Motown to Seoultown

September

2011-09-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

"Distance is to love what wind is to fire -- it extinguishes the small and enkindles the great."

Almost 3 months left on this current contract. I can't wait for it to end. The job has steadily gotten more annoying and ridiculous. I'm currently looking forward to the 3 week to month long vacation I'll be taking at the end of this contract. My money has been saving up pretty nicely this whole year (though I could've saved more).

My girlfriend will be going on her own trip for 20 days in October, so I'll miss her (though 20 days is short), but I'm excited for her to be doing this as it's her first time going abroad.

It seems this year has been a year of change and really finding out who I am this year. I'm a radically different person than I was just at the beginning of this year, and many things have transpired. I look forward to what these next 3 months hold as I finish out this contract.

This blog has really fallen by the wayside....I suck for this. Sorry Auntie and grandma. I try to write more on real paper nowadays though.

Anyways, good weekend coming up hopefully. I've been struggling with insomnia lately so I hope I can finally get some rest tonight.

7 Months!

2011-07-21T07:13:00.001-07:00

So it's been 7 months now. Time flies. Despite my many gripes about my job this year, time has really flown by.

And things with the job have not gotten worse to the point where I think I need to leave, but I was really considering it there for a minute. I figure I can definitely stick it out the last 5 months, and then look for something more up my alley....after a nice vacation ^^

So how has summer been? Well for starters, I'm no longer single^^ Things have been going well so far and I'll just leave it at that :)

I took a trip out to Gapyeong about 3 weeks ago with a language group I'm apart of. It was an awesome trip. Clean fresh air, swimming, drinking games haha, and cool people.

This week has been a nice break weather wise. Since Monday, it has been nothing but sunshine after nothing but rain for weeks. It's hot, but I don't care. I was tired of grey skies and forgetting what the sun looked like.

Vacation for me is in one week. I get one week of vacay and I'll be going to Sokcho with you know who. I've been wanting to go there for awhile, so it should be a nice trip.

Anyways, that's all for tonight. Just posting a brief update. I've pretty much given up trying to keep this thing updated lol. Be back soon!

Summer is Almost Here

2011-06-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

So as we approach the summer season, thought I'd throw a few updates out here.

First things first, I'm a little concerned about my hagwon. Pay was late this month, and most teachers still haven't been paid. The school has been losing students and classes are combining. Aigoooo...

Next...I know I need to do some more traveling around this country. There are still some places I haven't seen.

On my list:

Jeju
Busan (again)
Seokcho
Daejeon
Jeonju
Daecheon
DMZ
Jinhae

I don't know if I can get all of those covered this summer, but it's worth a try.

Anyways I feel myself not writing as much simply because everything is not as new as it was my first time around. I'm used to everything, and my weekends are pretty much spent meeting with friends. Although I have made new friends the past few months, I seriously need to get out of Seoul for a weekend. Well actually I don't live in Seoul, but I go there every weekend.

And while I'm on that, it actually was refreshing to not go to Seoul for one day this past weekend. I ended up going to the beach with my new friend. As it turns out, the island where Incheon airport is located has a nice beach area along with tons of seafood restaurants. For the first time I had some 칼국수 with clams. It was delicious and it was a great way to finish off the day.

So I'm looking forward to more great days during the summer and chillin out with old and new friends along the way. Here are some pics of recent activities:

Spring is here...summer right around the corner

2011-05-26T09:18:00.001-07:00

So I'm sitting here chillin in my apartment. I've got the old school music on with Law and Order in the background. Friday is here and I'm in the writing mood.

I'm almost at the halfway point of my second contract here in Korea. Things have been going pretty good and the time is flying as usual. I'm glad it's warming up, but I can already feel the humidity driven summers of Korea are right around the corner.

Work has been up and down. My schedule changes every month and I'm hoping one of these days I can finish consistently around 9pm. That would be EARLY for me. It really sucks having your whole day gone. Something to think about if I decide to stay another year (I think I will)

This past weekend, I enjoyed being the groomsmen at a friend's wedding in Daegu. It was a great wedding and although I'm gonna miss my friend (she's moving to NYC), you can't help but be happy on a day like that. Congrats again!

I've also gotta hit up Daegu again. It seemed like a nice city. Much cleaner than Seoul.

My goal for saving money for travel is going pretty well so far. I got a raise (not much) at my job because I basically have to come in earlier than everyone else for 4 out of 5 days of the week. It's helping a lot. I'm running TWO websites now. I still have my Detroit site which is coming along nicely and I also started a weather one last July.

This whole year has been a year of change and I plan to keep on growing. That's it for tonight. Peace.

Quick Updates

2011-03-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

Can't believe the 3 month mark is almost here already. I have no idea why time goes by so fast here.

Anyways, first....work. Things are still pretty good...in some ways. Our director recently changed our schedules this week having me basically come in and do straight classes from 3/4 to 10. Not gonna happen. I had to point out to him the EFL law that states that there must be a 30 minute break for every 4 hours of work. To his credit, he changed it and said "I value your opinion and you are apart of this family".

Whatever you say man as long as I get a break in there sometime.

I've also been slightly worried about the school's future as it has been losing students over the past few years. We will see what happens with that.

Birthday....was awesome. My friend's sister came to visit, and since her bday is the same as mine, we decided to do a joint party. Started off with some Thai food in Itaewon, and then headed to a club afterwards.

Now...I NEVER dance. I call myself a black man with no rhythm. But I was dancing like a madman. Yes some alcohol played a part in that.

The next day, some friends hosted us for dinner which was an awesome end to a great birthday weekend. I can't believe I'm 26 years old. I was thinking about how 10 years ago I was in high school and could've never predicted I would end up teaching in Korea.

March has started off pretty well and it's finally starting to stay above freezing for consecutive days at a time. Spring is near.

I've been slacking with the writing here. Will try to post more.

A New Year...Welcome to 2011

2011-01-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope everyone enjoyed it.

I didn't do much on New Year's Eve. I got off work at 10, and didn't feel like traveling into Seoul, so I just stayed in Incheon and hit up the Bupyeong area for a little while.

On New Year's Day, I had planned to go hiking, but I must have been out of my mind thinking I was going to feel like getting up at 8 to go hiking in 10 degree weather.

Fail.

So since I had no other plans, I decided to see if a few friends wanted to meetup for dinner. We set it up and it was a great way to spend the 1st day of the new year. We headed to Hongdae and went to this Indian restaurant I found out about last year. Then we found some random sake place. But seriously, it was refreshing to talk with some other art savvy people. Probably the best convo I've had in awhile.

Sunday, I met up with a friend in Insadong to discuss a graphic deisgn project I'm gonna be working on for a play. Had some Korean food afterwards, then we found this chocolate place which charged us out the wazoo for a chocolate the size of a lego. It was good but cmon now.

It seems 2010 went by fast. A lot happened in my life during 2010. I grew a lot, and I expect the same to happen in 2011.

I'm ready to get the first week of the new year going.

Random:

I use to love these snacks called "Koala Yummies" when I was little. My dad would bring them for me every week from the import store.

When I came to Korea, I expected to find them since Lotte seemed to be pretty prominent here (Lotte is the company that makes them)

I didn't have any luck last year, but this year, I found them ^^.

I think part of the...well THE problem was that I looked in Homeplus last year instead of LOTTEMart...duh. They're actually Japanese instead of Korean too.

Alright then I've got work in a few so I'm out.

Hagwon Life

2010-12-29T07:32:00.000-08:00

Last year I was in a public school. Large classes (30-40 kids), waking up early, and I had a co-teacher in the classroom.

Now I'm at a hagwon where my largest class 10 students, I have no co-teacher, and I get to sleep in (and watch the bowl games muwahahaha)

In the foreigner community here, the age old debate of which is better, hagwon or public school, rages on forever. I'm not going rehash this argument again (but probably will lol), but I'm only going to talk about it from my perspective and what I like about each.

In public school I liked having 20 days of vacation along with random classes being cancelled. Although I am still not a morning person, I liked finishing at 4:30 and being able to use the rest of the day to meet up with friends for dinner, exercise, etc.

Here at my hagwon now, I only have 10 vacation days (+ national holidays), and although I start anywhere from 2-4 pm, I finish anywhere from 8:30-10:05 pm.

There are positives and negatives to this. Like I said I am still not a morning person, so sleeping until 9,10,11 is nice. So if I want to watch some of the bowl games this year, I can do it before work. Or if I want to catch a Pistons game, I can do the same.

The only reason I don't like finishing late is because it leaves little time to hang out with people afterwards (excluding the other two foreign teachers at my hagwon).

But it's all good. I get some downtime after work, and I'm making it a point to do something every weekend (Saturday and Sunday)

Not having a coteacher is nice. And the curriculum is pretty much set. I follow the book, and then play a game the last 10-15 minutes of class. I also have freedom to deviate a bit from the book (ask questions/discuss topics further). My favorite classes are the screen classes where the kids learn by watching an English movie. They answer questions, fill in certain phrases, etc. The kids chose Dr. Dolittle the other day and were pretty entertained by Eddie Murphy.

My school also pays for my dinner. And I don't mean they provide a generic dinner. I mean we can all choose something off one of the many menus, order it, and it's paid for. This is going to save me tons of money. I can also eat in peace without fear of offending someone because I didn't eat a certain dish (seemed all to common at public school)

All in all, despite the many horror stories you hear about hagwons, there are good ones out there. It looks like I've found one and if I had to have a gripe, it would only be my apartment which is a little older (but lots of space), and the kids above my apartment me who feel the need to stomp, pound, and jump constantly on the floor in the mornings and at night before bed haha.

But it all depends on you and what you want. There are good and bad public schools. There are bad and good hagwons. There are positives and negatives with each. I like the smaller classes, but I also know I will be envious of my public school friends who have that longer vacation LOL. I think I researched my school pretty well, and so far my experience here is showing that. I'm learning the ropes of this job pretty quickly (it was a little confusing at first), and I will definitely try my best to do an excellent job here.

Incheon is my new home

2010-12-24T17:41:00.000-08:00

I boarded the plane for my second journey in Korea. As I checked in, went through security and said my last goodbyes to my mother, I couldn't help but feel a bit more sad than last time that I was leaving home again. Yet at the same time I still felt the excitement of living abroad for a second year.

I boarded the plane, got settled in and watched Despicable Me, The Other Guys, Cyrus, and part of Going the Distance before I decided that the movie was trash. After 15 hours, in the air, I landed, went to get my baggage, and met my director.

We talked for a bit, introducing ourselves, talking about our lives, my future workplace etc, and stopped to get a takeout pizza since I was starving.

We arrived at my new digs soon afterwards and I thought the apartment was a bit of an anomaly. Bigger than my last apartment with 2 rooms, a dresser, bathtub, and a bigger closet...yet much older with dirt and grime in the toilet and bathtub along with depressing wallpaper LOL.

Upon further inspection, the bathroom light did not seem to work, and it would be fixed later on in the week. After my director explained some of the things in the apartment, he left and I would see him at work the next day.

Before I decided to crash, I decided to dig into my delicious pizza. I took a bite, and I remembered that Korea still cannot make even a simple pepperoni pizza. Onions and some other sauce that I couldn't identify were prevalent and after taking little bites off multiple slices, I decided I had had enough and put the pizza in the refrigerator.

The next day was my first day of work. Seems like I found a good hagwon (let's talk 3 months from now lol). Dinners are paid for by the school (can order off the myriad of menus on the refrigerator), classes are small, and although I get off work between 830 and 10, I get to sleep in most days. Coworkers are cool (only 2 other foreign teachers and 3 Korean teachers) and the neighborhood is pretty busy.

So let's see what this second experience has in store for me. What will I learn this time? Who knows, but I'm ready to find out.

Today is Christmas and it is a friend's birthday, so we will be headed to TGIFridays in Jamsil followed by ice skating and possibly...the noraebang!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Korea Pt. II is officially on

2010-12-17T22:47:00.000-08:00

I only say officially because the last step is finally complete. Got my passport back today from the Korean Consulate in Chicago with the new visa stamped. All that's left to do is to pack (which I hate) and board the plane on Monday.

I'm so glad I got a direct flight straight from the D to ICN. Anyways, I'll probably be back Monday with another post before I leave. Really interested to see how this next year turns out.

1

Headed Back to Korea, Regional Tensions, and More

2010-11-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

(*Note this may turn into a long post...you have been warned)

So it finally looks like I'm headed back to Korea!

It's been a long process, but I finally found a good hagwon (I think haha) in Incheon and I should be headed out on December 16th.

So a couple of things. Like I said, it's been a long process. I was even thinking of going to China, but the pay wasn't enough for me. Although going with a hagwon wasn't out of the question, I was primarily holding out for a public school position. Now there is always a debate as to which one is better, but it really depends on the person. Let me just say that I have met people who have been in good hagwons along with people who have been in bad public schools (and vice versa)

I actually had an interview with one public school, but I guess I got beat out by other candidates. Recruiters also sent me public school job leads, but after I said I was interested, I never heard back after the fact.

Also, I actually didn't mind going for a good hagwon. The vacation is shorter, but you start later in the day, classes are smaller, and I feel like I would actually be teaching. I'm a night owl. My bedtime is regularly between midnight and 4am. Maybe I'll grow out of it, but I don't see that happening soon.

Anyways, there are a few things I regret. First, it was just sticking with one recruiter up until about August. I didn't start looking with other recruiters until then and I definitely got a bit more people looking for jobs for me. That's four months where I should've been casting my net wide. Chalk it up to being naive about the tighter job market.

Second, I only stuck with recruiters. A recruiter is not necessary for finding a job in Korea and posting your resume to job boards or jobs on Craiglist can increase your chances too. A lot of these jobs are posted directly by the schools, so you cut out the middle man. You apply directly to the school, and if they are interested, they will contact you, if not, you can move on. Quicker communication.

Third, I was self sabotaging myself. I hate that I did this, but I was reluctant to apply directly to a hagwon because I had heard that they really weren't fond of hiring people of color (which is true for a lot). I also think some recruiters play a part in this as well as they are looking to fill jobs as quick as possible (some didn't even respond after I sent in a picture).

So after reading a post on Dave's of all places about a fellow brotha finding a job at a hagwon, I said screw it and just started applying to any job on ESLcafe or Craigslist that I felt I qualified for. I started doing this around October instead of applying to even more recruiters (I had applied with at least 20-25), and all of a sudden I started getting more job leads. If you are a person of color (esp male), will you have a tougher time? Yes. Should you shoot yourself in the foot and just give up or not even try? NO. Take it in stride and know that a school will see your abilities and won't think about that.

Now here is how funny life is. Two schools I applied with directly decided to interview me within two days of each other and then they both offered me jobs on the same day this week. No job offers for over 6 months, and now I've got to decide between two haha. I decided to go with the one in Incheon because the contract had everything I wanted and the other one didn't (like pension) and I also did TONS of research on it and liked what I had read from former teachers. Location was a big factor too. The other one was in Icheon (without the "N" haha), which is at least an hour by bus to Seoul (which I still wouldn't mind if I had a good job offer there), but the area of Incheon I would be living in is right near a subway station. Being only a half hour to an hour within my favorite places like Hongdae, Insadong, etc would be nice.

So yeah I had to decline the other job and they actually were trying to negotiate a higher salary, but again the big thing for me was there was no pension in the contract (which is illegal).

So I have to send my docs off on Monday and hopefully everything goes smoothly and I'll be back in ROK by mid December.

Now here's the next issue. It seems North Korea is feeling kinda mighty right now. As you may or may not know, North Korea fired on an island of South Korea this week and there have been talks of it escalating into war.

I, like many people were pretty pissed at North Korea, but I think South Korea/US has to take at least a small part of the blame as well. The US/South Korea were doing military drills right near the border firing into disputed waters. This of course provoked the response by North Korea.

As I'm typing this, the drills have started once again along with the enormous US aircraft carrier, the George Washington, so everyone is on edge a bit to see if something will happen.

China plays a big role as well and I wish they would keep their little dog in North Korea in check. THEY ARE ENABLING the crazy man.

Usually nothing comes from these things and it settles down pretty quickly, but a lot of people in South Korea are tired of just turning the other cheek and letting North Korea act as they please.

I also can't shake this feeling that something will happen, though I hope nothing does of course. I'm a little concerned this time around about heading back, but if things settle down after this week, then I'd be cool.

So yeah a few friends wonder why I want to go back, and truthfully, I like the country and I have a lot of good friends that I made that I'd like to see again. I don't plan on staying forever, but it's a good fit for me right now and a for a few other goals I have. I think the biggest difference for me this time around is that I actually HAVE a plan for when I am done there. My first year I thought I would just go there for a year, come back, and head right back into graphic design (thinking the job market would recover).

Well, it turned out that I wanted to stay a second year, I'm not too fond of graphic design anymore, I like photography, I like traveling, I have a few websites/business that I know can succeed, and the prospect of sitting at a desk all day is boring to me.

Hmm so maybe this post wasn't that long after all. I'll be back with more updates.

Hmm

2010-09-20T07:01:00.000-07:00

Been thinking about going to China instead. Easier to get hired. Errbody and they momma aren't trying to go there like Korea...yet. Will keep you up to date.

Long time...

2010-09-03T22:34:00.000-07:00

So whatsup people. Been a long time since I've written on here.

Let's see...it's been about 5 months since my time ended in Korea. This summer has truly flown by. One of the shortest summers that I can remember. It's funny I always get that "schooltime" feeling around this time of the year no matter how old I get.

So what's been the deal here in Detroit? Well a lot of things.

For one, I have been trying to get another teaching job in Korea, but I've come up bone dry so far. The market is very flooded right now. I've also got three things going against me.

I'm not in Korea.

I'm not white.

I'm not a female.

The first one could be dealt with easily...the other two not a choice.

It's literally been absurd. I started off by applying with my recruiter that got me my first job. I applied with them way back in April and since then only about 4 jobs have been sent my way, and they never got to an interview. They have my docs and said they would send them to another school or recruiter if I found something.

I've almost lost track of the number of recruiters I've applied with and emails I've sent.

Ordinarily applying with multiple recruiters is frowned upon, but when nearly 80% of them don't even respond to your application, it makes sense to keep trying. I would say out of the at least 20 recruiters I've sent apps to only about 5 have responded with only 2 actually seeming like they were actually trying to place me.

I placed my resume on Dave's, got tons of emails. After I sent my picture, no replies! haha.

I sent an app to CDI...nothing. (I heard from Aclipse they weren't hiring again until Jnauary/February)

I sent an app to POLY...nothing.

I've asked people to look at my resume and photo. All seems fine.

It also gets tricky because my statewide criminal background check expires after October. They are only valid for 6 months. After that, I might as well get the FBI check because that is what will be required in 2011, and that check takes 1-3 months to get.

I'm now questioning whether I want to even go back now. I mean there is a big part of me that wants to go back. I had an enjoyable year last year. I never expected to WANT to come back for another year or two. Also going back there can make the process of achieving some of my future plans and goals much easier (I want to travel and work in photography). Plus it kills two birds with one stone. I get to travel on my breaks and work and make money.

At the same time, I could definitely keep looking for work here in Michigan (HA! I'd still be in the same boat) or elsewhere and accomplish my same goals, only it would be a bit harder.

Right now, the only thing keeping me afloat, is my website which I run. I've also done a bit of freelancing on the design side. I'm also sending out job apps to companies here in Michigan.

So...we will see what happens as I always say. If I can't find something in Korea by October, I may just wait until 2011 and try again. Or I may wait until the year after that. Or I may just say forget it LOL. I definitely don't like just giving up, but it's frustrating when you KNOW people are not looking to hire you or place you.

Either way, I will survive. I'm taking a photography class late this month which is another step. My website continues to grow. It's funny...I've heard comments here and there from frie...people who want to doubt me and judge me for being where I am right now. No one starts off on top, and like a friend of mine says, if you really want to motivate me, doubt me, and say I can't do something.

Which is one reason why even though I'm talking about saying "fuck it" about Korea, it seems just can't let it go because it does motivate me to find that job and show that I can do the job just as well as anyone else. Also I do know that not all recruiters or schools are just looking for that white face in the classroom. So it's just a matter of searching.

Anyways...rant done for the night. It is a great weekend in Detroit. Michigan football starts tomorrow against Uconn...I'm going to listen to one of my favorite artists tomorrow at the free jazz fest all weekend in downtown Detroit (and get some pictures), and the Eminem/Jay Z concert was going on tonight.

Hi

2010-06-30T20:05:00.001-07:00

Hey.

Hey World

2010-05-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

So hey people whatsup?

So I'm back in the states. My one year adventure in Korea is over and it was a good experience. I'm in the middle of the process of applying for another job over there so I hope to be back over there by June.

I really miss that place. Hongdae...Insadong...the hiking...the people. I think another year is needed over there. There are still some places I haven't seen and I still have money to save hehe.

Anyways, life has been pretty boring since I've been back. I did go to California for 5 days one week after I returned though. I figured since I have some extra money, it was time to finally see the west coast. I met up with a Korean friend over there which was cool too.

Sand Diego is very nice, and I think that's the place where I want to move. Beaches...sun (most of the time...toni toni is a liar)...palm trees. Lovely. I also drove up to LA and went to a lot of things there. Finally saw the Hollywood sign, and went to Korea Town there. Also hit up Santa Monica Beach and saw the famous pier.

There is definitely a lot to see and I will definitely return soon...hopefully.

It was also funny that the morning I was leaving to return back to Detroit, I felt an earthquake. It wasn't a weak one either lol.

Anyways, since then life has been pretty normal and boring. I try to go out most days and take pictures for my website on Detroit that I run. And I also just go to random things around the city. My social life here pretty much sucks because well, almost all of my good friends are all spread out throughout the country now (mostly from college). Cali, Maryland, Florida, Pennsylvania, etc etc. I feel like a person who moves to a new city for a job and has to build their social network all over again. So annoying.

From how I use to be, I'm pretty proactive in trying to meet people, but I haven't here for some reason. No meetup groups interest me, but I may head to the cultural district and just hangout as that's where the more "Artsy" people hang out and just randomly talk to people. I'm also thinking about volunteering somewhere. Been looking at some Craigslist ads so hopefully I can find somewhere.

But yeah other than that, just working on my website business, working out, driving around, doing some reading, and just patiently waiting on the whole teaching process again.

But I just have this NEED to travel now. I've been in Detroit all my life and although it's my home, I am sick of it in a way. I've seen everything, the same things all my life. I feel like I'm, going to be a type of person that cannot stay in one place for too long.

The only problem with the passion of traveling is....money. Meh.

Oh yeah the NBA playoffs have been keeping me busy as well. Been pretty good overall so far.

Headed Home...Missed Flight

2010-04-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

So I missed my flight back home!

First time I've done this. I know many people don't ever want to take the blame, but seriously this wasn't my fault. Here's how it went down.

My flight was scheduled to leave at 1020 in the morning. I knew I had to be at the airport by 8/830. I took the airport shuttle from Suwon at around 645am.

Traffic was brutal coming in and I got to Incheon at about 815. I get inside and ask I proceed to go to check-in, and the lady asks me where my destination is. I tell her, and she says I'm at the wrong check-in line. So I go to the one she tells me to go to, stand there for 40 minutes, get to the front, only to hear that this was the wrong one, and that the one I was at originally was the correct one.

:/

So I go back there, and luckily there's no line. The lady starts checking me in, but then tells me I have to go to immigration first. I knew I would have to go there so no problem. I wait for about 15 minutes, and then the lady tells me that the lady at check in should've given me my ticket first. Well by this time, there's a half hour left before I leave and it's pretty much a lost cause.

And I take what I said in the first few sentences back. Perhaps I could've left a bit earlier considering it is a weekday and traffic would've been worse.

Also I was VERY frustrated at first. I'm not the person that goes "ghetto", but I was quite close for the first time in a long time. The ebonics was starting to come out a bit. But I afterwards, I figured I can't do anything about it now. Might as well enjoy another day here in Korea. I'm going to try to find a hotel and get some rest.

I'm now on stand by for the same flight just tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll get on! Update later.

UPDATE:

So I stayed in a nice hotel last night...got some rest. Woke up this morning and thankfully I was able to get a seat on the flight this morning. I'm to Detroit! Hopefully be back in the ROK this summer. Peace yall.

About a week left

2010-04-07T06:17:00.001-07:00

So just about a week left until I complete my 1 year contract here in Korea.

Still can't believe time flew by so quickly. This time last year I was sitting in my room back home wondering wow am I really about to do this? Haha awesome.

This week has been going by surprisingly fast. Tuesday the English teachers all had a dinner for me. I got to choose the place and I chose to go to a Bossam restaurant which has become one of my new favorite dishes here. I don't eat kimchi, but the sweet kimchi that is served with Bossam is delicious and I nearly ate it all.

They gave me a present as well. Some face/wash thingamajig which I insisted that is was for women, but they insisted that it wasn't. Meh...I appreciate the gift and I'll see what it is.

I said goodbye to the teachers at the meeting today. I got to talk with very few of them because of the language barrier of course, but nonetheless I got some good greetings goodbye in Korean.

My friend gave me the idea of taking pictures of all my classes, so I plant to do that in the next two days.

Tomorrow i Thursday which is my longest day....5 classes...but thankfully the last busy Thursday I'll have in awhile.

Last weekend, my friend Wu who left this Tuesday had his going away dinner. Pretty awesome night.

We went to this Indian food place in Hongdae (Which has become one of my favorite places in Seoul) called Yeti. Awesome place. I want to try to go there at least one more time with some friends before I leave. Afterwards, the big group of 12 decided to head to the Noraebang!

Now I hadn't been to the Noraebang since last summer with friends up in Pocheon, where we stayed for about 8 hours. Thankfully this session lasted only about an hour and a half. I sang two songs even though I suck, but it was cool anyways.

After the Noraebang, it was time to head to the ever so popular Zen Bar. I saw pretty much everyone I knew in Korea (not everyone, but you get the picture). It was pretty awesome. I saw friends who had just returned to Korea, and friends who were leaving.

I usually hate the dance/club thing so I basically sat and chilled and talked with a couple of friends.

I also guess friends think I'm lonely because they kept trying to set me up with random girls there. First as I said above, I hate the bar/club scene. Second, I'm not dancing because I HAVE NO RHYTHM. Yes it's true. A black man with no rhythm...how could that be?

Third, even though I don't mind talking to people, how can I with loud music? I don't want to have to shout everything. Eh.

It reminded me of an episode of How I Met Your Mother where Ted basically said the same thing. If anyone watches that show, I guess you could say my outlook on relationships pretty much resembles his. Guess you could call me a bit of a romantic.

Anyways, after that, the group of 12, was down to 6, and at around 4am, we decided to go to the coffee shop to wait for the trains to start running again. By this time everyone is tired, I'm eating chocolate ice cream of course, and we just sit and talk. Good times.

Anyways, this weekend I plan to head to game 5 of the KBL Finals with my friend Mike who I haven't seen in awhile. I also want to try to hang with some other friends before I leave. So little time.

I'm looking forward to my time back home and to do a bit of traveling. I also CANNOT WAIT to see some NBA playoff basketball again. The playoffs start the Saturday I get back and I'm so ready. I seriously hope the Cavs lose. I literally cannot stand that team. I'm getting off track here.

Well, I hope everyone has an enjoyable week and my advice which I've been trying to follow lately is don't worry about the future, and let the past stay in the past. Enjoy the present as best you can.

Holla.

One month to go!

2010-03-16T02:47:00.000-07:00

Whatsup people!

So one month to go here on my contract here in Korea. I really can't believe almost a whole year has passed by. When I first came here I said I would only do one year, now I find myself searching for another job here so I can experience another year here. Funny how life works.

So what has happened during the past month or so?

Well February featured the last days of desk warming at school and at the end of the month I celebrated my first birthday in a foreign country which was kinda weird. I invited several friends out and we had some dinner, then headed to Sinchon for a get together which was funded by a Women's Rights group or something like that. Anyways there was music, spoken word, and a large crowd. I enjoyed it.

Next we headed over to Hongdae which was basically right next door and stayed out the whole night. I did have a bit too much Soju that night, but it was a fun night. Talked to many people (a lot of characters) and proceeded to leave the area at around 8 am.

The very next day I headed up to Pocheon for Leonard and Khiana's going away dinenr. They left about a week ago and it was really sad seeing them go as they've been some of the coolest people I've met out here. That dinner also turned into an all night affair with food, drinks, and taboo which always gets out of control. It was guys against the girls and of course the guys won ;)

So I headed into March ready to knock out the last month or so of my contract. Job hunting has been going, so to speak. More than likely I won't find one until I go back home. Theoretically I could find one here and just transfer my visa but I actually would like a bit of a break back home (plus I need to take pictures and other things for the website I'm working on). Also a Korean friend of mine who's doing an exchange program back in Cali gave me the idea of traveling out there to visit so I plan to do that. I also have another friend out there and I've never been to Cali, so I'm making plans for that right now.

One of the best things about finishing a contract is the pension, severance, last months pay, and room deposit money that you receive. Altogether it adds up to a pretty nice amount which will definitely hold me over back home until I find another job back here.

So have I grown since I've been out here? Definitely. Could I grow some more? Definitely. A friend pointed something out over dinner the other night, which other people have pointed out many times, but I really need to work on my planning.

Basically my biggest problems are procrastination and looking for the easiest way to do something. Tow horrible things I know, but I still manage to get important things done in my life while having these problems, so I never really address them as I should, though I think I made some big strides this year.

Anyways it's still cold here. I'm waiting for spring to come. I have no idea where it is. We actually had a bit of snow last week.

I'm out.

New Chapter

2010-02-15T21:53:00.000-08:00

So I got the word last week that my school is opting not to re-sign me for another year. I would transcribe the whole letter, but I don't feel like it.

Basically, my classes were enjoyable and most of the kids enjoyed my lessons, but the teachers all agreed that I wasn't "active" enough, which I'm assuming means I wasn't engaged or looked like I was excited enough to teach the class.

I actually thought I was, moreso than I am, but I can also see how my introverted personality may have made them think that.

But I can't change who I am, and in the past when I have tried to be more extroverted (I mean all the time), all I did was tire myself out and I felt fake doing it. So that's why nowadays I really don't let it get to me if I meet people and they think I'm rude or whatever.

And this is not to say more introverted people can't teach, but it's really about finding a teaching method that works for you. I know plenty of more introverted teachers here in Korea who are doing just fine in their schools.

So what now?

Well, I'm going to ask my co-teacher if there is any advice she can give me on how to improve as a teacher, because I am looking for another job here (and may go with elementary this time).

I also take this year as a learning experience all around. You learn by making mistakes and I do see some things that I could do better in the classroom.

I've also learned a lot about myself this past year (wow has a year really almost gone by?)

I've been places I've never though I'd go. I never thought I'd end up in Guam for a vacation, or traveling the countryside in Korea, but I did, and besides wanting to save a bit more money, and teach for another year, I want to travel more.

Traveling and photography are my new passions, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to accomplish my goals in these areas. I refuse to be in a cubicle 9-5 job wasting my life away for 20...30 years.

And that's one thing I like about this job. Even though the hours are pretty much normal, everyday it's something different. The kids are mostly part of that, saying their crazy phrases everyday, and interacting with them in class. But also, besides lesson planning for a few hours every week, I can leave the job at the job.

I've also met people from everywhere here. Canada, Korea, Australia, Brazil, China, New Zealand, etc.

I'm so glad I made the decision to come here and teach and I need to stay at least one more year to experience everything I need to experience, so I hope I find a new job soon.

There were some pretty significant changes that occurred before me coming here (friendships ending and whatnot because I decided to leave a certain situation), but leaving was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Will keep up to date on the new job search. Peace.

Broke? No Job? Hate your job? Wanna see the world?

2010-02-08T01:15:00.000-08:00

So I've gotten a few questions here and there about coming to teach in Korea, and ultimately why I decided to.

So here's why I came:

- Had a graphic design job, thought I could get signed on again, but couldn't which = no job
- Searched for jobs for about 3 months with no luck until I saw pictures from a friend on Facebook about being in Korea
- Asked her why she was over here and she said she was teaching
-I looked into it, said why not, and here I am

Furthermore, you have to decide whether you want to teach public or private schools. I personally recommend public school even though at most private schools (hagwons) you get paid more.

With public school this is what I got:

- Airfare paid for (usually public schools don't do this, but my recruiter paid for my flight...I highly recommend them...teacheslkorea.com)
- Free apartment (free meaning I don't pay rent, but I do pay utilities which add up from anywhere from 100 USD to 200 USD...I had a 300 dollar bill last month, but that's only because I didn't know how the heating worked and I had set it too high.
- Pay is around 1.8-2million won, but you can make more by teaching afterschool classes..I was surprised to see a deposit in my bank account for around 700 dollars for an 8 week class I taught!
- 20 days of paid vacation (4 weeks)...but you can also get random days off because of holidays or random days with no classes/off because of testing
- I'm with the GEPIK program

You are required to have:

- A bachelor's degree in any subject
- a valid passport
- no drugs in your system
- criminal background check
- an adventurous spirit (my add-on)

So that's basically it, at least with GEPIK. When you add the total pay up, it can total anywhere from $1500 USD a month to $2000 depending on the exchange rate. Right now the exchange rate is going back up so I'm able to save more money than I was at the start.

And that's the biggest thing for me right there. 1500 may not sound like much, but when you don't have a 700 dollar rent bill to pay, along with a car note or gas, or crazy cell phone bills (my HIGHEST cell phone bill here has been only about 30 dollars), etc, you have more than enough money to eat, go see places (unless you're just bad with money...there really is no excuse..unless you need to send a lot of money back home, which a lot of people do). I send home anywhere from $400-$800 and STILL have enough to live on for whole month. And I'm not talking about scraping by here. I have been here 10 months now and I have cooked a total of two times. It's actually cheaper to eat out here than cook.

Ultimately I don't plan to be here for more than two years as I do have some other plans in place I want to accomplish, but for now, this is good.

If you hate your job, need a job, need some time off to do something different, or you just want to see a part of Asia for a year, teaching English in Korea my be for you.

Research it well, and know what is expected of you. Check out the site a typed above as well for even more info. Cheers.

Back from vacation and more

2010-02-08T00:34:00.000-08:00

Hello people. Long time no write. So I guess I can break down what's been happening since my vacation. Let's start with that first.

Guam...what can I say. Absolutely loved it. Beaches, white sand, breezes, and the turquoise waters is something that is the perfect cure for the wintertime blues in Korea.

When I got back to Korea, the cold air was very disheartening.

So here's how my time in Guam went:

First day...arrive at about 9pm, so really nothing accomplished on the first day but traveling to Guam. I headed from the airport to the rental car place, got my car and was on my way to my hotel. I check in to my quaint little hotel on the beach, get into my room, and realized I was hungry.

I had been craving Taco Bell since I came to Korea and I did not fail to realize that I passed one on the way to my hotel, so I immediately jumped back into my car and get 4 hard tacos and a chicken quesadilla. Superb.

So the next day i decide to head up to a place called Two Lover's Point which sits at the top of a cliff overlooking the sea. When I got there, there were Japanese tourists everywhere (it's a popular spot for them and Koreans as well).

I took some great pictures and almost lost my hat to the sea, due to it being very windy.

Afterwards I decided to try to find Ritidian Beach which is at the top of the island. It's a very isolated beach which only a few people know about and go to. That's what makes it awesome. You can have a huge piece of the beach to yourself.

After driving through a winding dirt road for about 20 minutes, it turns out they had closed the beach that day due to heavy surf (it was very windy the first couple of days I was there)

I said oh well, I'll try again tomorrow. So I then decided to drive around the whole island. It only take about 2-3 hours to do so. I drove around and took some pictures of the sights and whatnot, and it was a very relaxing drive especially looking to my left and seeing the vast ocean.

Once I finished my little journey, I headed to the main beach with all the tourists and just chilled for awhile before coming back to the bar at my hotel, and getting a meal and a beer while watching the sun set. I talked with some people there and met some cool people.

Next day, I find Ritidian Beach and it's open! So I get out and walk to the beach and it was amazing. I tried some swimming there but the waters were still kind of choppy so I jumped in for a minute before jumping right back out. I then decided to just chill on the beach as I watched a few people walking by.

I also managed to see quite a few hermit crabs with their little shells walking all around me. Picking one up, makes them hide in it, but they come back out eventually.

After I was finished there, I really wanted to swim, so I decided to head back to the and tourist beach area, Tumon Bay, and do some snorkeling. That was pretty fun as I hadn't done any snorkeling since I went to the Bahamas over 10 years ago.

The remainder of the day was spent listening to my ipod as I watched the sunset again while of course getting....more pictures. I also went back to the bar to talk with some people. One was military who had just been stationed there and another was actually just kind of crazy so I left ASAP.

On my final day, I decided to head to an area where a Japanese army guy was found (in 1978) who had thought the war was still going on for all those years. Apparently once the Japanese were defeated, he retreated into the interior of the island and actually lived there for all those years. He was eventually found and the area where he was found has waterfalls and whatnot so it's a pretty nice place to visit.

After that I went to some other places around the island where some war items were placed and got some pictures of those as well.

Afterwards I headed back to the beach to enjoy one last dip in the water as I knew the return back to 20 degree weather was approaching.

So all in all it was a great trip and I accomplished exactly what I wanted to accomplish...absolutely nothing. I mean I wanted to take some good pictures and see a lot of the sites, but I primarily came for relaxation and a break from the cold weather here in Korea. I hope to go back there again or Saipan, but probably further in the future because there are other places around Asia I want to see as well.

So now I'm back and it's been two weeks. Winter Camps went well the kids seemed to enjoy them and soon I should know whether or not my school wants me back for a second year. I think I'm pretty certain I want to stay a second year. Even if my school doesn't hire me back, I will just look for another job. But it would be much easier if I was able to stay at my current school. I'm a five minute walk away, I like my school and co-workers, I like my students, I have three buses that stop in front of my apartment that take me directly to Seoul, and I have all my internet/phone/cable setup and I don't want to go through the hassle of that again. I will keep up to date on the situation.

Peace!

Hafa Adai!!

2010-01-21T02:14:00.001-08:00

(Hafa Adai is similar to what the people in Hawaii say..Aloha)

Greetings from Guam, USA! I'm enjoying the second day of my short vacay to the island of Guam.

Just some brief facts about Guam:

- It is technically part of the US (a territory)...I've been using American money the whole time
- It was a major player in WW2
- It is beautiful
- It is the largest island of the Micronesian islands

So, why did I decide to come here for my vacation? Well, first the flights weren't that expensive, nor were the hotel rooms. Also considering it's part of the U.S., I wanted to get a taste of home (sort of) while at the same time enjoying some warm weather and nice beaches.

So, I will be back sometime during the weekend with some stories, updates and pics. Peace!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2010-01-11T22:25:00.000-08:00

OK, so I'm about 12 days late saying it, but Happy New Year everyone.

I thought I'd dust this thing off and tell you guys whats been happening over here in Korea the past couple of months.

So the end of 2009 was kind of weird. Thanksgiving was awesome. Spent is with some friends up in Pocheon and it felt just like home with turkey, greens, etc. So that was cool.

Christmas was weird because it was my first Christmas away from family of any kind. My very first away from home back in Detroit. I didn't do much on Christmas Day, but the day after, my friend had a dinner meetup for about 30 people at this Brazilian all you can eat place that served TONS of meat. Just ridiculous varieties of meat. Needless to say, I was pretty full.

Afterwads, they somehow managed to drag me to come club, where I'm sure I was a wet blanket sitting there not really enjoying myself. But hey, I'm not a club person. All the noise, lights...ugh. Absolute torture for an introvert like myself.

New Year's Eve was pretty chill. I just met up with a friend in Suwon and we had some Galbi then afterwards I headed over to his place to play some video games.

It seems that with the cold, I've been less prone to go out and do things. The winter is a very funny season. It's the season where most people get depressed, but I have a love hate relationship with it. I love the snow, but hate the cold. I hate the greyness and dreariness, but I love the reflective mode it puts me in.

Also one thing I notice is how much I like Korean or Asian architecture in general. People will say, and I'll be the first to admit it, that it's not pretty or anything, but it's something about the cluttered power lines, the close and narrow streets, and the small compact buildings that I like. Walking through the back alleys of Seoul and finding little restaurants and shops is pretty cool.

Oh and speaking of snow, we had the biggest snow in Korea since 1937 about a week ago. I estimate here it was around 6 or 7 inches. Not big by Michigan standards as I ahve seen much more in my life, but I'll take it.

Here are is a pic with some of my students (of course the girls hiding their faces again)

I'm still out and about as much as I can meeting people, but I just have to say this quickly...this single thing is getting pretty old and the more people I meet here, the more it gets worse well because it seems like EVERYONE is in a relationship. I'm always like the 5th or 7th wheel (if that makes any sense). I would've gone skating on New Year's Eve, but it was ALL couples! No thank you...I'm good.

So, for the next two weeks, I am on vacation. I have 3 weeks total, so I'm going to use the last week in February on the week of my birthday. So this week, I'm chillin. On the 19th, I'm headed to Guam for five days to get a break from this cold. I can't wait.

Also, the thought of renewal is coming up. Wow that was fast. Didn't I just get here? Has a year really almost gone by? Well, I'm leaning towards staying another year as it seems like the best option for me right now. Still not 100% sure, but we'll see.

Anyways, peace for now.

Vlog

2009-12-23T07:13:00.001-08:00

Updates coming soon

2009-11-30T06:07:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to make a post to say updates are coming soon....and to just say I made a post for the month of November lol. Be back later.

6 Months

2009-10-20T05:56:00.001-07:00

So it's been awhile since my last post. I can't believe it's been six months since I've been here. In this short time I feel like I've grown a lot and still have some growing to do as well.

I read another post by another teacher who's also been here six months and I felt the same about a lot of what he was saying. That first night coming into my apartment like "what was I thinking?", getting adjusted to everything, to now where I'm very well adjusted and feel like I'm in a real nice routine and groove.

I've also become a bit more outgoing even my INFP nature. I regularly try to go out and meet people who have the same interest in things I do. Though I still seem to have a problem with the "follow up"...meaning I meet a lot of people but I am totally lacksadsical and lazy about making plans with them, which is why throughout my life I usually just have a few close friends I hangout with. I usually just wait for people to call me or something which I have gotten better at changing since I've been here.

I am also really taking a look at my future plans I wrote at the beginning and a couple of years ago and seeing how I can accomplish those. I like teaching for the time being, but I def. don't see myself here for more than two years (though I know how life goes...never say never). I do plan on renewing my contract if possible or if not possible, just finding another school.

I also don't want to go back to school, because frankly I don't like it. I graduated in graphic design, but I don't like that anymore either. I know I want to do something within the art field, as I am also focusing on photography now. I also have been working on a small business website that has done well considering it's only two years old. I hope for that to grow even more and that will be incorporated into my plans as well.

So I'm pleased with the growth I've had since I've here, but also realize there is still much more room to grow. Being young is great :)

So here's to the next six months...the third quarter.

Hmm what else. I have been traveling a bit around Seoul and to some cities outside of Seoul. I went on my second hike to a city called Chuncheon. That was a great hike as the view was spectacular...the most spectacular I've ever seen. I'm not a hiking person, but it's something to do every now and then...though I don't plan on doing in the winter because I hate the cold.

I've also been to more places around Seoul with my friend Wu. I really like the Insadong District since I like art. There are some galleries I want to check out there.

My Korean is...ugh. I'm not satisfied. I feel like I'm making no progress at all. I still can only make a few words when I hear Koreans speak. They talk so fast.

I've also been pretty active on meetup.com meeting people from all over. This one movie/dinner meetup had me, someone from Indonesia, Russia (this was weird because she was korean, born in Russia, and had a Russian accent to her English), America, Canada, and Korea. I even went to a meetup where I played some Monopoly with some Koreans in which I found that rules are slightly...different lol.

So next post I will talk about some of the lessons I've used. Some other teachers have asked for some ideas so I don't mind helping out at all because it is hard trying to come up with a lesson that the kids will enjoy while at the same time having them actually learn something.

Peace yall.

My fav 5 food in Korea

2009-09-03T03:36:00.000-07:00

So this week is coming to a close and has been going pretty well. The lesson for this week was a game called "Alphabet Soup".

Basically I printed out a sheet of paper with all the alphabets on them. Then I cut all the letters out individually and put them into a bag. I split the class into four teams, and then one team at a time, I pull out a letter randomly from the bag. The object of the game is to create a sentence with as many words starting with that letter as possible.

So for example, I pull out the letter "M", I could come up with something like "My monkey made me eat mangos at the market on Monday morning." So there are 8 words starting with "M" and that team gets 8 points.

This game really showed how creative many of my students could be. Pulling out the letter "X" always invoked creative responses such as "We watched X-men on X-mas while playing the xylophone and we ate xylitol (a gum) after getting an x-ray."

So teachers out there, this is a good game to play to get the kid's imagination going and also recall their vocabulary. If you want to go through the alphabet, it will definitely take up a whole 40-45 minutes. (Also give teams a time limit of say 30 seconds to start saying their sentence...maybe a little extra time to finish their sentence and add on stuff)

Anyways, I thought I'd make a post about my top five foods in Korea so here it goes:

5. Tak Tori Tang

Tak ToriTang is basically chicken braised (spicy) with potatoes and some kind of noddles that I forgot the name of.

4. Kimbap

You can't come to Korea without knowing about Kimbap. It's one of the most popular foods for Koreans and foreigners alike because it's cheap and it's fast...hmm that didn't come out right...it sounds like I'm talking about a quick trip into a red light district.

What I mean is that it's low in price and it's very fast to make. I get it maybe one or two times a week and get about 3 sticks at a time. It consists of ham/tuna/insert other meat here, veggies, and rice wrapped in seawood.

3. Jajamyeong

This is another favorite and even though they sell it in "Chinese restaurants" it cannot be found in China at all. Kind of like Chinese food in America. It's a type of noodle covered in a black sauce with a bit of meat and veggies as well.

2. Donkasu and Curry

This is basically a type of pork mixed in with Curry and rice. Pretty simple meal that I could actually make myself. I eat this once or twice a week.

1. Galbi aka Korean BBQ

This is my favorite dish and it's usually eaten with a large group of people. It can be beef, chicken, pork, cooked directly in front of you and then eaten wrapped in lettuce (maybe with some sauce on top) and not very healthy but oh so good.

Cheers everyone.

August update...

2009-08-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since my last post. I figured I should make a post for the month of August.

So...

Summer break started at the end of July for the kids and most teachers but I only got one week off. In our contract, when school is not in session, our school can have us teach summer/winter camps and conversational classes in the morning. We get four weeks of vacation a year so it's up to you how you want to use them.

I opted to only take one week off for the summer and save my 3 weeks for the winter.

So during the summer break I had 6 days of summer camps in the morning and then 2 weeks of conversational classes the week after. The good thing was that they ended at around 11 am everyday. The bad thing was I had to sit at school for the rest of the day (until 430) for reasons unbeknownst to me. A few teacher friends said during the winter, try to ask if I can get to stay home for those hours instead of sitting there and accepting it.

The camps went well and the conversational classes for the most part. The conversational classes had four trouble makers that just could not be quiet or sit down so I had to constantly separate them or call the VP in.

For my one week break, I wanted to try to head to Jeju Island, but there were no hotel rooms so that was a no go. So what did I do during this time?

Well the Friday I got off, I went on a midnight hike up Mt. Gwanaksan. Yes a friggin midnight hike. Never thought I would be doing one of those but it was fun on reaching the top of that mountain and seeing the sunrise was so worth it. I was however so wiped out the next day. Even with me being wiped out, I decided to head to Seoul Tower with my friends Khiana and Leonard (and their adorable daughter). I had been wanting to go there for sometime and actually it was just ok.

Monday of my break week, I decided to head to Olympic Park and take some pictures. For the rest of the week I chilled out until Friday when my coteacher took me to Daecheon. It was a nice little town on the west coast and it was my first time actually seeing the country side of Korea. I wouldn't mind going there again.

Then on Saturday I headed to an art meetup group (even though I was late and left early lol). I love the art meetup groups because I like meeting other people who like art. It's been crazy trying to find some art minded people here.

Sunday I went to another meetup group, but this time to see a Korean movie about the Korean ski jumpers in the Olympics. It had English subtitles and was a pretty good movie.

So that ended my short vacation and even though I was sad it was over, I was sort of looking forward to get back in the swing of things.

I just finished the first week back from vacation and it went pretty well.

I didn't do much this weekend except help my coteacher with some English things and then she took me out to have some raw fish. Definitely not the first time I had raw fish, but it actually tasted pretty good although I can't remember the name of it.

So anyways, I'm working on saving money for a trip to Thailand and Japan in the winter. Even with my school loan payment, I should be able to save quite a bit of money. I also have another website which brings in some extra adsense money so I think the trip will happen.

Enjoy the pics.

Some updates

2009-07-29T05:37:00.000-07:00

So the end of July is upon us. Summer is going by so fast and soon the cold wind of winter will be here before you know it.

So let's see lately things have been cool. I've done a lot of eating so to speak. Trying different foods and restaurants. My friend Wu took me to this Turkish restaurant in Suwon a few weeks ago. It was my first time having Turkish food and I enjoyed it and will be heading back there again.

The same guy also told me about a birthday celebration for someone at a thai restaurant. It was my first time trying thai food as well and that was good. It's a shame all the different restaurants around my area and I haven't been to none of them. When I get back home, I will be trying Arab food, Thai again, Japanese, etc, and find me a Korean restaurant to go to in the city.

Hmm let's see what else..I tried a food called Tak Toritang which is spicy chicken boiled or something with potatoes, peppers, and noodles. I had this while eating with some of my friends up in the Pocheon area. One of them Joe, had his sister visiting for two or three weeks and that was her last night there so we all had a going away dinner.

I've been looking for people that are into the arts to hang out with and I went to this art gallery with some people I found on meetup.com.

Cool people and one of the ladies there reminded me EXACTLY of my senior thesis teacher back at HU. Only she is like a white version of her. My friends know that I am talking about Dr. Bontemps.

Anyways I exchanged numbers with some people, I even met a guy from France and a woman who works as a translator..she speaks English, Korean, and French.

Gives me inspiration. Ultimately I want to speak Korean, Spanish, French, and Japanese. Hard task? Sure...but it can be done. Maybe not by the time I'm 30, but it can lol.

My Korean is coming along fine. I am starting to pick up words from the Koreans around me and I watch Korean television. It is also good to watch the American shows and put the show on mute and try to read the Korean subtitles. I know how to read the Korean language (with all the symbols and whatnot), I just don't know what it means. My coteacher is helping me, and I am also learning from a website. I hope to be at least 75% fluent by the time I leave here which means I'm gonna have to pick it up.

In the personal life so to speak, I'm finding out a lot about myself.

For starters, it seems that no matter where I go, I come off as stuckup, arrogant, depressed, etc to a lot of people. This is because I don't usually talk a lot when I meet people (other than the introductions and telling about yourself of course), especially if we just have nothing to talk about. Usually people can talk for hours about NOTHING...meaning small talk which my close friends know I can't stand.

But it's hilarious because I can read it right when I meet people. I don't know what I say, but most people I always get this confused look when people talk to me. And one thing about me that I didn't realize is that I can read people VERY well. I really started noticing it when I got here and I started looking back on things in my life. I can usually tell what type of person someone is within five minutes of meeting and talking to them.

When I meet someone or when anyone meets anyone it's like ok, what's your name, where are you from, what do you do, how do you like it in Korea, what made you come here, etc, etc...after that, if we have nothing in common, I'm pretty much content to sit there and let you talk while I put my input in here and there. Although I only do this if the person seems like they just want to talk. If not, I will try to keep the conversation going.

Many people (several here in Korea) have taken this the wrong way and I get the "what's wrong with you" foolishness. It literally pisses me off although I don't show it. I realized this my whole life and at times I would try to "Talk more" with people, but they can instantly see through the fakeness so I just be myself and I get the other reactions stated above.

So basically I say eff it because I'm screwed either way, and just do me. You can't please everyone all the time and I'm content to have a few good friends who understand me and accept me for me, than try to be fake for people just to please them.

People might say I don't like talking...well that's true to an extent. Like I said, if you bring up something of interest, I will talk all day. And even if you don't bring up something I'm interested in, I will listen to you because I like listening more than talking.

The funny thing is, I said I confuse people, well I confuse myself the most so maybe this whole tirade is pretty pointless. Hmmm.....

As for classes, my summer camps are going pretty well. I have one more day then I start the conversational classes, and then I get a week off. Not sure if I'm going anywhere yet (it would be in Korea). I definitely want to go to Thailand in the winter or Guam...yes I said Guam.

That's it for now. Sorry again for the late update folks.

And oh yeah ehre is some Kpop for you guys...I personally like very few songs. I like Korean music, but my taste is pretty similar here to what it was in America. I dislikes mainstream and go for the less known artists.

3months in....

2009-07-13T04:45:00.001-07:00

So 3 months in...Somebody else said this and I like to think of it this way as well. Break the year up into 4 quarters like a game. I've just finished the first quarter and now it's time for the second.

So what has happened since my last post? Well this past week, I finally got sick for the first time over here and I'm still recovering. It was nothing but a sore throat and a cold, but I'm still coughing and dealing with sinuses. I hate sore throats and I use cayenne pepper powder all the time mixed with warm water to gargle and get rid of it quicker. It works although it tastes awful and I hate it everytime I do it. I hate the sore throat more though.

Also right when my sore throat went away, I went to the Noraebang (karaoke room) for the first time here in Korea. The singing room might as well be a pastime for Koreans here. I went with about 10 friends about 2 hours away from me.

We went bowling first for about 2 hours, then headed to the singing room at about 1130 or so. I kid you not we stayed in there singing songs until 5 AM. I only sang about 5 songs even though I'm a little shy when it comes to that stuff, but everybody wanted to hear me sing. I guess because with my laidback personality, they couldn't really picture it. After I was done singing, two people in particular just had all this energy out of nowhere and they were singing their behinds off. I decided to lay down and just watch the rest of the way and be amused.

Afterwards, since the two hour trip back would've been brutal with no rest, some friends let me stay at their place because they had an extra bed. So I rested there for about 4 hours, although it was hard at first because with me still with a slight cold, my sinuses were horrible and I could barely breathe.

After I woke up, I headed back home and just rested for the rest of the weekend, because it felt like I was trying to get the cold back.

Teaching has had its ups and downs lately. Sometimes I get frustrated when some of the kids don't even make an attempt at the lesson I'm trying to teach.

For example, I did a lesson on occupations last week with things such as "I am a pilot and I fly airplanes" or "I am a comedian and I make people laugh" or my favorite, "I am a hobo, and I do nothing".

So afterwards, I would ask the kids to write down what their dream job would be IN ONE SHORT SENTENCE. Some students when called on said they did not have a dream. They didn't do they absurdly easy assignment so I said "Fine, I guess you will be a hobo then..congratulations!"

The other kids would always get a laugh out of that.

I also ripped off a game that I read from another blog called monkeys eat bananas to play with the kids after the dream job. I would have the class divided into teams and present each team with a slide of one of the occupations we just went over. Only this time I would leave the answer blank and the team would have to guess. Once they guess correctly, they would get to roll this makeshift dice that I made out of cardboard. On the six sides, I had 1 banana, 2 bananas, 6 bananas, 1 monkey, 2 monkeys, and 6 monkeys. Bananas are points and monkeys mean you lose points. Each team starts with 3 bananas.

The teams could also chose to roll for another team to try to get them to lose points. It was so funny watching other team trying to knock teams out with more points, only to see them roll 6 bananas and give them even more points.

If any teachers are reading, this is an awesome game to use as a review for 15 or 20 minutes. It gets the kids speaking (because I make them say the whole sentence when they answer) and they have fun. I also rewarded the winning teams with candy.

This is my last week before summer vacation, although starting next week I'll be doing summer camps and then the third week in August, I get a full week off. I wanted to travel somewhere, but I'm choosing to save money for the time being and will travel somewhere warm in the winter.

So that's it for now. I will keep trying to update more. Hello grandma!! :)

Later.

The Ajumma

2009-06-28T03:00:00.001-07:00

So since I have nothing of real importance to report on right now (school went well last week, saw Transformers 2, ate food, cleaned my bathroom because my bathroom and everyone else's on my floor flooded, blah, blah lol), I thought I'd dedicate a post to the infamous Ajumma.

Primarily because I experienced two types of Ajumma this week.

What is an Ajumma you ask? You can easily spot one in Korea. Here is what you look for:

- A married older Korean woman, mainly 50+
- She will be wearing a HUGE sun visor hat on her head
- Colorful clothes (purple, pink, light blue, etc) that don't match
- The "Ajumma perm"
- She will literally run you down if you are in her way

Now this past week I experienced the most common type of Ajumma. I was getting ready to hop on the bus after coming from dinner, and right when I was about to get on, an Ajumma comes out of nowhere and basically elbows me in the side and pushes me out of the way.

Awesome.

Now, I have now problem letting just women in general go before me, but the problem was, I didn't see her. It's like she just materialized out of nowhere.

So the other day (Friday), I'm waiting on the bus to go to Suwon Station to buy some new gym shoes. An Ajumma comes on sits next to me while we are waiting on the bus and she begins to just casually have a conversation. She actually spoke some English, so she was able to ask me where I was from, where I lived, and what my job was here in Korea.

We got on the same bus and continued to talk until she got off before me. What was also funny is that while we were talking, some Korean kids were being loud in the back and right in the middle of our conversation, she turned back with this MEAN face on and they shut right up. She then proceeded to turn around back at me, smile, and begin talking again lol.

GEPIK conference...four days...no school

2009-06-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

So I have just returned today from a 4 day GEPIK conference where all the waygooks who teach middle and high school Englishee, come and meet each other and learn tips for the classroom.

I actually learned quite a lot and I am going to use a lot of stuff in the classroom.

I was not looking forward to it at first, because I hate lectures. And my goodness one lecture was absolutely brutal. I'm sorry but I put my headphones on and even then it was a struggle. But my battery died lol. I just think the guy was too prepared for his lecture because it was good info, just presented in a way that didn't get everyone's attention.

I also met quite a few people from all over. And when I mean all over, I don't mean all over Korea, I mean everywhere in the world. South Africa, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Canada, and of course the USA.

I made some connections and got some numbers so yeah.

I didn't bring my camera for this, because...well I don't know why. Whatever lol.

Of course the pinnacle of every night was everyone getting beer and getting hammered. I didn't take part for obvious reasons which I have already explained on this blog, but I still decided to go down and talk with people. Of course not everyone was getting smashed but there were a few interesting characters.

One guy I started talking to would not let me leave. He went from talking about how he shows Al Bundy to his kids, to talking about starfish and South Carolina lol. OK buddy.

I also got a lot of questions, "Why don't you drink" many times. Again, I am not against drinking, I just don't do it very often. Christ says drunkeness is bad...just like with anything, overindulgence is bad for you. But surprisingly when I told them the reasons, why, they were like "cool".

I say surprisingly because usually this creates an avenue for christian bashing. I think one of the many reasons Christians get ridiculed is because we don't even pay attention to what Jesus said in this regard about judging outside of the church(in Matthew)..ANYWAYS, that's for another time and for my other blog lol.

So yeah I'm chillin right now before getting to sleep for the trip to Busan tomorrow. Enjoy a few pics from my trip to Seoul Tower and Banpo Bridge below. Cheers.

Since last time

2009-06-19T06:27:00.001-07:00

So what's up readers. Been a little bit since my last post, but I will try to post more and with more pics...promise ;)

So what has been up since the last time I've written. Well let's see, the two month mark of me being in Korea came on went on Tuesday. I tell ya, time flies. Lately I can actually picture myself being here a little longer than a year, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. I'll never say I'll know what will happen because a year ago I wasn't planning on being here.

But I look at the whole situation, especially in Detroit, and I pose a question to myself as in "what is back there?" Don't get me wrong, I love my city and I love living there despite what some people ma think about the place, but there is really nothing going on there for me right now.

I really am not fond of graphic design as I have gravitated more towards my new passion, photography. I still love art and can admire good design, but it is too technical. You are always at the whim of whoever is your client. You can design something that you think is awesome, and the client will hate it. You can make changes to a design that you think suck, and the client will go bananas over it. Ugh.

Photography is my next goal.

So yeah, I figure if I stay here for a couple of years, I will have a job that I love, which gives me a lot of free time, allows me to save money, meet new people, and experience a new culture (learning a new language as well)

I do eventually plan on going back to the states, but maybe until my web business (which is actually picking up after building and catering to the foundation the past 2 years) and I have a plan for my business in photography.

But surprisingly I love my job. Some ex pats here hate it and are just passing through for the money, beer, free time, etc, but I enjoy teaching more than I thought I would've. Are there hard days? Of course. Some days my kids act like total monkeys (specifically 3 classes), but with teaching, it's something new everyday.

In the end I know God will lead me wherever I'm supposed to be.

And ah yeah...as for learning Korean, it's coming along well. Here are YOUR lessons for the day. You will learn Korean right with me.

안녕하세요 = ann-yeong-ha-se-yo = Hello/Goodbye

And that's it for today because I'm tired of trying to type in Korean on this keyboard. I will give you more lessons when I get some Korean key covers...or when I feel like copy and pasting lol.

Updates

2009-06-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since my last post so just a brief summary of things going on with me in Korea since then:

- I'm getting settled in and into a nice routine now. I go to school, teach, then either come home or go out to dinner. Weekends are up for grabs as what I do changes from weekend to weekend.

- I've made a few more friends although in classic ISFP pattern, I still am reserved.

- Teaching is going well...in a sense. I seem to get frustrated at times because I have mixed level students and many times, the students do not understand what I'm saying, or they are just plain unmotivated (unless I play a game). But I do not want to be a lazy bum and just play games every class. I played one game last week for all the classes and they really enjoyed it and got them speaking. But when it comes to an actual lesson, they are reluctant to speak

- I have to prepare a demo lesson for next week

- I'm kind of still church searching. Somebody told me about another English church in Suwon I may check out. Me being reformed makes it difficult at times.

-One random thing I notice in my school is that Korean kids get injured a lot...or is it just me? It seems every week, a new kid has his hand or foot in a cast and when I ask them what happened, they say "fight" or "hit with baseball" or "or punched a wall"...wth

I'm like you guys need to be a little more careful.

- We had sports day at our school and it was pretty fun

Also a special hello to my grandma!! She doesn't have access to a computer, so my aunt prints off my blogs for her. So again, hello grandma and happy birthday to you!!!

I will try to keep more up to date like I was before.

ttyl

One month already

2009-05-17T06:24:00.001-07:00

So I just realized this week that is has been one month since I've been in Korea. Time really flies. It doesn't even feel like I've been here that long. This means I should really enjoy my time here and try not to complain about minor things.

So this past week was pretty good. My Korean lessons with one of my co teachers is going great. I'm learning phrases like how to say "please pass the water" and "nice to meet you". I'm using a children's book...and don't laugh!! Children's books are one of the best ways to learn a language. Think about how you learned English.

On Friday it was Teacher's Day and I will post some pics of that later. The kids had a nice little ceremony for the teachers and then after school was done, the teachers played kickball. It really brought back memories of being younger lol. After the game, the teachers went out to dinner and we had duck. At first when one of the teachers told me what we were going to eat, I thought she said dog, but her pronounciation of duck was just funny haha.

It was my first time eating duck and it was pretty good. It was on the grill along with some other foods I can't pronounce. I also got paid for the first time on Friday woohoo!!

Saturday it rained alllllllllllllllllllllllll day long...and even all day long is an understatement.

I wanted to head up to Yongsan and get a new lens and tripod for my camera. I went Friday after the dinner but by the time I got there, it was closed. I needed to get a new tripod because the one I bought for about 10,000 won was so cheap and it broke this week. Like 4 pieces just fell off.

So this time I headed to Yongsan and bought a better tripod that cost 65,000 won and also bought a new lens and bag. Altogether it cost 250,000 won.

After I bought my new toys, I called up my friend Leonard who was in Itaewon getting a haricut there. I went up to meet him and we walked around there after his haricut for awhile and then met up with some other friends at On the Border Mexican restaurant. One of the people there was actually from Dearborn. So we talked for a bit more and then we both headed our separate ways back home.

Today, I went to the Multicultural Festival in my town. My church was there selling hot dogs. There were raffles, talent shows, and plenty of food to go around. I tried some kind of Vietnamese Noodle Soup with beef which was pretty good. I stayed for about two hours and then left and took a nap. The day started off rainy and cloudy but then the sun came out.

So now I'm sitting here watching Spiderman 3. I finished my lesson planning, and it's time to get ready for the new week. Until next time readers...

So...another weekend past

2009-05-10T04:27:00.000-07:00

So another interesting week and weekend. Teaching was very good for the short 3 day week. The kids really seem to be less shy, and they are talking a bit more. It is interesting to see how each class differentiates from each other. One class is very upbeat and excited to talk (along with your class clowns..not too bad though lol), then another class is just sooooo quiet and it's more difficult to get them to speak. I don't want to talk for 45 minutes because first of all, it will bore them, and second, I know they can't understand a lot of what I say if I speak too long. The second graders (which would be the 8th grade in America) are more energetic but the 3rd graders (9th grade in America) are overall almost into that teenage stage where they just don't care. I don't teach the first graders.

I also on Wednesday started my after school conversational class. This one follows a book, so really no lesson planning for this one.

So Thursday was cool opened my bank account, and then Friday, I made plans with the friends I made last weekend to go to the movies. Now this is a long story of my weekend.

So they live in a town called Pocheon and one of them also lives in a town called Uijeongbu (where we were all meeting). Now these places are about 2 hours away from me on the subway. So after I got off from school on Friday, I came back to my apartment to change real fast and then I proceeded to take a cab to Suwon Station. I then got on the subway and got on the line 1 train. What was good about the trip was that I didn't have to make any transfers. The line goes straight to Uijeongbu.

So the two hours pass and I finally make it to meet everybody. Since I was a little late, we were gonna have to see the X-Men movie at around 10. This presented a problem for me because the subways stop running at midnight and seeing as how I just took two hours to get there, I was dreading the fact that I may have to turn right back around to get back before 12. Fortunately, my friend Joe said I could crash at his place until the buses and subways started running again at 5:30 AM.

So before the movie started, we all played some games at this place called Amusing World. This place has literally everything. Food, shops, arcade, DVD Rooms, PC Rooms, and Noribongs (karaoke). I didn't get to do karaoke this time but I know that time will come soon lol.

So after the games, one group of us split off to see the movie, while the other three went to the DVD Room to watch some Korean movie which they said was crazy. I think they kind of just randomly picked it, but it turned out to be some serial killer movie where a pimp kept losing his "workers", or something to a serial killer....ummm yeah lol. Craziness.

The Wolverine movie was good and it was better than expected. The next movie I want to see is the Star Trek movie and TRANSFORMERS...can't wait until that comes out. One thing about watching American movies in Korea is that the Koreans will not understand the jokes sometimes, so when we foreigners laugh at the jokes, they look at us like what is so funny LOL.

So anyways after the movie, we all meet back up to go home. One of the guys, Leonard, invited me and Joe to play some video games on the 360m so after playing that for awhile, it was about 330 in the morning....hunger has set in and we set out on a mission to find chicken...mission fails, so we find a Chinese food place which in my opinion was delicious. Definitely different than "Chinese food" back in the states.

So after we eat, it's about 430. Leonard doesn't eat pork, so he was still on a mission to find the chicken (the Chinese place had no chicken surprisingly) So me and Joe went to his place so I could get a quick nap. I really didn't sleep and I was headed out at around 515 am.

So...I take the bus back to Uijeongbu from Pocheon, get on the subway. Thinking it's a nice two hour ride, I'm tired, and promptly fall asleep on the subway. I wake up, and realized I've severely passed my stop lol. I get off, go to the other side to catch the train back, fall asleep and miss my stop again....GRSSHH.

I finally get it right and after 3 hours, I arrive back in Suwon. Oh but the day is not over. I made a commitment to go to the Ceramics Festival with my church (and I had paid already). So I headed to the church running a low sleep. I decided to try coffee for the first time ever in my life...I think it's nasty and never again.

So I get on the bus and wait for everybody to arrive and I am just completely out of it and I just fell asleep once we started rolling to Ichon for the festival. Before we got to the festival, we stopped for Korean food and I was still out of it and all I wanted to eat was some but the Koreans kept trying to give me Korean food that I had tried and already did not like, so I said I was tired and they assumed that's why I didn't want to eat, which was true. Also I'm pretty sure that people thought I was some kind of rude anti social prick, because I wasn't saying much. But I literally felt like I was going to tip over. I really thought I was going to start hallucinating at any moment lol. So everybody was just trying to start conversations and I just was not feeling it. Any other time I would've been fine.

So after they eat, we head to the festival, I'm still struggling, so I had planned to leave early. We all went to see a 10 minute presentation about the festival, but I can't even remember what was said. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. Next we head out to see some of the art work, and it really was beautiful and I love art, but my tiredness just killed all that and I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted and I was ready to be out. I said my goodbyes and headed to the bus terminal...so I thought.

The shuttle bus took me nowhere near the bus terminal and I was walking around for about 45 minutes trying to hail cabs and looking for the bus terminal to no avail. The tiredness just made things even worse. So I finally found a police station and managed to say enough Korean (I know how to say bus and station in Korean and I think terminal is the same) So the police officer told me and luckily a cab driver was right at the station so he said he would take me. So I finally arrived at the terminal, bought my ticket to Suwon, waited for the bus, got on and headed to Suwon.

I made it to Suwon, now with a severe headache from no sleep (couldn't sleep on the bus) took a cab back to my place even though it was more expensive than the city bus. I just wanted to get home.

I FINALLY get home, take some aspirin and just jump in the bed and sleep.

Surprisingly I only slept 3 hours. I got up and got some Papa John's pizza and then went back to bed again.

I didn't go to church today because I was still tired, but later on I met up with someone I had talked with on mylanguageexchange who was a very nice person. She is Korean and was in the states for awhile but is back in Korea studying at university. We talked for about 3 hours, I showed her pictures of Detroit on my camera, we talked about differences in American food, culture, etc. It was fun. So we're gonna hang out again because her weeks are usually free and I still have yet to find good friends that are not into drinking every night here in Suwon. I've met a lot of people here in Suwon, but they either live too far, we don't have the same interests, or they don't seem to want to do anything on the weekdays.

All the people I seem to click with live in Uijeongbu and Pocheon which are two hours away and what's ironic is that I was supposed to be placed in Uijeongbu at a school, but my papers took too long so I came to Suwon. Life is funny.

So it's Sunday and another week begins. I talked with my mom on Skype for the first time and it's Mother's Day! We had a good talk and she was so happy to talk and see me (via webcam)

So Happy Mother's Day to all the eo-meo-nis out there (Mother in Korean 어머니) Until next time readers, see ya.

4 day weekend

2009-05-06T04:58:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend was actually a four day weekend. I was happy to get some extra days of. I realize that I'm going to have to cultivate my own teaching style. Hopefully by the month mark I will have something I'm confident in. The other teachers have been saying I'm doing a good job but I feel like I'm not. The biggest thing for me is lesson planning. I'm not an organized person so I usually just "go out there" in many things I do and either wait until the last minute or freestyle. It works a lot of times (and worked in college many time), but it's not good practice and it's something I'm trying to get out of. So I've been lesson planning ahead of time and putting them in Word documents in order with time blocks. My co-teacher actually made me do this which is a good thing.

So anyways back to this past weekend.

Friday: I didn't do too much except for catch up on some tv shows. Particularly the final 2 episodes of Heroes for this season and the last four "The Office" episodes. I just download them from sites and watch them back to back.

Saturday: I was supposed to get up and go to Costco at 9am with some people from the church but clearly I watched my tv shows until about 2 am and knew I wouldn't feel like getting up so I had to cancel. I also had taken 3 Benadryls (is that safe lol) on Friday night because my allergies are HORRIBLE. I'm allergic to some type of plant here.

So the rest of my Saturday was spent chilling and getting ready for the dinner that teacheslkorea.com was having for the teachers that they helped get to Korea. It was at 6 and I had to take the subway and despite getting lost a few times I managed to make it to the place where they were meeting.

On my way there I met a guy named Jered whose blog I have been following for some time about how teaching in Korea was like and also met his friends Khiana and Leonard. Finally some black people to talk to in Korea!! lol.

So we get there and I meet some more friends of theirs, also black, who went with the same recruiting company. We talked for awhile getting to know each other and when everybody had met up at the place, we then walked over (about 40 people or so) to a Galbi place.

Galbi is a type of Korean cuisine in which types of meat such as beef and ribs are grilled and you can put the meat in sauce. It was an indian style restaurant with the food cooked right in front of you (you and your friends are the ones who have to flip and cook the meat) It was fun and it was delicious. I took some pictures which are below and it was good to sit and eat and get to know new people.

Afterwards many people were headed to a fruit soju bar, but of course I wasn't interested and I had to get back on the subway before they stopped running unless I wanted to stay in Seoul until 7am.

So I headed back and got off on the last subway and had to take a cab back home because the buses stopped running. And boy on my way out of the subway there were quite a few drunk Koreans wandering around lol.

Also the people I met on the way to the dinner I told you about invited me to come with them to Everland Amusement Park on Sunday.

Sunday: Went to Church at one. I'm glad the service starts at one because it means I get two days of good rest and not having to get up at 7:30 AM.

Afterwards, I proceeded to catch the bus to Everland. They were already there but I made it there at around 4. I didn't plan on riding any rides because I wasn't in the mood for rollercoasters. Everybody else was geeked to ride them but in the end a lot of people didn't because of the ridiculous long lines...we're talking 3 hours for one ride. Me, the guy Leonard, and another friend of theirs I met Joe, ended up playing some arcade games and we headed through this animal zoo thingamajig...I can't remember the exact name lol. Anyways, only in Korea would you find hyennas, lion cubs, and CHEETAHS in glass boxes. The funny thing about the cheetahs is that they had National Geographic playing in the background of their nice little box, as if they were being educated. At best they were seeing what real Cheetahs got to do when they weren't captured by humans.

All in all it was a fun day being there and hanging around and meeting more great people. Unfortunately everybody lives north of me (about 45 minutes or so) so everybody was on one bus back, and I was the only one that had to take another bus lol. It was cool though...give me my ipod and I'm cool.

So I got back and relaxed and got a nice rest.

Monday: Now me being the introvert I am, I enjoy hanging around people, but I had to use most of this day to "Recharge" so to speak. People think introverts don't like hanging around people when it's really we get our energy from being alone. Once we're alone for a period of time to "recharge" hanging out with people is no problem. But once we hangout again, we get drained again and may kind of "check out" and people may wonder what's wrong with us lol.

Anyways I slept in and then took a five minute bus ride to get my Alien Registration Card. It didn't take long and I was back home within a half hour.

Later on at 6:30pm, I met up with a friend from church who is Korean. He's in University and it was just a hey I'm bored let's get something to eat type of thing. He also said he'd call and let me know when his friends were playing pool.

Tuesday: I didn't plan on doing anything, but decided to head to Coex Mall in Seoul for a few hours to see if I could find any CDs by Toko Furuuchi who is a japanese artist. I've been looking for them so I won't have to order from Amazon, but it looks like I will have to. I didn't find any so I took some pictures and then headed back on home.

So that was my 4 day weekend. I forgot to mention I also washed clothes for the first time and not having a drier is really annoying. I have to hang my clothes to dry and it takes at least a day and a half to dry.

I get to open my bank account tomorrow and I get paid on the 15th yeehaw.

Also I'm expecting a deposit from my website that I've been working on for awhile. It looks like things may be starting to "snowball". It's coming up on the two year mark for the site and I need to figure out how to get my MAC configured so I can keep updating it because traffic to it is really starting to jump.

So pictures are below and click here for my flickr account for the more "artsy" pictures that I don't want to upload to facebook because they say they own all pictures on there.

1

Mu Han Do Jun

2009-04-30T04:48:00.001-07:00

This has become my favorite show in Korea (in English it translate to Infinity Challenge). Luckily I found English subbed verison of many episodes on youtube. I find it hilarious. The contestants are famous comedians in Korea and the show's premise is basically them completing random missions and the first to do so wins some type of prize.

So some updates

2009-04-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

So some updates. I don't think this post will have one common subject. It will kind of be all over the place lol.

First some random observations since being here:

1. If you ever come to Korea and want to get a driver's license, you need to take the test, and then forget everything on the test because that's what the Koreans do. I thought Michigan drivers were bad...here, running red lights is common, nearly running over pedestrians, riding motorcycles on the sidewalk, and constant lane changing (way worse than what people do in the states) is how you drive here. I don't think I could survive the streets here.

2. I see a lot of baseball caps here and surprisingly it's mainly Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Son, and New York Yankees (for obvious reasons). I don't know how the Tigers became popular here.

3. When on the subway, you better learn how to be a pushy person or you will get rundown.

4. I like how whenever you enter a restaurant or place of service, they are really their to serve you, unlike the states, they say hi with a smile on their faces and a goodbye with a smile.

So the previous weekend was pretty boring. It rained and was kind of cold all weekend so I really didn't go out except to buy a few things from the grocery store. I went to church again Sunday and met a Korea there who is in school so we are going to try to hang out on Friday.

I have a pretty easy week into next Wednesday. Students have had midterms since Tuesday and will be over Thursday. I'll be back to teaching on Friday and then on Monday and Tuesday I have days off because of school holidays.

On Saturday some people from the church are riding to Costco....yes there is a Costco in Korea!! I don't have a membership though so it's pointless. I'll still go just to get out.

Then later on Saturday the recruiter that got me my teaching job here is having a dinner for all the people they've helped get here....and they are paying for dinner so DEFINITELY cannot miss that. Sunday I'm supposed to meet someone who's going to help me with Korean and I'm going to help them with English. Pretty cool.

Today since I got off school early, I decided to head to Itaewon to get my hair cut. The shop was located in a small community of Africans and I'm just trying to figure out what made them come to Korea...then again they could ask me the same thing. They gave me a real nice cut and I hope they don't go anywhere because that is the only place where a brotha can get a good haricut right now.

Afterwards I found a KFC and a Coldstone...yes COLDSTONE...I devoured some great chocolate ice cream.

Speaking of food, that is what I love about my apartment is that it is part of a little "town" so to speak. That is popular here. They build "officetels" and surround them with shops and restaurants. So I basically have everything I need right at the bottom of my apartment. I've found several favorite restaurants and there is even a grocery store in my building. A Dunkin Donuts opened up yesterday and there is also a Papa John's not too far away. Basically I have my choice of fast food, Korea food, Japanese, American, etc within 2 minutes walking distance. And the food is so cheap.

Also, I believe that within 30 years, a lot of Koreans will be dealing with the same health problems many Americans are dealing with and overweight issues. Asians in general are known for being smaller and slimmer than westerners (not all of course), but with all the Western restaurants coming here, mainly catering to the younger generation, it's only a matter of time.

One more thing...WHEREVER I GO, I always seem to live enxt to someone who is just stomping on the floor and bumping around their apartment for now apparent reason. In college I had neighbors and people above me who just stomped on the floor. Back home in Detroit, the same thing only people were slamming doors and bangning and walls with loud music. Now here, I am next to someone who does some type of exercise where he is stomping on the floor. He was doing the exercise late one night and I asked him could he quiet down and he did, but now lately he's started up again only earlier. I mean really...I think sooner or later I'm just going to have to find a place to live in that is not attached to anyone...in other words A HOUSE. I can't wait to buy a house....a house with 100 yards of open space all around it...yes that sounds nice.

So that's basically it for now. God bless.

Soccer and out to eat with the teachers

2009-04-24T04:53:00.001-07:00

So earlier in the week, one of the male teachers invited me to play soccer with them against another middle school.

*Sidenote...when talking about invited here in Korea many times it may mean it is imperative that you go, or they insist that you go...aka if you don't go, will will be angry lol...I assume it's seen as disrespect*

Now I have poor stamina so I was not looking forward to it. I hadn't played soccer (at least a full game) since elementary school and it's not something I'm good at. Nonetheless I went with it raining and all and I actually had fun. I was out of breath and I missed the ball several times when I went to kick it, but all they cared about was if I was enjoying it. The teacher that invited me who is very nice kept saying "just enjoy...enjoy!!" So I did. They understood that I had never really played and soccer is very popular here.

So afterwards, they tol...ahem invited me to come to dinner with them. We went to some kind of seafood place and again I was wondering what type of food I was going to be trying today. I learned it was a type of stew or soup with octopus, veggies, and what my teacher friend described as "fish stomach" (can't remember the korean name)...At first I was like hold up, but then I thought about it, a lot of my african american counterparts back in the states eat chitterlings (CHITLINS LOL), pig feet, and the like and they smell way worse than what I was smelling at the restaurant. (Oh yeah at the restaurant you sit indian style which I'm sort of used to because I did it all the time as a kid)

So after they brought the soup out, I tried it and it wasn't bad. It was actually quite good with this sauce that they had. This is a big feat for me considering my picky taste buds. I also ate a type of dried seaweed that was salted and wrapped it around rice which was pretty good. I tried the octopus but couldn't roll with that. It was rubbery and I didn't like the taste. I also tried a fish egg lol. It was so so. Later one they also brought out a type of fried potato which tasted like hash browns to me so I tore that up.

So the fun part comes in with the alcohol. Now me being a christian I try to stay away from alcohol. As a matter of fact, I don't think drinking a beer or something every now and then is a sin, but getting drunk is the problem...overindulgence. So part of the culture here in Korea, especially among co workers and bosses is drinking the shoujo, Korea's famous liquor (kind of like saki in Japan). So I tried just a bit and it was very strong. Also in Korea, you don't pour your own drinks. When your glass is empty, you ask someone to pour you more (while holding two hands) and vice versa. So people kept trying to fill my glass, but thankfully my teacher friend told them I was a christian and as a matter of fact another teacher there was a christian as well so many understood and backed off. Too bad I couldn't speak korean because we could have some good conversations. I ended up drinking a few more shots because the principal was very thankful for me being at his school and said I was doing a good job, and that was it. Not nearly enough to get drunk and I spent the rest of the time drinking Fanta pop lol. My teacher friend said that this is the part of his culture that he doesn't like lol.

So after that, it was time to leave and by this time, the principal and other school bosses were drunk and tried to get me to come with them for more!! You kiddin me??!! LOL.

My teacher friend and I slipped away and he dropped me off at my apartment. I am so tired right now and I am going to rest for the rest of the night. Tomorrow I have to wash clothes and clean my apartment for the first time and then head off to Seoul to see a play of some sort preaching against violence against women. Then off to church on Sunday.

So until next time...1

School Video

2009-04-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a video at hall passing time so you can see what my school is like. One thing you will notice about one minute or so into the video is that korean kids (specifically the boys) are always beating the crap out of each other (in a playful way)...I've heard this from teachers at other schools as well. It's quite hilarious.

The Weekend and 2nd week

2009-04-21T03:44:00.000-07:00

So today was my first day with a class all by myself. There was a co teacher still in the room, but the class was in my hands. Since it was my first day, one of the other co teachers thought it would be a good idea to do a powerpoint about myself, where I'm from, etc. This was a good idea, only I wish I'd made the plan longer. Classes are 45 minutes and I got to 30 minutes with 15 left and the coteacher had to bail me out and we came up with something for them to do for the last 15 minutes.

Basically I did the presentation, and had them answer questions about it. I wanted to get them to use complete sentences and they did. I also gave prizes (American quarters...you'd be surprised at how excited they were to receive american money) and then me and the coteacher came up with the idea of having them do dialouges of them introducing their parents or other friends to me. So day 1...lesson learned.

I also sat in on two of the student teacher's classes as they are preparing to get their certification.

I'm also trying to figure out why my Korean students keep saying I look like Will Smith!! I'm not mad by no means but I don't see it lol.

The weekend was pretty fun. Saturday I met up with a few people who live in my city and we headed to Yongsan which is close to Seoul and is basically the place anyone needs to go if they want electronics. I mean just floors and floors of computers, ipods, cameras, etc. I was able to get a tripod for my camera for 15,000 won (about $10) Afterwards we headed to On the Border a mexican food place which was delicious. Afterwards I headed to a game night that this church was having where we played some uno and Guesstures. Pretty fun time.

Sunday, I went to that church and afterwards a few of us headed to the Tulip Festival in our town. I have pics below. The pics with the gate and the waterfall running through it is part of Suwon Wall which I plan to walk sometime in the future (it takes around 4 hours to do so)

So all in all one week in, I am enjoying it. I'm still getting adjusted and still looking to meet more people I click with and I'm sure that will come with time. I think I'm gonna have to make a calendar because I just randomly signed up to go to a lot of events and whatnot. Tomorrow I'm headed to register for Korean classes in Seoul. The classes are once a week on either Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.

Oh yeah... the name of this blog has Seoul in it even though I am in a city called Suwon that is about 40 minutes away from Seoul. I would change it, but I don't want to...simple. Enjoy the pics...

More pictures

2009-04-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

So I really haven't taught yet. I've basically gone to several classes and introduced myself. I got my timetable today and it looks like I'll start Tuesday. I decided to make a powerpoint with facts about myself, Detroit, Michigan, etc and then afterwards have a short quiz for the students to take (a good idea for all you future esl teachers on the first day). Of course this is if your school gives you a computer.

I tell you I'm real fortunate (at least SO FAR lol) because everyone at my school have been helpful and very nice. The students are very shy at first but once you try to get them to ask you questions they open up a bit more. Today one of the students said I look like Will Smith LOL.

Also a thing I'm noticing is that my personality is real laid back and not talkative (ISFP on the Myerss Briggs Test) and I hate talking in front of people. But surprisingly, I'm quite calm in the classroom. Maybe because it's kids and not adults.

Here are some more pictures...oh I don't know what it is but all the boys are always ready to take pictures...they jump at the chance, but the girls run away, hide their faces lol.

Apartment Video

2009-04-17T02:32:00.000-07:00

For those that are interested....

Korea...first impressions

2009-04-16T06:21:00.000-07:00

So I've arrived. It's been 2 days since I've arrived and so much has happened.

One of the teachers at my school was there to help me on wednesday with getting my medical check and showing me around my neighborhood. We had a bite to eat at some restaurant down below in my building. It was fried shrimp and some type of fried potato along with some soup. It was pretty good. Unfortunately it was raining all day and we had to walk everywhere. I was able to see the school for the first time on Wednesday, but today was my first official day.

I met the principal and vice principal and I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't nervous. But everything seemed to go well and everywhere I walked throughout the school was filled with korean students smiling, waving, running away, etc. when I walked by. They were very excited to learn about me when I got into the classroom. I only went to two classes and talked for aobut 15 min in each one with them asking me questions such as

"DO you have a girlfriend?"
"Do you like korean food?"
"Do you think our teacher is beautiful?"

Too funny.

I also took the subway today for the first time because I had to find a converter for my american plug. The two student teachers at my school helped me find the correct bus but from there I was on my own...and after 4 hours, I finally made it back home. I didn't get lost per say, it was just me trying to make sure I was getting on the correct trains and buses. Some of that Korean I learned before coming here came in handy.

As for food, I tried kimchi and I have to say it is not for me. I made up my mind that I was going tot ry different foods while here, but my tastebuds are funny anyways. I don't like watermelon or sweet potato pie and I'm black so that should tell you somethin j/p

But even with that, I will still try new foods.

As for friends, nobody yet, but I'm meeting some people on Saturday who are headed up to Seoul. One of the people helped me know where to find a converter. Also later in the day I'm going to a game night at a church that I looked up before coming here. I just have to find out where it is lol.

So that's just a brief time of my time so far. I'll be back with a few pics and other stories as well. Peace.

Visiting the fam and Exciternous

2009-04-10T22:26:00.001-07:00

So I'm back from visiting the fam in West Virginia. Saw the Cousins, Aunt, and grandma (she came back home with me and my mom). It was really entertaining and funny listening to all of "the old heads" (I'm the youngest in the family) talking about relatives I had never known because I was born so late. I wish I could've met these people..I think lol. Some of those stories of whoopings back in the day make me question that j/p.

All in all it was good. Ate some good food and now I'm back in the D trying to get everything ready to be packed this weekend.

I think it's REALLY starting to set in that ok, I'm going to SOUTH KOREA. Over the Pacific...to a new country...a new continent and I am going to teach and live there for a year. It's a very weird feeling of excitement and nervousness, hence the title name of this post.

But I am ready and ready to face whatever life brings me and whatever God uses on this trip to grow me. Should be interesting.

Also lately in life other than Korea, I've been moving on and cutting people out of my life. Some voluntarily, some involuntarily. It's some relationships that I just have to let go of and problems. I'm not gonna say let go and let God, b/c that's not even in the bible and it's so cliche these days. So with that, this next chapter in life, I'm looking to make new friends that will last a lifetime even after my time in Korea is up...LET'S GO!!! Peace.

Changed date

2009-04-07T07:02:00.000-07:00

Ok so I wake up this morning not really ready to drive 6 hours, I check my email and I get an email saying that my school wants to change my flight to the 13th instead of the 11th because if I leave on the 11th, and come to school on the 13th, the kids will be on a field trip and they are afraid that I'll be lonely in the school.

Awwww...

lol...it kind of threw my schedule off a bit, but I get a little extra time to take care of some things, and I don't have to drive today because I'm tired.

Things I'll miss

2009-04-06T23:23:00.000-07:00

So I should be sleep right now as I have a road trip to West Virginia to say goodbye to fam, and pick up my grandma and bring her back. I'll go to sleep after this brief post. So what will I miss?

- Reese's cookies
- Church home
- Nick at Nite
- My car
- Favorite restaurants
- My bed
- Detroit activities in the summer
- Pistons games
- Tigers baseball
- Golf...I don't think I'll bring my clubs...extra luggage :(
- ESPN
- And of course, friends and family

Chicago and back...and LOST

2009-04-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

So the trip to Chicago was very interesting...let me break it down for you...

I planned to leave at 5 am (which would be 4am Chicago time) so I could to there about an hour and a half ahead of time. I left on time but it was raining and I hate driving in the rain. And to top it off, it was dark so of course that made things even more difficult. So I head off down I-94 West, and get to around Ann Arbor and somehow I got off 94. I don't know how but I did, and I ended up having to stop at a gas station for directions. I end up back on 94 and

Number of times lost: 1

So I continue on 94, it's still raining, but the sun is starting to rise and after about 3 hours, the rain let's up. I'm making great time actually and I arrive in Chitown at around 9am. I needed to find a post office first before I went to the building of the interview because I messed up the label for the envelope I was supposed to give them to mail my passport back to me. So I found that and then went off to find the building. I found it without a problem, but the problem was now trying to find parking. Traffic in Chicago is bad, and parking is even worse. So I finally find a reasonable parking garage, park my car, and I'm off back to the building where the interview is. Only thing is, I forgot which direction it was.

Number of times lost: 2

So I walk around for about 20 minutes and realized that I could actually be walking FURTHER away from the building. I decided to hail a cab and he got me there within 5 minutes for 6 dollars. I get there and I'm about 30 minutes early and there are 3 other people there waiting for their interviews. A half hour later, it's my turn and another guy came in with me. The Korean guy asked me and him simple questions like have you researched korean culture and why would you be a good teacher. It went by quickly.

So after the interview, I had to decide whether or not to stay over and get a hotel room, or drive back. I had only gotten 2 hours of sleep the night before and I was extremely tired. I wanted to find a cheap hotel room because my funds aren't exactly great right now. My mom's friend had given me the name of a hotel and the address. So I go off to find it yet I cannot find the street and I was sure I had seen it before.

Number of times lost: 3

I decided to do the cab thing again and ended up at the hotel. They were to expensive so the cab was pointless. I start walking around looking for other hotels and they are all expensive too. So I said forget it and said I would drive out of the city, stop at a rest stop, take a nap and then drive back. Great right?!! Well I couldn't remember where I parked my car. I'm walking all over trying to remember what the parking garage looked like.

Number of times lost: 4

I walk around for about a half hour when I decide to look at the ticket from the garage. Thank God the address was on it and I was able to find it. I pay the charge and leave the crowded downtown of Chicago. I wanted to take pictures, but I was just too tired. So I leave the city and I'm on 94 east. I'm hungry and decide to get some Wendy's and tale a nap in the parking lot of the welcome center next door. Two hours later I wake up and get back on the highway. I also needed gas so I got some about a half hour down the road. I get off, get my gas and get back on the road. Here is the funniest part to me. When coming from Chicago, you are going east. You're supposed to go into Indiana, then into Michigan. Well...I'm back on the freeway after getting gas, and 20 minutes later I see a sign that says "Wlecome to Illinois!"

Hold up.

Am I trippin? I should be seeing a sign that says welcome to Michigan!!

Number of times lost total in one day: 5

I realized I somehow got on the wrong on ramp after getting gas and ended up going west.

So anyways, I speed home, tired as ever, and get some rest after a long day.

I'm now waiting on approval of my visa and the date for my departure is the 11th. I said goodbye to my church family today and on Tuesday I'm back on the road to West Virginia this time to say goodbye to my aunt and cousins, and to pick my grandma up and bring her back to Detroit.

A lot to take care of before I leave.

Roadtrip!!

2009-04-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

So I received my visa number yesterday and I'm headed to Chicago tomorrow morning to head to the Korean Consulate to bring them all the paperwork they need. The interview is at 10:30 A.M, and from what I hear it's more of a formality than anything. It should take no longer than 15 minutes and then they will process my visa info (about 2-3 days), send me my passport and then I'm off to Korea!!!

I talked to my recruiter and gave her the date of the 15th as a date to leave so they are working on arranging the flight and getting my itinerary.

I tell though, if you plan on teaching in Korea, make sure you are sure about going because you will have to spend a couple hundred bucks getting everything done. Apostilles, background checks, sending documents overseas, etc, it adds up. Luckily I saved quite a bit of money from my last job say I'm thankful for that.

I've also got to get a couple other things done as well. I'll be headed to West Virginia next week to see the rest of my family (grandma, aunt, cousins). My grandma is 80 with a few health problems so I want to make sure I see her.

Tomorrow while I'm in Chitown, I'm gonna do a little sightseeing after the interview and try to find a theater so I can see Fast and Furious. So yeah I guess the countdown REALLY begins now.

Progress and Life

2009-03-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting here listening to "Bird" (japanese pop artist lol) with the NCAA toruney in the background, and just sitting here contemplating life.

The progress with teaching in Korea is almost complete. I mean if you would of told me a year ago I'd be trying to head to South Korea to teach, I would've looked at you like you were crazy. A year ago I was working vigorously in my senior art seminar trying to get my thesis and artwork done for graduation. I thought I was going to stay in Virginia, but came back home. Had a whole network of friends and now they are gone (loooooong story) Funny how much changes in just one year.

Here's the rundown of what's happened in the past month or so...

- I told you that I was working with Footprints Recruiting...well I guess they got tired of me being picky because they ditched me a couple of weeks ago. I really didn't care because I was becoming increasingly frustrated with them as they kept putting me in locations I didn't request and also they wanted to set me up with a school that has been known to have a bad rep. So I guess after turning that one down, they had enough of me...oh well.

- The frustration with them was why I also applied with another recruiter, teacheslkorea.com, and I have been more than pleased with them. It took awhile, but they found me a job...well two jobs actually. The first one was all set to go, but the school decided they wanted to hire someone who had already mailed their documents to Korea. So the person helping me, Shawna, set me up with an interview with Suwon Middle School and everything went well and that is the school that I will be teaching at once I arrive in Korea. They have received my documents and everything and said I should be headed over there between April 10th and the 15th. We'll see.

- Now I am waiting for them to send me my documents and visa number so I can go interview at the Korean Consulate in Chicago. It only takes about 15 minutes from what I've heard and they basically want to know your intentions and why you're coming to their country before they approve your visa. So once I complete the interview, I'll be on my way to Korea!! ...Lord Willing of course. It's funny I have no problem making plans or looking towards the future, but that scripture in James is always in the back of my mind, where it says "Do not say you will do this and that, or go here or there, for you do not know what tomorrow will bring"...which is true. The thing is, I can't say that all day after everything I plan to do, especially in conversations...I don't know...just sounds funny. But it is in the back of my mind.

So anyways, I've got so much stuff to take care of. I've got to buy a few clothing items and toiletry items. I have to notify my bank that I will be in Korea for a year so do not shut down my account if you see some charges from Korea.

I'm excited yet nervous at the same time. Kind of hard to explain. More like I'm excited but wow I'm really about to do this!! lol. Anyways, hopefully I'll be back sooner than later with another update...1

Almost there

2009-02-08T15:33:00.000-08:00

Almost there.

That's how I feel right now. I had my interview with a school over there (CDL or known as CDI by most in the past), and I'm waiting to hear if I'll be offered a contract so I can start the visa process. From the way the interview went, it looks like I will be offered a contract, but they just have to get all the details situated. So we'll see what happens. The good thing is, there are a lot of good schools so I'm not worried if I don't get accepted.

Anyways, some details of CDL...I had to write a brief essay on one of five topics they gave me. I decided to go with the nature nurture debate. Also the usual CDL contract has you work on Saturday with about 7 days of vacation. You can also chose between being paid hourly or with the monthly package. With the monthly package, your housing is chosen and already paid for. The pay is also around 2.2 million won (between 1800 and 2200 dollars a month if I'm not mistaken...according to the exchange rate of course). The hourly rate is about 30-40,000 won with you paying for your own housing from that. Usually people pick the hourly because you get paid more, and you get to go chose your own housing (they help you with this)

I chose to go with their new "April English" program, which I get weekends off, housing paid for, and 15 paid vacation days. I'll also be teaching the younger kids with more of a set curriculum. My schedule would also be 2:30 pm - 8:30 pm on MWF and until 9:30 p.m. on T and TH. I like this one because, I don't mind working with the younger kiddies, I would like to have my weekends to explore, and with me starting at 2:30 in the afternoon, I can sleep in late if need be and watch Pistons games on the internet (rofl...they would be starting usually around 10 or 11 am over there)

I'm not gonna lie, but I am concerned about the housing. I'm not a hard one to please. I lived in a dorm room for five years with a broken window, messed up heat and air, etc.... So I am all I am praying for is a clean animal free apartment lol. I knew most were going to be small when I signed up so it's no big deal for me, but the lil roaches and other foolishness is what I could not stand in college. In fact, it is common knowledge to ask to see pictures of your apartment before signing your contract so if you ever think about doing this, remember that.

So bam, that's where I'm at right now. Now that it's getting closer, excitement and nervousness are coming at the same time...kinda weird actually. I've heard horror stories of people who hated it, and great stories of people who liked it. Basically I've decided that there are two types of people.

- The one who goes over there with an open mind and understands there are going to be some bad days as well as good days, but overall ultimately enjoy the experience and meeting new people.

- The one who is spoiled who does not have an open mind and will be prone to complain about any and everything.

I've been on Dave's ESL Cafe Forum quite a bit, and you will find a lot of number twos over there. In fact, like another blogger that I read said, a lot of them are whites who are in the minority for the first time, and really make things bigger than they are.

But yeah, I've been thinking about my plan for life (even though God will probably derail that plan...actually i can guarantee He will), but that another entry. I'll be adding some more bloggers who are in Korea over to the left soon so look for those. Holla.

Transcipts arrive

2009-01-26T13:03:00.000-08:00

So I got my transcripts from HU today. The recruiting companies say you need three sealed transcripts, but I ordered five just for insurance. So now...

Transcripts - check
Authenticated background check - check
Authenticated degree copies - check
Passport - not here yet
Resume - check

My passport should arrive in about 2-4 more weeks...hoping for the 2 weeks of course. If it does get here that early, I may be leaving in February instead of March. I purposely told the recruiter that I wanted to leave in March because I wanted to be home for my bday. So we'll see what happens.

Getting paperwork straight

2009-01-23T15:31:00.001-08:00

So again to help any current or future readers thinking of teaching in South Korea, here is how I went about getting my background check and copies of my degree notarized and apostilled. Note that I live in Michigan and it could be different for your state.

So today I started off by going to the main police department downtown to get my background check. I got up kind of late so I didn't go until around 1.

So I get there and go to the floor where you get the checks done. Nobody is there so I'm right in line to get mine. Only thing is, they don't take debit cards :(

It costs 8 dollars and I only had 4 dollars of cash so I had to walk back outside into Greektown to find an ATM and take 20 dollars out. Mind you I'm parked at a meter with only 30 minutes left. So I head back to the Police Station and there's more people than before so I have to wait a little bit. All in all I get my check done in about 20 minutes which isn't bad and I was able to get back to my car with 6 minutes left on the parking meter. Take that meter maids!! HAHA.

So next is to get the check apostilled. I also had to get my degree copies apostilled as well. Take note that you can only get an apostille is you have gotten your document notarized first. I had my degree copies notarized already and I THOUGHT that my background check was as well.

So I head down to the Secretary of State to get the Apostilles and hey it wasn't crowded!! I'm helped right away and I get my degree copies apostilled and I try to get my background check apostilled but UH OH the lady tells me it's not notarized.

So darn. She tells me that the credit union down the hall does notarizing so I head down there. They tell me that they do notarizations but the lady who does them is out to lunch... grshhh. So I head to the Bank of America in the building. They don't notarize documents...only signatures. Grsshh. So then I head to the other credit union. They say the same thing.

So I had to suck it up and go back to where I got my degrees notarized (the UPS near my house). So after the 20 minutes to do that, I got back to the secretary of state and it's more crowded but it still only took me about 20 minutes.

So there you have it. Getting the background check is pretty simple and so is getting it notarized and apostilled. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer :)

The waiting game

2009-01-17T19:52:00.000-08:00

So now I play the waiting game. It was snowing like crazy today but I went to the Post office to get my passport sent off and UPS to get copies of my degree notarized. For people interested in teaching, schools ask for your original degree.

People I have talked to say that they always received them upon arriving in South Korea. I opted to send copies which have to be notarized, then apostilled (fancy word for legalize). I didn't want to send my original degree because IT TOOK 5 YEARS TO GET IT lol...and I'm not risking it getting damaged even though you can order a reissue.

So I sent my passport off and at the post office, the lady I was talking with said that her friend had a daughter that was teaching over there as well and said she loves it. So that was comforting.

Usually the passport takes 4-6 weeks but they said they've been coming back in 3 weeks so I'm praying that it does. I've also got to get a background check on Tuesday.

So once my passport comes in, I can go ahead with the process of getting my E2 Visa and choosing a school and also get a definite date for leaving. If my passport takes longer to come in, I'll be leaving probably early to mid March. If faster, I could be gone by late February (hey my bday is the 27th of Feb..I'm gettin old)

Also, what is up with the Pistons? They've lost 5 straight...anyways I'm out :)

Accepted!!

2009-01-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

Praise God the interview went well and I've been accepted to the Footprints Recruiting. I got the email and phone call today confirming it.

NOW

Everything is still not a go yet and I won't be able to find a school to teach at until I get a range of documents within a month. Here is what I now need to get taken care of:

- Get a passport (my own fault...I should've had one a long time ago)
- Get a criminal background check
- Get transcripts (sealed) from Hampton University (they bet not mess up like they always do!!)
- Get second degree from Hampton (I'm not sending my original!!)

Once I get these I then have to get an E-2 Visa. We will cross that bridge when we get to it. SO...for anyone thinking of teaching in South Korea, make sure you get all this stuff done ahead of time. I'm going to have to expedite my passport process to get it here within a month so that sucks that I have to pay the extra money, but no biggie.

So yessir I'm excited. Lord willing I'll be on the other side of the world in a few months. God is good. See yall.

Interview set

2009-01-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

So, the agency I've chosen to go with - Footprints Recruiting - reviewed my application a couple of days ago and sent me an email telling me to setup an interview time. So I called today and I will have a phone interview tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. EST (they are PST which is why it's so late.) So pray for me that everything goes well...ultimately, Lord your will be done. Be back whenever with an update.

Why teach in South Korea??

2009-01-05T16:11:00.001-08:00

One of the main questions I've been getting lately prior to writing this, is why teach in South Korea?? Here are some reasons:

1. The job market in the U.S. is horrible. I've been looking for jobs in Detroit for graphic design because I cannot afford the relocation cost to look out of state even though I've wanted to. The design market in Detroit is not that great so I've been forced to look for other jobs which I don't mind because I do have school loans to pay. It is pretty easy to get hired (still waiting on a response to my application)

2. Standard of living. Even though the economy has been done and the exchange rate has gone down, you can save easily $500-$1000 USD (depending on how much of a big spender you are..I'm not one). This is possible because your housing is paid for, your flight over and back (when your contract ends) is paid for, and the taxes are low. With all this paid for this leaves a lot of money to save and send back home (for me, I want to pay off a good chunk of school laons) or use in South Korea. Also consider that since the subway system literally goes everywhere (except the airport HA!), you won't have any gas to pay for or unexpected repairs on your car. If I were working here in the states at a 8,9,10 dollar an hour job (assuming I couldn't find a design job) I would be making about the same per month, only I would have all the expenses to pay for listed above.

3. The culture. I've always been interested in Japanese culture, but since the cost of living is high there, I hear that South Korea was just as good. Seoul is the second largest (bounces back and forth between 1st and 2nd). I also find it interesting that South Korea is 50% christian so I would also be interested with worshipping with christians from another part of the world. There are quite a few reformed churches around so if I make it over there, I'll be sure to check those out. Also there's nothing like actually living in another country for a year rather than just doing a "drive by" in a hotel, seeing the sights and leave in a week.

4. Travel and Opportunity. When I was in college, I was on the golf team and we did A LOT of traveling. Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. Even though we didn't travel outside the country, I enjoyed seeing the country. Once I graduated I wondered how long it would be before I would be able to travel again. I didn't have a job, and when I did get one, I would have to pay school loans and other expenses. Sure there maybe would be a weekend trip here and there but it would be coming out of my pocket and I wouldn't enjoy it as much. This opportunity provides free travel and housing for a year.

5. God's direction. The scripture in Proverbs which says acknowledge God in all your ways and He will direct your paths has been my favorite scripture the past 8 months. I truly believe that if you are saved, sanctified, suffering for His name, seeking Him daily in prayer, and reading of the Word, He will direct your steps. Also He will put desires in your heart (not selfish ones) to guide you. I've also always questioned why people say that whatever you have a talent for or are good at, do the opposite, because God wants you to rely on Him. I could never understand why God would give you talents, then tell you to throw them away and do something else (see parable of the talents). I definitely don't agree with going after selfish desires, but if have a talent or desire, use it to God's glory.

I've never heard of teaching in South Korea until the past two months and I believe God's direction led me to it. I never say I know this is what God wants me to do, because I don't. I've said that to myself so many times in the past and it turned out to be wrong. I now chose to walk by faith and know that He is with me wherever I go and that if I make decisions with Him in mind, it's cool. I also like this scripture:

Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do, whether by speech or action, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Plus I wouldn't mind teaching kids. It actually runs in the fam.

6. Plain and simple, I need a job that is more than just paying the bills if you know what I mean. I figure if I'm going to sit here in Detroit and work a temp job I know I'm going to get tired of soon enough, and living paycheck to paycheck, I might as well go teach overseas in a pretty westernized country with paid housing and a paid ticket over there.

All in all, when I go over there (Lord willing), I will do a lot of planning for the future. I really think this opportunity creates a bridge to do that while at the same time having a time in life that I will remember. I also want to get off the North American continent for once!!

So yeah, again this blog follows the process from the very beginning to the end. I've sent in my application, and waiting on this first step. Be back soon with an update. God bless.

New Journey...South Korea

2009-01-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

So it's been about 8 months since I graduated from Hampton University. It took me 5 YEARS, mainly because I could not chose a major in my first two years. I was an architect major freshman year...not for me...too technical. Soph year I was a Computer Information Systems Major....not for me...too boring and technical. So finally in junior year I chose graphic design (didn't even know they had this program until then).

So I finally graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts with an emphasis in graphic design and now I was on may way in the world!! yeah!! (end sarcasm)

People really need to stop acting like once you graduate from college, a job will just fall into your hands because you have a degree. Yes it can help you get a job over someone who doesn't but it's not guaranteed right away. Also most jobs are now requiring a Master's degree (not graphic design)

So this summer was a very trying time in trying to find work in which I really had to rely on God more than ever and although it was hard at times, I knew God would direct my steps. After 3 months of looking I finally found my first design job at Fathead (look em up). It was a contracted job for 3 months and it was the perfect entry level job. 20 dollars an hour although no benefits because it was contracted. I was able to save quite a bit of money for these 3 months.

So after my contract was up, I was hoping they would hire me full time, but they did not have any room on staff for full time. So it was back to job searching. Not only was I looking for design jobs, but other jobs like Verizon, Wal Mart, etc. I kid you not I couldn't even get hired for these jobs. I was like God what is going on? lol. But maybe the job market is THAT bad.

Anyways, in the midst of job searching I came across a friend on facebook (although it was one of those friends that I've never met in my life...you know those type of facebook freinds...everybody has em!!) and saw that she had some pictures up from Korea. So it peaked my interest and come to find out she was teaching over there so I messaged her and ashed her about it. This is when I started researching and unltimately came to the conclusion that it is actually a great opportunity to travel, see a new culture, and teach (I've thought about teaching before)

So I've applied and now the journey hopefully begins.

I've started this blog mainly to follow my progress from now until I hopefully finish on my next journey I am about to embark on. First I think it will be cool to look back a year or so from now and see the change and how much progress I've made. Second, I'll use this blog when I get to my destination to help others who may be thinking of going as well. I've been reading a lot of blogs of people who are over there now and their experience has really helped me get a picture of what to expect (good and bad).

So umm yeah...keep reading and bookmark lol.