5 months in Korea!

This is an even longer over-due update than the last one...

Where to start... As you may or may not know, Costco's exist in Korea as well. As soon as I arrived here, I split a membership with another teacher. We will make trips periodically to get the goods that are otherwise radically overpriced or unavailable to us. Korean Costco is similar to the ones at home, but filled with Koreans (obviously), the samples might consist of ramen noodles instead of a delicious taco dip, and it is extremely difficult to get there. Public transportation is fantastic for traveling to most places, but a trip to Costco is not one of them. The last time we went, my co-worker Hayley had the idea to bring our luggage in order to carry it home. Before, we would do the backpack/box thing, but this time, we meant business. Hayley, Jackie and I got there with 2 bags which we had to check before entering. This was semi-embarrassing, but it ended up being the most clever thing in the end! The "food court" food at Costco is similar to that at home, a large piece of pizza, a great hotdog, or some ice cream are a few items you can find on the menu. There is a catch though: (courtesy of my co-worker Jackie): "At traditional restaurants, you'll order your main dish but have about three free side dishes you can refill to your hearts content. So at Costco, the trend has been to improvise the sidedish by using the condiments for hotdogs. That's right- they will take platefulls of chopped onion (meant for the hotdogs) and smother mustard and/or ketchup all over, and eat it with a fork like a side dish." (Thanks Jackie!) She described it so well. The most annoying part of this is I then have to stand in line for the ketchup, mustard and onion for my hotdog while they're just loading it up on their plate next to their calzone!

Enough about Costco. My dad was kind enough to send a care package with items for us to celebrate the Fourth of July in Korea. It was so kind! We were able to round almost all of our teachers up and have an indoor BBQ. We got cheddarwursts (at Costco), baked beans, and made a salad, taco dip, and chili. It was a bit untraditional, but still amazing!

A few weekends ago we went to Mudfest. It was at the beach on the west coast of Korea (Daecheon Beach). It was a very fun day. The name says it all- it is where a bunch of people, many being foreigners, get together and cover themselves or other people for that matter in mud. There are inflatable things such as slides and mudpools, you can paint yourself with colored paint, and they had a stage for entertainment. It was very fun, and the ocean was very nice. The waves were rough, but the temperature was alright for us Minnesota girls!

My students just continue to amaze me. I am so proud of them! They really have come very far in the past 5 months. It's incredible! The other day, I had a student say, "I need to practice." And I asked him what he needed to practice, and he responded with "Hip-hop. I really like Hip-hop. But I don't know how." I couldn't help but laugh, and tell him how great his sentence was!

Jackie and I found a restaurant called Tomatillo, it is supposed to be similar to Chipotle. So we decided to check it out. It was set up just like it, and the decor screamed Chipotle. The differences... you didn't get to chose what you want on your burrito, and the carnitas has an awful taste that made me sick for the following 5 days. I'd like to give it another shot if I'm ever in that area, but I will be sure to steer clear of the carnitas!

We are all getting very excited for our summer vacation. There are 6 of us going to Thailand. We're going to the island of Koh Samui. Google it! The pictures are gorgeous! I bought another new camera, so I'm sure I will be putting pictures up eventually when I get back! I feel like I have never needed a vacation more than this, ever in my life! It seems to be a group consensus around Helen Doron! I think the reason is we've really only had 2 vacation days since we started in March, so it was a 5 month stretch with 2 days off. I think we get more holidays in the US, either that or they are spaced a bit more nicely than in Korea!

I hope things are going great on the other side of the world!

Miss you all!

Long overdue update!

Well, I figure it's time to update everyone on my time here in Korea.

I moved apartments in the end of April- I'm in a building across a little street. I was not happy about it because I moved away from most of the girls, and it is a bit smaller (if you can imagine that) than my old apartment, but I do have a view where I can see mountains which is nice. I stopped complaining, I figure I have to live with what I have, and it's free- so it works out!

Since last time, I've seen a bit more of Korea. Jackie and I went to a palace, it was beautiful. It was very interesting to find out that a decendent of the royal family lived there until the late 80's. That was the last living person so now it is turned into a museum. It was huge and the buildings were gorgeous!

We stumbled upon a bar/restaurant that has a beautiful rooftop that we enjoy going to on the weekends when it is nice out. It is rare to find something like this, so we are very happy to have found it! I continue to meet interesting people all of the time, it keeps things fun!

I made another trip to the Cathedral to light a candle for mom on her anniversary. It was difficult being away from family, but thank God for my new wonderful friends here, they are all so supportive and helpful!

I went to a baseball game- it was the Doosan Bears. The game was very fun, and this is one of the things that Korea does right. It was only $8.00 for a ticket, and you can bring in your own food/drinks. They have some there obviously, but it's nice for families and makes for a cheap day out! They had fun cheers and the people get very into the game, so this was fun to experience.

We went to the World DJ Festival here in Seoul. It was a very big event, with tons of foreigners. There were four different music stages, it was a pretty cool experience!

In mid-May, there is Teacher's Day. This is a day where you get many gifts from parents. I got lotions, face care products, treats, and an organizer. It was very nice. And then our school had a BBQ and we convinced them to get burgers/hot dogs and had an "american" cookout- or close to it anyway! It was really nice!

I met a very nice boy his name is Tristan. He is an army man so I'm not sure how much longer he will be here, but I enjoy spending my extra time with him to go exploring. And, he is kind enough to bring me REAL diet coke from base :) It's a great break from Light Coke!

We had a vacation day for the coming of Buddah. We took a long weekend trip to Busan. Busan is beautiful. We had a perfect beach day. The whole Helen Doron crew went so it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I got sick (actue bronchitis) and came home early, but I will be making another trip! It was only 3 hours on the train so it is fairly quick to travel there! For Buddah's birthday, they held a latern festival. This was a huge gathering with many activities, followed by a parade at night. It was wonderful. The floats/laterns were amazing! (See photos!)

I figured out today that I have been here for 100 days already! Now I only have 60 more days until Thailand. We booked our resort, it's right on the beach and looks great! I'm really looking forward to this vacation.

This job is great, very rewarding, but very stressful. It's very difficult with the language barrier. But I am very happy with my kid's progress. It's amazing sometimes the sentences they can come up with! It's really something to see them go from nothing, to the way they are now. :) I can't wait to see how much more they progress in the rest of my time here!

I got a very nice package from a few of my friends at home, it was loaded with the wonderful cheesy snacks I miss from home- thank you again ladies! :)

Sorry again about the huge lag in writing- I will really try to be better!!!!

And, if you ever would like, feel free to email me at any point! I do check that at least!

With love,

Lindsey

Seoul adventures

여보세요

(Hello!)

Sorry for my delay in updates, I'm not very good at this!! Life here continues to amaze me. I love my students, they are amazing. They are doing so well. One on my students Ihan, probably the smartest of all of them is heading to Canada tomorrow... I hate to admit that I'm slightly jealous of him! I told him, you're going to be REALLY close to Lindsey Teacher's home!! If only I could tag along for a quick visit!

On Easter Sunday, Jackie and I went to the largest cathedral in Korea in this area called Myeongdong. It was beautiful! The priest was Scottish, we think. It was a very traditional mass, and the inside of the church was so nice to enjoy! After, we treated ourselves to a Burger King lunch, I guess they don't do breakfast here. That was always half of the enjoyment of getting up to go to early mass... the hearty breakfast that would follow! :) After that, we spent some of our hard earned money shopping at H&M which is a bit overpriced, but understandable since it's the only one in Korea! After that, we headed to the N. Seoul Tower which overlooks the entire city. It is just amazing how the city keeps going and going. It reminds me a lot of Mexico City. But here there are apartment buildings galore. It was a beautiful day so we enjoyed it a lot!

The weeks are very redundant... we really look forward to Fridays! But, I guess that is the same with any old full time job, so I look forward to the things that really make this all worth it! I only have 3 months and 19 days left until I head to Thailand. If you're wondering, that is July 31st :) Jackie and I are still in the process of planning a trip to China, it should be amazing. We have been celebrating birthday's here... we have quite a few in a row coming up here. And then Jackie and my birthdays are not until December 30 and January 7... so we'll be gone on vacation somewhere for Jackie's, and then we'll celebrate in Seoul on my birthday weekend! We're thinking either the Philippines or Malaysia for that vacation, we're in the research process now!!

Speaking of birthdays, it was Hayley's, one of our co-workers this past weekend. They went to a LG Twins game, and I'm sad to say I missed it because I was a little under the weather, but the following day, we went.. BUNGEE JUMPING! It was so crazy. I really don't know if I'll ever do that again. It was 45 meters, so about 150 feet. The falling was very intense, and my stomach was in knots... but I'm glad I've experienced it at least! I couldn't sleep last night because I kept reliving that jump.. it was very terrifying! But I finally got to sleep after thinking about everything else in the book!

This week we have a field trip. We're going to an art museum. The 6 year olds are doing clay art I believe... at least that's what we think. I'll update after I go to confirm whether we were right or not!

We're going to try to go to Yongsan Park which is full of cherry blossoms. I hope they start to blossom this week- things are getting there. I guess it's very late this year, but they had a very harsh winter. Hopefully some wonderful pictures will be coming!

That is pretty much all I have for now- I will really try to get better at making updates!!

With love from around the world,

Lindsey

Life in Korea

Well, life here has been interesting, and fun. There are certain things they do here that are really different than at home. We wear slippers all day at school- we're not allowed to wear our outside shoes inside, only in the entry way. We're supposed to do the same thing at home, although sometimes it's just too much to take off your shoes everytime you walk in, so I just clean the floors instead! The Koreans are very conscious of their health, you will see masks all over, as well as a lot of medicine if you go to the doctor. One friend here got sick, had a cold, went to the doctor, and they gave her 7 different prescriptions to take for 3 days. That just seems a bit extreme, but they all swear by it!

The food is still the same, they put in a "Dos Tacos" 3 subway stops away from us, I have been there 3 times in the past 2 weeks. It is delicious and dangerously close!! I still have been eating some Korean food, as well as making a lot of sandwiches- egg, pb&j, turkey and mayo, even BLTs, minus the T :)

I continue to meet very nice people. My friend Jackie and I met a couple military boys last weekend, they were very nice. We're talking about going to church with them on the base for Easter this Sunday, if that doesn't work, we found another church that is pretty close that we'll just go to. There is an English mass which will be nice!

I got homesick for the first time yesterday- It is about the 5.5 week mark, and I think a lot of things just came pouring down on me, but I'm feeling much better today. Tuesdays and Thursdays are really good days at school because we do not have afterschool classes. MWF, we have afterschool until 6, and the days drag on!

Of course I'm still missing everyone at home, and praying that everyone is doing well and remains in good health. Please keep in touch! Until next time...

Love,

Lindsey

3rd Week!

Hello!

I am going to write a brief update on the past week here. The workdays are becoming more regular and normal, and my students are doing well. They are learning somethings, so that is a positive!! Their behavior is still difficult, but they are 4 to 4.5 and I have to remember that!

I had a difficult week with electronics too- I spilled water on my camera and I fried my computer charger- so I had to splurge on a new camera, and then had to find an Apple MacBook charger- and I was successful on both counts! Hopefully I can keep these safe so I don't have to do it again!

Last weekend was really nice. I went and found Mexican food with a few friends. It wasn't superb, but it will suffice until I'm able to visit Mexico again! :) On Sunday, I went to the DMZ with my new co-worker/friend Jackie. It was really interesting! Kind of creepy, but I'm very glad I went. I don't fully understand the relationship between North and South Korea, aside from the fact that there is a lot of hatrid/hostility. I'm going to do more research though. North Korea built tunnels that went into Seoul, and the South discovered 4 of them, they believe there might be more, but they're unsure. We were able to go into one of the tunnels, tunnel 3 that would have been able to move 10,000 soldiers into Seoul in 1 hour. This tunnel was discovered in 1973, the newest one (I think #4) was found in 1990. It was cool to see.

I hope everything is well at home- I'm attempting to plan some trips, we're thinking of China in September because we found some great deals. And then Thailand in August for the beach, because it's rainy season in the mainland. But I'm very excited for the upcoming months!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

"Lindsey Teacher!"

Week recap:

My classes are so cute, they are Brighton class and New Castle class. Brighton is pretty well behaved, I have a few students who are a little naughty, and when I say naughty I mean they are fidgety and sometimes don't listen. New Castle on the other hand, are a bunch of wild children. I have 10 students in each class, and 6 of them in New Castle are wild... do not listen, will not sit in their seats, are hitting each other, etc. Basically being 4/4.5 year olds in a classroom together, and uninterested in learning English!!

On Wednesday, my second day of teaching, I had a crazy day- I felt like I wanted to quit. I think everything that could have gone wrong did- I had a little girl vomit twice, I had to wipe a butt, and then I'm pretty sure there was a poopy pants incident, that I casually ignored because there was only 20 minutes of school left. I was about to quit.. it was SO frustrating, but then I came home, thought about it, laughed a bit, and went back on Thursday.

Things were getting a little better through the rest of the week- I think it will be much easier once we're able to communicate a bit better. I have a couple of criers in Brighton class, Eddie and Daniel. I hope this week gets easier on them so they will enjoy being there a little more. They just really miss their moms!

We do a few different things with our classes- we have a few electronic story based things where they watch a book on the computer- and then we have other lessons that usually include a CD they have to listen to, and then we play games and use flash cards, and just talk!

The food at school is not getting any better- I still bring my own lunches, it's just safer that way!

This last weekend was nice, we hung out locally at a foreign place we found. I was able to Skype with Brian, Tammy and the boys, and I had a couple of friends go there so it was nice to see familiar faces! :)

On Sunday (today), we went to Costco- it was like Heaven!! It was so nice to get some decent food that we can prepare in our oven-less apartments! And we got some great deals on food. Cheese is really expensive here, as are a few other products like avocados, peanut butter, etc. I got a HUGE Skippy's peanut butter for about $12 USD. Hopefully it will last me a while! :)

I'm just getting mentally prepared for the week ahead of me. I have really met some great people that have made this transition a lot easier. It is really nice having other people to vent to about school and the difficulties that come with living in a country where you are actually illiterate.

Hope all is well!

Love,

Lindsey

Well I had my first day as "Lindsey Teacher" today. It was rough- they are a hand full (possibly an understatement)!! But it was really nice to see how much they already know- I have a few students who are way beyond the level, you can tell their parents really worked with them prior to coming here- but then there are some who are clueless! We have a lot of free play time this week, making the kids comfortable with the class and whatnot. I did do my first lesson- we went over Hello! Hi! How are you? I'm good, thank you! And they all repeat after me, it is really cute!

But I feel like I get such a work out running around with the kids- and then we have 2 buildings that we have to constantly go up and down the stairs in, but that is good I suppose :)

I got poked today in my chest area from a kid- I knew it was a thing to get poked in your butt, but this was a different first day- let me tell you, the kids name he likes to be called by is "Andy Firetruck"... if that gives you any inkling of how he might behave- I guess learning disabilities in this country are ignored because that means something is wrong with your child, so they go without being diagnosed/treated. It's actually quite sad- and such a disruption to the class!!

Above are a few pictures of my box sized apartment- I have gone to a store a few times to buy a few things to spruce it up- I'm going back this evening to look for a fan! (the girl in the picture is my new friend Jackie from Eden Prairie! Small world!)

Hope things on the other side of the world are going well!

With love from Korea!

Lindsey

February 28th, Home Sweet Home

We moved into our apartments today- I thought the one I was getting was a bit nicer, it's just very small!!! It's okay, it will be a test for me not to accumulate a whole bunch of stuff! I will post pictures as soon as I get all of my belongings put away.

I would like to say my first weekend was a success, there are a TON of foreigners here- from the US, Canada, the UK- it's just crazy how many people are out. There are many foreign bars where all of these people go to! It is kind of nice, because during the week you are just surrounded by Koreans (obviously).

I hope the weekend was fabulous at home- I'm not sure if my vonage is going to work- I might have to cancel that and find a new alternative.

I'm loving it here so far- I think this will be a great year, full of growth and adventure!!

Miss you all.

xo

February 25th, Week one is complete!

Today we got our books for our classes- it's getting better knowing the stuff we will actually be teaching- much better than usess lesson plans. And then we had to learn some really, really stupid dances to sing and do for the kids to break the ice for the first week- you would laugh, they are ridiculous! I'm a little tea pot- There was a farmer who had a dog- put your right arm out, and shake it all about- omg, just to name a few!! Speaking of songs, we have a theme song, Helen Doron, if you have sound you should click on the link below or copy and paste it and you can hear it- it's cute, but they play it EVERY morning- it might get old!

http://hdee.co.kr/

There was graduation on Thursday so we had the whole school to ourselves, with 3 other new Korean teachers- they are all really nice! I'm excited to be working with them. We worked on our lesson plans, and preparing materials.

Friday, we had another preparation day, but all of the teachers were there. It was a crazy day, there was a lot to do. Bascially, we get a Korean co-teacher and we have to make our lesson plans somewhat similar, so we always have to work together. I got everything ready, and I'm super excited to start on Tuesday. We have a holiday weekend, so no school on Monday!! YAY!

I think we're going on on Saturday evening for a going away party for all of the girls who are leaving- some are going home, and some on cool trips! I'm a little jealous of that part!

Hope everything at home is well.

xoxo.

February 23rd- Meeting the students

Today I had an orientation- I got 6 year olds, and I met my classes!! They are so cute, but really shy! They need some work, but it should be fun and challenging!! For lunch all I had was a small amount of rice and an orange :( I hate the food at the school- today they had some gross fish things and a spicy green thing, that I couldn't eat due to the spice in it. Dang. So I was starving and had Subway for dinner I think the food and I are not going to get along here, that's all there is to it! I will try again though....

After school we went to our future apartments again and hung out with some of the current teachers- we had some beer and some rice wine. It was really good (the wine), it was almost a bit milky or something like that, but I enjoyed it!!

I made my lesson plan and then I'm going to bed. I don't think my sleep has fully caught up with me yet. Hopefully it will soon! I have been so tired in the evenings!!

G'Night World! Or Good Morning, where you may be!

February 22nd- A glance at Helen Doron

Today was my first day at the school- It was really nice. We observed several different teachers- the 5 year olds were super cute, but everything was very repetitive. The 6 year olds amazed me- they were such a huge jump up from the 5 year olds. And then the 7 year olds even more, it makes me wonder why we don't do things like this in America. These kids know 2 languages very well by the age of 7! Obviously their vocabulary isn't the best, but as far as sentence structure and whatnot, they've got it down!!

Today, after observing, we had to present a lesson plan to the other Korean teachers, the director and assistant director. I think it went pretty well- they had just a little bit of advice for us, but it was all really positive. I think/hope I end up with the 6 year olds. All of the kids are so pleasant, there were a few that I think had learning disabilities, ADD/maybe some autism, but hard to say for sure! I will find out tomorrow which level I have- it is crazy that they do their birthday in Korean, so really they don't have birthday's, it just goes by the Korean new year- and they are the same age all year- I think I'm 25 or 26, haven't quite figured it out yet! After I get my level tomorrow, they have an orientation for parents/kids, new and returning to meet us (the new teachers for "next year"... aka next Tuesday!). We start a new year on Tuesday- the kids have graduation on Thursday and then we have a vacation day on Monday- followed by me starting teaching fulltime on Tuesday. It is really interesting- sometimes a waste of time at the school- I don't think I will have an afterschool class, not sure yet though. I would like one, because it's extra $$.

Everyone at the school is really nice- it seems like a great place to work. They have this thing called CCTV- which is basically a camera in every room, and the parents of the kids come in and watch us teach- it's kind of nerve racking, but I think it would be best if I just didn't know they were watching- but some of the moms come in and watch during the day for the fun of it- I don't think they work!

Today for lunch we had some nasty stuff- I'm going to start to bring my lunches next week as soon as I can go to the grocery store! It was rice, and then a pork thing with sauce, curry, and a whole bunch of fish- it was disgusting! :( For dinner tonight, we found a department store with a food court- it's so hard/difficult/frustrating not being able to communicate. Brandy and I found little signs, with pictures/English and brought it up to the ladies to order food- I got a burger w/fries I just needed something solid though, my stomach has been getting queezy with all of their food- it's just not filling or something, hence why they are all so tiny I think! I figure I have plenty of time to eat their food, at least for now I need to make my stomach feel okay... at least that's my reasoning for now.

Until next time!

February 21st- a first look at Korea!

Sunday, February 21- After a long flight/day of traveling, we made it to a hotel and crashed- Sunday, we were picked up by the assistant director Ellie. She brought us to see the school for the first time, the school is beautiful! It really is awesome- we have a play area in the backyard- a huge deck/patio, and crops as you saw before in the pics! :) Ellie is so nice and funny- she really seems great! We got some "homework"- I have to make a lesson plan for tomorrow to present to Ellie, so I just did that- we'll see how it goes! After that, we went to meet 2 of the girls who will continue at the school, Hayley for 1 more year and Diane until July. The food at lunch was okay- better than I thought it was going to be. I tried Kimche, it was too spicy for me though. We had some 3 layer fat bacon type meat which was really good- and then some seasoned pork which I really liked called gaube. We ate them in a lettuce taco sort of manner. There was also rice, eggs, onions (they love onion!!), some peppers (also too spicy for me) and then some special red sauce! :) We cannot pronounce anything! I'm working on- "on-nyong or on-nyong ahn-se-oh" hello and formal hello and "kam-som-ni-da" thank you!

Still having a hard time remembering those words!

We saw our future apartments today- they are really great- and in a nice area. Lots of stuff around us. We saw a lofted apartment, but there are 5 of us, and only 4 apartments in the one building, and the other 1 is across the street; The girls that I will be working with seem great, there is Katie and Jackie from Minnesota, Brandy from Texas and Nicole from Chicago. After we saw the apartments, we went downtown Seoul to a shopping area with Hayley and Diane- they had so many American clothing stores, and the streets were just packed!!! But it was nice to get out and see the city!

More to come! :)

Farewell America, land of the great!

Well I finally got this site set up in order to keep track with what is going on in Korea! I am finalizing everything in order to leave- I'm trying to finish packing, cleaning, and visiting as many friends/family as I can!! I had a great friend party last Saturday, and a really nice family party on Sunday. It was great to see everyone one last time!

It hasn't hit me yet that I will be gone for such a long time, I think it will on Friday morning when I leave. It is a bittersweet feeling- I will have such a great experience and see the world, but I will be away from my home, family and friends for such a long time!

It has been a long haul getting everything ready for the trip- there were many steps that I had to complete, including trips to the BCA, St. Thomas, and Chicago!!

Until next time...

~L