I found out in one of my afternoon classes today that the previous teacher asked them to put an adjective or some sort of word (starting with the same letter as their name) in front of their name to help the teacher remember them better. I thought that was an awesome idea. They're so proud of their names, it's funny. Here were some of the ones that I can remember:
Killer Kevin
King Kong Kevin
Action Andy
Jumping Jenny
Elementary Elizabeth
Shy Sarah
Angry Alice
Anyway, I might be meeting up with my cousin and a few other girls in Seoul this weekend. I'm excited, but extremely nervous because I will have to transfer subway routes.. I have no phone :/ and not a lot of money. oh well.
araso! annyeongi keseyo :D
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Random things after a week and a half of being here
Some kids are so cute, some are mean.
Some listen so well, some don't.
The kids wave to me when they see me.. at school & outside of school. It's a nice feeling :) Oh and they call me "Nugee Teacher" or just "Teacher" most of the time :D
I hate the thought of making lesson plans, but find it amazingly fun once I get myself to actually do it.
I love having a shared office with the Korean ladies- they always have hot water ready for coffee or tea.
On the other hand, my coffee addiction has gotten worse. I'm on my second cup already today. It's not my fault they let me drink it whenever I want.
This job is so laid back compared to my previous one. I don't even feel like I'm actually really working half of the time I'm here.
If I actually work when I'm at work, then I don't have anything to worry about at home & on the weekends :)
Sometimes some kids make me wanna quit altogether. Well, just one or two of them BUT that just means I need to go a different route with them.
I don't eat dinner every night. Sometimes I'll have just a sandwich or a snack.
I was born a picky eater, but I can't be picky here or else I'd starve to death. I had duck for lunch last week.. I can't even believe it myself.
I've grown to love a few things here already. It will be hard to let them go in a year.
I get my daily exercise by walking to and from school :) It takes about 30 mins. each way & that's if I walk really fast.
It feels good to see Americans around once in a while.
When I go places with my American coworker, they always think I'm Korean and want me to translate for her :/ I just try to look more lost & confused than she does.
I don't feel like I'm in a different country. I don't feel far away from home at all.
I try not to think about how far away I really am from my family. Reason is that this will be my home for a year, like it or not. So, I refuse to let myself cry and be sad over it. I agreed to this. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into so I'm going to stay positive and have fun.
I read a little bit about some problems with the English Teaching program here in Korea. Hopefully, I'm safe. If not, I'll be back sooner than planned.
Some listen so well, some don't.
The kids wave to me when they see me.. at school & outside of school. It's a nice feeling :) Oh and they call me "Nugee Teacher" or just "Teacher" most of the time :D
I hate the thought of making lesson plans, but find it amazingly fun once I get myself to actually do it.
I love having a shared office with the Korean ladies- they always have hot water ready for coffee or tea.
On the other hand, my coffee addiction has gotten worse. I'm on my second cup already today. It's not my fault they let me drink it whenever I want.
This job is so laid back compared to my previous one. I don't even feel like I'm actually really working half of the time I'm here.
If I actually work when I'm at work, then I don't have anything to worry about at home & on the weekends :)
Sometimes some kids make me wanna quit altogether. Well, just one or two of them BUT that just means I need to go a different route with them.
I don't eat dinner every night. Sometimes I'll have just a sandwich or a snack.
I was born a picky eater, but I can't be picky here or else I'd starve to death. I had duck for lunch last week.. I can't even believe it myself.
I've grown to love a few things here already. It will be hard to let them go in a year.
I get my daily exercise by walking to and from school :) It takes about 30 mins. each way & that's if I walk really fast.
It feels good to see Americans around once in a while.
When I go places with my American coworker, they always think I'm Korean and want me to translate for her :/ I just try to look more lost & confused than she does.
I don't feel like I'm in a different country. I don't feel far away from home at all.
I try not to think about how far away I really am from my family. Reason is that this will be my home for a year, like it or not. So, I refuse to let myself cry and be sad over it. I agreed to this. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into so I'm going to stay positive and have fun.
I read a little bit about some problems with the English Teaching program here in Korea. Hopefully, I'm safe. If not, I'll be back sooner than planned.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Give me Jesus
A few hours before I left home to LAX, I read on Korean air's site about their luggage limit. I can't remember the exact numbers anymore but I knew my luggages were beyond the allowed limit. So, I decided to take a whole bunch of things out...most of them were the real heavy stuff. I even took out a few items from my clothes luggage too. We got to the airport, weighed my luggages and what happened? One of them was a little under the "heavy" limit and one was a little over. Heavy limit means that they're already over the allowed limit..so I would be paying $50 for each luggage that was over, which was fine.. I expected that. However, I was informed that it would be a $300 charge for the one that was over the heavy limit. That's insane. So, the nice guy who was helping me suggested that I take out a few things from the heavy one and put them into the other. So I did and it worked out perfectly. I had a quick lunch with my family, said a little tearful goodbye, and was on my way.
The plane was huge, the staff were nice, the seat was comfortable (although I wish I could've flown first class because they can make their seats into a bed, in which I could've gotten better sleep but what I had was nice), the food was ok, the guys I sat next to pretty much slept the whole way (they were Vietnamese flying to Vietnam, transferring in Korea). Each seat had its own little tv which was awesome, but there weren't many things to choose from. I did manage to find a few movies to watch which helped time go by so much faster. Towards the end of the flight one of the nice ladies asked if I would be staying in Korea or transferring. I told her I was staying so she gave me a few papers to fill out. It was just the claiming your "expensive" things ..and stuff like that. So, I filled it out but they were asking for an address in Korea and I had no clue what my address was. They gave me the address to the school that I would be working that but I didn't have the information with me. I had no way of getting that information because I only had my sister in law's phone with me (to use for emergencies only) but I didn't even have anyone's number in Korea. It was an awful feeling. I was pretty stressed for a bit, but I tried to calm myself down. There had to be a way. So, when I got off the plane I quickly took out my laptop and luckily was able to connect to the airport's internet so I went into my email, found it, wrote it down and went through the little gate to show them my passport along with all the other papers. I also was able to tell my family on fb that I arrived safely.
Alright. So, the craziness didn't end there. I waited and waited... and finally found my luggages, but remember how they were right under the "heavy" limit (which is maybe 70lb or something)? Well, I'm right under 100 lbs. So, I was able to drag my luggages off of the belt thing onto the floor, but trying to roll both of those around was something I don't think anyone of my family members should ever see (cuz I'm sure they would've laughed their butts off). I had one carryon bag with me which contained my laptop and other things (which was extremely heavy also)..so I threw the shoulder straps of that around the handle of one of the luggages..thinking it would help. Well, it didn't. I thought I had all this figured out at home. I bought the cool luggages with the wheels that can turn 360 degrees so that I could just stand them up right and roll them along side me while walking. Things did not happen that way at all. I tried pushing with them in front of me .. didn't work. I tried dragging them behind me.. didn't work. I tried the carryon bag back on my shoulders and dragging..didn't work. I tried carryon bag on shoulders and pushing..didn't work. The outside area (where people wait for you) was so close, but I couldn't even get myself to the sliding doors. I thought about getting one of those carts but I didn't know how I'd get the luggage onto the cart. So, I dragged one and pushed one.. moving about an inch at a time. Finally, crossed over the area where they collect the claims paper.. and then saw the currency exchange desk right next to the door...so I decided to do that really quick before I head out or else I wouldn't have any money to spend. So I left my luggages to the side, changed dollars to won, and went back to my luggages. This time, it was even harder. My arms were tired, my back was aching, I was sweating. I tried moving again (the same way as before) but this time I went nowhere...even though the door was only about 4 feet away. I saw an older worker guy there so I tried to tell him that I needed a cart or something. He couldn't understand..so he just kinda looked at me weird. I signaled for him to watch my luggages while I go back to get one, but he was probably thinking "lady that's not my job".. so I just left my luggages there, took my korean money, and tried to go back through that little gate where they already collected my paper. I didn't know how I was going to explain it to them, but I was determined to get it done. Right when I got there, the that was suppose to be watching my luggages yelled for me to go back. I didn't really know what he was saying but when I got there..I saw an empty cart close to my luggages. I breathed a sigh of relief. The guy helped put my luggages on the cart for me and I was FINALLY on my way out. Right when I went through the sliding doors, I saw a guy with my name :) So I gave him a quick head bow to signal that I'm Nugee, he came and pushed the cart for me..and led me to the little van that took me to my place. (by the way, after loading my first luggage into the trunk his first word to me was "heavy"..LOL)
Work has been going well. The guy that took me around and was suppose to be helping me.. really didn't help me much at all. Luckily, I did a lot of research before I came so I knew how to turn the hot water on for showers, how to turn a knob in order to turn on the stove, how to open and lock the door, things of that nature. I pretty much had to figure that out on my own. Even at school, they don't tell me anything and just hands me a schedule and expects me to understand which class is when, what to teach, and how to teach them. Monday morning was a little difficult. I prayed a lot about everything though. I knew God wouldn't leave my side. It's my first time teaching so I was a little stressed.. over prepared myself. But everything went smoothly. I gotta say..my speech class helped a lot. (I should email my professor and let him know..since he did write a recommendation letter for me).
I was also a little concerned about my place, the people I'd be working with, and just Korea itself. BUT I am in good hands everyone. God's got me placed right in the palm of his hands. Korea is a very nice country, the people here just mind their own business most of the time, the people I work with are very very lenient, and my little place is starting to feel more and more like home.
No matter where I am, what I'm doing, the problems I run into.. He is always right next to me, helping me and guiding me.
I'm happy to be here. I'm so thankful for such an amazing and encouraging family (esp. my sister..she's awesome)... and I'm excited to see what God has in store for me here. I pray that God continue to use each and everyone of you in your everyday lives there.
The plane was huge, the staff were nice, the seat was comfortable (although I wish I could've flown first class because they can make their seats into a bed, in which I could've gotten better sleep but what I had was nice), the food was ok, the guys I sat next to pretty much slept the whole way (they were Vietnamese flying to Vietnam, transferring in Korea). Each seat had its own little tv which was awesome, but there weren't many things to choose from. I did manage to find a few movies to watch which helped time go by so much faster. Towards the end of the flight one of the nice ladies asked if I would be staying in Korea or transferring. I told her I was staying so she gave me a few papers to fill out. It was just the claiming your "expensive" things ..and stuff like that. So, I filled it out but they were asking for an address in Korea and I had no clue what my address was. They gave me the address to the school that I would be working that but I didn't have the information with me. I had no way of getting that information because I only had my sister in law's phone with me (to use for emergencies only) but I didn't even have anyone's number in Korea. It was an awful feeling. I was pretty stressed for a bit, but I tried to calm myself down. There had to be a way. So, when I got off the plane I quickly took out my laptop and luckily was able to connect to the airport's internet so I went into my email, found it, wrote it down and went through the little gate to show them my passport along with all the other papers. I also was able to tell my family on fb that I arrived safely.
Alright. So, the craziness didn't end there. I waited and waited... and finally found my luggages, but remember how they were right under the "heavy" limit (which is maybe 70lb or something)? Well, I'm right under 100 lbs. So, I was able to drag my luggages off of the belt thing onto the floor, but trying to roll both of those around was something I don't think anyone of my family members should ever see (cuz I'm sure they would've laughed their butts off). I had one carryon bag with me which contained my laptop and other things (which was extremely heavy also)..so I threw the shoulder straps of that around the handle of one of the luggages..thinking it would help. Well, it didn't. I thought I had all this figured out at home. I bought the cool luggages with the wheels that can turn 360 degrees so that I could just stand them up right and roll them along side me while walking. Things did not happen that way at all. I tried pushing with them in front of me .. didn't work. I tried dragging them behind me.. didn't work. I tried the carryon bag back on my shoulders and dragging..didn't work. I tried carryon bag on shoulders and pushing..didn't work. The outside area (where people wait for you) was so close, but I couldn't even get myself to the sliding doors. I thought about getting one of those carts but I didn't know how I'd get the luggage onto the cart. So, I dragged one and pushed one.. moving about an inch at a time. Finally, crossed over the area where they collect the claims paper.. and then saw the currency exchange desk right next to the door...so I decided to do that really quick before I head out or else I wouldn't have any money to spend. So I left my luggages to the side, changed dollars to won, and went back to my luggages. This time, it was even harder. My arms were tired, my back was aching, I was sweating. I tried moving again (the same way as before) but this time I went nowhere...even though the door was only about 4 feet away. I saw an older worker guy there so I tried to tell him that I needed a cart or something. He couldn't understand..so he just kinda looked at me weird. I signaled for him to watch my luggages while I go back to get one, but he was probably thinking "lady that's not my job".. so I just left my luggages there, took my korean money, and tried to go back through that little gate where they already collected my paper. I didn't know how I was going to explain it to them, but I was determined to get it done. Right when I got there, the that was suppose to be watching my luggages yelled for me to go back. I didn't really know what he was saying but when I got there..I saw an empty cart close to my luggages. I breathed a sigh of relief. The guy helped put my luggages on the cart for me and I was FINALLY on my way out. Right when I went through the sliding doors, I saw a guy with my name :) So I gave him a quick head bow to signal that I'm Nugee, he came and pushed the cart for me..and led me to the little van that took me to my place. (by the way, after loading my first luggage into the trunk his first word to me was "heavy"..LOL)
Work has been going well. The guy that took me around and was suppose to be helping me.. really didn't help me much at all. Luckily, I did a lot of research before I came so I knew how to turn the hot water on for showers, how to turn a knob in order to turn on the stove, how to open and lock the door, things of that nature. I pretty much had to figure that out on my own. Even at school, they don't tell me anything and just hands me a schedule and expects me to understand which class is when, what to teach, and how to teach them. Monday morning was a little difficult. I prayed a lot about everything though. I knew God wouldn't leave my side. It's my first time teaching so I was a little stressed.. over prepared myself. But everything went smoothly. I gotta say..my speech class helped a lot. (I should email my professor and let him know..since he did write a recommendation letter for me).
I was also a little concerned about my place, the people I'd be working with, and just Korea itself. BUT I am in good hands everyone. God's got me placed right in the palm of his hands. Korea is a very nice country, the people here just mind their own business most of the time, the people I work with are very very lenient, and my little place is starting to feel more and more like home.
No matter where I am, what I'm doing, the problems I run into.. He is always right next to me, helping me and guiding me.
I'm happy to be here. I'm so thankful for such an amazing and encouraging family (esp. my sister..she's awesome)... and I'm excited to see what God has in store for me here. I pray that God continue to use each and everyone of you in your everyday lives there.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Blogging from Korea!
I am in Korea already! The little city that I'm in is Uijeongbu, which is about an hour north of Seoul. My last entry was quite a while ago. Everything happened so fast I didn't even have time to blog about it. When my documents came in, I sent them to Korea (which cost me a fortune). Then about a week later I got my visa issuance number, went to the Korean consulate in Los Angeles to get my interview and visa stamped, and just 2 days later I was on a plane to Korea :)
I've been here for almost a week now. I arrived last Friday, had the weekend to adjust a little bit and hang out with the other foreign teachers (who were about to leave since I'm taking their place), and then they put me straight to work on Monday. I made it much more difficult that it really was/is. I was stressing out a lot about everything on the first day, but by Tuesday I was fine and relaxed. I'm enjoying everything so far. I have a lot of time to prepare my lessons. I'm even writing this while at work since I have all my lesson plans done for today and tomorrow already. I don't have any classes on Wednesday and Thursday mornings so I have a lot of time to get everything done.
Anyway, I have tons of pictures and videos I need to upload and share with everyone. I was working on a website because I just wanted to have everything all in one spot you know? Like have my pictures, blogs, and videos all on there instead of 3 differents sites that I have to update. It would be easier for everyone too right? We will see about it though. The name I have right now is SunshineInKorea.com because Nugee=sunshine :) get it? Oh and I also need to make another youtube channel to upload my videos. Even if I end up making the website I will still have to upload the videos on youtube I think..and just link it.
I will take some time this weekend to figure everything out.
Thank you for all the prayers!
I've been here for almost a week now. I arrived last Friday, had the weekend to adjust a little bit and hang out with the other foreign teachers (who were about to leave since I'm taking their place), and then they put me straight to work on Monday. I made it much more difficult that it really was/is. I was stressing out a lot about everything on the first day, but by Tuesday I was fine and relaxed. I'm enjoying everything so far. I have a lot of time to prepare my lessons. I'm even writing this while at work since I have all my lesson plans done for today and tomorrow already. I don't have any classes on Wednesday and Thursday mornings so I have a lot of time to get everything done.
Anyway, I have tons of pictures and videos I need to upload and share with everyone. I was working on a website because I just wanted to have everything all in one spot you know? Like have my pictures, blogs, and videos all on there instead of 3 differents sites that I have to update. It would be easier for everyone too right? We will see about it though. The name I have right now is SunshineInKorea.com because Nugee=sunshine :) get it? Oh and I also need to make another youtube channel to upload my videos. Even if I end up making the website I will still have to upload the videos on youtube I think..and just link it.
I will take some time this weekend to figure everything out.
Thank you for all the prayers!
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