Sick in my first 2 weeks of Seoul. Not surprised. Missed the last day of full lectures. Bittersweet? Not really. Lectures were pretty boring for the most part.

Korea so far...Hm. Not much has happened. I guess it is what you make of it. Orientation is really a trial. I dunno if I want to start teaching because I'm excited to teach, or am excited to get out of Orientation! I'm trying to figure out what to make of this experience. The massive group is daunting. I revert back to the meek silent Jose, which seems to be prevalent throughout most of my life. I'm a little angry at myself for not being more outgoing. I feel like I've missed out on the opportunity to meet many different people. However, (as much as this sounds like an excuse) personally, I can't help but think that I should stop beating myself up over it. I understand I'm an introvert, so...should I really be angry at myself for being...who I am? I've made good friends being who I am so far. I've met many people, without changing myself. Why is it that whenever I'm confronted with a massive group of people, I feel the need to change myself in order to more aptly fit in? Maybe I should be less concerned about meeting as many people as possible, and focus on being more open to those I have met.

If being in a foreign place and being surrounded by foreign people has taught me anything thus far, it's that in order to survive, you have to be confident in yourself.

Anyways, back to Korea...
Sickly, and procrastinating. Yet again. Only have to finish this paper then I can leave the course behind till April! Woot. 1500 words on Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale'? I will rock you.

Will have to laundry soon, and I'm a little sad my paycheque doesn't come till the end of March. I want to shop. I have a feeling once my pay does come in, I will be spending a weekend in Seoul...to spend.

I also have a feeling my first haircut in Korea is coming up. It's pretty entertaining how the simplest things have become more exciting simply because they take place in a foreign place.

Lo and behold, K-drama prevents me from doing my paper. Some things really don't change.

Noise Basement and Mindmaps

Seoul Trip x3

Third Seoul trip. Ended up going to Myeongdong, a shopping street with not so cheap stuff. Even their street clothing (for guys) was upwards of 25 bucks. Tried to haggle with some lady, but even she wouldn't go beneath Canadian prices. Lady, if I can buy the same sweater in Canada for cheaper, I won't be spending my money at your shop. So please, continue to swear at me in Korean.

The nightlife in Seoul, is once again, amazing. Aside from the lights and the walk down hooker alley (or something that closely remembers it), the club we went to was pretty awesome. Good music, drinks weren't half bad. The downside? Guys outnumbered girls, like 5-1. Result? Guys dancing awkwardly around each other to avoid dancing with other guys, and girls being surrounded by creeps x5. The place was mega-crowded, but otherwise awesome. Still don't have much of a voice.


Noise Basement


The lectures at Orientation are very...interesting. There seems to be no middle ground in terms of quality. Either, it is very good. Or very very bad. Teaching us how to keep kids engaged and showing us different teaching strategies? Good. 2 hours on creating a mind map? Very, very, bad.


The result of learning about mindmaps for 2 hours? Owning at Monopoly.

Day 1-3

It's been around 3 days since I've arrived in Seoul, and yes, I've been been horrible at keeping at this blog. But the 3 days in Seoul have felt like I've been here for a while now. Orientation officially started today, and while it was awesome in general, I couldn't help but have a not-so great start to the day. I've always had a problem getting to know people quickly. Being fairly introverted, it's been tough to put myself out there. After a morning of being a hermit, and some praying with Chris Tomlin in the background, I guess I reminded myself about how I got to Korea in the first place. And that after so much preparation, am I really gonna get myself down in the dumps after such a long time preparing, and stressing out over applications?

No. It's a weakness that I'm aware of, so I guess the first month of orientation will help me with that.

Anyways, the rest of the day was great. As the official start to Orientation, the TaLK group headed down to Seoul at the Korea University Campus. It's a beautiful campus. The orientation was fairly interesting. There was some government officials from the Ministry of Education, which was interesting. What was more interesting was hearing them speak about the program, and how important and seriously they take English learning. I couldn't help but remember my research paper on the topic of English Education in Korea and how, despite the large investment and initiatives from the Korean government for English learning, English proficiency has yet to show any large improvements.

Back to Orientation...After the officials, there was this show of a bunch of kids singing, the Rainbow Choir, and it was pretty cute. Some other Korean entertainment, but unfortunately, no KPOP Stars were there to entertain us foreigners.

Afterwards, we had a field trip to Seoul and had to do a scavenger hunt. Aside from going the wrong way, then going too far, it was a pretty awesome time around Seoul. Got to see Insadong! But it was so short. Sadly. I will have to return there to see each awesome shop. And how convenient that we have a weekend free this weekend. :D

After wandering around in the freezing city, it made me love Seoul even more. The city is amazing. I'm still jaded of course, being a foreigner and all, and probably blind of all the negative aspects of the city (i.e friggin cars. No hesitation to hit you.) The impression the city left on me for the first two visits was a good one.

Who wouldn't wanna go home from work with a view like this?



Still working on Blog names...

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After 6 months of waiting and waiting, I finally have my ass planted at the Timmy-ho's at YVR. It's gonna be a while before I can have another Timmy's Honey Cruller, or their soup and bagel combo. Lots of things, I guess, which I won't see for a while. But the more I think about the 6 months I'll be gone, the realization that these 6 months will fly by is more clear. I've waited for this for a while, and to finally arrive at this place is a bit surreal. Do I want this to end? Not really. And it hasn't even started.

Sometimes, people say that the journey to get somewhere is the best part. Well my journey to get here wasn't always pretty, but the ending (so far) has only been good times.

Goals for the trip? If anything, this will test the passion that I have to teach as a career. I signed on to re-motivate myself after these continuous months of school. So I hope the experience will only motivate me more. (To come back again of course)

I'm thinking way ahead though. Like I said, It hasn't even started yet. I guess this is the point where I stop wanting days to pass and want days to slow down to a reasonable crawl.

Anyways, before my laptop drains and I have nothing to do on the 12 hour flight, I shall end it here with the classy return of the crappy pun:


Time to do some Seoul searching.





..and I'll try to find a more creative title for these blogs