Doin it like a local

Sooo wanted to steal him from the dog cafe!! 

 Check out my restaurant above my head...

 NOLA or Seoul?!?!?!

Clearly I'm a pro at this Norebang-ging stuff!!!

Today was my first day teaching my own kinder class, they’re around 5 years old, 6 in Korea because you are 1 when you are born…confusing!!!  So far I only have 4 girls; there is Jenny, she's super smart and already speaks English pretty well, Amy, she's very quiet, but also knows a good amount of English, Seri, pronounced Sari and is a little behind the other two and Rose, who cried from the moment she stepped into the classroom and ended up leaving after less than an hour :(  My Korean co-teacher, Sarah, helped me with them a lot today guiding me in what exactly to do.  We began by introducing ourselves, going over the ABC's, numbers, read some books and did some singing-alongs (yippee).  Overall I had a pretty successful first “official” day!  It's very interesting teaching such young kids, I have to remember to speak slowly, which I am NOT good at, and need to keep reminding myself they don't understand most of what I'm saying!!!  We are hoping to get more students come September, but we shall see!  My afternoon class, which is like 2^nd grade and I started teaching last week, is pretty good, but are having difficulty focusing, so I need to do some serious crackdown on stars! That is the way they motivate the kids to do work at my school…3 stars equal a stamp or sticker and like 25 stickers/stamps equal a prize, think like a koosh ball or something!  It’s all about the little things in life I guess!

This weekend consisted of participating in various Korean traditions; the first was attending a bathhouse otherwise called a Ginga-bong.  It’s pretty much a place where you can sit in various temperature jacuzzis, saunas, as well as get a full body scrub, massage, get your hair washed, etc, etc.  Everyone is completely naked the entire time and most of the Koreans gave us some serious stare downs, which we happily ignored.  The scrub, which we all participated in, consisted of a large Korean woman in a bra and underwear scrubbing layers of our skin off, leaving you feeling like a babies butt…it was pretty amazing and quite the hangover cure!  We decided it would become our monthly pampering ritual from here on out!!! 

Despite the constant rain, this is apparently the worst rainy season in forever, we did some sightseeing as well this weekend.  We explored a few different areas that have some serious shopping, that’s what Koreans seem to do best, besides boozing!  We went to a dog café where you pay $8 get a free non-alcoholic drink, I’m pretty sure we paid 8 bucks for a Peach Snapple, and hang out with random dogs.  I fell in love with a Randy look alike, except he was a black lab pup, hence his smaller size.  They have cat cafes as well; the one we found was like $15 although they provided you with toys to play with the cats…fun, fun! 

I also participated in the Korean tradition of Norebang-ing (pronounced noribong-ing), which is karaoke…my FAVORITE!!!  It was insanely cheap, like 30 bucks total for a private room for like 10ish people and you can pretty much BYOB!  We belted out some tunes for about an hour or two and then continued our night out, such a fabulous way to begin an evening if you ask me!

That’s all for now, time for me to get into my new LARGE bed…apparently all you have to do is ask and you shall receive!!!!  So for all you soon to be visitors, there is officially plenty of room for you to crash with me!!! :)

Lots of love!!!!

xoxo

Hello Seoul!!!

 My apt

 Itaewon

 moreeee BBQ!!!

Seoul Tower

I arrived in Seoul, South Korea less than a week ago and so far, so good!  My flight here was cake...had an open seat next to me, sitting next to a Korean Buckeye (boooo), slept a little, watched some movies, ate some kimbap (I had to watch my neighbor to figure out what went in where, but I caught on quickly!).  I arrived and got picked up by someone from my school and was brought to my apartment, which is a decent size, the yellow floors aren't so attractive and the twin bed is definitely less than ideal, but it is paid for, so oh well!  I turned my apartment into my home almost immediately!  It still has some work to do, but it does feel like home.  I live in the same building as a few other teachers, one of whom lives directly across from me and has recently arrived to Korea as well!  I live literally ONE minute from my school, the thought of not having to commute to work makes me so happy I can't even explain it!  The first full day I was here I had to go to the medical center to get a medical exam and then I went to school and had lunch with my coworkers!  Every day our school provides a delicious Korean lunch, which is quite lovely!  My first night out a few of the teachers took me to an area called AK plaza for some good old Western food and a beer, they loves themselves some Hoegaarden here and I'm beyond thrilled about that!  We went to this bar called Travelers where all the foreigners in our area go to, my exact location is Bundang (pronounced Bundong), which is about 30/40 minutes outside of the heart of the Seoul.  The public transportation here is fast and easy, the bus drivers are a little insane, but who wouldn't be driving a bus around all day!?!?  The first thing I noticed was that you are allowed to smoke in bars here ughhh, come on Korea!!!!!  I had a great evening getting to know my new friends, all of whom love to party as much as I do...boy do I fit in here!!!!  The next day I went to work, woohooo!  I am observing my fellow teachers for about two weeks, but apparently they are having me teach a few classes as well, the schedule is beyond confusing so I am going day by day and doing whatever I'm told to do!  The kids are beyond adorable!  The kids ages range from about 5 to 8 or 9 years old, but apparently in Korea when you're born you are one so they are technically younger than they say...it's weird!  They all speak English to some degree, some better than others, but you are 100% able to communicate with them.  Each class has a Korean co-teacher that helps with homework checking, giving spelling tests, etc.  She's not in the class all day with you, but pops in and out.  I will have my own classroom and will have the classes come to me.  They have a weird schedule, but pretty much I have the youngest group from 9:30 until 2ish and then get an older group for two hours and then another group for two hours, so it's a long day, but that's what I'm here for!  All the other teachers are so nice, some have been at the school or in Korea for a few years, so they are great resources for me to use!  The Korean staff is also really nice, they all speak English to a degree and are willing to help you with anything you may need.  I have one class starting this week that I'll be teaching, it's a small group, three girls and then I'll get three more in September, so I am jumping right in which I'm very excited about because sitting around and observing can be veryyyy boring!

I went out on Friday night in Itaewon, which is the area of Seoul where all the foreigners hang out.  They have lots of pubs, clubs, American chains...you name it, they got it!  It's pretty much just one long street of nightlife and everyone is pretty hammered every where you turn!  There are a lot of military people in Seoul because they have a base a few minutes away.  Friday turned into a VERY late night, which ended with 5am Korean BBQ, yummmmm!!!!  It was the healthiest drunk snack I've ever had, lettuce wraps with meat and vegetables, perhaps I'll get skinnier by having my late night snack be meat and lettuce, fingers crossed :)  Saturday afternoon after only 5 hours of sleep a few of us went back to Itaewon and ended up staying out all night, again another VERY late evening.  We took cabs home, which are around 20 bucks, so not too bad at all!  I'm looking forward to getting involved in some serious karaoke and will be sure to upload some videos when that happens!

So far things are going really well and I'm loving every minute of it!  I feel a bit like a kid at Christmas with my eyes wide open taking in everything I see!  I've already began discussing heading to Thailand for Christmas break and am very excited about that!  We have a few days off here and there throughout the year and hope to travel as much as I can during those long weekends, our first one is next weekend!  That's all I have for now, I just wanted to give a rundown of my life so far.

Sending lots of love from around the world!!!!
xoxo

Here is my contact information for anyone that wants to send some love my way!

Apt landline: 82-31-715-9682

Address:

LCI Kids Club, 2 & 4 Floor

46-4 Jungja-dong, Bundang-gu, 

Sungnam, Kyunggi-do, 463-010 South Korea

Phone Number: 031-599-0584

Attn: Ashley Jones