Palace today, who knows what else tomorrow!

Enjoying myself.
Happy!
At times it has felt like this year has been multiple, that days dragged on and weeks were painstakingly slow to pass. I was lonely and emotionally starved at times...but I'm doing great so no worries. :)

The paranoia of swine flu in Korea has changed the people as a whole in the past several months. Koreans have an obnoxious fear of all foreigners now...because we all have it apparently. Strangers freak out more when I'm near, won't get into elevators with me, are a lot less helpful, etc. The world turns colder as irrational fears spread. They've been canceling festivals left and right which is a little depressing but I'm not letting it get me down! That just means I get to explore little nooks and crannies of neat places around Seoul and surrounding areas.

Right now I'm laughing and doing silly things, loving my students, watching the trees tease about turning colors, spending time with friends, enjoying myself and taking it all in.

All of a sudden I have under 6 weeks left til I come home, a week of that spent in another country, a million things to do and...I'm just happy these days. Headaches and insomnia or no, this last month and a half here is going to be great. :D

Then after that are the holidays and I'm nearly bursting with excitement to do holiday-ish things with family and friends. You'd never guess how much you would miss the holidays until you go a year without -properly- celebrating any!

Things are good. :D

Nicole and I were called onstage to hang out with the DJ for a little while!!

Such cool light effects at the club!

Elation :D

Andrew, one of my hilarious and crazy students that always keeps me on my toes!

2-S1N, one of my 4th grade classes, they're a little crazy

2-S2, my other 4th grade class who is obsessed with loving me (win!)

Dorky me at my desk >.<

Walking home from work

At the market...eww

Walking through the park!

Thinking of you momma!

The first leaves I saw change :)

Oh so pretty in the park :)

Discombobulation

I am thinking way too much for my own good lately.

I'm feeling oh so random, disoriented and disconnected.

Due to my mood, somewhat disjointed pictures ensue.

10 more weeks.

Our Hostel in Shanghai

White Jade

Shanghai History Museum

Shanghai History Museum

People's Park

Shanghai History Museum

Shanghai Strip

Funny faces with Christine

Best Mexican food in Seoul

Ridiculous Footwear

Walking to Work

Dr. Fish Going to Town

Prickly Street Vendor Wares

At Miki's Birthday with LeAnn

Out my Window

Humid July in SK and Malay!

June was....odd.

The hard drive on my computer died so...had to go through a whole lot of hoopla trying to secure another one from home, getting the computer open, reformatting everything...and a vacation by my parents was stuck in between. So all in all, I was Jesse - computer = month of fastidious novel reading.

It was fixed but the irony of the situation is that I had learned to live without my computer by default, so I continued the fast for the most part, aside from talking to my parents and Patrick on it.

July came and it was time for the long awaited vacation with Patrick! Long story short, Bali had to be replaced about a week before departure, so we settled on a little town called Port Dickson in Malaysia. It was about an hour outside of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia and I enjoyed it. Bali had gotten to be too much of a hassle anyway and then the terrorist attacks against Americans in Jakarta made me quite happy to have visited Malaysia instead!

It was a wonderful vacation, so very relaxing, beautiful, and full of unique experiences, large and small.

I will edit this post and add in some pictures once I get them all edited. :)

The 4th of July was the least-celebrated 4th I've ever had. Next year I'm celebrating double. Actually, I'll be celebrating all holidays super-strength-style next year, you better believe it!

2 girlfriends and I are going to Shanghai, China this upcoming weekend. Surprise! It was a bit impromptu since we have a 5 day weekend and this will be the only time we can travel together. Alex and LeAnn found some tickets pretty cheap over the weekend while I was gone, and I bought my ticket on Thursday evening. We just booked a hostel this afternoon in a central location so I'm getting really excited! It is called Mingtown People's Square Youth Hostel, great location but not so great aircon, so it should be an adventure. :) We leave on Friday the 31st, so this definitely is my month of traveling, eh? That's part of the reason why I came to SK in the first place though, so I'm doing it!

I'll update more when I get some time...it's already intensives again, auughh. Tired Jesse. >.< BUT I'm doing it, I'm making it through and I have less than 3.5 months until I head back home and start the job search cycle, learning curve, and reestablish friendships and social circles yet again!

Hello February!

Intensives are almost over, only 2 more days of my extraordinarily long work days left! Phew! As is the Korean way, I still am not sure what my schedule is going to be on Wednesday...which will make preparations even more hectic on Tuesday evening. :) Hopefully the new schedule will be out on Monday but I can only cross my fingers right now.

Intensives are rough but doable. I did have a few cups of coffee now and then but they were more for comfort and a thrill than for necessity of the caffeine. I won't have to do intensives again until August which makes me smile. I'll be able to have a week of vacation before that time which is exciting, too!

I went to a casino last night for my first time ever and gambled! It actually is pretty close to where I live, only about 40 minutes on the subway inside the big hotel in COEX. It was quite pretty with lots of neon rainbow lights on the ceiling and walls but was not what I was expecting. No loud sounds or lots of people screaming and laughing, much more hushed and none of the slot machines made any noise. I grew comfortable with this atmosphere after a little bit and felt a little overdressed at first but hey, it was my first time! We played roulette which I find maddening but fun. I decided I would only bet 20,000won that night (around $18 with the exchange rate right now but still $20 worth in Korea) since it was my first time and didn't really know what I was doing. I'd be up and down but proceeded to lose more (as is the game). There was free food and drinks but our food didn't get ordered the first time. I crashed into a bloodsugar headache that didn't feel too well and wasn't cured by my little kiwi fruit drink. I started feeling better after my food finally came (3 hours after we arrived) but my betting had suffered (haha, at least that's what I'll blame it on, yeah?).

5 of my friends and I went so we had a whole sitting side of the table to ourselves. I felt very important having a sitting position and it made me feel more comfortable without some hardcore gamblers surrounding me or having to stand and not really have a good view or be able to relax. Yes I had a petty amount of chips but I had a good experience which meant the world to me! It was fun watching and talking with people around the casino. There were blackjack tables where people were betting thousands of dollars worth (millions of won ooh, ahhh), foreigners from China and Thailand, India, Japan, the states, all over.

We sat at the 1,000won minimum bet roulette table even though there were some people playing with chips that equalled up to about a grand each at the surrounding tables. WOW! There was a guy at the table next to us who literally had my entire college tuition sitting in front of him...an proceeded to lose most of it as the night wore on.

I lost 14,000won overall but I had a really good time! That is my exciting story from the weekend! Now I'm just doing laundry and cleaning up my apartment to get ready for the work week ahead of me!

I love you momma, miss you and hope you're feeling okay!

Good morning 2009!

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Wow, it's really 2009, my little brother just turned 16 today, and I start intensives tomorrow!

I'm going to try and not stress over intensives too much. Things became a little hectic at work right before my 2 long holiday weekends. Intensives schedule changed about 2 dozen times (which makes it hard to prepare for your classes and make syllabi if you don't know which classes you will be teaching!) and we had a runner at my school.

I feel bad for her in some ways since it was Christmas time but then when it came down to the job she was here for, she didn't do anything! I am currently trying to "fix" one of the 12 classes she royally messed up and she had NO grades and NO attendance for an entire month! The folder was blank and journals, workbooks, and speeches were only half graded with no scores! Kids were complaining and my boss (and other teachers) had to talk to her multiple times. At the end of the month after we realized she hadn't done anything, my boss decided it would be best to find her a job at another hagwon in the area. He was helping her find a new job....but she called into work sick on NYE (which meant we had to cover her classes). By pure chance I ran into her the following Sunday (as my arms were loaded with groceries). She had her biiiiiig suitcase and was walking over to the taxis. I was shocked! We told my boss the next day but it was far too late to do anything about it then. We're all pretty sure she's back in the states...Eep! It is kind've sad it all happened around Christmas time but it really couldn't be helped. She was hired 7 days after I was....wow.

The moral of this story? If you decide to come and work in Korea, you really are going to WORK!

So that's the drama with work. Other than that, my life is pretty basic (except for the part about being in Korea!). I have settled in, have been hanging out with friends over the past two 4-day weekends, preparing for intensives, keeping in good communication with Patrick, and TRYING to do better about my communication with my friends back in the states. Paul sent me some pictures from back home including cornbread! It made me smile...and miss it!

Granddaddy and BeccaJane sent me a care package that arrived on Christmas Eve so that made me feel special. Thank you so much! Hot chocolate is hard to come by so it's a fun treat during these cold months.


Patrick and I mailed our packages after Christmas so it should be at work for me tomorrow! Belated Christmas, woohoo! My Korean coworkers say that I receive the most care packages out of anyone and it made me smile. I have a very loving group of people at home! Oh, and I found the post office--a less than mind-boggling experience which made me feel a little better. I also learned how to pay my electricity bill. Cable tv for only 2,500won a month, wow! (Around $2.30) My gas bill was a little high and I'm not sure whether all the heating is done by gas or not. That's okay, I'm proud that I'm learning how to figure things out on my own! My "mailbox" is really an open box for my entire floor at the front of my building. Asking for help is always a choice but it makes me feel good about myself when I force myself to read out and rationalize things for myself, even if it takes a couple of extra minutes here and there. I also have figured out the local bus service which makes transportation down to the subway/Sunae easier, too. It stops just a house or 2 down from my front door and runs every 15-20 minutes.

Mom, Paul, and Grandparents: the CD I put in your "Season's Greetings" letters is the Christmas CD they made for all the kids at HR (my school). I haven't had time to watch the entire thing yet but of what I saw it was cute! Some of the classes are mine and others aren't, but I think you'll get the gist of what the kids at my school look like! It will all change for this next month--many more kids. Phew it's going to be interesting to say the least!

So how was Christmas this year?

Christmas 2008

Christmas Eve: I worked on Christmas Eve til around 8pm and afterwards we had a Christmas Party at my work!

I was really tired on Christmas Eve but still had a lot of fun and got to know my coworkers even better!


Silly Jesse humor: doesn't it look like the shrimp took a bite out of the strawberry?! (hardyharhar!)

After the party we went to a Norebang! There were 2 Westerners and 6 Koreans--which you KNOW means it's going to be a hot time. :)

This looks silly because it looks as if we're the only ones in the norebang--but we weren't! We sang Christmas carols so that made me feel a little better. I kept around friends all the time though and that kept me from getting blue.

Christmas Day: I had spent the night over at LeAnn's so I wouldn't wake up on Christmas by myself. We opened her stocking and she had given me some post-its and I gave her some socks. :) We hung out with some other weiguks over at Austins and were just all kinds of lazy, watched The Royal Tennenbaums, etc. It turns out I DIDN'T have an actual Christmas dinner because what I ordered from the Chinese restaurant and brought into the fried chicken place (because that's traditional Christmas here in Korea apparently) had shrimp in it...a big nono for Jesse. :(

So for both Thanksgiving and Christmas I am 0-2 for having a big festive dinner.

Oh well, I just know that next year I'm going to be going waaaay out and overly excited to decorate and make food for Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family. :)

Here are some pictures from December!

A pretty building off the Dongdaemun Stadium exit of the Subway! You can see in the right corner where it says "Good morning 2009!" So funny!

We took pictures in front of the lights because they were so pretty! Here's one of me!

One day the girls and I headed into Insadong before Christmas--it was cold and a little crowded as you can see. Insadong is a traditional area of Seoul where you can get some neat gifts. We had a good time!

My favorite meal! Dolcet bibimbop. :) I eat this all the time and some foreigners ask me "Is that the only thing you can eat? Do you get tired of it?" The answer is NO, it's just my favorite dish! How could I get tired of spicy veggies, egg, and rice? It's basic and tasty! :)

Ooh, a really recent photo: 2 nights ago! (I know, I need a haircut--working on it!)

Some of my wieguk buddies! We don't have family here so we were each others' family for the holiday season. :) In the far left corner drinking a beer is Neal, in the far background is Mark, then up front from left to right is Brian, me, Alex and the 2 heads up on top are LeAnn and Vikki.

My first taste of breakfast food in 2 months at a brunch restaurant called "Butterfinger". It was so tasty!

Part of my New Year's Resolution for 2009 is to keep in better communication with friends and family back home as well as to update this blog more often so I don't forget anything and to keep ya'll in the know!

Intensives start tomorrow so I'm going to go get some sleep, though!

I love you all!

Hagwon 411

So what am I doing here in Korea? I'm working at an independent hagwon (private school) in Bundang we lovingly call HR. Is it the best school? No. Is it a good school? I think so! The kids are really awesome and most of them are really smart. I'm teaching elementary and middle school age children which I am SO happy about. I wouldn't do well with preschoolers, no matter how cute they can look in pictures...or from afar. I can handle them in small doses, not year-long-sentences.

I have 12 classes during the week: 6 on MWF, 5 on TR. I have a LOT of prep work and a LOT of marking but I really do enjoy it. Sure in 6 months I won't think grading journals will be the greatest thing ever but it makes me laugh and gives me something to do in the evenings.

I have settled into school and am no longer the newest teacher! Another teacher was hired 2 weeks after I was and I am feeling pretty solid. The Korean teachers like me, my boss likes me (so they say), and the ESL teachers I work with are awesome. I'm the youngest ESL teacher not only at my school, but of anyone I have met here and have affectionately been nicknamed Aegi (Egi, Eggy, is how it is said), which is "baby" in Korean. The Korean teachers named me and many more have adopted it. I really, really lucked out with such a good staff.

I'm a little spoiled right now because my middle school classes are canceled for this and next week due to finals (I only have 4 classes +subbing 1= 5 MWF, 3 TR). It's really intense for them! I also have two long weekends coming up because of Christmas and New Years at the end of the month! January is when intensives start---a wholeeeee lot of work and not much extra pay to say for it. I'll stay happy and positive like always, though!

I'll explain the Intensives season to those of you that don't quite understand my meaning. Students have 2 full months off from school during the year--one in summer and one in winter; appropriately labeled their summer and winter vacations. Now, in America when kids are out of school they go on vacation with parents, lounge around watching way too much TV/ playing video games, or my personal favorite, head out to summer camp! In Korea that's not the case. Parents view this vacation from school as a prime time to milk their children of every ounce of strength, sending them to all sorts of hagwons (private schools like the one I work at, subjects vary) from morning 'til night. They work until their fingers fall off or their brains explode: whichever comes first.

This in turn is when ESL teachers (like me) at English hagwons (like my school) have their schedules changed drastically, working morning until night as well. Seeing as my school is considered a very hard school we will *hopefully* get slammed with a ton of students. On an average day I have quite a bit of prep work and marking to do for my classes. During intensives it quadruples in size which seems quite overwhelming. It is easy to get burnt out during this process, the weather is cold and gross, you work 10+ hours a day AND have several hours of marking to do each night after you're done teaching....and it goes on for a month.

In a training session I had about winter intensives, I was told to "make their papers bleed red" meaning mark them up--cover them in red ink! It's what the parents want so it's what we will provide! Veteran teachers have told me the winter intensives are worse than the ones in August. I hope to be a positive, smiley force to be reckoned with!

I will take pictures of some of the kids in my classes soon--I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me. I have one class with only 4 boys (only 2 showed up today...wow!) and other classes that range to up to 15 students (which can be a bit of a handful)! I am lucky to have had prior experience working with kids. It has come into play and I feel confident doing my job which is important.

I teach a variety of subjects, too! This is exciting for me because it changes things up, I'm not doing the same lesson over and over. I'm teaching science in one class, world history in another, have 3 novel studies classes, a few iBT classes (middle schoolers preparing for the iBT test), speaking, and reading classes. To my (and my mom's) excitement I started teaching Mr. Popper's Penguins to one of my favorite classes this week. It was one of my favorite books when I was young. This should be a fun month. :)

And now for some fun photo ops I had while grading!

An answer on a test. I shouldn't laugh but it was before I knew the students. The students have improved (I think so, at least) since I took over the class.

A drawing a student did of me in her workbook! LOVE!

I wish my best friend looked like a "cutey rabbit"! :)

In a little yellow villa

Ahoy!

Yes, I am officially alive and well in Korea. (!)

It took me awhile to get settled in--truth be told I'm still working on it. However, I did have internet installed in my apartment yesterday (finally!) so I can communicate with the outside world on a regular basis now.

I live in a more remote location than I had previously thought I would. I'm okay with it right now but may look into trying to move. LeAnn moved really close to the subway but has to pay an extra $200 a month for her apartment and I'm....not going to do something that expensive. I'll have a talk with my boss Harry here pretty soon to find out my options. So where do I live? Bundang yes, but I'm in a villa instead of an officitel (like I was told I would be in).

My little yellow villa on a mountain

My little garden...it's gone now though. Snow tends to do that

Out my window!

My mountain across the street

HR where I work! (Honors Review English School)

Work at HR is good--more work than the average bear but the kids are awesome and I like the staff. I have grown quite close with some staff members, closest probably to Miki and Monica, two Korean teachers at the school. Several of us went hiking my first weekend (after my recovery stage) and bonded.

Aww, aren't we so cute!
Left to right: Miki, ME!, Heather, Vikki, Monica, LeAnn
(I work with everyone in the picture aside from Vikki)

I have to go get ready for school but will update more later...it's hard to believe I've been here for almost a month but am doing well so don't worry!

Affliction and thought.

I have an affliction; some sort of tonsillitis/earbodyneckache. I've been bed/couch-ridden for the past 5 days, aside from two heavily medicated stints at work Thursday and Friday and have had to be content with sucking down freeze pops and noodles (while watching far to many romantic comedies from the 90's). It has given me far too much time to think and a zap on energy so that I can get just about...yeah, nothing done in preparation for Korea or even the upcoming week. I'm sure I will find this all quite humorous at some point once I am able to be off ibuprofen and swallow properly. :)

Moving out of the country is both an exciting and expensive (ad)venture. I mailed a $65 letter yesterday to Korea, what the..?! Thanks FedEx!

Other than that, it's much like last time I prepared for Korea; I had no real set emotional path or feelings, rather I just lived my life daily and kept an open mind. I'm much the same, open and not entirely sure if I understand that I'm really leaving the country for a year+ in 2.5 weeks.

So after I am better I will go on my last shopping safari for shoes, boots, sheets, the "perfect jean" (that I so abhor shopping for), a year's supply of cold meds and ibuprofen, misc spices, a large piece of luggage, and anything else I'm going to need for...well, the next year.

I love this part, the part where life just seems so basic and normal and boring...so boring that you seemingly don't know what to do with yourself.

"What foods will I miss? I should eat them before I go" you say...but you're not entirely sure what you'll miss because you don't miss it yet.

I just need to remember to pack some things that will remind me of home (thanks mom!). Those are quite important.

Girl that has an icyhot patch on her back and if this body ache is what you get when you're old, definitely has decided not to get to that stage. Period.

Crossing t's and Dotting i's

Obviously it can be seen that I had to push back my deadline a bit, but I just was not feeling comfortable with the schools that were set forth before me. The GnB school wouldn't give me direct answers, gave me email addresses of Korean teachers but not English teachers, wouldn't change things in the contract AT ALL (warning flags!), and finally that recruiter stopped contacting me. I found and lost a seemingly amazing school with TOPIA not once, but twice...was jerked around by not one, not two, but three recruiters (that have since all fallen off the map), and had grown increasingly frustrated with the entire job search. Mom had even started talking about the option of starting my masters work in the spring...

Then I was contacted by a different recruiter out of the blue. I didn't put much stock in it, but figured I would at least stay optimistic and look at what they had to offer. To make a long story short, patience is a virtue that definitely tested me this summer but in the end, it turns out they found the best school for me.

So!

I signed a contract yesterday!

I will be in Bundang, South Korea. Bundang is a satellite city of Seoul and apparently a nice, clean, residential city. I'm going to be at HR English school teaching writing, reading, and conversational English. :)

I will be flying over on October 16th so that gives me roughly 3 weeks to get everything done! I'm excited that things are finally getting started for my big move.

Girl who is happy she finally has a school!