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.

^^

Gyeongju, part III

So, after being pleasantly distracted by the cave temple, we continued on our way to:

KING MUNMU'S MARINE TOMB!!!

It was starting to get dark, so we had to drive quickly...the road just kept going and going.

Obviously, it was going all the way to the ocean.

We still consistently saw the inconsistent signs ever few km.

Munmu's Undersea Tomb!

King Munmu's Marine Tomb

Underwater Grave of Great King!

We still didn't really know what it was, but we were getting excited.

The final sign pointed us toward a 'beach.' 

....where is it?

We walked along for a while and finally noticed a tiny sign explaining how King Munmu was cremated and his ashes sprinkled at sea.

....

So...no tomb?

Nope!

Just some AMAZING rocks that you can barely see, where they apparently sprinkled his ashes.

Woot!

As disappointed as we were, it was still kinda funny.

The sun was setting, so it was time to go back.

On the way we saw another field where something interesting USED to be but now all that remained were some pagodas.

By the time we got back to Gyeongju it was dark.

The only thing to do at night was visit Anapji Pond, which is an old garden/pond of the royal family.

It is all electrically lit up now, and it was very nice (although crowded) to walk around at night.

Um...obviously it was dark, so you can't really see anything in the pictures.

 Trust me, it was nice...

Trust in me...

Just in me....