I am alive

It's been a long time.

I'm sure a lot of you are wondering what has happened since March. Well, I finally finished my contract at the public school. It was a huge relief to get out of such a hostile work environment. The only thing I miss about it is the kids.

I started my new job and moved to Gwacheon. I live in a nice quiet neighborhood with trees and birds and little old women selling fruit just outside. I'm stoked not to be living in a huge city anymore!

I work in Anyang, so I have to commute every day by bus. At first it was difficult because the Gyeonggi-do buses don't have any English, so I had to learn the Korean stops. And sometimes they don't even announce the stops! It's all good now, and it takes about 40 minutes from the time I leave my house to when I arrive at school.

There are over a dozen other American teachers at my school, so I'm no longer as lonely as I was.

This school works me hard - which is why I haven't updated much. I've been doing nothing except work! I teach 10 classes a day sometimes, but I'm having a lot of fun. My students are unbelievably smart, and their English is a lot more advanced than at my other school.

If you remember my first job in Korea, this is another after-school program for students. So I work from 2-10 and teach progressively older students as they day goes on. I start off teaching second grade and finish off teaching 9th.

I don't have much else to say - I'm much happier here, and I'm learning a lot at my new job!

And the students really seem to like me...I got a ton of presents on teacher's day!

I hadn't been really confident when I first started - I wasn't sure if I was good enough for this school. The presents let me know that students seem to think I am, at least!

I won't be home for Christmas this year, as we don't have very many vacation days at this school. I have a week off in July that I will hopefully be using to go to Japan!

Anyway, I'm doing well, the cats are doing well, and my two tanks of fish are doing well. Yes, I bought another fishtank. I have a problem. I must have been Noah in a past life.


I'll post again, maybe.

Or, instead of complaining about how I don't post you could, you know, email me.  :D





:D

Update !!

Woah, I haven't updated in a while, so I guess I should...in case anybody is still interested. x.x

I spent the last few weeks securing my next job - I took a high-paying job in Anyang, which is south of Seoul. It would be very quick to get to Seoul, except there's a mountain in the way. In fact, it's surrounded by 4 mountains. Yay! Nature?!

Anyway, I'll be working at another hagwon - the private after-school programs, like the one I had in Jinju. Now before you panic, I want to assure you that I have researched this school. It is very big, very famous, and very organized, and I'm very excited to be working there. It's going to be a lot of work, but trust me, the pay is worth it. Oh, and the students are apparently good at English, so I'll be able to have more complicated conversations with my students instead of "Do you like pizza? Yes, I like pizza."

I will be making about 1,000,000 won more a month than I am making now - but the catch is, NO HOUSING! So in the next few weekends I'm going to start apartment hunting. Apparently the area my hagwon is in is quite busy, so I'm looking at living in the city Gwacheon, which is about halfway between Anyang and Seoul. It seems quite beautiful, although maybe apartments are too expensive.... It'll be a short subway/bus ride away from my school.

Anyway, that new job will start on April 29th - I am working at my current school until April 24th, so I'm gonna have to move fast!

I'm looking forward to a change - teaching in public school hasn't proved challenging or active enough for me. x.x



Oh, and to celebrate my new job, I bought myself a fish tank.

Darcy and Gilbert approve.

Wanna tongue?

Hi all.

Not much has been happening lately.



Vacation ended and I had to do a two-week winter class with about 7 teenage boys. It was fun, I may do a post about that for those of you who don't follow my facebook.


Then school started again...for one week. Then it was graduation and now I spend my days at my desk

I started reading the Age of Innocence out of boredom, but I'm actually really enjoying it.


I haven't really gone anywhere...trying to save money for my next paycheck. I have my eyes set on an oven......


Job hunting is not going well...I might have to give up on a Seoul job until I have a little more experience. I feel like I've been here for years, but I have to remember I'll only have a year and 7 months of experience when I start my next job.


I ate some tongues.

 They were expensive and delicious.


That's all!

The Last Adventure

I came back to Korea early and still had a whole week before my winter class.

I'd spent a lot of money in America, so I decided against going to another country.

Instead, Korean Boy and I decided to visit a new province - Gyeongsangbuk-do! 

(It's on the east of Korea)

It was snowing when we left Bucheon, but the snow wasn't very deep in the mountains.

We were visiting a hot spring, but on the first day decided to visit things in the mountains.

First we saw a giant turtle.

Then a Buddha (with people praying)

Then some lions holding up a pagoda over a Buddha:

A pair of frozen waterfalls:

Some interesting characters:

We also visited a Museum of Roads, which was hilariously lame.

It had a bunch of random Inca artifacts in it too, but mostly talked about the history of roads in Korea.

This was the first day.

The second day we were going to visit many more interesting things.

Unfortunately when we were driving, the car suddenly died, as if we had run out of gas.

Korean boy started it again (we were rolling down a hill) and the engine sounded TERRIBLE.

I made him pull over and call a tow truck.

Unfortunately, the engine had no oil in it, so he had basically ruined the engine.

I would have teased him, but he was pretty sad.

\

Unfortunately it would cost more than the worth of the car to repair, so we decided to ditch it.

We had to empty all of our stuff and carry it through the snow to the tiny shed of a bus station in the

small mountain town we were towed to.

After walking for 20 mins, we had to wait in a freezing shed for a bus for about 30 mins.

It then took us to a slightly bigger city, where we could get a bus back to Seoul.

Korean boy also met with a guy at this station who would take his car.

We were a little disappointed...I saw almost allof Korea in that car.

We were pretty silent on the ride back to Seoul.

Korean Boy just kept saying "I have no car..." over and over again.

I'm not sure when we'll be able to go on another adventure. 

When we do, it will probably be tour-bus style.

It's the end of the era.

We are very sad.

Oh, and we almost got eaten by baby polar bears, too.

Terrifying creatures.

RIP, Korean Boy's car. 

You served this blog well.

More America Pictures!!

Here are some more fun-filled pictures of America!!

Playing cards!!! 

I do not play with them. I never win. 

Twerps!

They were less annoying than I remembered. I guess they're growing up. 

:'(

Snow in the mountains!!

Logs and Korean man who is responsible for my meeting Korean Boy!

(Also, my father. x.x )

That's all. I didn't really take pictures.

I wish I could have seen you all more, but everyone was so busy and I got very bored in Battle Ground.

I came back early in order to have another adventure.

That adventure will be covered in the next blog post.

Be excited.

America!!

I went to America, as most of you know, to surprise my family for Christmas!

It was great to see everyone, but I felt kind of like a guest in my own country. I think I actually got more culture shock coming back than when I first went to Korea!

Some things that surprised me about America:

Random people smiling/talking to me. 

(This just doesn't normally happen in Korea. It's strange to ask random people questions).

So much space.

(Everything is more spread out, you must drive everywhere).

1-story buildings.

(Pretty much unheard of in Korea).

Everyone drives really slow.

(Yeah, you do).

WHY IS THERE SO MUCH SPACE UNDER THE PUBLIC BATHROOM DOORS?! Creepy!!

(In Korea there's only about an inch gap).

Knives and Forks

(I missed my chopsticks...they really are easier to use with certain foods).

CHEAP PRODUCE!

(I want allll the avacados, which are about 6 dollars each in Korea).

Spanish everywhere!

(In America it's English/Spanish, in Korea it's Korean/Chinese/Japanese/English).

Animals! Nature!

(Where are the skyscrapers?!)

 So much alcohol!

(Koreans drink a lot, so it's probably good they don't have this many choices of beer).

Really bad food that gave me stomach problems!!
(It was worth it).

 TACO BELLS

 REAL PIZZA

TERRIBLE AMERICAN CHINESE FOOD!
(I gained about 4 pounds being back).

Dogs are very large and smell bad.

(Sorry mom, they do. I grew up used to it, but I think I'm a cat person now).

I still love Goleta though. <3

Gyeongju, Part Last

Day 2 of Gyeongju was less eventful, as we were just going to see the typical touristy stuff, and not attempt to find some random obscure tomb.

We started off by going to a marketplace and having traditional Korean food.

Yum...so delicious...5000 won (about $4.50) for rice, soup, 

and ALL the side dishes you can eat!

ALL THE SIDE DISHES.

Next we went to Bulguksa Temple...and sorry...this is not going to be exciting for you.

See, it's the oldest temple (apparently) ever, so it's quite popular...meaning there's many people...meaning they won't let you take pictures...

This is the closest I felt comfortable taking pictures. Seriously. Can you see the Buddha?

Bulguksa temple is basically full of small shrines like that, and quite a few big ones, too.

And there were a LOT of people worshiping that day!!

The monks were all out, singing and ringing their monk-bells (I know nothing about Buddhism, sorry)

Anyway, the point is, it was really uncomfortable to be holding a camera. 

So I didn't. 

:D

I did take a picture of this pig, however.

Next, we went to the second most popular touristy-place, which was this grotto with a HUGE AMAZING BUDDHA INSIDE!!!

Of course, pictures weren't allowed.

Here's the outside of the grotto, though!!

Really, there's an amazing Buddha right inside that door...

When the sun rises the light apparently hits the jewel on his forehead!!

...Or rather, it did that before they built a shrine around him to protect him. o.O

Here's a view from the grotto on the mountain:

NATURE........

Then we walked down the mountain, I bought postcards, Korean Boy's own people mistook him for a Japanese, and we went home.

~~~~END OF TAREN'S VACATION~~~~~

If any of you want actual GOOD pictures from these places, I can send you a postcard...

...sorry.

^^