Playing in Peyongtaek

We have been making trips to Pyongtaek rather frequently. Its so nice having Chris, Katelan and Chase so close to us! Sometimes I forget I’m in South Korea because I get to see my friends from WSU so often. On Thursday night we went out for dinner in Pyongtaek and ended up staying out and missing the last subway back to Dongtan so we had to wake up at 6am, after about 4 hours of sleep, and taking the first subway back to get to work on time.

We weren’t too worried about being tired all day because we knew we didn't have classes to teach that day, but it was still rough. I was so tired from the night before, all I wanted to do was crawl under my desk and take a long nap, but my classroom was empty, so I had no time to waste. It was sorta funny that I was getting paid to do arts and crafts, but I hate arts and crafts, so I wasn't happy about it. Everyone else is moving so much faster than I am and almost done setting up their entire classroom, but mine is bare and empty. I kept telling myself that it wasn't a big deal because I have weeks to fill the walls with activities my students complete in class, or I can just finish later, but I cant help but think about how my new students will react to such a boring classroom. I want my kids to come in and be so excited about being in my class. I think the spaceship theme was a bad idea; cutting out stars and spaceships gets pretty damn monotonous! When it is all done, I think it will look great though. I’ll be sure to post some pictures up when my classroom is more put together.

We decided to stay in on Friday night to save some money and let our bodies rest from the long week. But on Saturday we packed over-night bags to take to Pyongtaek. We were all heading up to Seoul together, and wanted to have a Sunday-Funday, so we came prepared. We went out in Hongdae to a few different places. It was Andrew’s first time in Seoul so we wanted to show him a good time- I think we were pretty successful! After the bars, we decided to go out for some food. Andrew ended up flirty with a little Korean girl for a while and she decided to buy all of our dinner. I knew we became friends with Andy for a reason ;-) We headed back to Pyongtaek at 5am but at some point Katelan and I got left behind, alone to navigate this giant city! We ended up getting off at the wrong spot, walking around for a bit, then heading back to the subway to buy train tickets The train wasn't leaving for another 45 minutes, which sounds miserable when its already 6:45am, but it gave Katelan and I a chance to get some Duncan Donuts and sit and chat for a bit. I’ve really missed having such a great friend around all the time. I can talk to her about anything, and she knows me so well, so she understands and offers a good point of view ☺ As soon as Katelan and I got on the train we passed out, mid- conversation.

We finally made it back to her apartment at 8:30am. I felt bad for coming in and seeing Andrew asleep on the floor, and Tia on the couch, but I was feeling pretty excited to snuggle up in Katelan’s big comfy bed!! We only slept for about 3 hours before we were woken up by Katie, Chase, Andrew and Tia. It was time for McDonalds and Sunday Funday to begin! This was my first time at McDonalds in forever! The menu overall the same as it is in the States but included things like kimchi and shrimp sandwiches.

Sunday Funday was a blast! We just hung out, watched some funny videos, danced around, laughed and told jokes, nothing too out of the ordinary. Later on we went to a restaurant for some food and beer. The chicken we ordered was like fire in your mouth. I forced Andrew to each some and his reaction was priceless! Tia and I were really upset that we left the camera at home because he was huffing and puffing, looking like he was going to cry and making hilarious faces. I think you had to be there, but it was probably one of the funniest things I have seen in months!! They should put a warning on their chicken!

The day after Sunday Funday was a not-so-fun Monday! Everyone went back to Dongtan, but I Katelan and I had plans to get her hair cut so I wanted to stick around. We watched 3 movies and Skyped with her mom before we finally got up to get her hair cut. The hair salons here are so nice and so cheap. They brought me candy and juice and I wasn't even the customer. A woman who spoke pretty good English came over to talk to me while I waited, asking me where I was from and if I was in the military. Apparently she owns a nail salon in Songtan, where a lot of militants stay, so she is used to seeing a lot of English speaking people. While I was at the salon with Katelan, I watched a girl get extensions, another getting her hair permanently straightened, and guy getting a perm. It was all pretty interesting to me- another example of how much Korean’s value good appearances. Katelan’s hair turned out great! She chopped off about 6 inches! She looks more mature and trendy now. I like it a lot!

I received a phone call from Katie around 4 saying that I needed to hurry up and get to work, so after Katelan cut her hair, I went straight back to Dongtan so I could spend my day off getting prepared for my next few weeks of ciaos and hell. This official transition to LCI is going to be such a pain!!! I’ll let you know how it goes, if I ever get the extra time. AGGGG

Graduation Tears, Congratulation Cheers

This week has been a crazy busy week of babysitting our students as we practiced and prepared for graduation. Now my babies are gone! Everyday we have been practicing our student’s speeches that they had to say at their graduation yesterday. I get a little chocked up every time I hear them say their speech because I am just so proud of them. Every time I correct them or tell them sentences to say slower or more clearly, they always come back having it down perfectly. Makes me so proud!! It blows my mind how much the students are required to memorize for the graduation! My students have to memories a one-minute speech, a story, and songs. The stories they have to memorize are entire children’s books. For example, Brian is telling the story If you give a Mouse a Cookie, and Bebe is telling Daddy, Bring me the Moon. These are exactly the shortest stories, especially when they are in a second language!

My class is so smart; I am going to miss them so much! I thought I was going to miss Bryan the most, but he’s been acting up and giving me a lot of attitude these past 3 days, so I’m not sure how much I like him anymore. Lol I am going to miss June so much, though! He is just so darn small and cute! He is always climbing on me and making silly faces at me, he never fails to put me in a better mood! Every morning when I wake up I don't want to go to work, but as soon as I get around all the students, I can’t help but smile and enjoy my day. I have absolutely loved getting to know them and play with them! I'm so sad that they are gone now!! But I am happy that graduation is finally over. This week has been hectic, trying to keep a handle a room full of 6 and 7 year olds. I mean you can only play Simon Says so many times before you run out of things to do. However, I did enjoy helping them get dressed and ready for the graduation ceremony. All of the students looked adorable in their dresses and mini tuxedos. My favorite part of graduation is the adorable songs the kids sing at the very end. The entire graduating class, about 30 students, sing really sweet songs such as, Mommy I Love You, and Graduation Tears, Congratulation Cheers- truly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! It’s funny to see the one that don't sing at all, and others that scream it as loud as they can. The fun part is when they throw their caps up into the air at the very end of the final song, like we do for a high school or college graduation.

Seoul = No sleep!

I cut my bangs! I am now officially Asian! Lol I have been feeling the need to do something bold, something I would never do if I were back at home. Cutting my bangs was the first thing I could think of that wasn't permanent or involved me changing my hair color. I already feel like I am doing something drastic by coming to South Korea for a year, but it wasn't enough, apparently. Amy, another teacher at LCI, offered to take me to the same place she went to get her hair cut, which was really nice. I knew it was going to be a challenge for me to communicate to them what I wanted to get, so I brought a picture to show the hair stylist. She was incredibly nervous to cut my hair because she didn't want to cut too much, or thought I didn't understand what I was getting myself into. Fortunately the woman sitting in the chair next to me spoke a little bit of English, so she could translate the hair stylist for me. Cutting my bangs was only 3,000 won! I like how they turned out, but they are a huge pain in the ass and take up extra time in the morning that I could be saving for my precious sleep! ;-)

I finally got a cell phone this week! Not that I have any real purpose for it, unless I get lost somewhere. I don't see myself using it too much since I'm always with at least one friend at all times. Maybe that will change though…

It was Michelle’s birthday on Friday, so her and her friends invited Katie, Tia and I to celebrate with them. We met up at Alia and Michelle’s apartment to hang out for a bit before heading to Suwon. Their apartment was about 3 times bigger than mine, I was pretty jealous! They had a huge living room area, 3 bedrooms, a large kitchen, a huge bathroom with a normal shower and a laundry room. It put mine to shame!!! I'm happy to be living alone though, so I guess that is the trade off. We played a few “get to know you” games first, which were hilarious!! All of the girls have a great sense of humor, cracking jokes and saying inappropriate things that we all got a good laugh from. I definitely see us hanging out with these girls on a regular basis, thank goodness they are all living in Dongtan too!

We took 2 cabs to Suwon and walked around for a while before deciding on going to a club called Tao- easy for me to remember because it is the name of my favorite club in Vegas. It was the first club we have been to while being here in South Korea, and it didn't disappoint! The lights were bright and wild and the crowd was full of Koreans. This is probably what I love most about going out in Korea, you can never get lost because I have red hair and my friends are blonde, so you can spot them from a mile away! Alia and Michelle lead us up to an area where we could dance on the stage. They played great music and we were SO happy we decided to go out tonight! Katie was like a kid in a candy store- ecstatic about everything that was going on around here. I loved watching her excitement, but eventually we had to leave early because we worked at 10am yesterday (Saturday) ☹

Yesterday was the orientation for the parents of the new students that will be at LCI, beginning on March 2nd. We have been cramming all week to teach our classes and set up our classrooms! I was also busy trying to complete my Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate, so I wasn't as prepared as the other teachers were. I had to bring a bunch of art and crafts home so I could finish my Welcome sign for my door. By the time the orientation started, I only had a fraction of my room complete, while other teachers were much farther along. Other than working on our classrooms, we had to introduce ourselves to the parents at each of the four orientation times. This consisted of all of the teachers running across the street to the Brown English Language School and standing in front of about 200 parents and students for 3 minutes, then running back to LCI to hangout for 2 hours until the next orientation. It was incredibly boring and unproductive! But the worst part was that we weren’t getting paid!! We worked ALL day on a Saturday with no pay! I strongly believe in overtime pay, so I was NOT happy about this! But we made it through by keeping in mind that it was Sarah’s birthday and had a fabulous night out in Seoul to look forward to!

While we were getting ready to go out in Seoul for Sarah’s 24th birthday (Katie, Tia and I are the babies of the group), the new boy, Andrew, arrived!!! There are only female teachers left now that Kevin and Daniel are gone, so we were all looking forward to the new boy coming! I only spoke to him briefly, but he seems like a really friendly, fun guy and I cant wait to see what the new dynamic will be. His room is in between mine, Katie ‘s and Tia’s apartments. It is interesting to think about how this complete stranger could be one of my best friends in only a few short months. He doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact that he’s surrounded by girls every day, he said, “It could be worse”. Hahaha seems like a funny guy, too. We invited him out to Seoul with us, but he ended up sleeping through the night – which turned out to be to his benefit ‘cause last nights trek home was insane!!!

A bunch of us left for Seoul at around 9pm. We started at cute Irish pub that was really expensive, so we only stayed for one drink. Sarah’s Korean boyfriend and his friend Jake came to celebrate with us, which was great because they are both so nice. Jake and I spent a lot of time trying to teach each other the simplest phrases- He taught me some Korean and I taught him some basic Italian and Spanish, he thought I was a genius! Haha After the Irish pub and one other bar, we headed to an area of Seoul called Hongdae. Hongdae has a lot of bigger clubs where most of the Koreans go. We had to pay a 15,000 won cover, but it was worth every penny! It was huge and full of people and great music. We danced for hours and met some really fun people. A danced near a few Korean guys and they loved watching me dance and jump up and down. We would make faces and laugh at each other, it was pretty entertaining! At some point we met a few guys who spoke English and they happened to be from Tacoma, of all places! I was SO excited! How random is it to be in Seoul and meet people who live 20 minutes away from you in the US?!?! Jake, my new Korean tutor ☺, must have received some mix signals because he was following me around all night, I played it friendly, but it was a little awkward. He even grabbed my purse to hold it for me. I'm not the kind of girl that likes it when people hold onto my stuff or pay for me, but Lyla explained to me that all Korean guys hold the purse of the girl they like because it shows other guys that you have a woman. Nice little fun fact!

Eventually we were all exhausted from dancing and decided it was time to head back home because it was 5am, but the subway didn't open until 6am and we didn't want to pay for a cab back to Dongtan. To pass the time we went to a little restaurant to eat some food. When 6am rolled around we walked to the subway station, freezing and feet aching! Little did we know that from Hongdae it takes 3 different subway transfers just to get to Itewon, THEN you have to walk to the bus stop to take the hour-long bus ride to Dongtan. During the 3 long subway rides we would take naps and somehow wake up for our stop and moan about how cold we were and how bad our feet hurt. The frigid weather and walking in 4-inch heels was unbearable by the time we made it to the bus stop. Tia was pissed!! The bus finally picked us up at 7:30 am, when the sun was out and people were wondering the streets starting their day. It was miserable!!! We slept the whole way to Dongtan. We arrived in Dongtan at 8:30 at this point we were almost in tears because we were so tired, cold, and wanted to take our heels off. We finally made it home at 9am- 12 hours after leaving!!! The night was incredible, but the 4 hour trek home with never be forgotten, or missed! Now we are positive that the cost of the cab home is worth every penny!!!

Today we slept until 5pm and spent the whole day watching TV, and now bloging. Oh, but I FINALLY figured out how to use the laundry machine, after 2 weeks and translation of the user guide by Lyla- our little Korean savior ;-).

My Own Classes!

My babies:





I’ve been taking over for Kevin these past two days, teaching my own classes. It took little or no time at all for the students to warm up to me, now when they see me they scream and yell my name – Bri Teacher, Brianna Teacher. Some of them come run with and jump, climb or just me a hug. This one little boy, June, in my Pluto class loves it when I pick him up and making animal noises for him to guess what animal I am supposed to be. Just always puts a big smile on my face, but today he decided to climb onto my shoulders, which I think is cute and fun, but I get really nervous that I will drop him! That would suck!! Lol

Kevin didn't give me any instruction on how to what to do with each of this classes, so I usually just play with the students for the first ten minutes then get them to settle down so they can actually learn something. I feel like I have pretty good command over the classes I teach. I find it effective to bribe them with stamps or say “zip!”, the students will take their hand and act as if they are zipping their mouths. I say “lock”, and they pretend to lock their mouths shut, then I take their keys. They have fun with this and it gets the classroom quite!! Pluto class is my favorite because I spend the most time with them and they are pretty smart so it is easy for me to teach them. The kids across the street at Brown English Language School (LCI isn’t officially open until March 1st so we are in a weird transitional period that required us to run from building to building between classes) are a completely different story! They barely understand what I say and some of the girls even glare and make fun of me – not in a nice way. It is interesting to be a teacher and having your own array of students that I noticed in my classes at a student. I have the sweet kids, class clowns, smart student, slower students, problem children, name it.. I have one in my classes! It is getting very close to graduation so I have been really easy with my youngest classes at Brown, letting them play games, watch educational DVD’s and listen to me read them simple stories. Today I read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie – one of my favorites growing up ☺

After class today we went out to celebrate Ta-Leah’s 10-month anniversary of being in South Korea. Any excuse for all of us to get together and go out to dinner, I guess. We took the bus and then a subway to Suwon for some Indian food that everyone has been raving about. Unfortunately they were closed because they are leaving for India tomorrow- imagine that! Haha We decided to walk around Suwon for a bit until we could agree on a place to eat, this become quite the task when you’re in a group of 9 people with different allergies and food preferences! We ended up at a Korean BBQ restaurant and the food was phenomenal! A bit spicy, but I am beginning to get used to that! We ordered some type of chicken stew that had noodles, onions, rice paddies, sweet potatoes, spinach and an array of other vegetables in it. We are all very satisfied!

Once we were stuffed with all of the food we could stomach. We walked around Suwon to shop a bit. I didn't end up buying anything but I enjoyed the experience. Being in Suwon really felt like being in Korea. The bright lights, huge signs with Korean symbols, side streets filled with little shops and chatter in a language that fascinates me… Before I left the US, my friend Brittany (my BFF from Roma) asked me if I would be wearing kimonos in Korea, and I have to mention that Koreans (or many Asians) are some of the best dressed people I have ever seen. They wear bold, funky clothes, each with their own unique spin on today’s fashion – from classic to outrageous! Clearly years ahead of the US. I am looking forward to adopting some this saucy style and coming home with suitcases of fabulous shoes, dresses and bags!

We took the bus home from Suwon; I was taking mental notes of the bus numbers and bus stops for future references. I had a fun day today, but now I am exhausted. Night-night

My Korean Valentine's Day

Cheers-ing to Tanya


My Valetine's

No school today! We had the day off because this weekend was the Lunar New Year, one of the many Korean Holidays I can look forward to. It has been a pretty good first weekend, however, it was not as amazing as I anticipated. The boys, Kevin and Daniel, left Korea on Saturday morning. It was sad to say goodbye because they made this week so much fun, and having more familiar faces around was nice. We all agreed that it would have been such a blast if we showed up a few months early. I'll get over it though...They are heading to Vietnam for a week, and then they have a trip planned to Cambodia. I hope I have enough money saved up to travel around Asia for a few weeks once my contracted is completed! Katie, Tia and I went to say goodbye to Kevin and Daniel this morning, then we picked up a bunch of their stuff. I picked up an iron, shelves, teapot, broom and some hangers. We still need a ton more stuff though!!!

Saturday night we went to Seoul with the other girls from LCI. We decided to go out in an area called Itaewon, which is the main area or district that many foreigners go to hang out. We walked into a bar and I was shocked to see that it was filled with white people. It consisted of mostly military men that are stationed in Seoul. Too bad I’m not into military men ;-) The bar was fun and it was nice to be able to have conversations with people who spoke English, but as I mentioned before, I am looking for more of a cultural experience. I want to be where all the Korean’s are, seeing what the word “nightlife” means to them. Walking around Seoul was exciting! I loved seeing Katie as happy as she was. This is her first foreign experience, so her eyes light up with excitement as she sees all of these new things in this big city. We were talking down the street feeling on top of the world, even though we weren't actually DOING anything. This is the sort of stuff I live for. I love watching the Korean's, seeing the bright light and new, interesting things!

For Valentine's Day we relaxed most of the day before heading to Pyongtaek to see Chase. I brought the plastic, red, heart champagne glasses that Tanya and I bought together last year. I miss Tanya everyday, so I thought it would be nice to have her as our Valentine and cheers to her with the glasses we bought together... Chase, Katie, Tia and I just hung out in Chase and Katelan's amazing, big apartment for a few hours before we met of with Chris and another one of Chase's friends at Garten Beir. We played some games for a few hours, drank some Soju before heading back to Chase's place to sleep. The subway and busses stop running at 11pm, so we didnt make it. Luckily Katelan's bed was available, so we had a place to sleep. The ride home the next day was hilarious because we were wearing the clothes from the day before and everyone was staring at us, a little more than the usual. I guess you had to be there, but for us it is just another awkward adventure to laugh at. Overall, Valentine's Day was pretty unromantic! I kept thinking about how I spent my past two Valentine's Days. In Roma, exploring the most spectacular city in the world with my Italian boyfriend Massi, and cooking, decorating and getting all cheesy/cliché for our boys with Tanya last year. Nothing can top either of those...

We spent today hanging out and relaxing, happy not to be at work. Tia made Katie and I dinner while we watched Fried Green Tomatoes. It's an older movie, but now one of my favorites. I highly recommend it if you haven't already seen it! I had the chance to Skype with Joe, Addy and Evan, which was MMM-azing!!! I always love getting to talk to my friends from home! It makes being so far away much more bearable! I just hope my friends from home don’t get too used to me being gone and forget about me!! I also had some time to set up my room and unpack. I am still missing furniture and some other necessities, but I was relieved to have my clothes hung up, and my bathroom and kitchen organized. I can't wait until I am all settled in and have a regular routine. I wish I had more time to sightsee and explore the city, but I have a year for that I guess. Once we get back on the 5th, we will be joining a gym and doing yoga, I'm excited for that too! Right now I am just looking forward to the weeks ahead and getting PAID! haha

Wow! I am SO tired! Yesterday was hectic! I had to teach Rhonda's classes all alone today and I have never met any of the students before, so they were nervous, shy and just starred at me when I tried to talk to them. Luckily it was science day, so I just had to slooowly and clearly give instructions on how to make a clock, and try to have a conversation about clocks... what shapes they come it, why they are important.. blah, blah. I really want my students to learn, so I move really slowly and try to get them to understand and talk as much as possible. I notice that some of the other teachers just give the students answers or just show them the project and do nothing for the rest of the period, but I don’t want to be like that. I had four periods of science, and the last two I slacked off and decided to combine with Daniel's classes so we could work together and talk about Korea for a bit. As frustrating as it was to be just thrown into teaching today without any prior instructions, time flew by! I was pretty sick of sitting in the back of the classroom and watching someone else teach. I was told that I would be taking over Kevin's classes starting on Monday, which I am pretty happy about. His students are much warmer to me and play with me. They call me names and make fun of me a lot, but I just do it back- it's pretty entertaining. I never thought I would like kids so much!

Last night we went out for Kevin and Daniels last night in Dongtan. We went to a big bar where there were mostly Koreans, which I appreciated. I don't want to be the American who goes to a foreign country just to hang out with other Americans. The coolest part about this bar, and many other nice bars and restaurants in Korea is that at the end of each table, there is a button you can push, and your server will be there in a minute or less sometimes. I bet the servers in the US would kill their owners if they put something like that in their bar or restaurant! In Korea, you can literally yell for your server to "come here" -"oggy-yo!" and it isn't considered rude! I thought that was interesting. All of Kevin and Daniel's friends came to hang out with us. They are all so great and also live here in Dongtan, which is exciting, so we can hang out people other than the LCI teachers we see everyday. It's been pretty easy to make new friends here, the girls where so nice and excited to have us here. What I love most about meeting people in foreign countries is having something in common with them. We all came here to see the world and gain new experiences, so we all have some sort of common ground. Aliah was extremely close with Daniel and Kevin while they were here, she is sad to have them leave, but I think we will adopt her and one of our closest friends… ;-)

Later, we went to a different bar that had darts and billiards for the boys to play, but I was just anticipating seeing Chase when he showed up! I screamed and jumped on Katelan when I saw that she came too!!!! Chase gave me a huge hug, picked me up and swung me around. I can't even describe how happy I was to see them and to have them here with me for the next 7 months! I have a lot to look forward too! I spent most of the night talking and catching up with Katelan and laughing with Tia. It was a great night; I can't wait for more just like them!

Tonight we are heading to Seoul to go out for the first time, I hear amazing things about Seoul, should be another fun adventure! :-)

Orientation and The Outback Steakhouse

Yesterday Katie, Tia and I went to an LCI orientation in Seoul so we could learn more about how the new school will work in the beginning of March. We sat in classes to observe the current teacher, yet again :-/ It was much different from how I have seen Brown work these past few days! The students have a much higher vocabulary and understand English a lot better than the Brown students! I was blown away! I was really excited to see the teachers with their own classroom and own students, versus switching students each period. I will be able to get to know my students much better and understand their learning process in order to help them learn better. I love how I actually feel like I am making a difference in these children’s lives! I was joking with Tia and Katie, saying that my kids with me the smartest by graduation! Katie says hers will be the cutest. Hahaha.

After the orientation, Jade drove us to Suwon to the Outback Steakhouse for Daniel and Kevin’s going away dinner. Jade was paying, so we could order ANYTHING we wanted! I ordered a big steak with coconut onion rings- it was delicious! It was a blast to have everyone we work with all together in one place. I’ve especially enjoyed getting to know the Korean teacher we work with. It’s difficult to communicate with them sometimes, but they are so sweet and laugh a lot. Daniel and Kevin told us that we had to go out with the Korean teachers sometimes because they are so much fun outside of the work setting.

Today was a lot of fun, I am super nervous for tomorrow though! I have to teach all of Rhonda’s classes so she can go to the LCI orientation; I have NO clue what to do in any of the classes!!! We’ll see what happens…

Bri Teacher

Today I got to teach a class all by myself!!! I was assigned to follow Kevin around today, and the class I taught were the same students Kevin taught the period before, so the kids already knew me, which made it much easier! When class started, I bribed them to behave by offering stickers for those who behaved and were quiet. The students are so smart, I barely needed to help them! When Kevin was teaching them, they were loud and obnoxious, but they were so great for me! I was impressed! When they were done with their assignment, I asked them to stand in a straight line and wait for me to check their work. If they did a problem wrong, I would walk them through it until they got it right, and give them a BIG star on their page when they were done. I let them pick the crayon color for their star and tell me how big they wanted their star… they loved it, and every boy wanted a bigger star than the one before. It was so fun! I couldn't wait to see Katie and Tia to tell them how cool it was to teach my own class. I really look forward to having my own students and them yelling “Bri Teacher” all of the time. It just makes my day! Today a little boy said “Bri Teacher is talk fast” and later a girl said, “Bri Teacher is skinny head”. It cracks me up how blunt kids are! Kevin and Daniel told us that we can wear whatever we want and we don't have to dress up, which I think is amazing ‘cause I love my T-shirts, jeans and converse, but all of the Korean teachers are so dressed up! They were dresses everyday with the cutest accessories, and hair and make-up perfect; I’d feel like such a scrub if I didn't try to look nice everyday! We’ll see how long that lasts though, I love my sleep too much to wake up early.

The highlight of my day was going to Kevin’s last class. Two of the girls in his class where fascinated with me and copied my every move! I would sit in one position and they would sit in the same position and laugh hysterically. I’d change positions, and they’d do the same. Eventually I moved every few seconds to see if they could keep up and they laughed even harder, still matching every move. After a few minutes, I could tell that Kevin was getting annoyed that I was disrupting his class so I tried to get them to stop, but they wouldn’t. I started making funny faces at them that I knew they couldn't copy, which finally slowed them down until they stopped. The kids are a lot of fun, but hopefully they pay attention to me when I am trying to teach them…poor Kevin hahaha.

I like it here, enjoy everyone, think I will really love my job, but I don't think I’ll ever LOVE it here. It’s not the same as Rome. I am so in love with the city of Rome, it’s hard to beat. Everything here is so modern looking, with tall apartments buildings that all look exactly the same. I wish I were living in an aesthetically pleasing city where everything I looked at was beautiful. I definitely got spoiled in Rome! But that is just about my only complaint, or the one thing that will keep me from really loving Korea. I'm glad I get to have experience in an Asian culture though. I'm starting to slowly get used to eating with chopsticks all of the time, and I actually like the language, so I am happy, but if I decide to do this for another year, I am picking a more beautiful location that has WARM weather!

Hospitals and 사립 학교 - Day 2 as a teacher

This morning Jade took us to the hospital to get our “health checked”. Seemed to be a lot more than just that! They tested our hearing, blood pressure, eye sight, took our blood, made us pee in a cup for a drug screen and pregnancy test, took a chest X-ray, and gave us a private interview!!! Seemed like a bit much, but I was happy to get a break from being at school. It was definitely an interesting experience. I didn't understand a word the nurse was saying to me, so I just let her pull and shove me to the places she wanted me to stand, sit or wait. The nurse and I laughed at each other a lot because we didn't understand each other. I try to keep a sense of humor in these awkward situations, and the Koreans are so friendly so I just smile and play a long. Being around people who don't speak English can be nice, particularly when we’re trying to have a private conversation or talk about the person we’re sitting next to hahaha. When we were all done, someone had parked next to Jade in the middle of the street, so we couldn't get out of the parallel park we were in. Jade got out of the car, peeked into the car and called the owner of the car. Apparently in Korea they place their cell phone number visibly on the dashboard of their car so you can call them in situations like these. Minutes later the owner came and moved his car. It was wild! I thought it would be a great idea for the US to adopt, but then prank phone calls or security would probably become an issue, but how cool was that??

When we went back to school I was assigned to follow Daniel around for the day. His classes were wild a crazy! I let them play and run around, and speak Korea in the classroom. He had a hard time getting the kids to settle down so he could actually teach them something. I know that when I get my classes I won’t be letting my kids be chaotic like that! I want my students to actually learn! Daniels other classes weren’t as misbehaved, to my relief. I was able to get involved in some of the classes and help the students with their math workbook. It is challenging for me to speak incredibly slow and use a simple vocabulary to describe things. Its one thing to teach difficult math to a 6 year-old, but its totally different when you’re teaching it to a 6 year-old who doesn't speak English! Something I found really interesting in Korea is the student’s ages in each class. I could be teaching 7 year-old and have students who are 5, 6, 7and 8. I guess in Korea when you are born, you are 1; then in the New Year, you become 2. So if a kid was born in November, he is 1, then on January 1st he becomes 2 in Korean years. So a 2 month-old is 2 years old, it’s crazy!!

When I got home from work I was very excited to see Ariel and Evan on Skype!!! I got to talk to both of them for about 30 minutes each. It felt so great to see familiar faces and talk to people I miss so much! Its been weird being away from them and it feels like its been forever, even though its only been 4 days! Tia, Katie and I finally started setting up our rooms and arranging the furniture how we want it. Katie still doesn't have a bed and we don't have our shelves, tables or chairs yet- biggest downfall of living in brand new apartments. You would like they would have it all ready for us by the time we got here, but I guess not. It was fun to go into each other’s rooms and help each other decide how to arrange our apartment and move things around. We’re all really excited to have our own places and be out of our parent’s houses!!!!!!! We stopped by Home Plus Express to buy a few groceries so we can make our own dinners, I doubt that will happen that often since it is so cheap to eat out.

Later, we went over to Ta-Leah’s apartment with Sarah, who lives down the hall. Ta-Leah’s apartment looks amazing! Like a home. She’s been here for 10 months, so she is all set up, with curtains and posters and pictures on her wall. It gave me hope for making my apartment feel more like my home. Ta-Leah and Sarah just got back from Thailand with the other girl teachers we are here with a few months ago. Ta-Leah showed us all of the clothes she bought and they shared some amazing stories from their trip, getting Katie, Tia and I so pumped to go!!! It’s all we talk about now! Being here in this freezing, cold weather is making us dream about being in the paradise that Thailand is!! Aww I can’t wait!! We’re really excited to experience Seoul this weekend too. I hear only amazing things about Seoul, so I am counting down the days ‘til the weekend so I can experience for myself. I’ll be having a blast in Seoul this weekend, but I know I am going to be wishing I was back home to go to the Slightly Stoopid concert with my girls in Portland ☹ I get to see Katelan and Chase this weekend though, so that will keep me satisfied! I think I might cry when I see them, I’ll be SO happy!!! I am so lucky to know so many people here, I wouldn't have been able to do this by myself. These next 13 months are going to be incredible! I can already tell that I will be sad when I have to leave. I am already thinking about doing a second year in Chile or Prague… we’ll just have to wait and see.

First Day of Work

Some first-day shots:



The teacher's room at LCI... Everyone is pretending to work


The WSU crew at LCI. too bad the boys are leaving next week :-(

I woke up today saying to myself “this isn’t really happening…” and dreading getting out of bed to go to work. I was so nervous to be in a classroom full of kids even though I knew I wasn't actually teaching today. I had no idea what to expect or how the day was going to go. We walked to the school, LCI, with three girls that live on our floor of the apartment, they are all really nice so far and I felt comfortable right away. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way to pick up some coffee. The walk to the school is about 20-25 minutes, not to bad, but it’s freezing outside!! I like Korea so far, but the weather sorta puts a damper on it. Once we arrived at LCI, we had to take our shoes off and put on slippers that we would wear for the entire day. A little different but I like it, better than standing in heels all day! The teachers have a teacher’s room that we spend all of our out-of-class-room time in where we each have a desk and a cubby to keep our belongings in. We had the first period to just sit and hang out, introduce ourselves to the Korean teachers and drink coffee before Tia, Katie and I were assigned teachers to shadow all day. I was with one of the girls who live on our floor, Ta-Leah, while Tia was with Kevin and Katie was with Daniel, who also went to WSU. Ta-Leah is one of the best teachers so I was happy to follow her and learn how to interact and teach the kids. All of the students are between the ages 5 and 7, with the majority being 6 year olds. Oh, and if you didn't already know, Korean kids are the cutest things I’ve ever seen!!!! I love all of the kid I met today! They are all so adorable and full of energy. Not sure how I will keep up, but when they call me Bri Teacher, smile, and wave at me, it makes me so happy and excited to be their teacher on a regular basis. They all speak excellent English, so it’s easy to communicate. Ta-Leah has been here for 10 months, so she speaks and understands a lot of Korean, so when the students do speak Korean, she can answer them and tell them to speak in English. Hopefully I catch on really fast. I spent most of the day sitting back and observing, except in 3 or 4 classes I got to play and interact with the students. They look at me funny because I have red hair, but by the end of the day, most of them seemed to warm up to me. One little boy said I have orange hair like a carrot... it was really funny and I just said “good job” because he knew the color orange and the word carrot haha.

After work Daniel and Kevin took Katie, Tia and I to Pho, a cute restaurant down the street. It was the first restaurant we’ve been to that has a menu in English, so that was nice. I order some sort of noodle seafood salad that looked good in the picture on the menu and it only cost 7,500 won- which is about $6.50 USD. It was so nice to sit and talk to the boys about their experience here and get some great advice. This is their last week here, so they knew what they were talking about and got us really excited about the year to come! They said that Korea is a blast, so we have a lot to look forward to- especially the trips to Bali and Thailand we are planning for our breaks. We took a taxi home, which the restaurant called for us- love that convenience- I was impressed with Kevin’s ability to tell the driver directions in Korean, cant wait ‘til I can do that. I am exhausted now, probably should be unpacking and setting up my empty apartment with all the stuff I bought at E-Mart yesterday, but will most likely postpone until tomorrow J

Getting to know Dongtan, South Korea

Our first dinner in Korea


Reception desk at LCI.


Brown English Language School. Its cute isn't it?!? Too bad they didn't tell us we work at LCI.


Our apartment building. Its looks like a jail, but its actually quite nice inside. The only bad part is that it's in the ghetto of Dongtan and a 20 minute walk away from any other civilization. grrr


The view of the city on the way to school. Isn't the rice field beautiful?? not

Woke up much happier today! Wish I could call Ariel, Whit, Evan or Joe and talk to them about how overwhelmed I am or see what they are doing. This time difference makes that so difficult! And I can just pick up a phone and call them. I have a feeling that I am going to be on Skype a LOT, just waiting to see if someone will come online to talk to me lol. I'm so glad that Katelan, Chase and Chris are in Korea so I can talk to them and ask them questions! A guy I met in class at WSU a few summers ago is in the building next door, so we walked over to his place this morning to see if he could tell us where to get some food. I knocked on Kevin’s door at 10am, and he didn't get home until 6am, so he look exhausted and we felt really bad, but he was nice and gave us directions on how to get into the city. It’s about a 20-minute walk, which isn’t bad at all. The streets are just like they are in the states and every car I saw was really nice! A lot of Mercedes, BMW’s, Audi’s and Samsung cars- that look just like BMW’s. We walked down the main street in Dongtan to check it out and look for a restaurant that was open. They don't open until 11am or noon on Sundays so it was hard to find one, but we ended up picking a small place that looked good. We went in and sat down, wondering what to do next. A woman came over and gave us menus that were in all Korean. We had no idea how or what to order so we asked for “bop” which is rice, Katie pointed at some sushi and I pointed at a picture of some soup on the wall. All three of us had our Koran dictionaries out so we could figure out what to say. The women were laughing at us and speaking in Korean, so we just laughed, smiled and tried to use gestures to communicate what we where trying to say. The soup we pointed to ended up being kimchi soup, the spiciest substance I have ever tasted! My mouth was on FIRE! I had to drink like eight cups of water to calm my senses down! Tia is a pro, but Katie and I struggled a lot with using chopsticks, but we vow to practice and get better asap. Our waitress was so great! I looked up how to ask for water but she didn't understand me even when I said it in (my version) of Korean, so she came over to read my book and then told us/gestured to where the water was. It was funny trying to communicate with each other without actually saying anything anyone could understand. Katie, Tia and I are determined to get this language down as soon as possible so we can avoid awkward moments like that. Great experience, but I definitely felt dumb LOL.

Later today we hung out in my apartment until Jade’s dad came to fix Katie’s heater. I think you had to be there, but it was the funniest thing in the world for me to watch Katie try to discuss the issues of the heater and het instructions from him. He doesn't speak English and anytime he expressed that he didn't understand Katie, she would repeat what she said, only louder… like almost yelling would make him understand. After a few minutes of a lot of confusion and hand gestures, Katie was able to understand what he was talking about and finally fix her heating problem. I was so proud! ;-) Now all she needs is a bed!

Jade’s dad drove us, in his gorgeous BMW, to meet up with Jade at the school we will be teaching at. We were supposed to be teaching at Brown English Language School, but they were bought by LCI, so the school is in the process of moving across the street to the new LCI building. Jade drove us to the E-mart so we could pick up the long list of items we needed to buy for our apartment. I knew the E-marts where big like our Wal Marts, but dang!! It was 5 stories high! You can buy pretty much ANYTHING at this E-Mart! It was so overwhelming and insanely crowded. Thank goodness Koreans are nice, because we where the only white people in the entire store, getting in everyone’s way, lost and confused on what item was what because we can’t read Koran, and nobody was rude when we where in the way. We get stared at a lot though, especially by little kids. There aren’t many tourists that come to Dongtan, so it’s rare to see a white person. The coolest part about the E-Mart is the flat escalators that take you and your cart up to the next floor. I also liked how they don't use plastic bags; you have to box all your items up. It’s time-consuming and a huge pain, but great for the environment. Just a few of the things I’d like to see more of in the states.

After dropping all of our stuff off at our apartments, we walked into the city for dinner. We saw pictures of food on a sign outside of a restaurant that looked good, so we went inside and sat down. To order our food, Tia and Katie took the waitress outside to point at the sign to show her what we wanted. She laughed a lot with the other waitresses it. We laughed too and gained some more motivation to learn Korean ASAP so we can stop having to order this way. We made sure to say hello and thank you in Korean as often as possible, and practiced a few new sentences as we waited for our food. We read our Korean pocket dictionary, try to pronounce the word and repeat it 50 times in order to memorize it. We decided that each of us have to take turns asking for the check, so after about 10 minutes of practice and 5 minutes of nervous laughter, I decided to bite the bullet and go ask for the check, and she understood me!!!!! I think the waitresses appreciated our efforts, but we all laughed together because we knew we looked ridiculous. As we left, Tia said “맛있은 음식을 감사하십시오” (thank you for the delicious food”). We were very proud of our huge improvement of Korean in just one day. We figure that with this much effort everyday, we’ll speak a good amount of Korean before we leave. It’s going to be rough though!! Korean makes living in Rome and speaking Italian look like a piece of cake, I can’t imagine why I thought it was so hard! If we can get through this, and learn Korean, we can do and learn any language!!!

Start the new job tomorrow! Can’t wait/really nervous!

Im leaving on a jetplane

As the airplane is taking off.. Im making some last minute phone calls before my phone is shut down for the year. Awww getting nervous!


The three-stooges getting ready to take Korea...Us getting some mexican during our layover in San Fran


I was leaving for the airport at 4am and of course didn't get home until 3am.. I finished packing, said goodbye to my brother and was off to the airport with my parents. I was so tired from not sleeping that I wasn't even excited on the way to the airport. Plus my mother was driving me crazy like she always does.. I didn't get excited until I saw Katie and her parents standing at the airport! I cant believe this day finally came after all the time I have spent imagining what it was going to be like! I took my bags to check in and of course my bags were about 4lbs over-weight each, so I had to empty some stuff and give it to my dad. Once that was taken care of, Tia, Katie, and I stood around for a bit chatting with our parents. We walked together to security and off we were. It was really cute to watch Tia and Katie say goodbye to their parents. These moments are really special and I love them because I just imagine what it will be like and who we will be the next time we see them. Such an exciting mystery! I slept the entire flight to San Francisco where we had a 4-hour layover! I was dreading the layover cause I thought it would be boring and go by super slow, but it was actually a ton of fun! We found a Mexican restaurant to eat some chips, salsa, and guacamole and some bloody Mary’s- that turned into shots of whisky and tequila LOL. We finally left the restaurant, buzzed, and hunted for a bathroom. We couldn't stop giggling and laughing at ourselves for being idiots and deemed ourselves the three Stooges- “The Three Stooges Take Korea!”... Once it got closer to boarding time, Katie and I called Tanya’s mom to say goodbye and tell her we love her. Hopefully we’ll get to Skype her all of the time!

Once the plane took of and we realize that this was actually happening, we all started to tear up. It was overwhelming to think that we wouldn't see our family and friends for so long!! Going to such a drastically different culture, like Asia, just seems crazy, and for a year!!??!? I was sad to leave, excited to see who I become, and scared of what is ahead… The flight seemed to last forever! It was a twelve-hour flight, which doesn't seem as bad until you actually do it. We slept, talked and played card games to pass the time. The airplane was HUUGE though. The kind that has high ceilings and 5 seats in the center row. I wish I was in First Class though, their seats turned into beds and they had a ton of space! I’m SO glad we decided to pay the extra money to sit together though ;-)

After arriving, we went through immigration, picked up our luggage and met with a Mr. Gan who took us to a van, loaded our suitcases and a man drove us the hour and a half to Dongtan. Definitely the first taste of a big language barrier. The driver didn't speak a lick of English and the most we knew of Korean was how to say “thank you” which took us 30 minutes of practice on the plane to sorta know how to say haha. We made it to our apartment to meet our director Jade and her husband. Both of them are incredibly sweet and speak great English, which is helpful when we’re full of questions. The apartment building looks like a jail, but it is brand new, so our apartments are nice. The hardwood floors are heated and all the appliances are brand new! But there are many downfalls of being in brand new building! Katie doesn't have a bed in her apartment and her heat doesn't work, she doesn't even get hot water :-( She is really upset about it, but I think it can be a good thing that all of that is happening in her apartment…Tia and I have both studied abroad before, so I look at it like Katie can learn/grow from this crappy situation more so than Tia or I might. The bathrooms in our apartments are…different!... There is no “shower”, just a showerhead with a hook above the sink. So the whole bathroom is pretty much the shower. The water sprays into sink, or you can tilt it to spray over the floor. What about all our stuff in the bathroom? And towels?? Scary! Well, I guess we’ll have to see and make some adjustments haha. I’m starting to get a bit freaked out, overwhelmed and lonely. All the crazy excitement I had been feeling is gone now… If it weren’t for Katie and Tia I would want to turn back around and go home to my warm comfortable bed (mine now is like a rock, I don't have a pillow and its freezing in my apartment) and family and friends! I’m just going to sleep on it, wake up with a positive attitude and look at everything as a great adventure…stay tuned ;-)