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!

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.

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.

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.

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!