Seng-hil chuk-ha hamnida & Happy Chueseok!

Having friends and cousins here have been one of the greatest blessings.
Not to mention nice coworkers as well.
Things were pretty tough in the beginning, but everything's alright now. We just needed time.
Thursday, before we left for vacation my coworkers bought a cake for me. So sweet of them.

Then, my cousins and friends planned a surprise birthday party for me at my own place!

For Chuseok, we just hung out in Seoul mostly.

I spent Friday by myself. I wasn't feeling well so I stayed home and skyped with my family. 

Then on Saturday I met up with the girls at Sheng's place. From there, we went and had "legit" pho and vietnamese sandwiches in Itaewon. 

Afterwards, we grabbed bubble tea from Myeongdong. (yumm the strawberry yogurt was good!)

Went on a Han River cruise at Yeonuinaru.

Hit up Hongdae to visit the Hello Kitty cafe & the Coffee Prince cafe (sadly, Coffee Prince was closed).

My friends spent the whole Sunday lying to me about what they were doing.

I went to the afternoon Church service at Jubilee, then Choua stalled and stalled in order for them to get everything done. I finally came home to a beautiful surprise :) egg rolls, bacon with cabbage, pineapple, Baskin Robbins ice cream cake, and most important of all FRIENDS :) We even went to the Norebang.

Then, Monday we went to Choua's (Sinsa & Apgujeong area), walked to the Han River, ate ramyun, took loads of pictures with Choua's nice camera, played some basketball, and ended the day with some sam-gyup-sal for dinner :P 

We woke up Tuesday, made more food (lol), said bye to Maychee :( and everyone went their own separate ways.

It was sad saying "goodbye" to another friend.  Take care Maychee! You will be missed in Korea, but we'll see you soon in California!

Goodbyes

Looks like the only time I think about updating my blog is when I have no English subbed kdrama or thai lakorn to watch.
That's my life here.
I wake up, watch as many videos as I can while on skype with my baby girl and getting ready for work, get to work, squeeze in a few more videos, get on facebook, teach some classes, make a few lesson plans,  come back home, skype with my sister if she's not asleep already, watch more movies/videos, go to sleep, and wake up the next morning to do the same thing.  Of course, weekends are completely different. I think I've only stayed in town a total of 4 weekends since I've been in Korea :/
I'm not complaining though. I kinda like it.
Even though I've done so much already, I still feel like there's so much more to do..and one year may not be enough.

We just had our Summer break, now starting semester 2 at our school.
After the first semester ended, I seriously considered staying another year..
But now that school has started up again, I'm not so sure about it anymore.
I like the kids, I don't mind the teaching, but I'm not sure I can handle another year here.
We will have to see though.

Anyway, I've been here exactly 5 months today.
Time sure flies. Felt like it was just yesterday that I walked into my apartment with a funky smell (that I've since gotten use to).

I said my first goodbye here today to the other English teacher at my school, who had become a good friend of mine. We got along quite well. I remember telling my sister that we talk like we've known each other for years. Although we didn't get to spend much time together (outside of school), we got to spend most of our work days together. She showed me places that have since become my favorite. The saddest part of it all is that we will probably never see each other again.
I went and said goodbye to her before heading out this morning.
After work, I stopped by her apartment to grab a blanket that she had left for me.
The empty apartment only made it more real. She's really gone.

Here, English teachers come and go.
Soon it'll be my turn.

Happy Parents' Day!

In Korea, they celebrate Children's Day on the 5th of May (at least that's what it was this year). It's a national holiday believe it or not so we had the day off also :)  Anyway, on this particular day...kids pretty much get spoiled by their parents.. they have no school and they just get to go out and do whatever they want. In our area here, I saw a lot of kids play in the little water/river thing. The center here was FULL of kids and parents. It was a little overwhelming. But as I'm writing this.. I felt like I should've volunteered at an Orphanage that day.. Less fortunate kids were probably so sad that day. Ok, next year if I'm still here, I'll do it. (note to self)

Before I go any further, I wanted to explain why I deleted my previous post. I was extremely frustrated and when I think back to it..I still am. It was difficult because it's not easy to make them understand that the way they do things is frustrating for the English teachers. My feelings and thoughts don't seem to matter much here, which is fine. It has never really mattered to people so I can handle that, but all the jobs I've had before this..they'd do some sort of training before they throw you in. It's completely different here. What you think may be impossible for them to do.. they will do. And if you do it wrong, it will be your fault and nobody else's.  Yes, I'm still adjusting to that type of 'doing' here. Many things I've already grown accustomed to, but that.... I have to work on still. I do feel a little more at ease since the new girl has arrived though, sad to say. Why? because she gets to go through what I went through... and it's not that I wish that on anyone, but it made me realize that it wasn't me at all... nor was it them. It's just how they do things here. Also, it feels good to know a little more than someone else, I must admit. I'm horrible. Oh yeah, so I decided to delete it because I don't want people to think that I'm having a horrible time here because I'm not. I love it here. I get to travel to so many places. I get to interact with kids. I get to be independent. So, I'm doing well.

Alright, so right after Children's Day comes Parents' Day which falls on Mother's Day in the states. It wasn't a big deal here since our parents are all in the states, but the sermon at church was about parents.. and how we should think of ourselves as children of God.. like children children.. you know, like young children who long to be like their mom or their dad one day... and wants to play with their mom or dad all the time, never wanting them to leave. That's how we should be and feel towards God. SOooo true! At the beginning of service, Pajai and I went up to the little cafe area of the church, sat down, and started talking a bit.  She was telling me about how her sister have so much hair on their arms...so one day she complained to her mom and said that she was sad she was born that way.  Then, her mom said "Kuv twb yug tau koj zoo npaum no es ua li cas koj tseem yuav hais li ko? Twb muaj ob txhais tes, ob txhais taw, ntiv taw ntiv tes los muaj tas es tseem yuav tshaw dab tsi thiab?" Ohh my goodness.. my tears fell the moment I heard those words. All my life, I've always wanted something more. I've always wondered why I was born like this or like that. Why couldn't I have been born better in certain areas. Pajai didn't know what to do. She didn't even know why I was crying. I told her that.. it made me miss my mom...and she asked me if it was because my mom said that to me.. but I told her "no." However, I know very well that.. that's how she feels. As children, we blame our parents for all the faults we have.. from our height.. to our temper. But our mother gave us all that we need to survive in this world and is blinded from the physical flaws we see in ourselves. To her, we are perfect.
Furthermore, that's how God feels toward us. He made us in His image yet we try so hard to change our physical appearance just to fit the world's standards. He made us perfect in His eyes yet we get angry about the small things that don't even matter.
Ever since my last relationship, I've closed my heart off to everyone. I've opened it a little & have even seen some light, but right when I feel like I can or will get hurt..I turn the lights off and close the door again. Stupid thing to say/feel, but I've never felt like I was good enough for anyone. Every time I meet someone.. I always feel like they could do so much better.
So, when I heard Pajai say that.. I felt a tugging at my heart. God was speaking to me... He wanted me to know that I'm perfect in His eyes... no matter what my past may look like, no matter how broken and scarred I am from it all.. I'm still worthy of His love and I'm still good enough for someone out there. AND that I should be happy with all of my physical features :)
Lots of tears shed this past weekend.

It's been a while since I've updated on here. I've come to realize that everyone in the states thinks being in Korea is like the coolest thing ever.. and it is. I felt that way too..that's why I'm here. But living here.. I feel like it's so normal.  I don't really know what to write or make a video about..because to me it seems normal, but to others..it's probably really really cool. Plus, it's hard to make videos without looking like a total tourist.. and I feel weird filming and talking while walking by myself. But I will be going to a Women's retreat with the Jubilee church next weekend so hopefully I'll get some of that on video. AND a lot of the hmong people here are planning to meet up at the end of this month for a total hmong food cookout/potluck thing so I will definitely get that on video for everyone to see.

Long blog.
Peace out.

Nonchalant Nugee

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

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.

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.

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!