First day as an expat teacher in Gwangju City

15:22 Unknown 0 Comments

Annyeonghaseyo!! So today was kinda my first day of work, I got the free school bus and will do from now on, every morning at 9am and I start work at 10am. I got there introduced myself in all the classes to the students and teachers, gave a load of high fives and received many a hug from the tiny people of Feinshule English Insitute Nak Won.

Lunch was nice, traditional korean meal, they had those really tiny anchovies that are so yummy, theyre called 멸치볶음 "bokeum myeolchi". I used to eat these little suckers back home (the ones back home were bigger, poor baby anchovy fish), my mum used to buy them from the oriental supermarket, they sound gross but I could literally live off those for the rest of my life.

Bokeum Myeolchi

After a delicious lunch, I was driven a good hour away to another Feinshchule institute in Gwangju (Feinschule has many private schools in Korea), I sat in and observed John and Jason's classes, John is from Bangladesh and Jason is an American. I got a load of information and it brought back the teaching energy within me because after 3 months in London with no employment would send any "good"  EFL/ESOL teacher into a complete shut down (no? only just me then). Considering they have both worked/studied here almost a decade I found out a great deal of info on Korea in general and made some new friends. One major factor being I need to acquire an Alien Registration Card, within 90 days of me staying in Korea as I plan to stay here the full year, before seeing what else the world has to offer me :D. This is not only mandatory but is beneficial in many ways! discounts on buses and more importantly free online Korean lessons offered by the Korean government!!! (fuck yeah!)

After a hard days work of sitting on my behind all day, I went back to my school and was run through the curriculum and schedule :) I have my materials and ready to begin (still flippin' nervous). One little predicament I did have today and it was small, I had no clue how to get back home, but the awesome people I work with, not only helped me, got one of the teachers who lives me near me to take me back on the bus, they also told me about this cool Korean equivalent of the shitty London Oyster Card, it's cool because its small, cute to look at, comes in a keyring form for your phone and more importantly shit cheap journeys are made even cheaper! WIN!!!!!!

Oyster Cards Cooler Korean Sister

I had planned to explore Gwangju this weekend, I honestly wouldn't know where to start, but I had been given a better offer by my colleague who had invited me to her special Saturday group meet ups, (she has a proper page on fb and everything) for expats (*cough*foreigners*cough*) so I'm going to meet other Koreans but also meeting a load of other non Koreans from across the globe (fingers crossed for some Londoners!) *screams with excitement*. So not only tomorrow are we going out for drinks and dinner, but we are going to watch the new Avengers!!!!!! I literally could not ask for a better weekend!!!! This will help me see whats going on down in the inter-city and I can find decent grocery stores that sell a good selection of food, so I don't have to resort to dirty processed seven eleven again -_-

That is all I have to say for now, I'm in the process of uploading this apartment tour video as I write this.

Najung-e boja! xxx <3

Day 1 in Korea

13:50 Unknown 0 Comments

So flights went smoothly from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi to Seoul Incheon Airport. I met the lady from the agency (she's actually adorable), she paid and got me on a 4 hour bus ride to Gwangju city on the opposite end of S.Korea (it seems whatever country i'm in I always end up living in the south).

Incheon Airport, Seoul

Anyways after a 16 hour flight and a 4 hour bus journey, I made it to the city of lights, home to many shops and the world cup stadium (I'm sure theres hella lot more, its a big city, 6 biggest city in S.Korea in fact). I met one of my colleagues at the bus station (she translates to me) and we jumped in the directors car, who could not speak english (come to think of it I don't even know their names!) Anywho they were both more than hospitable, they took me for a traditional Korean meal, showed me the school, bought me bread and gave me fresh eggs from her own chickens.

What I ate for dinner, traditional Korean cuisine

I am now lying in my awesome double bed in my apartment, jet lag has messed up my bodyclock, I have unpacked and the apartment is awesome, only downside being a two bed is the director can come and crash when she likes which I am not sure I am cool with. Weather is banging here also which is lovely. Also, the good thing about being in a huge city, theres a high population of foreigners even if i'm the only one at my school.

Any who, I'm up tomorrow at 7.30 to observe a kindergaten class and again the same monday, going to see how I can best organise myself for tomorrow.

Will update tomorrow with pics and on how my day went!

The run ups to Korea

22:45 Unknown 0 Comments

So I eventually sorted a school in Korea, I am headed to a city called Gwangju to work at a private english institute. I have been out of work for 3 months, I have no idea what to expect from South Korea. After bad experiences in Thailand, I cant say I am confident. But at the same time, the past 3 months being unemployed has to have been the most boring time of my life. My visa is ready to collect on monday, which means not long after I will be flying a 15 hour journey to South Korea for the first time.

I'm excited at the same time. I can experience a new culture, save money for more adventures and get away from the pits of London, which I deteste. I am praying I make a load of friends whilst I'm out there, the language barrier also scares me. Trying to teach myself Korean, is a lot harder than learning Thai, in fact is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn.

So sometime next week or the beginning of the following, I will be leaving London Heathrow for the last time in a very long time (I'm kinda hoping I will do my travelling, then find somewhere I can settle down abroad for the foreseeable future).