. But, I just wanted to update all you peeps that yes, I’m in my apartment, yes, my 2 co-teachers are angels and I have an AMAZING classroom (pictures to come soon!), yes I took a freezing cold shower this morning because I couldn’t figure out the heating system, and yes, I got ridiculously lost on the bus today. Eeep.

My apartment is in Nowon-gu, in the neighborhood of Donggogae in the bigger neighborhood of Sanggye-dong. Lots of dongs and lots of neighborhoods are confusing me. I’m still not entirely sure of what my address is either. I kind of feel like no one I know is super close to me, but maybe that’s just because it’s the beginning and everyone is also disoriented. Blah. Anyways, tonight I’m gonna be going out with some friends to Hongdae which is apparently the poppin spot, but it’s like 45 minutes-1 hour from me by subway. Wish me luck that I get there in 1 piece.

More to come, but I must get back to tending my laundry and making my bed so I can kick this anxious feeling.

I have arrived and am getting ORIENTed.

August 19, 2011June 1, 20135 Comments

After a waterworks show on the way to the airport, at the airport, and on the plane, I have arrived in the hot box sauna that is S. Korea. I am not over exaggerating when I say it feels like living in a sauna 24/7. It is so humid and muggy!!! My hair is definitely going to love it here. Anyways, I got here safe and sound and am staying at Kyung Hee University until August 24th for orientation. I wanna say my flight was under 12 hours. I also highly recommend Asiana Airlines if you come visit me because it was so great. The flight attendants are so attentive and walked by like every 5 minutes with drinks for you, and then the coach seats are SO ridiculously roomy. The food wasn’t too shabby either. I passed the time quite quickly by catching up on lots of movies. I started my journey with a 23 minute bio/interview short about Justin Timberlake. I really needed something to bring me out of my waterworks funk, and his face sure did it. I then proceeded to watch Water for Elephants (yay), Soul Surfer (Kevin Sorbo/Hercules is in that. So weird that I ran into him at the Apple store a week or so ago), and Date Night (I think Steve Carell and Tina Fey should date after seeing this…). End of story, it was a lovely flight and I made a cute little Korean guy friend wearing skinny jeans on the flight who helped me with my heaping amounts of luggage. I have never traveled so heavy in my life, and I must say it’s really annoying.

Here’s a little recap about orientation so far. After wandering through the airport aimlessly, I was picked up along with a bunch of others from Incheon Airport by EPIK and drove for about 1-1.5 hours to our orientation site at Kyung Hee University in Suwon. We got here and found out that the boys are in dorms in a separate building than the girls. I don’t even think it was that segregated when I went to Washington DC in 8th grade. We also have a curfew of midnight during orientation and no alcohol is allowed in the dorms. I should just throw away my ID right now. Ahhhhh. ANYWAYS, we shlep our luggage off the bus at our designated buildings and then all shuffle into the Multimedia building where we found out our groups and got our name tags, keys to our rooms and met our roommates (mine is named Tracy), get a sweet orientation textbook that is huge, a few towels with the EPIK logo, an EPIK pen and alarm clock, 2 rolls of toilet paper, an adapter, a bar of soap, an EPIK t-shirt and a bottle of water which we are then told we cannot drink because we have medical checks in the morning so we can’t eat or drink. AWESOME! We then proceeded to shlep our bags up to our rooms where we are finally obliged with a shower, which was magnificent. The shower, as you can see in the pic below is the entire bathroom and I think it’s so fun!! You can shower and clean your bathroom at the same time, but don’t leave your shit out or it’ll all get wet! The beds are also hard as a rock, and we were provided two comforters, one to sleep on and one to cover. Of course there isn’t a fitted sheet, and if you know me, you know I then wake up on a bare mattress because I sleep like a tornado. Here are some pics of the dorm room to tickle your eyes. Don’t mind the mess.

The next day I had to be at my medical check at 9am. Of course we were all starving because most of us hadn’t eaten since about 5:30pm or so the day before on our flights. The medical check consisted of a urine sample, which many had trouble with seeing as we couldn’t even drink water before, measurements of height and weight, an eye exam which I think I failed, getting 4 freakin vials of blood drawn (I still have a little bruise), a “q&a” about your health with the dr. and finally a chest x-ray, where all the girls had to change into a sexy pinkish frock which was awful in the heat. It took about 2 hours or so to complete, and then we were finally rewarded with a box of orange drink (yes, drink) and this delicious french pastry/peanut buttery/scone thing. Nomz.

After the exam we got to head on over to lunch, which was meh. Meals here typically consist of iceberg salad with some sort of trying-to-be-Americanized dressing which is usually pretty good, some sort of gross pork dish which I stay away from, maybe an egg dish, maybe some fried chicken or bulgogi, some type of noodle, I think vermicelli usually which are pretty good, rice, french fries (!!!), some sort of soup which is usually in a fishy broth (ick), always kimchi, and watered down coffee in the tiniest cups ever. I can’t wait to get out into the real world here and eat food!! Here’s a picture of some food, I think this was our first lunch meal. Meet some of my friends, Jason and Katie. He hasn’t eaten his food because he talks too much.

After eating we had our EPIK/SMOE welcome ceremony and overview where we went over basics of the program, contract, vacation days, etc. and we watched these high schools boys play a traditional drum song, the name of which is slipping my mind. It was actually really cool, and those kids got SO into it, and their bowl cuts were whacking like crazy!

The rest of the day was pretty open for us to hang and do whatever. We had dinner and then a group of us ventured out of this university bubble that we have been cooped up in. We went out into the city of Suwon and the lights are SO BRIGHT!!!

We walked all the way to HomePlus, which Canadians were comparing to Walmart, but I didn’t see any of “those people” wandering the halls. This place is so awesome and bustling still at 9pm. It’s like 3 floors of awesomeness. Restaurants on the 1st floor, grocery store/department type store on the 2nd floor and then electronics and clothes on the 3rd floor. It was pretty awesome and we bought bottles of soju for 910 won, which is under $1! It’s also legal to walk around and drink outside in public, so we sat outside of HomePlus for a little bit and tried our soju, which tastes pretty much like a watered down vodka. We then ventured to FamilyMart, which is sort of like a 7-11 and they have tables and chairs outside for you to sit, talk and imbibe. It was really cool, but I was so exhausted and I swear I had the eyes-are-closing-jolt a few times. Hello jetlag! Anyways, here are some pictorals of things I thought were cool on our journey through Suwon and HomePlus.

Today was a jam packed exhausting day. We had lots of classes about how to teach secondary levels (middle school/high school), how to create lesson plans, how to make English more comprehensible by Korean students, which was super interesting, and then Korean class tonight. I was so tired by the time we got to Korean class. All the other classes were almost 2 hours, and Korean class was about an hour. Maybe I’ll Skype with someone soon and practice my Korean – an-nyung-ha-se-yo (that means hello). I also found out that I will be teaching Elementary school! Yay for little kids!! Now I’m back at the dorm and ready to konk out at 10:30pm. There is a full day of classes tomorrow in true Korean fashion, so I will leave you with this happy t-shirt from HomePlus modeled by my new Canadian friend Matt.

I’m off to teach kids how to speak…American!…oops

August 16, 2011June 1, 20131 Comment

It’s 3:02am and I’m wide awake. Well, I’m exhausted but can’t fall asleep. Sista and I are having a slumber party with Presley and Cilla, all of which have been passed out for a couple hours now. Damn adrenaline or nerves or whatever the hell you are! That means tomorrow I’m leaving, getting up at 7:30am and then shlepping my ass to the post office to see if my freakin debit cards are going to be delivered to me today. I want to try and catch them before I leave, since knowing my luck they’re gonna come in the mail tomorrow right after I touch off the ground. Ugh! To catch you up to speed if you don’t know, my debit card was somehow involved in fraud and someone in NY (Park Ave. might I add!) tried to withdraw $500 from my practically non-existent bank account. How? I have no idea. So now my debit card is shut off and I have a stupid temp one that only works at ATMs, so unless I miraculously can intercept my card at the post office in the morning, Mama Schaeff is gonna have to mail it to me. MAJOR UGH!

Moving on to the goodbyes, ugh I hate goodbyes because I am such a cry baby. I had goodbyes with several lovely men in the past couple weeks which was delightful. Sam Alavi and I went to Woodranch for some delicious sandwiches, greasy garlic rolls and good old fashioned dirty catch up. We have the best catch ups ever. I miss that kiwi boy. Then I finally was taken to Umami by Mr. Jared Franco who I haven’t seen in a year (eh hem mr.!) It was lovely and really nice to see him and the food was bomb diggity. I even left with my cute lil Dr. Pepper bottle. Maybe upon my return I’ll put a flower in it or something. Who knows. Then there was a fan-freakin-tastic goodbye that rocked my socks off! Saturday morning Mama Schaeff and I did our 3rd and final garage sale (SO SLOW!) and Trevor Martin (my 8th grade, red headed love affair) came to say bye to me. Probs the sweetest thing ever considering we haven’t seen each other in like 8 or so years? Needless to say, we did a ton of reminiscing and he really boosted my ego with some delightful compliments 🙂 It’s really great to know that even after so much time has passed you can really see who cares in times like these. Totally made my day. In addition to the boy goodbyes, I had a wonderful pho date at Pho 99 with my twin asian princesses, May May and Wawa. They started my love of the pho and my love of the asian, so it’s only natural for it to come full circle. The little man that works there was also very excited to see me, and seemed concerned when I told him I was moving to South Korea. Perhaps he is just sad he’ll miss my frequent business. Friday I also had a 3 hour long gvideo chat sesh with my other azn, Jnet and Jessiiiiii!! It was amaze, and I felt like we were hanging out. I miss them 😦

Saturday night I also had my going away party. We did dinner at El Cholo and then relocated to the lovely Hideout, which has since become quite the goodbye venue. That place is so fun. Lots of people came, some didn’t come (one terd of a boy didn’t come…eh hem Mike ATO eh hem…), and some people I totally didn’t think would come came which was awesome. I didn’t even realize Mike hadn’t come until about 1am, after which I proceeded to send him a very mean text, and then he drove up to Agoura tonight to come say bye so I forgive him 🙂 I continued to make the rounds on Sunday, said bye to my little baby boyfriend Baird and the Conroy clan, then scampered off to dinner at where other than Buca di Beppo for some Macaroni Rosa with the fam, Cori, Joel and Michelle. Probs the best dinner in a while, despite my gross hangover headache from the night before and my anxiety over my stupid debit card. Those 3 lassies also got me a lovely gift of drugs, tampons and foot deodorizer…what more could a girl ask for?!

Alas we come to today, my last full day in these parts. I ran around doing miscellaneous things that didn’t require me to use my debit card (ugh). Got extra passport photos, had Papa Schaeff buy me my Korean phrase book to soak up on the plane ride, ran into good old Christian Stavro, came home to a pantry my mother packed for me in a duffel bag, rearranged my packing sitch with the help of Mama Schaeff for the rest of the afternoon before more last minute visits from my lovely Zumba buddy Alessandra, and then hung out the rest of the night with Cori and Mike (who if no one is aware, my mom thinks is way cute lol). Wow that was a long run on sentence! And now Jacq is over with the little puppy lovies and I should really get to bed.

Well, that’s it folks, I’m off tomorrow at 1:40pm. No more smartphone for a bit (omg how am I going to survive without checking into Incheon Airport on Foursquare?). Add me on Skype (dtschaeff), download Whatsapp and I’ll holler when I enter the new world of iPhone on the other side of the world.

Love you all and now I must sleep. MWAH!!!

I’m Going to Seoul!!!

July 19, 2011June 1, 20134 Comments

It doesn’t get any more official than this! Well, aside from me actually sitting on the plane, but you know what I mean! I have received my DHL tracking number for my contract and NoA and should have that in my hands within the next week. Once I get that then it’s off to the Korean consulate to get my visa put in my passport! My very first visa and I could not be happier!

This has for sure been a long road, and I’m so glad that I’m finally taking it. After years of wanting to live abroad I’ve finally grown the balls to just go. Never thought it would be to Asia, but the unlikeliness is probably what makes it so much better. I’m going to give a little breakdown below of time and money that has gone into this whole sitch, because it’s been a long time in the making….

November/December, 2010 – Miserable at new shitty job and begin concocting my escape route. At this point I only wanted to go to Italy or Spain, but was set on the English teacher route. Spoke to a couple TEFL providers, asked questions, got answers….
February, 2011 – Got myself “let go” from shitty job and begin collecting unemployment and focusing on figuring my new life plan abroad out.
March, 2011 – Went on road trip to New Orleans, met boy, decided we’d go move abroad together to teach English. Went to Police station to get fingerprinted for my Criminal Background Check. Total: $8.00 for fingerprints, $54.00 for 3 CBCs.
April, 2011 – Boy comes to visit and we applied to KorVia Consulting (recruiting agency). Had a wonderful interview with my recruiter, Dia Kim, on April 17th. I later ditch stupid boy because he is lying scumbag and I’m better off on my own. Purchased and began TEFL certification course. Total: $190.00 for TEFL course.
May 2011 – Collected 2 letters of rec and completed lengthy EPIK application plus Seoul lesson plan, and submitted to KorVia on May 6th. Have EPIK interview with cute little Korea man on May 23rd and found out I passed a few days later. Received CBC back from FBI (finally), sent to Department of State for Apostille, and sent BA Degree to CA Secretary of State for Apostille. Degree took 5 days, CBC took about 6 weeks. Oh, and I forgot to include a check to the SoS, but they still processed anyways 🙂 Total: $24.00 for CBC, $40.00 for Degree (including notarization).
June, 2011 – Finished TEFL course, took test from hell and PASSED! Received my certificate a couple weeks later. FedEx’d all EPIK docs to KorVia on June 13th, and in EPIK’s hands June 16th. Total: $54.00 for FedEx 3 day!
July, 2011 – On July 15th Dia told me my documents passed final review stage and I had been placed!! On July 18th I found out I was placed in Seoul and that my NoA (notice of appointment for consulate/visa) is in the mail!!! I should receive that along with my contract within the next week after which I will go to the Korean consulate for my E-2 visa (English teacher visa). I will then book my flight!!! Total: $45.00 for visa, ~$800.00 for flight (I get reimbursed).
August, 2011 – I will most likely be departing on August 15th, yikes!!!

GRAND TOTAL: $415.00 + $800.00 ~ $1,215.00

(This total does not include shipping costs to/from FBI, State Department and Secretary of State)

I also still need to complete my Tax Exemption form with the IRS which is another $35.00.

IT’S HAPPENING!!!