Update - LEAVING JINJU

Hello family and friends.

Mostly, hello Grandma! Thank you for sending me the letter! It came at a really difficult time, so it was so nice to remember I have a life outside of Korea.



Some of you may have heard already, but I am leaving my current job in Korea.

There are many, many reasons for this, but I don't want to go into detail on the internet. Mostly though, the hagwon is losing students, and my boss cannot afford to pay 4 foreign teachers.

Three out of four of us are leaving in three weeks. The other one is leaving in about one more month.


Now, I'm sure you're all hoping that I'm coming back to the states. Or maybe not.

Either way, the answer is (hopefully) no! I had a job interview with a public MIDDLE school in a different city, and they say they want to hire me!

So hopefully, if my paperwork works out alright, I will start work in a HUGE city called Bucheon on April 25. I'm really excited and really scared.


My new job is a PUBLIC middle school. In Korea, this means I will be teaching classes of 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. I'm really excited because this will be a much better teaching experience, I think, to teach in a REAL school. I will be teaching 23 classes a week (I'm teaching 30 now), but the classes will have about 40 students in it. Also, since I will be working for the Korean government, I don't have to worry about working Saturdays or being paid on time. :)

I think it will be fun!

My friends say I won't be able to control 40 students, all taller than me. We shall see.


The next few weeks will be very busy for me. I need to pack, get a new cell phone (because my current one belongs to my school), say goodbye to friends, get Darcy's paperwork from the vet, sell things (like microwave) that my new apartment will have...and continue to teach all of my current classes until April 20th.


Korean boy is going to help me move all of my stuff to Bucheon. I'm very scared to live in a big city, but it is very near Seoul, so I will be able to see Korean boy easily.

Also, Seoul has a Taco Bell AND a Jamba Juice! Mmmmm...


If none of this works out, I will see you in May. As fun as that would be, I hope that doesn't happen! No offence.



Byeee~

Merry Christmas!!

Yes, I know it's almost March, but I bet you want to know how I spent my first Christmas away from home, since you all miss me so much!

All 2 of you.


Ahem. (<----Sound of throat being cleared).


I went to....THE END OF KOREA!!!!!!


So, Korean Guy, seeing that I was a little depressed about not being able to go home for Christmas, decided to take me somewhere he thought would be cool.


It turned out to be the southernmost tip of Korea!! It sounded cool, so I agreed that's where I would spend my Christmas!


We drove for hours through NATURE like this:





Then I fell asleep and when I woke up, we were at the biggest pile of dead people ever. I think the Japanese slaughtered an entire village...





When we finally got to THE END OF KOREA, it was SNOWING!!!!!!!

Then the snow caused me to turn into a child, complete with a sing-song voice, so I became unbearably annoying.





So, I was really excited because it doesn't snow in Jinju....but since it doesn't snow in Jinju, we were not expecting it to snow here.

So I had no gloves, hat, scarf, or even a snow-appropriate coat.


And since we were in the middle of nowhere, I could not find a place to purchase these things.



So, we went on a freezing, slow-motion monorail-thingy....and saw the END OF KOREA!!!





It's beautiful!



Then we drove all the way back to Jinju before we caught pneumonia.


There, I made the most amazing Christmas dinner of my life.





Jealous?





Thank you, to my taco ingredient doners.

The weekend that almost killed me, part III

I guess I never finished posting about that one weekend where I did many things and then ended up getting really sick for about a month.


Let me continue...



The last stop was a....national park! Which wasn't nearly as nature-y as you would think it would be.


First we went on this thing, and Korean Boy got really scared.





Then we were realllllly high up on a mountain, and it was beautiful.




Then I wanted to take a picture, but Korean boy was afraid so I had to forcibly hold him in front of the camera.





Then this happened, which I still don't understand...






Perhaps it is my making fun of this, that resulted in my month of diseases.


Or it may have been eating ice cream in the cold on top of a mountain.






Go figure. :/

Merry Christmas from Mr. Darcy

Hello everyone.


This is Mr. Darcy. Taren has been neglecting to blog due to lack of interest, so I thought I'd do a post just in case someone is still reading.

I would like to thank you all for the wonderful presents you sent me.

I can't believe you knew I wanted tissue paper. I especially love how you wrapped the paper around useless human things to make it more interesting.





I wish I could have played with the paper forever, but Taren took it away and called me annoying. Fortunately, she let me keep the boxes.

Anyway, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New year.


Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go sleep on my special Christmas cat blanket.





ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

The weekend that almost killed me, part II

TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!




I didn't really understand what this place was.

Korean guy said it was a temple, but it's in honor of some general...and there's a shrine for him....and also a place where they would drink...

But anyway, it was pretty!





And there were old trees!




And I took this awkward video! I know how much you love these.





I decided that Jinju isn't so pretty after all. I want to live here instead.


Part III soon.

The weekend that almost killed me, part I

So, I'd been having a pretty bad cold, but one weekend I felt slightly better. Korean guy and I decided to go on a road trip, which ultimately resulted in me having THE WORST COLD OF MY LIFE.

Still, it was a fun day.

Here is part one.



REST STOPS!!!!


American rest stops are tiny and disgusting.


Korean rest stops are amazinggggggg



They have clean bathrooms, MULTIPLE restaurants, and gift shops!


And Dinosaurs!



And the best part is, the electricity is all solar!!





Dang, Koreans are smart.


Part II, coming up.

bleh

I have many pictures to post.


However, I am dying.



Maybe in a few days.


Meows.