got my camera back:)

For those who didn't know, I realized that I lost my camera this past Saturday morning. I was 100% sure that I had it with me when I came back to my apartment Friday late noon after I was done teaching. I remembered uploading the recent pictures I took on facebook that Friday. Later, I went out for dinner with some friends Friday evening but I knew for sure I did not bring my camera with me. Since I was certain that I had brought my camera back home from school on Friday, I knew it had to be somewhere in my apartment. Spent the weekend frantically searching for my lost camera. Turns out my memory isn't as accurate and led me to thinking that my camera was somewhere in my apartment. This morning I was pretty much at the point of thinking that all hope was lost in finding my camera this morning. I was thinking that I needed to buy a new camera which would probably be expensive. I told the faculty at my school that I lost my camera and mentioned that it might be possible that I left it at school. I checked the room I was in last Friday where I took out my camera to show my co-teacher some pictures. No camera. The vice principal was so worried for me that she even made an announcement to all the teachers to let their students know about my missing camera because a camera is a pretty valuable thing to lose. She said the students at the school would know to give lost things to their teacher.

Later on in the day, I ran into my 6th graders and they kept saying the word camera and where it was. I told them I didn't know because I lost it and that I was sad. It seemed like I had the whole school worrying for me and my camera:/ While getting ready to leave to go home for the day, I said bye to the principal and he mentioned the word camera and then held out his hand in front of me. I was so confused and placed my hand on his hand and then he had a confused look as well. Then he said something in Korean and went to his office and I followed after him. He comes out of his office with my camera and my mouth dropped open with excitement. I was so happy to see my camera with my own eyes and glad that I didn't accidentally drop it on the street or something.


The funny thing is that the principal acted like it was no big deal that he had my camera. He was all chill and just returned the camera to me. He told me he looked through all the photos and saw me in the pictures so he figured the camera belonged to me. However, he had no idea that the entire school was looking for my camera because he was at a meeting this morning. I thanked him a million times and was so glad to have my camera back:)

On top of receiving the good news that my camera was safe and only at my school, I only had to teach 3 out of the 5 classes I normally have on Wednesdays. Today, the elementary school had a fire drill practice that lasted nearly 2 class periods. The kids got to see a real fire and were able to participate in putting the fire out. The staff and children seemed to enjoy it. It was a nice and relaxing day for me:)

 



 

March in Korea

 

So the end of March is almost approaching and so much has happened. I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with talking about how teaching has been for me.

I teach 4 days a week Tuesday through Thursday for 15 hours. It's nice to have Mondays off and enjoy a long weekend. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I teach from 1:20-2:50--only 2 classes those days. I normally take the 11:42 bus to Imsil. It's about a 30 minute bus ride and costs about 5100 won one way. The bus ticket for my ride home is a bit cheaper for me at the gwanchon station. I'm so thankful that my co-teacher is always willing to drop me off there. Wednesdays, however, are long and busy days. I start teaching at 8:50 in the morning and teach 5 classes. I am usually up and ready by 7:30 because my mentor teacher will pick me up from my apartment and take me to school. Otherwise, I would be taking the 7:12 am bus which is super early. Wednesday is the only day my mentor teacher can take me to school because he is super busy. He is currently writing his thesis for his Ph.D degree and has many business trips. The bus stop is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment and the ticket master knows me already because I come in so often. Before, my co-teacher had written down what I should say in Korean to show him, but now he always gets the ticket out for me whenever he sees me. Once I'm in Imsil, I have about a 10 minute walk to Galdam Elementary School. Sometimes I will see random stray animals walking around the streets and they haven't bothered me so it's pretty safe.

Everyday I greet the principal, vice principal, and teachers at the school once I arrive. Some days I get to school around noon time which is lunch. The cafeteria food has been pretty good so far. However, one day fish was served and it had a really fishy taste. The cook approached me and asked if it was delicious. Of course I couldn't say no so I smiled and said "mashi soyyo" (it's delicious). She watched me as I ate so I had no choice but to eat it with a smile on my face. The faculty staff will usually sit together at a table during lunch, but sometimes I like to sit with the kids and chat with them. Every student has their own cup with a toothbrush to brush their teeth after lunch. I'm always asking my kids to check my teeth for food that might be stuck:P Lunch break is from 12:10-1:10 so if I finish early sometimes the teachers will invite me to have coffee and just have a chat with me to practice their English. The teacher's room in the school is like the lounge area where snacks are usually served and talk with one another. My principal always has a smile on his face whenever I'm around which is good because I was really intimated by him when I first met him. He loves asking me questions about myself in general. Like what my hobbies are, my family, etc. He seems to understand me just fine even though I'm gesturing most of the time and speaking slower. Last week I shared some of the korean phrases I learned/picked up from a drama I've been watching and he enjoyed teasing me about my pronunciation and got really excited that I was even attempting to speak Korean. I always get a handshake from him whenever I greet him and excuse myself from leaving. There are a few teachers in the school that are always trying to talk to me and are always willing to help me. The other teachers seem a bit more shy and I try to talk to them because I would like to build a good relationship the entire school staff. However, I understand that there is a language barrier that is holding them back from opening up and stepping out of their comfort zone.

Each grade is at a different level in terms of the English they know. So the first couple weeks of teaching, I did activities to find out how much and what they knew. For instance, my 1st & 2nd graders already knew the alphabet and could count up to 20. However, some of the kids had a hard time recognizing some single words. So I started working on phonics--the sounds of the letters and reading words that have those letters. My 1st & 2nd graders are combined into one class and their my biggest class--16 students. My 1st graders listen and behave really well. But my 2nd graders just cannot sit still and keep quiet. I used a sticker method of giving out stickers at the end of the day if they behave. But some naughty students just didn't seem to mind and continued to misbehave. So last week I showed them that I meant business and I wasn't fooling around. I crossed my arms and had a large frown on my face. I used a new method of writing a large X on the chalkboard. I explained that every X means 1 minute extra after class of sitting in silence. By the end of the class, there were four X's on the board, so the students had to stay 4 minutes extra. I allowed the first graders to leave because they behaved well during class. At the end of 4 minutes, I told the kids that I will continue to use this method from now on and if they would rather stay after class or listen during class. My new method seemed to work because the next couple of days they listened so well and I didn't have trouble throughout the activities I had planned for the class period.

My 6th graders are at the most advanced level of English. They can read and write full sentences and even understand the meaning of the sentences. I have so much fun with my 6th grade class because they are so eager to learn and love playing the games that I prepare for them to practice their pronunciation and learn new expressions that relate to American culture. Last week,  I played a game known as the fly swatter game with the 6th graders. They absolutely loved and enjoyed it. I wrote the key expressions they learned scattered across the chalkboard and divided the class into 2 teams. Each team received a pointer stick and one member from each team would come up to the chalkboard to compete in finding the key expression I called out. The students enjoy games that involve competition and really get into it. I also noticed that every grade level loves the game Bingo, which is a nice way to practice and review vocabulary. Usually each week I will pick a topic and during the week I will work on teaching each grade level the key expressions through activities/games. Sometimes I can spend two weeks on the same key expressions until the students have gotten the expressions down. So I am doing a lot of repeating and reviewing and practice to enhance the material I am teaching. I am enduring in patience with my kids as I see the gradual progress they are making. To see a shy and quiet student raise their hand and participate puts the biggest smile on my face. I am always trying to find new and different ways to be the best teacher I can to my students. It's definitely a challenge, but I am encouraged to see these children succeed in learning English. I'm Fighting!!!:)

I am currently hooked on the K-drama Boys Over Flowers. The actress is just too cute and the main actors of the F4 group are really handsome. The kids and I enjoy talking about the drama. I told them that my favorite actor was Lee Min Ho (Goo Jun Pyo). I saw a poster and some small stickers of the actors from the drama. One of my students saw how excited I was and how much I liked the actors. So she gave me a sticker of Lee Min Ho as a gift and asked if he was my boyfriend. Haha. I told her no, but I like him a lot. She also asked if I loved him and put her arms into the shape of a heart. Whenever I have time, I will usually be watching the drama on my laptop. It's a fairly short drama with only 25 episodes and I am currently on Episode 23. I'll have to ask my kids about recommendations for which drama I should watch next (preferably one with Lee Min Ho..haha:P:);)).

In terms of living in Korea, I am facing a lot of new and daily experiences on my own. Being independent is nice but a lot of responsibility comes along with it. Back in Michigan, I live at home and even though I do my own things its easy for me to get help if needed. Here it takes time for me to figure out how to accomplish a simple task such as doing laundry. I gave up on trying to figure out how to work my laundry machine the first couple weeks and just hand washed my clothes. But after getting help from a friend, I can finally wash my clothes. I don't have the luxury of popping my clothes into a dryer and warm dry clothes in an hour. Instead, all my clothes need to be hang dried and their usually stiff and wrinkly. Good thing I have an iron. However, the heated floor system does come in handy at times when I need the clothes to dry faster. Another new thing I am still trying to get used to is the fact that the entire bathroom is my shower. There is a sink, toilet, a small cabinet, and a drain for the water. The shower hose is attached to the sink and there is a knob I need to turn if I want the water to come out of the shower hose. Sometimes I forget to turn the knob to switch it back to the faucet so I've gotten soaked a couple times. I even have to press a button to turn the hot water on and shut it off when I'm done. I also have to keep my place clean and take out my trash. As for cooking, I am mostly cooking plain noodles and just adding packages of different sauces over the noodles. I use sauces such as jia jiang myun sauce (it's like a black bean sauce) and curry. I bought some packages of dumplings the other day at a store nearby my apartment. I will also go out to eat with friends as well because it's sometimes more cheaper to eat out than buy groceries and prepare food. I still have to check out the big market 15 minutes away from my apartment. I hear they have cheap fresh fruit there. As for food, I'm all set. There are plenty of restaurants around my area and I live next to a major University dormitory. My co-teacher actually attends the National University of Education and lives next to me. Many of the teachers at my school graduated from that University and got their teaching degree there.

Finding my way around Korea is starting to become easier for me now. At first, I would encounter people who didn't want to continue speaking to me once they realized I speak English. But for the most part, whenever I am lost or need help with something, someone will always be more than willing to help me out. Apparently I have a really confused or lost look on my face that makes people worry for me and want to help me. One of my co-teachers lives in a different city and we need to take a separate bus to get home. An older lady overheard my co-teacher explaining to me how I should get home. The lady told her that she was headed to the same place and said she could show me where to go and that she would pay for the taxi fare from the bus station. I learned how to say many thanks (ko-map-seum-ni-dah) because I was always in situations where people were going out of their way just to help me. On taxi rides, I learned how to ask how to get somewhere by saying the destination and then adding "ka-jusseyo". I am able to tell the taxi driver that I am an English teacher at Galdam Elementary School in Imsil and that I am Chinese. I then tell them Hangul (Korean) and put my pointer and thumb together to show them that I only know a little. I had a cab driver the other day who was telling me that China is very big and Korea is very small after I told him that I was Chinese. I'm not sure what he said during the rest of the ride, but I kept hearing the word China. haha. So far the people I've encountered can understand me when I speak Korean to them and I haven't gotten lost yet in Korea but I am managing on getting around places just fine.

There is a big shopping area known as Gaeksa about a 15 minute walk from where I live with reasonable prices on clothing, shoes, purses, etc. I am so tempted to buy many things I see but I set a limit for my spending budget even though I got my first paycheck this past Friday. The fashion is amazing and I'm trying to buy clothes to fit in as a Korean. I also live about 5 minutes away from a main tourist attraction in Jeonju called Hanok Village. Many festivals are held there during the spring and summer. I am looking forward to checking out those festivals when the days approach. Bukdae is another place that I pretty much visit every weekend to go out and eat and just spend time with friends. There is a big noraebang (karaoke) place in Bukdae that I still have to check out:) My co-teacher has not been to Bukdae before but she hears that it's a popular place to hangout so I promised I would show her around next weekend and we'll have lots of fun:)

This past weekend, I participated in a fundraiser event of an organization called Neighbourly, Neighborly. This organization visits orphanages once a month to spend time with the children through games and activities and to just devote their time to helping out around the community. I met up with two friends, Jenny and Alex, in Bukdae and the three of us took a taxi to a place called Radio Star. We had quite an adventurous cab ride. The driver literally swerved through the streets of Jeonju to drop us off at our destination. There were a few times where it looked like he was about to crash into another car but he never did. We all wore our seat belts for safety. haha. He even stopped the taxi cab in the middle of the street at one point and we thought we had arrived at Radio Star. Alex handed the cab driver some money and I opened the door to get ready to go out. But he motioned for me to close the door. Haha. It was quite funny because we were so confused. When we actually arrived at Radio Star, Alex accidentally steps on my shoe as I get out of the cab and it slips off. I go to reach for my shoe but I accidentally knock her glasses off and we pretty much stumbled out of the cab. LOL It was hilarious. The taxi driver laughed and looked at us like we were a crazy group of friends. Last Saturday, the group held a fundraiser at the mini-bar called Radio Star and all profits went towards the gifts for the children at the orphanage. There were many foreigners there that could speak English and I was pretty much the only Asian aside from the Korean students in the band. They served a variety of sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, beverages, and rice krispy treats--all for a good cause!!! Many high school music bands performed for free at the bar and my friends and I met some talented high school musicians.

We left Radio Star around 3 and headed to a baby orphanage that the head coordinator of the fundraiser had told us about. The taxi driver didn't drop us off right at the orphanage. Instead, he dropped us off at a castle looking place that we later found out was a Chinese restaurant once we reached the front door. We were thinking that it was too nice to be an orphanage and even started to take pictures in front of it for memory sake. haha. So we went into a store and asked a nice lady if she knew where the orphanage was and she pointed across the street from her store. When we walked in, a man from the main office welcomed us in and we explained that we were interested in volunteering. We motioned a gesture of holding a baby to him and he understood. A few seconds later, he tells us to follow him and we walk up a flight of stairs. Next thing we know there is a gate in front of a room with babies crawling everywhere. I walk in and a lady gives me a baby to hold and I start playing with the babies. My heart literally melted the instant I held the babies. They need the love and warmth from people who care about them. The babies would cry if you put them down even for a second because they thought you were going to leave them. There were about 3 ladies who were taking care of about 10 babies. So they really like and appreciate volunteers who come by to help. Jenny, Alex, and I stayed at the orphanage until 7. Our arms were sore from holding babies for 4 straight hours but I enjoyed and loved every moment I spent with the babies. I am actually going to visit the orphanage every Saturday at 3 to volunteer and play/help take care of the babies/and feed them. I look forward to seeing them next weekend:)

I was also told that starting in April I will be teaching Kindergarten for an extra 3 hours. I look forward to meeting the Kindergarten students:) On a side note, the students at my school are learning Chinese plus English from me. The kids are going to be multi-lingual. How awesome is that?!!

Below are some pictures I posted of events, people, and things I've done throughout the month of March. 

Friends of my mentor teacher who are elementary school teachers. They are so sweet. We went to an art gallery together and chatted while enjoy a cup of hot chocolate:)

Salad Gimbap for dinner. So delicious!!!! I love it.

Galdam Elementary School!! This is my workplace for the next 4 months. My school has 60 students. The big open field in front of the school is where the kids will play soccer. 

My 5th graders working on their name tags for the English names they picked out. Their a shy and quiet group but their slowly starting to warm up to me and love saying hello to me in the hallway.

A picture with my 6th grade class. I had to take a separate picture with the boys and girls because the girls didn't want to stand with the boys.

My 4th graders:) There are quite a few 4th graders who can speak English really well and know more English.

Some of my 1st/2nd graders working on their name tags. Every class enjoyed decorating their name tags to personalize it. 

My lovely 3rd graders. Their my smallest class. Only 8 students. One of them was a little shy:)

The well-known market that is 10 minutes from my apartment. There is cheap and fresh fruit sold here.

The ticket stand I visit 3 days a week to purchase my ticket for the bus ride to school. It's about a 10 minute walk from my apartment.

These 6th grade girls were my hero one day when I had to take the bus home by myself. They helped me buy my ticket and even stayed with me to wait until the bus came. I bought the girls some ice cream since it was warm that day and a way of showing my appreciation for their help.

Gaeksa shopping center. This is a popular place to shop for cheaper but good quality items as opposed to the products in malls.

 

 I was so happy the day I got phone because I could finally communicate properly and more effectively. The cell phone charm was a gift from my friend Julie:)

 

 Went out for lunch with some friends after we did some shopping in Gaeksa:)

 The delicious box of Dove chocolate I received from my landlady for white day. So sweet of her:)

Miss Kang Seo Young--one of my co-teachers. She comes to school every Tuesday with me and helps me out in the classroom.

My 3rd graders playing bingo. They love it. Everyone in the class has a good and fun time.

A few of my 1st graders. They listen and behave so well:)

 I was finally able to get a group picture of all my 6th graders plus my other co-teacher Miss Kim Soo Jung:)

One of the many dinner outings I have with friends:) We ate wall nam ssam--a vietnamese dish where you take rice paper and wrap it with cooked meat and a variety of vegetables. So good!!!!

 

Met some friendly Korean University students.

I introduced a game called the fly swatter game and the 6th graders had so much fun with it. I took the key expressions I taught the students and wrote the phrases across the chalkboard. I divided the class into 2 teams and one student from each team would come up to the board and compete to find the phrase I called out. This game helps the students to visually recognize the key expressions.

 These two 6th graders of mine are like best buds. Always together.

A picture I found on my camera of one of my 6th graders with Mrs. Lilibeth (another co-teacher of mine) in the background.

Several pictures from the day I played Bingo with my 1st/2nd grade students. They had a lot of fun. One student got three bingo's.

I introduced a fun game to my 4th grade students. The students have been practicing the phrases: "What is your favorite fruit?" and "My favorite fruit is ____________". The students were assigned a fruit and one student will always be in the middle. All the students sitting in the circle will ask the student in the middle "What is your favorite fruit?" The student in the center will then respond with "My favorite fruit is ____________". If the student in the middle calls out one of the fruits that was named, the students who were assigned those fruits must switch seats. The student that didn't get a seat in time is the next to be in the center. The 4th graders went crazy with this game. 

A picture with the talented high school guitarist that performed at Radio Star for the fundraiser.

A high school beat boxer who also performed at Radio Star. He has skills.

 Boys Over Flowers. The Korean drama I am currently hooked on and watching. Only a few more episodes and I'm almost done with this drama.

first day of teaching

Yesterday was my first day of teaching and it was quite a long and tiring day. I don't even know where to begin. My day started with meeting my co-teacher at the bus stop in Jeonju (about a 15 minute walk from my apartment). We purchased our tickets (which are incredibly expensive..5100 won for a 30 minute ride each way--i spent 10,200 won just on the bus ticket alone!!). Once we arrived in Imsil, we ran into a police officer who offered to drive us to the elementary school. I got to sit in the backseat of a Korean cop car and see a bunch of police equipment. The back door can't be opened from the inside so the cop joked around that I was arrested. He wanted to improve his English and said I could stop by his office anytime. He was impressed with the few simple Korean phrases I knew how to say.
Once we got to school, I greeted the principal, vice principal, and my mentor teachers and gave them the gifts I prepared for them. My co-teacher and I prepared the materials I used for my first class and went to the classroom to set up. My first class was 1/2 graders with 16 students. They were a handful and quite active. I was able to get through my introduction power-point, but I had to constantly stop in between to settle the kids down or stop hitting each other. There were a few kids in the class who knew English really well. When it got out of control I had to cross my arms and put on a serious face. It's amazing how quick they notice that I'm not happy and whisper to the other students to be quiet and listen. I would cross my arms in the shape of an X to show kids what I didn't like. Some kids thought it'd be funny to say yes to the things I didn't like (such as yelling or hitting one another). The girls behaved really well and there were a couple of students who kept trying to help me keep some kids seated. They are such cute and adorable kids, but their attention span is very low. I started handing out the paper for the kids to make their name tags, but we ran out of time. First and second graders are definitely a challenge. I know now that I need to spend less time getting them to pay attention and introduce engaging activities to maintain their interest and attention on me.
I taught the 5th graders for my next class and my power-point didn't play and so I had to present my introduction slideshow on my laptop. The kids could still see but it was just a small screen. I have 12 5th graders. They are quiet..too quiet. I introduced the idea of a sticker chart and told them that if they fill up their name on the chart with stickers, they will receive a prize. To earn a sticker, students need to participate, help clean up, help out their classmates in some way, and follow my classroom rules (which they follow really well, except for participation). This will hopefully motivate them to practice the English during our activities while having fun:) The 5th graders were able to start working on their name tags but ran out of time. 40 minute classes fly by so quickly.


I thought yesterday was tough, but today was even more tiring since I taught 5 classes and was up since 6 am. Yesterday, I followed my co-teacher around for transportation but today I was on my own. The bus schedule for Imsil is irregular and the bus times are limited since the drivers are on strike. I start teaching at 8:50 this morning so my only option was to take the 7:12 am bus. I got up at 6 to get ready and wanted to get to the ticket stand a little early in case I ran into any communication problems and needed to ask around for help. A man was waiting at the bus stop and I showed him the note my co-teacher had written in Korean for "I need a ticket to Imsil please". He showed me that in about 7 minutes the ticket master was going to open the stand and I can buy the ticket. Around 7 am, the owner of the ticket stand came by and the man wanted me to show the ticket master the note with Korean writing on it but I didn't know that. He kept showing me his hands because when I showed him the note the first time it was on my hand. So he took my hand and tried to look for the note..haha. Then seconds later I realized what he was talking about and I was able to get my bus ticket. After a 30 minute bus ride, I arrived at my school and greeted my principal, vice principal and the teachers that were already at school. When my mentor teacher came in, he asked me if I took the bus to school and if it was ok. Apparently, he came by to my apartment around 7:30 this morning to take me to school but my co-teacher had told me that I was suppose to take the bus to school myself today. Oops. This is why I cannot wait to get my phone asap to avoid situations like that.
I told my principal and vice principal that I took the bus to school all by myself and that the bus fare is really expensive. Every morning I'm offered a cup of coffee which is a nice way to start my morning and wake me up.
I had my 5th graders again for my first class today. We sang a "Good morning, how are you song" as a way to get in the mood for English class. Still not as much participation from them as I would like but they had a lot of fun picking out their English names.
I met my 6th graders for the first time today. The boys love to speak a lot of English phrases randomly throughout the class period. Every class had a fun time picking out English names. Some of the younger children thought that English names sound funny. One 3rd grade girl kept saying "pass" when she didn't like a name. haha. My 3rd grade class is the smallest with only 8 students and their my best class. Too bad I only teach them once a week. I will prepare a bingo game for my 3rd graders because one of the girls asked to play Bingo. There are few students with disabilities in my class and I am worried about them because they don't respond to me. They just shake their head no. One boy in the 3rd grade kept picking on another boy who cannot speak and pulled on his hair. I immediately came over and had a talk with him outside. My mentor teacher came by and had a talk with him as well. Despite the behavior issues that come up in my classroom, I bring my smile and energy to every class to show the kids how excited I am to teach them English. But if things get out of control, I mean business that I am not happy and they have a seat in the principal's office. The kids will do everything to test me and don't really listen when I tell them to stop or that it's not ok in English because I am a foreigner. They know that I don't understand Korean. Teaching English as a second language is definitely a challenge but I am determined to fulfill the responsibility I have as a role model/teacher and educate the kids on everyday conversational English.
After a tiring day at school, my day got even more interesting on the way home. My co-teacher was kind enough to drop me off at the Jeonju bus station. Once at the station, she stayed with me to buy the ticket and translated the place where I needed to be dropped off to the bus driver in Korean. I just remember my co-teacher telling me that the bus was going to drop me off in front of the home plus store and she said it was close to Nambu market. Yeah...it wasn't. Nambu market is a major landmark I look for to see whether I'm close to my apartment. I ended up in the middle of Jeonju and had to walk about 45 minutes until I reached Nambu Market. From Nambu, it's about another 10 minute walk back to my place. Once I was dropped off at home plus, I didn't see anything that looked familiar. I said "Nambu market" to a nice man walking on the street and he was explaining in Korean but I tried my best to figure out what he was saying with his hand gestures. I walked in the direction he pointed and saw the Jeonju city hall. I recognized the city hall when my friend took me shopping in Gaeksa (which is about a 15 minute car drive from my apartment). So I realized that I was super far from my home and had no idea which direction to go.
I stopped and asked another nice man on the street if he spoke English and that I need help finding Nambu market. He asked me to follow him and while we were walking I found out that he's a policeman and was off duty so he wasn't in his uniform. He asked me if I was Korean (which I get ALL the time) and what my purpose in Korea was. I explained to him that I am an English teacher at Galdam Elementary in Imsil. He walked with me until I saw a sign that had an arrow pointing straight ahead with Nambu Market written underneath. I walked the rest of the way and thanked him (too many times) for his help. By the time I got home it was 15 minutes till 5 in the evening. I should have been home around 3 but I was just happy about the fact that I got home.
Despite getting lost, I had a delicious dinner of noodle soup (kal gook) with some friends who are also living around my area. 
Tomorrow is a more relaxed day with only 2 classes. I don't teach tomorrow until 1:20 so it'll be nice to sleep in. Wednesdays are just rough days for me because my mentor teacher told me today that I will be teaching Kindergarten for 3 extra hours starting next week. Which means I'm at school pretty much from 8-4. God give me the strength. I will need it.

                                        

Here's a video I made of my apartment. Some people have been asking what my apartment is like and they can take a look for themselves now. I'm pretty much just chilling in my apartment today since I don't start teaching till Tuesday. I thought I might make effective use of my free time to start planning lessons now and then not worry about them later.

Here's a music video a friend of mine showed me and now it's stuck in my head. Park Jung Min from SS501 has a song called Not Alone. It's a pretty catchy beat. Makes me want to dance.

                                                               

I'm uploading several pix throughout my time here in Korea so far. Brings back so many pleasant memories. Enjoy!

A group pic with the AmAZING K tigers who blew me away with their taekwondo performance. They literally kicked some butt:P 

A picture of the beautiful traditional Korean painting I got as a gift from the professor. There are three basic strokes for the leaves in every painting. Once you paint the three strokes, the painter is free to paint whatever they like.

       

We made paper dolls as a Korean craft in a class. I love the Hanbok dress. I want to get one tailored for me while I'm here in Korea.

 A snapshot of me with my Taekwondo masters who taught us some basic moves and kicks. The K tigers made taekwondo look easy. It's definitely a good workout though to keep in shape. My legs were sore for a week after our taekwondo class.

The view from my dorm room at Jochiwon University. The big building in the picture is where we had all 31 lectures during the 2 1/2 week orientation.

Dreamsauna--the first jimjibang (bathhouse) I visited in Korea. Many Koreans stay at the bathhouse for a cheap price. There are so many different saunas in the bathhouse and it's sooo relaxing.

Korean BBQ (absolutely delicious). The meat is cooking on the grill so it looks nasty, but its so tasty. I learned that you take a piece of lettuce, wrap a bite size piece of meat and some sauce and side dishes of your choice and then enjoy it.

One of the many temples I saw during the temple visit field trip. There was a lot of Chinese writing on the temples. I wish I could read what it said.

The friendly hikers we met while exploring the temples. They were so excited to meet foreigners and asked to take a picture with us. They made my day:) We told them that Americans say "cheese" when taking pictures..haha:P

The drunk Korean folk band we ran into on our way down the mountains from the temple. We were offered makkoli (rice beer) and spicy food that I refused to eat with their used chopsticks. This was a hilarious and unforgettable moment.

Group pic at the train station..Group 6 Team 3-Lions.

 Cute and cheap socks..only 500 won ($0.50). Can't beat that.

 The nice lady who prepared our lunch in her food stand. I had dukbokki (again):)

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This girl was giving free hugs..i had to get one from her. She was just too cute dressed up in that bunny outfit.

 

 Painting with Picasso:)

My reward for completing 2 1/2 weeks of orientation consisting of 31 lectures but fun and memorable moments with the other TaLK scholars:)..sigh..good times:)

We made oriental herb aroma pouches during our visit to the Hanok Village in Jeonju. My apartment is a 5 minute walk from the village, so I will be visiting it again soon.

Our lunch during the field trip in Hanok Village.

The bowl I made in Hanok Village. I'm not good at pottery like my sister is..I wish I was talented with clay though.

Last day of orientation at Jeonju University. It was sad leaving everyone, but I was happy when I found out I would be living in Jeonju. My dear friends, feel free to visit me anytime!!:)

My bowl of Jeonju's famous bibimbap. I hesitated at first to eat it with the raw egg and beef mixed in..but it tasted delicious.

I tried to post at least one picture from every main event I've done in Korea so far so the pictures are kinda random. I have my Korea albums posted on fb and their more consistent. I'll do my best to keep everyone updated on anything new:) I miss everyone!! Love you all!!!:x