Korean Couples

So being over here single, I can't help but notice the couples walking around. I think it's hilarious that they will wear the same exact outfits down to the shoes. They wear the same shirts, pants, and shoes. And the majority of the time, the men carry the girl's purse. It makes for quite a show and I giggle as I walk around. =)

Koala Class

Each class at Franciscan School has an animal name. Our class is the Koala class. It seems that the children in my class enjoy finding insects on the playground. So far, we've found a fuzzy caterpillar that we named Koala (of course) and some kind of flying bug that I'm not familiar with.

This particular bug caused a stir as it flew at one of my students, which caused him to fall off his bike and begin to start crying. It was a traumatic time for him.

In an effort to organize my classroom, I decorated with koalas and I tried to make eucalyptus trees for the koalas to sit in.

My Classroom

I made it through the first week! I had so much fun with the kids. I wasn't prepared for the age difference, but I'm adapting well. It's amazing to me how the kids I teach are just as international as I am right now. Here are some pictures of the progress in my classroom and some pics with kiddos.

Differences

T hese are the keys to my apartment. Crazy! I can barely figure them out. I just keep turning until it fits. =)


The past couple of days I've been a tourist just following along. I went to Busan with my mom and dad to see my grandmother and aunt and her family. It was amazing, however, the differences between a 'country' city and Seoul are huge! So even though Busan is as modern as any other city, it was just different.


Seoul is an amazing metropolitan city. I do not like the traffic or driving/parking laws, but it works for them. This has not changed in the past 15 years since I've been here. The types of cars, though, have changed. Lots of BMWs, Mercs, Lexus, and Ferraris around here now......I remember the days of KIA and Daewoo. Samsung makes a car now also and that's crazy to me. The city is bustling, but only after 9 or 10 am until the early morning hours of 2 and 3. Their rush hour begins around 8 at night and lasts through 11 pm.


I can handle the differences, but not the staring. I've realized that people are going to want to look at Helena, and then me to figure out why we look kinda Korean. Either way, when you stare them right back in the eye, they tend to look away faster. So many older men have reached out to touch Helena's hair, and the women will just grab her hand or face and tell her how pretty she is. She's handling it very well, she's such a good natured kid, but we'll see how long it lasts.

We made it!

Through a very difficult last week in the states, we made it to Seoul with practically zero problems. I had some help getting settled into my new apartment. Rosa, ever-amazing boss, brought over some essentials and made the beds before I arrived. My mom and dad spent the entire ration amount at the PX/Comissary getting me familiar foods to help Helena and I transition. The street I live on has a million restaurants, so I know I won't go hungry. (There's even an Italian restaurant with promises of tiramisu!!!)

My apartment is awesome! There are some definite changes that I have to get used to, but it's amazing and already feels like home! Our first day was spent registering my parent's miltary I.Ds and getting ration control cards, and at the end of it all, I wasn't allowed anywhere except for just on post....so I hung around the food court catching up on emails while my parents did all the shopping for me. Then we braved the storm and took the subway to my Samchun's apartment across town. *Note to self-take a stroller so when Helena falls asleep, I won't have to carry her up all those stairs and in the rain while trying to support her and an umbrella at the same time.

When internet is all set up and I have the correct adapters, I will be better at posting as well as a little more in detail. I'm running off borrowed power here, while I was waiting for my parents, I plugged in at the food court and it's slowly running down.

Just one fun story before I go this time: the snack on the flight from Tokyo to Seoul. It was an evening flight, leaving Tokyo around 4 p.m. and supposed to arrive in Seoul/Incheon airport around 7:55 p.m. This must be their idea of a breakfast sandwich....two white slices of bread on the outside.....peppered bacon on on side, wheat slice of bread in the middle, egg, cheese, and butter on the other side. It was very entertaining to watch Helena pick this apart and not eat it.

Lots and lots of things that are different for me, but I'm ready to embrace them. Bring it on! Let's see what this new life has for me!

Visa Approved!

I just heard that my Visa has been approved, now awaiting my visa #. Then I'll have to shoot off my passports to the consulate in Seattle...I wonder if I can make a trip up there .....I won't have time, I'll just have to FedEx it. Either way, things on the Korea side are finishing up, now to take care of things on this side. Seoul! Here I come!

Let the freaking out commense....

Not that I'm not so excited! I can't wait to be in Korea already. I would leave today if I could. I have so much to worry about at home though.......what am I going to do with my house? It seems doubtful that even though I've had the house on the market since November anyway, that anyone will make an offer. So, I'll have to resort to renting it out...but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. Should I hire a company to rent it out? I don't even know if anyone will rent this place for the price that I need to pay the mortgage on it. I have to get a storage unit.. even though my parents are being generous about letting me keep some stuff at their house there's no way that I could fit my house into theirs. That's another expense that I'll have to fork money over for when I'm over there. I just have so much to consider and do before I leave. Hopefully the husband will be able to find a roommate for the 3 months I'm gone before him and then that person can find a roommate after he leaves in November. Why are storage units so expensice anyway?

Move Along

Things are definitely in motion! I have passports on their way; should be here in about 2 weeks. My criminal background check should be here by next week...so I can get the apostille sent out. As soon as those are here the ball really will be moving!! Wahoo!

Reasoning

So for those of you who do not know, I have run into unfortunate positions with the schools I've been working in. For some reason, I get really excited about the part-time positions that I can specialize in. For example; reading specialist and G/T-Honors Teacher have been two very wonderful positions that I have enjoyed immensely. However, these are the positions that tend to get cut first when numbers in enrollment go down or there's a budget crisis. So for the school year of 2009-2010 I found myself without a job again. An opportunity came up through friend of a friend sort of thing and I found myself contemplating on whether I could got to Korea for a year or so to teach over there. Very gratefully, I find myself preparing to go teach preschool/jr. Kdg. class at an English speaking international school. This means that I will still be teaching content and not just English. I'm very excited about this. Helena will be attending the school that I teach at and my hubbers Dan/Doc (whatever you call him) will be a stay at home dad. He's very excited about the time he'll get to spend with Helena while I'm still working or tutoring. This the the reason for the blog...to keep my peeps updated and informed while I'm away, espescially for those who don't follow Facebook or Twitter. :p I'll be posting updates about my time leading up to and through the time I am in Korea as well as posting pics.

Endless Lists

As of now, I need to get several things in order. I will be taking 2 half days to get things rolling. My family and I need to get passports, but it's almost impossible to find the same time together. This is one of the reasons I will be so happy when we are in Korea. My schedule will be the only one we have to work around. As of now, I will be going to get criminal background checks, apostilles, and passports. Then I will start looking at plane tickets.

I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake. ~Rene Descartes