Korean in Real Life: 역시

역시 is a word that I've spent a lot of time trying to work out its exact meaning. Before I moved to Korea I remember asking some of my Korean friends what it means and they had a very difficult time giving a particular definition for it. And now that I live here, and I listen…

Korea Month 9: Feeling Good

  9 months in Korea. That's dangerously close to both double digits and also unbelievably close to a year that I've been here. The leaves have changed and in the past few days the weather has taken a turn for the "absolutely freezing" so I've been trying to navigate that as best I can. This…

Korea Month 8: Highs and Lows

  This month was good one. It has been a month of seeing my sister, taking a break away from school, and then taking an even longer break at school. First there was Chuseok. We got about 10 days off and I went to Hong Kong to see my sister. It was incredible. Feel free to…

Story Time #1: The Time I Embarrassed Myself In Front of a Student

Story Time #1: The Time I Embarrassed Myself In Front of a Student   In an effort to diversify my posts on here, today I come to you with a story. This is the story of how I embarrassed myself in front of two students at the bus stop. It was last Tuesday, Korean Independence Day,…

Korea Month 6: Calm Before the Storm

This has felt like the longest month I've had in my time here. Because I haven't had to teach any regular classes this entire month, the days have been very slowly, but happily, and peacefully passing by. It's incredible how the constant stress and tension of the regular semester schedule makes the weeks fly by.…

What to Expect from Your First 6 Months Living in Korea

First Six Months in Korea This is part two of the what to expect in your first semester/6 months in Korea. Part one was about teaching and part two is going to be just about living in Korea in general. You can read part 1 here. Again I asked my several of my friends for their…

An Overwhelming Fondness

Yesterday afternoon during one of my free periods I was sitting in the office working on some lessons for today and going over the grade one speaking test grades. It was a very hot day so we had the windows open to let in any breeze that might be passing through and everyone's little desk…