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It was a short 1 night, 2 days trip to Daegu but filled with laughter and joy.

Of course being the oblivious person that I am, I thought Daegu was a small city that oddly sounded like a bunch of farmland to me (that sentence is quite the oxymoron). So had no excitement or expectations when I arrived.

But just a day walking around the downtown area and visiting Mt. Palgong was lovely. 

Daegu is the 4th largest city in Korea and how can I put it. It's the "in-between" city of Seoul and Busan. Seoul to me is NYC and Busan is California. Daegu has a balance of being busy and calm/collected. I was bummed I couldn't properly experience the nightlife but I do hear it's pretty good.

I definitely hope to come visit again!  

(P.S: The first picture of the food was amazing! I started my day really groggy because the guesthouse we stayed house was quite unpleasant but that brunch completely turned around my mood for the day! The place is called Lazy Diner and I recommend it a whole lot!)

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Mt. Palgong

Daegu, South Korea

via cable car (✿◠‿◠)

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About my TaLK Essay

This past Friday, my MT comes into my classroom suddenly and tells me I won something for my essay! 

I was surprised because I thought it wasn't even submitted (but supposedly she rushed to send it to my head POE and it managed to get it to the Seoul TaLK office in time) Yay so happy and thankful

Thus, I will remove it from below and I believe December 12th (?) not completely sure on the date but sometime around then, it'll be on the TaLK website so check it out there.

 Pretty happy that I'm able to share my own experience with everyone else. Along with the awarded videos that other scholars created, the essays are definitely a good read for anyone who wants to come to Korea 

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My Indescribable TaLK Experience

So TaLK recently had a Video/Essay contest and I wasn't aware of it till a few days before the deadline. Supposedly our MTs were to inform us on it but mine completely forgot till I brought it up that day. While I cannot edit videos even if my life depended on it, I am confident in writing so I definitely wanted to participate in this to share my experience.

I put a lot of time and thought into my essay and handed it in along with the application on Friday (the deadline was the following Monday). My MT then told me it might be too late to submit it now because she would then have to mail it to the POE and then the POE would have to send it to the Seoul office.

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Selfie time with my 1st grader who ALWAY shows up an hour before class and never leaves me alone when I'm preparing for my lessons lol

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November 3, 2014 Woke up this morning to a lovely care package sent from my closest friends back home❤️ a bit of all my favorite things (mainly the rainbow cake) Lets me honest, I grabbed my fork the moment I saw it❤️ But cannot express my gratefulness enough to these people for bringing a bit of home. Definitely provided me the motivation to start the Monday right👍

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Bukcheon Hanok Village

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I finally understand how even the smallest things can make what you do and all the craziness you have to deal with, is all worth it.

I have one 2nd grader who I know is at a higher level than other students but wasn't aware of exactly how good is English was. So after class, I told him to stay for just a minute to write a simple, 3-word sentence "I like school." I'll admit, I wasn't expecting much because you don't know low-level my 1st/2nd grade class is, but this boy first takes a second or two to think, giggles, writes this ^, and runs out of the classroom.

Ugh, so cute I melted inside. Why do these little devils have to be so annoying yet so sweet. 

Unless you're the child-catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (https://thecinematicpackrat.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/the-child-catcher-4.jpg) it's impossible to hate this job. 

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The reason(s) why I had no choice but to join the gym

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The post below is one I wrote on the plane ride to Korea.

Reading it definitely watered my eyes but looking back at that moment right now, 2 months later, I was right.

There have definitely been days where I broke down and felt overwhelmed of this new kind of independence, but for the past 2 (almost three!) months I have been here, wow, I cannot simply just explain in words the adventures, experiences, places, and people I have had, seen, and met. 

I would be lying if I said I loved every single day because hell, there are days where my kids push my buttons to a higher new level - but I am being completely truthful when saying that I feel so so thankful that I am able to experience all this.

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D-day

July 15, 2014

The day that felt as though it would always remain in the double digits finally hit the single, and then in the blink of an eye, that day arrived.

Today was definitely an emotional roller coaster. Quite honestly, even till yesterday, I felt indifferent to the fact that I will be gone for a year.

But it seems that all of those empty emotions gradually poured out to reveal its true self.

I met with two of my closest friends today. As if it were any other day, we went to a café and began playing bingo – you can say it is our guilty childish pleasure (which I so happened to begin). But when it was time for me to leave, the adults in us came. Both constantly took turns to hug me - the endless amount of hugs I did not want to see an end to…

And in the end, one thought came into my mind: “I hope this distance does not change our friendship”.

  I miss my family already.

I could sense that I wasn’t the only one crying in the inside.

  Due to delays from traffic congestion and weather conditions, my plane took off at around 3am (2 hours later than planned).

So many memories rushed back when the plane began to rise higher and higher. Mostly of when the last time I rode the airplane was. It was freshman year in college.

And seeing the sky get lighter and lighter with its hues of white, purple, pink, and blue, it almost felt as though the plane and everyone inside were in a painting. The sky looked like a painting something Monet would create. And as surreal as the sky appeared, everything seems so surreal to me right now.

It has been one of my longtime, main goals to teach English in Korea after college. I always thought in the back of my mind that this was the perfect way to getaway from home, from everyone and everything. But now that I am miles away from that place that I dreaded, I miss it so much. And it also makes me realize to how big of commitment I am making right now.

  What I hope for this next year:

I know there will be days where I just break down because I feel lost, confused, and lonely – I believe these are a few consequences of trying to be independent.

But I hope and pray in return that there will be equal days of happiness where I am able to meet great people and make great memories.

  Then it will be all worth it.

Goodbye New York and see you next year!

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Nope. Nuh uh my kids were not having any form of “learning” today.

Still in weekend mode. We all are. 

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Presenting my apartment! 

Haha, just the jist of it I suppose. 

When I first arrived, the place was utterly filthy. My mentor teachers and I were left with no words.

But now 2-3 weeks into living here, and with a shit ton of sweat and cleaning supplies, my place is 90% done. 

I don't know if you can/cannot tell, but my apartment has no storage space whatsoever. So every piece of furniture/object is out in the open (making it look more clustered and smaller). 

But I guess because everything is all over the place, it seems more home-y for me. 

My home for the next year :) 

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I have been very MIA with updating my life here.

I've been all over the place (spent my Chuseok weekend in Seoul/Gwangju) and damn, this teaching thingy is much more time consuming compared to the amount of hours we teach a week.

But enough with excuses! 

Here is a quick clip showing a bit of my classroom and my lovely bright students dancing. Haha

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In My Birthland - Jeonju [전주]!

With the closing of our TaLK orientation, we had a province orientation right after we got off the plane from Jeju. Thus, no time to rest = no time to write about my life. 

August 20, 2014 

We took off from Jeju International Airport and swiftly landed in Gwangju Airport in less than 30 minutes. 

Our 3 day Jeonbuk orientation took place at Best Western Hotel in Gunsan. Let me tell you, this hotel was probably one of the nicest hotels I have ever been to. The hotel rooms were amazing - large, clean bathrooms and the most comfortable beds/pillows (felt as if I were sleeping on clouds)

(taken from our 13th gen fb group)

But damn, the food alone took the spotlight. We ate a gourmet feast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - it makes it seem as though I'm starving myself now compared to being so well fed for the past month.

Our province orientation was really nice because I got the chance to get closer to everyone who is in Jeonbuk (as opposed to our TaLK orientation where I felt as though I was close to everyone EXCEPT Jeonbuk scholars). 

I'm so grateful we were treated so well (and fed so well) but damn, I'm definitely having orientation withdrawals because I'm all on my own now.

The day where we would meet our mentor teachers and finally all separate to our own destined places was an emotional day for me. It was heartbreaking saying goodbye to the friends who I've been with every day for the past month but the first night, on my own, in my own apartment, had me feeling an explosion of anxiety and confusion.

When I arrived to my apartment, I arrived to a place of filth. The previous scholar fled the scene without cleaning even a spec of dust - unwashed dishes, fridge full of food (and roaches), unwashed blankets, and an oil-stained stove. My mentor teachers and I were definitely left speechless. Thankfully they helped me clean most of it (and one of the teachers brought blankets from her home for me to use) but I eventually stayed up till 3 in the morning trying to clean the rest of the apartment. I am now about 80% done (feels like there is an endless amount of dust here). 

To be honest, I cried a lot my first night here. Suddenly, I didn't want to be here at all. I wanted to be home, back in New York, with family and friends and the feeling of being safe and not alone. Yeah, I've been on my own since beginning of college but I've always been surrounded by roommates/housemates/friends and home was only a couple of hours away. But here I am, in my own apartment, with my family 10000 miles away. I cried because I was in shock. I always said "it doesn't feel like I'm in Korea right now. It hasn't sunk in yet" 

It sunk in that day. And it sunk in deep. 

Sigh, but I suppose that was expected my first night. A new change of environment always leaves me somewhat emotional.

I definitely sucked it up and now feel better (it is now my 4th night here). 

The weekend was a lot of fun (got to meet friends and previous gen TaLK scholars) and today was also my first day going to school! 

I will write about that in the next post for this is getting a bit too lengthy! Wait for it!

For now, some pictures! 

Lol, we received a certificate for completing our orientation. Woohoo! In commencement of our 20 days of no sleep.

The conference room where all our province orientation lectures were held.

When we went to Hanok Village and made our very own Jeonju Bibimbap. Yum!

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Here are the photos from JEMF. As you can tell, my iPhone 4's camera quality is shit :( Dang, can't wait to get a better phone

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Jeju 1st Electronic Music Festival

August 16, 2014

This past weekend was definitely one of the highlights from this orientation and in Jeju.

Emma and I were inside CU on Friday to escape the humidity and sun and came upon a flyer about an edm festival. It just so happened to be JEMF and it went on from Friday till Saturday.

I was "eh" at first about going because I have never been to a rave before and it seemed like such a long trek to get there but damn, here I am sore as hell right now but so glad I went.

Emma was super pumped about it since she loves EDM and also manage to convince another one of our friends, Shirley, to come with us.

The entire day and journey to and back was an adventure.

We left our orientation site around 1pm to catch the next bus to the city. Before we got to Emma's friend's house (where we were able to spend the night), we stopped by the underground mall in the city (which a huge, long strip of stores of all kinds) where I managed to buy a pair of platform shoes. They fit so well, are extremely comfortable, and make me about 1-2 inches taller so I really content with my purchase. 

We also ate at one of the restaurants there and satisfied my hunger with 제육볶음. We made sure to stuff ourselves for all the alcohol we were about to drink.

We got to Emma's friend's house and took about an hour to get ready. Drank a really bad mixture of soju and beer which tasted like ass but got us buzzed so, job semi-well done. We left the apartment around 6:40 and took a cab to the terminal to take the bus to get to Hyeopjae Beach. Lol, so after 10 minutes on the bus, all of our bladders began to fail because we were dying to go to the bathroom. Mind you, this was an hour bus ride. Prob about 10 minutes before our stop, Emma couldn't take it anymore so we got off at a random place and ran to find a bathroom. After taking care of our business like big girls, we just took a cab to the venue. 

The moment we got out of the cab and heard loud music, we got so pumped. We bought our tickets (27,000 with discount) and started dancing the moment we saw the stage. 

Lol, had no idea who any of these artists were but the music was pretty damn good. From memory, Beat Burger, House Rulez, Lee Wan (d_mash aka also the actor!) performed and Clara (from Emergency Couple aka the only place I know her from) also made a special appearance! 

A lot of people were just mildly fist pumping or even just chilling there not doing anything but I'm just going to assume thats how Koreans like to party (or were probably too sober to go crazy). But hell, I was sober the entire time and still had an amazing time. If I enjoyed it that much sober, I can only imagine how it'll be when I'm not. 

We left at around 11ish because I was exhausted (theres only so much my old lady body can take). There was no way to get a cab so we went to the nearest 7-eleven and the kindest, sweetest grandpa and grandma helped us call a cab. Probably got back around 12:30 and damn, washed up and passed out. 

My entire body is so sore right now but I'm not complaining at all. I had so much fun and can only wait till what Ultra has in store! Ahhhh, what will I do till next June?! 

Had such an amazing experience with great company. 

Orientation also ends in 3 days. Although there are so many more places to see and go in Jeju, I loved every moment thus far. It truly is a beautiful island and am so so thankful that orientation was placed here because while I can always take a bus to Seoul or anywhere else on the mainland, it isn't as easy (or inexpensive) to take a plane to Jeju.