환영합니다!
I arrived in Korea two days before school started and that, of course, meant that when Friday morning rolled around I was still recovering from the jet lag. So the morning of the first day of school found me wide awake at 4:30am with plenty of time to chill a little bit before school started.…
Understanding Your Student's English When you first get to Korea there will be a lot of things that you don't understand. Unfortunately some of those things will be what your students are saying, in English, in an attempt to talk to you. I always always try to at least pretend like I know what…
I have been in Korea for a year. Today is the last day of school and I'm writing this from my desk as the office is descending into utter chaos while the grade three students storm in and out with questions for their home room teachers about if they're having a snack party later, what…
I'm back with another cafe post! This time from Church and Dancehall cafe. Address: 대전 중구 대흥로139번길 38 1층 I've wanted to visit this cafe for a while now so today right after I finished English camp I met my friend at the bus stop in front of my school and we made the rather…
Continue reading ➞ Daejeon Cafe: Church and Dancehall (처치앤댄스홀)
Last Sunday I took the TOPIK I exam. TOPIK stands for test of proficiency in Korean and is split into two different exams. One is a beginner level exam, and next is for intermediate/advanced levels. TOPIK I covers levels 1 and 2 whereas TOPIK II tests for levels 3, 4, 5, and 6. So for the exam…
So close to one year! At this very moment in time I'm 26 days away from my trip back to the US, and even fewer from my last day at school for the year. This month, and to be fair basically the past 3 months, at school have been pretty much a joke. It's been…
Continue reading ➞ Korea Month 11: School Festival and Even More Snow
Story Time: Teacher's Trip to Tongyeong. Alternatively, the first time I was, within the bounds of Korean workplace culture, forced to do some embarrassing in front of my co-workers. It involved a bus full of teachers, soju, and the US national anthem. But I digress. Let me start from the beginning. So on occasion…
As I try to look back on this past year in Korea and come to some sort of conclusion about things I've learned or ways I've changed, I can't seem to come up with any clear answer. I've learned a lot and certainly changed in a lot of ways, but Korea is not a complete…
We've hit double digits! This has been an absolutely packed month. Between my sister coming to Korea, our weekend trip to Japan, Thanksgiving, the first snow, signing my contract for another year in Korea, and planning my trip back to America, I've hardly had any time to process it all. But it's been a good…
(Brace yourself for a crushing wave of sentimentality. Because if you thought I could over idealize, romanticize, and just generally be way too cheesy about Korea, just wait until you hear my thoughts on my home town.) Thinking About Home The thing of "missing home" while you're living abroad is a complex and constantly…
Hours and Miles 