My Christmas Day!

Hello All!

So I don't have a bunch of presents but I did have a good adventure out in Korea today.  Hopped on the subway with my friend Angelica and we traveled about. I don't do very well with constant walking, so I'm super super tired!

Went out early in the morning to Hongdae and got my hair cut at Juno Hair.

Juno Hair is a place many foreigners all said "if you get your hair done you MUST GO here!!" Back home, to get a haircut can be pretty expensive. Here in Korea, it can be super cheap (like 8,000) or super expensive. At Juno I got a free drink (lemon tea soooo good) consultation with a stylist, shampoo, head massage, cut, and style, for 25,000. That would have cost me WAY more back home. Also, you can't tip. So there is not an extra cost to this, that was the cost.

The exact location I went to was
Mapo-gu, Seoul, Seogyo 358-2 brisket Building 3rd floor Juno Hair
Now, they didn't speak the best English at this location, but they were very nice and took good care of me. You may want to look at the site to check out different locations (helps if you read Korean, or look up a translation of city names) and call them to check if they have someone who speaks English if you want something very detailed.

We stopped briefly at a coffee shop afterwords, I needed to relax. Getting my hair cut makes me tense cause I can't see without my glasses on. 

Next we went out and got a very good soup! I really liked it. Sadly, while I would recognize the name if I saw it again, I cannot for the life of me remember exactly what it was called. Started with an S.

After that we headed out to Myeong-dong.  Here we visited the Myeong-dong Cathedral. There are different ways to get there, we got off at Euljiro Ipgu Subway station and followed the signs, it was labeled in the subway. There are more directions listed on the Korea Tourism Website. It was a beautiful Gothic church, I enjoyed the simple Gothic architecture and its Latin cross from. The detail work in the glass windows was beautiful. The brickwork is very well done as well. The floor tiles are ugly and don't match, I assume there must have been an update too them. They are hideous. However, It is a beautiful place to worship. They have an English mass at 9am on Sundays I read on a pamphlet while I was there. However, that could change so if you want to find out more you should go to their website .

After that it was more subway, another coffee shop, a ride out to Apojong and then seeing some Christmas lights. I also broke my Ipod touch! soo... yeah that sucked a little. I knew I should have got a new case, but... it is too late. So I am looking into getting that repaired.

here is a small video I made, and everyone, have yourselves a happy holiday of your own!

Christmas Eve in South Korea

Hello everyone!

Christmas in South Korea isn't the same as Christmas back home. A lot of Koreans don't celebrate Christmas. While it is celebrated in Schools like mine which focus on learning about foreign cultures and languages, it isn't everywhere. That said, it is still marketed and there are sales and decorations for the holidays. Just not to the degree I am used to back home.

The Christmas season so far hasn't really been a huge season, not a lot of build up. So it felt like it just sprang upon me in the middle of work. I knew the holiday was almost here, but BAM here it is.

This makes me feel bad because all my presents are still sitting down on my windowsill and not... in boxes shipping to or already with my friends back home.  However I blame the postal office for only being open exactly when I am at work. Also my lack of desire to skip lunch. I like lunch.

We had a lot of fun at school today, taking pictures, having "Santa" visit, giving gifts, a music contest. Sadly, I don't even have one picture because I was too busy the entire day to use my camera. I didn't have one break, hardly even ate my precious lunch. Just go go go. Then it went strait into Elementry which still had full classes plus we had to squeeze in time for a snack party so that was also just go go go.

Afterwhich, I treated my lovely friends to delicious, delicious Galbi as a christmas present, and then we all went out to Noribang and sang Christmas Carols. It was super fun, and relaxing. Especially after all the hard work of the day!

So now I snuggle into bed, refusing to turn on my heater because it costs too much (woot 3 plankets and sleeping in pants and 2 sweaters.)

I have plans to have a great Christmas tomorrow, and will bring you more pictures!


Merry Christmas! Or happy holidays. 

Catch up on everything!

what I've done since I last posted

Halloween:

For halloween in South Korea, they don't really celebrate it for kids. It's more like a giant party out at all the bars and clubs. However, I did dress up in costumes and go tricker treating at some of the kids homes, which was work!

I was a fairy godmother, and my kids where a bunch of different things

Couple of picks, Album Link

Nami Island: 

Album
Nami Island is a really fun, cultural place to go. It has fun events, when I went it was a music festival. The entire island had music being pumped through a speaker system. There was both live and non live music. My favorite part was a picnic listening to the full Orchestra play underneath the turning leaves. Well... maybe my favorite part was the squirrels. Boy was it nice to see something approaching wildlife.

I've had more friends birthdays, and Students birthdays, and we've had drawing events out in the park
We had Pepero day, which is 11/11 and you give Pepero.
Assorted stuff album of misc adventures (ASAMA)


Annnnddd My awesome super amazing friend Jess came to visit me! Strangely I took almost no pictures though. I think its cause we just kept walking and walking and doing things.
We did get pictures in Hanbock though, traditional Korean clothes.

I was in a Royal gown, and she was in a traditional wedding gown.

Two of my students moved so I'm down to 10 students.
And today there was a bunch of snow and we all went outside and had a snowball fight!

And that catches you guys up.

Project KIC (keep in touch)

2nd video! wow I haven't failed at a 2nd attempt.

woot me. I'm super sleepy and tired.

I still Like Korea, but i'm just too tired to do anything anymore. I'm not adventurous anymore. I just want sleep.



does anyone want to know anything? see anything? I have some time left.

Also, I'm going to be visiting Japan soon, anyone want me to go somewhere in particular?

Hello!

people?

... errmm...

Ok so it's been so long no one is probably paying attention. You can see from me posting like, once a week or more, to like... never. I got busy! However not with fun things that I can talk about. With not as fun work things that I'm really not allowed to talk a lot about.

BUT NOW! I am starting a small, easy project to try to get me back into updating about my life away. So that people know I'm doing stuff!

I am going to post a short video to Youtube, trying like 3 times a week, thats about 3-5 min long. I call it Project KIC (Keep In Contact). I'm only here in Korea for another lik 3 months and 3 weeks, so I can do it.. right?

right...

here is the first video. It sucks a lot I have to figure out why it's doing that weird echo. Also, Its really laggy and horrible between video and audio as well!

Summer in Korea

Summer is over now, and the season has moved on to Fall. Or Autumn. Whichever you prefer.

So I give you a short video about the different weather I've seen over the Korean summer.

My Summer has been hot, muggy, and rainy. When it wasn't raining it was a burning sun shining down on me on my way to work, teasing me while I worked inside, and burning out my eyes on my walk home as it was setting. *shakes fist at the sun*. For humidity it was above 93% humidity three days out of four in August according to weather records.

got my weather info here
http://weatherspark.com/averages/33287/8/Seoul-Seoul-Jikhalsi-South-Korea

Cat Cafe adventure and more!

Today I managed to head out to the Hongdae area, and had a great day!

From Bucheon I took the 1300 bus right in front of Hyundai Department store and got off at the Hongik University stop. Then I walked around with my friend.

First we went to Dos Taco's, which is super nummy. I got the chicken burrito. I always like to eat there.

Then we headed off for the cat cafe.

It wasn't far, it was easy to locate right behind the Hello Kitty Cafe I went to last time. We went up to the 2nd floor of the building, went in, and had a blast with all the kittens.

Full Album

After the cat cafe we decided we needed something slushy to eat so we set off on a grand exploratory adventure... which got us a little lost. However we ran into a really fun and helpful parade to follow around and they helped us find our way again.
They were playing up to my camera, and even ran over to take a picture with me!

Then we were really tired and we stopped and grabbed some yogurt. It was a self serve place and super delicious. Then I hoped on the bus and headed back home, and it started to rain after I got home, when it had been a beautiful sunny day all day. So it was a great day for me!


Map

Staying connected

One things thats really important about going overseas is that there are multiple ways of staying connected with both those at home, and those who you will meet. You will have to decide what ways you'll want to use.

this is by no means a complete list, It's just some things I know of, and the numbers I give are current as of 08-20-2012.

First, staying connected with back home.

the first part of this is knowing "who do I need to contact?"
friends? family? buisnesses? student loans? College? You need to know how to contact them. Also if you are going to have someone doing business on your behalf back home, make sure to get a Federal Privacy Act Waiver for them to do so or set them up on your accounts.

1. Google Voice: Google voice is a service where you can text and make calls through the internet. At the time I got it a phone number in The United States of America was free to get. This will get you unlimited calls to a USA number, unlimited text messages, and they can leave voice mails. no picture messages but you can send things through email. You can check it from your smartphone or on a computer.

2. Skype: Skype can do calls, text messages, instant messages, and video calls. Skype is free from Skype to Skype account, so if you have smart phones and computers, you can do this all free. However, If you are like me, then not everyone you know has a smart phone/computer. Also, business don't have Skype. There are different ways to use Skype.

• You can put money and be charged by the minute for a call, this changes by location, but it's $0.02 a minute right now. Pro is that its cheap short term if you aren't going to make a lot of calls. not good is that your number will show up blocked and people can't call you because you don't have a fixed number. unless you buy one. 
• you can buy a phone number: This lets you get phone calls in, people can leave voicemails. It can also be forwarded to your phone. This cost about $61.50 for a year
• you can get a subscription plan. If you know how much you are going to call, you can buy different plans.
• 60 min per mon    $1.09 a month
• 120 min per mon $2.09 a month
• 400 min per mon $4.99 a month
• unlimited U.S.A   $6.99 a month

personally, I have both a google voice (for the easy free text messaging) and skype (for the calling)

3. International calling cards: You can pick these up all over the place, they range in different prices. I've been told they range from $0.05 to $0.50 a minute on calls. There are lots of different carries as well, but I can't figure out all of them. If you are going to buy one I'd see if someone at your school can help you figure out which one is best for you unless you have good Korean.

4. Call from your phone: You can get a landline in Korea, and/or a handphone. A landline in Korea will be a monthly fee, which changes depending on your provider... I tried calling olleh to ask but that didn't work out well. I also couldn't read their website. soo... I don't have a lot of information on landlines. Cellphones can be used, I know Olleh and KT prices aren't that bad about 500 won a minute. 

5. Using other apps! Free ones! this works well if you get a smartphone or bring over something that can connect via wifi. You can either search for free wifi or buy wificards from the connivence stores to purchase some of the olleh wifi this is everywhere. 

Apps I use: 

• Kakao Talk. You can do free calling, send message, have group conversations, send pictures, video, and voice chats! It's userfriendly, has a easy to mange interface. It has a sister app called Kakao Story where you can post a little blog about yourself that others can follow.
• Hallo: It lets you send little voicemails.
• facebook
• google plus
• skype
• foursquare ( you know your friends when to chipotle and that you can't)
• instagram
• twitter

on a side note, apps you should have when you live in korea are 

1. Jihachul - tells you Korean subway map in English! lets you plan routes and bookmark and leave notes about things.
2. Visit Korea: quick tourist info
3. Korean Cuisine: has information about food. will help with pronunciation
4. google translate: not only does it translate, it will read the word for you so even if you can't pronounce it you can show it to whoever you are trying to talk too.

I talked about phones, and how you can use them, but not the cost of phones themselves, and I'm not going to cover that. I don't have a lot of information about them, as I don't ever use mine.

What I did is I got a phone, the cheapest one on the cheapest plan, through The Arrival Store. I pay like 28,000 won a month for it, and use it pretty much so the school can contact me. I use my ipod and apps to keep in contact mostly, I text my friends here or use the Kakao talk free calling, and I use Skype for calling back home to those without Kakao and without a smart phone or computer. I'm trying to make all my friends get Kakao talk cause its awesome sauce. 

anyways, don't know if this will ever help anyone, but I think this is a post that I was looking for when I came to Korea. Sure, It doesn't have all the info you could want, but it gives me a general idea of some options out there. 

what I do

So I haven't been lazy about posting, I just haven't done anything to post about.


so to be clear, I'm lazy about doing things worth posting about.

so, to let you all know I'm alive, here is what I'm doing!

weekday
1. wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, go to work
2. work. prep for work. snack on things. hug children. work. work. work. prep for next day work.
3.make schedules for next month.
4.write progress reports for each child.
5. review the students work, check their homework, and make sure I've signed every page so parents don't yell at me.
6. go home.
7 - either go out to dinner alone/with friends or cook
8. go home, internet time is now. check facebook. check email. check my financial info.
9. cookdinner/lunch for next day clean/laundry time (if I'm home early enough. may be sacrificed to play a video game)
10. sleep time.

weekend
wake up, work on whatever work i brought home, eat food, clean, hang out with friends somewhere close, perhaps go to park for a walk, try to do some yoga. in whatever order it happens. maybe skype home.

so.. yup. Not much.

Accents

My friend Lila and I say different words too see how our accents are different.

It's been a really long time since i posted

So I figured I should post something!
Album

The hagwon I work in gives you 2 weeks of vacation, one I'm getting now, and the other I'll get at christmas time. After finishing up everything that was due for work, a crazy fire drill, and then saying goodbye to my kids, it was vacation time. Everyone had these grand plans, traveling lots of places.

And I, oh if you know me well you'll expect this, used my vacation to do NOTHING. I went on some short trips, but mostly, I just relaxed. I haven't been doing anything active or exploring, just ... eating and enjoying not working. I didn't want a vacation filled with travel and exploring.

This leas me even more to think that I'm defiantly  not cut out for this wild living. I'm very much a homebody. I am ready to work and play and not explore much. I'm lame I guess.

However, I have been doing some sketches, really quick ones, of what I've been doing on vacation , which is mostly eating so this is mostly food. So I feel accomplished that way.

It's also been super hot and my AC still doesn't work right after 2 times trying to get it fixed, so I've been roasting whenever I'm outside, which leads me to stay places where they give you ac, which means I tend to go buy coffee.

I also went to a vegan restaurant called Loving Hut They had good food.

I'm working on building the album up so that you can see all the sketches, though i'm doing a horrible job photographing them. Just want to give you a rough Idea.

Album

Acupuncture

So I was out walking in Korea, and they are fixing all the streets.

And when they fix the streets they put down these cloths on top, and sometimes you have to walk across to be able to get where you are going. well, I did, and happend to walk into a hole, and hurt my ankle. I went to the doctor, and he said it was just my weight making it hurt, which I didn't think was the case because my other ankle doesn't hurt, just this one, and in just the one spot. So it was highly recommended to me to go see an acupuncturist.

An acupuncturist eh? I said, and was like "why not? doesn't hurt to try I guess" anything to be better. So off I went with my Korean friend to help assist me on this new medical journey. The place was very nice, and they helped me figure out my insurance (so far my school had made every doctor appointment and I've only had to pay a tiny amount, I never had to figure out any insurance stuff.) It cost me a whopping 8,000 won to get it done.

Overall, the appointment took about an hour and a half. I had a meeting with the doctor, who spoke some english, but my friend was translating so I don't know how well he actually spoke.
Then we went to the back of the place and they sat me on a table and did some tests, which hurt in only the places I had said where hurting. Then the doctor came over and talked, and I was like "when is he gonna put the needles in he's just tapping my leg?" and go figure, that tapping was him putting them in!

All told he put in 7 needles, we got permission to take one picture.

After the needles, they did two more things, another one with electricity where they had these little suction pads, and then another one where they did a light cut on my foot then had a tube that they created a vacuum with around the cut. I just laid there between these, they gave each time, I'm not sure how much for each.

Then they tapped up my foot, gave me some icky tea to drink, and told me to come back for more treatments, about 4 or 5.

Overall, it was pretty easy, at this time I don't feel any different after the treatment. 

Haircut

Today I got a haircut. I walked into the local Emart, and went into the salon they have their.

The first thing I have to say is that the koreans kinda freaked out. They hairdressers all stared and were shaking their heads. Then one came over to me and tried talking to me in korean, of which I know very little.

now, before I did this, I was prepared. kinda.

i said no appointment in horrible korean, kinda just like aneyo yagsog (약속). I had no idea how to make and appointment! then they sat me down to wait.

It wasn't a long wait, about 5 min, before one of the hairstylists came over and touched my hair and spoke some more. He waved his hands about so I got that he was asking me what I wanted.

Now, I really had no idea how to say this in korean and didn't look it up, but I just wanted a trim. so I said "trim" and then put my fingers about an inch apart on my hair, and made a motion like scissors. His face showed a kinda relief that I wanted something simple and he sat me down.

of course I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't see what was going on during it, but I could feel it. He did a great job, making sure to cut all my different layers, and took great care to straighten it and make it look very pretty. It was kinda a waste because it was raining out so my hair immediately curled and got all wavy as soon as I left, but I took a picture beforehand.

before

after!

Busan trip take 2!

So this weekend I headed down to Busan for the weekend for the 2nd time. I went a couple more places and took the tour bus this time, so I have a little more to say about my time down there.

The places we went
Busan City Bus Tour
Haeundae Beach
Busan Aquarium
Trickeye Museum
Chinatown

The first night we stayed in Downtown Busan at the Toyoko-inn. The next night we stayed at Mr. Egg hostel, the view at Haeundae Beach.
Now, I'm actually going to have 2 blogs, I'm going to talk about the trip, but I'll have a separate blog for the Trickeye Museum because it was picture heavy, and deserves it's own blog.

First we road down on the KTX, which was easy to book on their website in advance through the english section of the korean railway site, Korail, I'd booked the room at the hostel and the train tickets a month in advance. We weren't arriving until after 11pm on friday because I get off work late on friday's, so I couldn't get a checkin that late at any hostel when I called, and I was having a hard time figuring out the hotels. So we just walked right into the hotel, asked if there was a room, and got one. We were lucky!

We walked around Busan after checking in, but it smelled horrible and was raining, so thought we should call it a night and get up early.

We headed out early to Haeundae beach by hopping on the bus. The red bus from the station, number 1003, takes you directly to the beach. Or you can buy the all day ticket to the Busan City Tour and it will take you there as well.

We checked into the HOstel Mr. Egg to drop off our stuff, here are some pics of it.

Girls get the pink room, boys get the blue of course. After that we went over to the Aquarium.

I love the BMW Building.

After that we went and got pizza, and walked around. Then we went to the trickeye museum, which I'll talk about more in my next post, I'm still editing those photo's. We got back to the hostel and crashed it had been a long day. 

It was super hot, the AC wasn't on, and since it was raining slightly they wouldn't open the windows. The beds were hard too, so overall, while it's a nice place, it was kinda hard to sleep there. We woke up and ate some toast for breakfast, though they did provide eggs and stuff to make a good breakfast, we didn't feel like it. Then we headed out to the Beach!

It started out cloudy, but then the sun burst out and It was a great time at the beach. We headed back to the hotel, checked out, and then hopped on the tour bus to explore. It stopped at a lot of interesting places, and went across a bridge that was really beautiful to see. 

When we got back to Busan station we ate at dunkin doughnuts, put our luggage (really just a backpack each) in a storage locker that only cost 3000 won and locked with our fingerprint (figuring it out was kinda hard, but a nice man helped us) and then explored. We eneded up in Chinatown.

There was some interesting things, and some cheap shopping. However, from what I saw, at night it was full of drunk people, a lot of Russian was written, almost more than Chinese, and ... Well a lot of the places mentioned happy endings, massage girls... and.. well it seemed like an unsavory area and I wasn't very comfortable there so we left. 

We got back on the train, made it hope safely, and It was a good time. Here is a video I made of the Aquarium and the beach.