Daejeon Cafe: Doodoodang / 두두당 Looks like we haven't quite seen the last of the cafe posts from my time in Daejeon. Today I'm bringing you a gorgeous cafe that's a little bit outside of the city in the Daecheongdam area. If you have a car or are willing to bus for a while…
Saying Goodbye Saying goodbye is something that everyone has to do a lot of in life, but still somehow feels uniquely painful. I still haven't gotten good at it, but I've gotten used to it. I said a lot of goodbyes when I left for college. Then when I started teaching English I became…
My Korea Over the past two and a half years I have detailed a lot of my feelings about Korea on this blog. I am, by nature, an overly sentimental person and so looking back on my posts from when I first arrived in Korea they read as such. Overly sentimental. But the truth…
Starting Year Three I'm back in Korea, back at my desk in the grade three teachers office at my school on top of the hill I have to climb every morning. Back to daily alerts from the government that is air quality is so bad you shouldn't go outside, and back to my tiny…
Update It's been about a month since I posted anything here and I just wanted to check in and say that I'm still alive! The first year that I was in Korea every single thing I did I was doing it for the first time. It was scary and exciting and there was so…
It's not your fault. As teachers I know it's easy to think that is, but it's not. Well some things are, of course. We are responsible for ourselves and responsible to always try to make the best lessons we can and do right by our students. But for anyone teaching in a public school,…
The Good Stuff Recently I had to end one of my grade one classes early to tell them I was disappointed in their behavior. The next day I had to hold 4 students back after a grade two class to tell them that their lack of effort was disrespectful. Doing that in terms that…
August Update: Summer Break August was a very transitional month. We finished English camp, I got my eight days of summer vacation which I spent relaxing at home, and we started the second semester back up at school. Everyone seems to finally be falling back into their regular routines and as we do the…
Dear New EPIK Teachers, I think a lot of you will be walking into your schools to work for the first time on Monday. It wasn't all that long ago that I did the same exact thing and to be perfectly honest I'll be walking into school again on Monday with my own set or…
An Open Letter To My Students (Because that's never been done before...) To any of my students past or present, Should any of you ever find this by accident, hello! I hope life is treating you okay. I am writing this to you because there are some things that I want you to know.…
