So I guess you are wondering what have I been doing these past 2 weeks since I've been here. Two weeks!! Sigh. It was rough. Jet lag hit me HARD. I would be wide awake at 3am and cant go back to sleep then eventually I do, and it's already time to wake up an hour later. But at least I was staying at a hotel the first week so then I didn't have to worry about settling into a new home and what to eat, etc. Breakfast was free at the hotel and at school they provide lunch and its good!! It's catered food. Then after work I would eat around the school. Food is cheap here. Well I guess it's like in the US, $5 a meal and there's is no tipping whatsoever in Korea
Taking a taxi is cheap too when you compare to US because for 10 minutes it would probably cost me $5. I could go far for under $2 here. But then you realize its not so cheap because the subway's even cheaper. It's 900 won for base and they add again however far u go when you swipe out..well not really swipe. Beep out.
There's lots of shopping, and I'm not exaggerating when I say lots. Its TONSSS of shopping everywhere. There are underground malls like the Lotte Department/Lotte World area. It's huge and there are little shops in the subway. It is about 10 minutes from my place.
I know I don't sound excited and my blog is kind of boring but all my enthusiasm run out, sorry lol. I was too busy to create a blog and upload pics but at first I was REALLY excited and I was kind of upset I had no one to tell because I had no internet at the hotel and then none again when I got into my apt. But I'm okay now I've got internet SOOO you are probably waiting for some pics......so here they are!
MY APT IS FABULOUS!!!!
i have a biggg bathroom! and the colors are so pretty i have a pink ceiling yellow tiles and a white tiled wall with cute little designs which you can't see..
and moving to the right in keeping with the clockwise fashion..
my kitchen/front door area!
the bottom of the pic is the edge of my bed you can see the corner of it sticking up..o and my cute little front load washer is right there in the middle of my kitchen haha. All the way to the left is also my little 2 stove electric burner. Next to the door is my shoe closet and my tiny fridge is next to the counter...
and my closet is to the right slightly over..
and then you come full circle back to my bed on the right.
here is a pic after a few days of settling in:
Koreans love to sit on the floor so my little vanity section is very low as well as my bed and mini end table...on the wall there is a video thing where you can see who's ringing your doorbell!!! or just to peek to see who;s outside in your hallway HAHA i play with it all the time when I hear somehting ..and I can see who's coming/going from the elevator and staircase which is good bc I also feel safer and I'm nosy so I can see everyone who enters/exits. Other apts don't have a direct view of that part muhahaa
here is a pic
and for my first meal I made food but had to eat it with ramen bc I didn't buy a rice cooker yet
it was pretty good with ramen actually! Oh and it's pork and pepper with king mushroom..and some type of sauce I bought premade..it was okay
SSSOO...
the first week I got here my stomach was obviously not used to the food so I had to go to the bathroom a lot but it wasn't like a virus or anything.
The weather
The weather is not as cold as back at home..some days it's sunny and 45 degrees others it's cold and feels like 25. The air quality is HORRIBLE. You're going to be breathing in bad air and soot almost...ugh! That's what's annoying when you walk around.
Places
My place is convenient, it's close to a market which is full of stores/markets..with clothes and food. Oh I should take a pic i forgot. The subway is a 5 minute walk and Olympic Park is my backyard basically. I think it is a park dedicated to the Olympics that took place in 1988 in Korea. It's nice and good for jogging I heard but I haven't checked it out yet. Oh, in case anyone's interested, the Winter Olympics will be in Toronto next year..Feb 2010 I think?.... Don't quote me on that..I feel like I am totally making it up but it's something like that. All my coworkers except one are from Canada. A lot of people are from Canada because that's where the recuiting agencies are. It's not so popular in America apparently..teaching in Korea but there are Americans too. Well, they only hire from either one of the two countries.
There are western restauarants here but they are expensive because it's obviously different. There's also a place called Itaewon. It's a foreigner town. Everyone there speaks english and that's where the foreigners hang. Other than Itaewon there's Hongdae (University Area) where the foreigners go to hang out for nightlife but I'm not interested in that so much. Then that would be like being back at home!
I'd rather go to Gangnam/Kangnam. It's where all the nightlife is too but for locals. I went once it's fun there.
If you want the Hollywood of Korea you gotta go to Apgujeong. It has name brand high end stuff there and restaurants with international cuisines. Other than there it's hard to get a wide variety of non-korean food. I have yet to go there. That is also the place where there is a strip just for plastic surgery which is super popular her ein Korea. Everybody gets double eyelids done I think. The girls/guys here are sooo superficial. The men have purses and look pretty. The girls do not wear enough when it is cold outside and always look good! Makes me feel plain next to them. And they were really high heels with everything and have designer bags. Burberry and LV is big here. Ohmygosh and kids!!!!!
At my school there was an assembly meet and greet and the family came, so I would see 3 yr old little siblings wearing Burberry cloats. It's sooo common. Koreans like face and for graduation pictures the kids look like they are brides-to-be. Well my school is for rich kids because it's a private school so instead of sending them to public korean schools they pay to come here.
Koreans take their children's Education seriously. After school they have piano or art or drama, etc and they do not go home until 10pm sometimes. The parents always complain too if their child is not learning or if another child got something and theirs didn't because the families are all very close from becoming best friends fast.
At our school we have a business mindset, which is controversial in North American mentality but it is what it is. We are a franchise and are paid by an entrpeneur who is investing in the school. So complaints from parents are nervewracking.
MY LIFE so far...
Teaching has been difficult for me because lesson planning was never something I did or that comes naturally because I am not as creative and to work with kinders is not easy. We have to entertain them and get them interested in English. You can't give it to them straight, especially since they do not understand English which is very challenging. I have a teaching assistant/teaching partner but she doesn't translate what I say all the time which make sit more difficult for them to understand me. But I am making progress and I think they understand me because we talk about the same things routinely.
The kids are absolutely adorable! Especially with their perms lol. I have a boy and a girl with a perm in my class...again with the superficial-ness. Well it could be real for the girl bc it's really soft curls but the boy its kind of obvious..but then again I find a lot of korean men have wavy hair naturally. But really, you can never know. My korean friend told me no one is how they really look. Guys have things in their shoes to change their height!!! It's a secret so shhhhh! Like padding I would say..
In Korea you add a year to your age so I teach 6 yr olds who are really 5 in North American age.
I sing songs everyday and it's tiring because their attention span is so short =(
I can't just teach them things I have to make it fun too which is really hard and on top of that they don't understand me sometimes and I started out soft on them so now they dont listento me..darnit. But it'll get better that's what everyone says. It better! Because I don't want to focus on work too much on my off days and stuff. This first week I have been at the office til 9pm, my sch is 9-5 so that a bit much. And I don't bring food to work so I'm hungry and stressed and tired by the end of the day. There's a lot of support from the other teachers who's been here a little longer so that's good. They are really helpful =)
Man I can't wait to shop here! I told myself not to shop but none of my clothes follow their trend and I like it so I have no choice hehe. The girls like to wear tunics over tights and peacoats with nice shoes and a nice bag. Everybody's so glammed up here.
OK! So you are probably bored out of your mind if you read all of this or not..haha sorry it's so bland I lost the initial excitement. I mean I'm still excited but it's toned down a bit and I'm too tired to be excited.
Ok blog you later! LOL..um I'm not sure what the blogging etiquette is..but o well
Ahnyung~
