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Sandy's Life Away From Home여 행 자 "traveller"
March 12 No longer homeless!The search is finally over. I have an apartment! With a roomie! Jenn and I decided to live together, which I think was a great decision. We have so much fun together and after the week of frustrating homelessness I'm so happy that I have someone to talk to at night and dance around with and be silly with. I forgot how much I loved having roommates after a year of living alone in Korea. So, our apartment is in the most perfect location for us. Not near our jobs..but for anything non-work related, it's awesome. We are living right near Itaewon station..right in the centre of EVERYTHING and ANYTHING, about a 2 minute walk in a 3 bedroom apartment. Living here opens up SO many options for things to do, things to eat, and a much more normal life. I can even tan again and buy my favorite foods that are sold here after being smuggled off the US military bases! I've convinced my friend Joe to take salsa lessons with me and we start our beginner class this Wednesday, right in our neighborhood. So, as for the house...it's on the 1st floor of a small apartment unit. Jenn got the big bedroom and I got TWO bedrooms! WOOHOO! One is for sleeping..one is my "dressing room"...I have clothes racks and make up tables and mirrors all surrounded by pretty lights and decorations..a real dressing room..so perfect for me! We bought tons of used and new furniture and have been unpacking and getting settled in all weekend. We have a big living room and got a pretty good deal on a nice and super comfy couch with big cushions!
Today was my first day of teaching and it went very well. I had 2 hours of prep time from 11am-1pm. Then I taught 5 classes of 45 minutes each from 1pm-5pm. These classes went so much faster than working at Youngdo having 2 or 3 hour classes and having to stretch material. The teaching is much more laid back here as well. The students gradually come in, and it takes about 10 minutes to get them all in and settled down. Then, after introductions and a bit of small talk with them, onto the lessons. The books are easy and fun to teach from and after about 20 or 30 minutes of reading, roleplaying, and workbooks it's time to write down homework and let them go. I do that 5 times then I GO HOME! And I'm getting paid more than my old job..what a sweet deal.
March 07 Back in the ROKHello! Since I'm homeless with no home telephone or internet, I thought I'd write to let you all know what I've been doing lately.
My travels were incredible. There's too much that we saw and did to even write about it in an email, but we went all over the southern parts of Thailand (mainly the islands) and then to Bali. Lots of fun and sun, surfing and partying, shopping like crazy, cultural tours, and interesting experiences that I'll remember for the rest of my life. I cried when it was over...for almost the whole flight leaving Bali. What can I say, I'm an emotional vacation mourner. Definitely an incredible and perfect month away! As soon as I'm settled in somewhere and have my computer hooked up I will send links to my thousands of pictures! Now, back in Korea. So, I have a new job. I work from 11am-5pm Monday to Friday at a Public Elementary School here in Seoul. My first 2 hours will be my prep and lunch time, then I only teach 4 hours a day. It's an after-school English program which I will run with a partner korean-english teacher. We will be teaching grades 1-6 in pretty basic levels of English. This week I haven't done much with the school except meet the principal, afterschool director and partner teacher. The school is pretty run down and ghetto, I will be teaching in a portable just outside of the school by the playground. I thought I was the only foreign teacher, but there is another girl also who works the regular school hours in the morning who I may or may not see often. My recruiter made sure to emphasize to the school that my skin is usually lighter, but I was on vacation so I am tanned. Can you believe that? They love the white folks here and I guess I had them worried with my vacation darkness...haha. But, don't worry Korean school..I am in fact a white person. I basically spent 2 hours listening to my recruiter talk to my scary lookin female principal..basically they said the korean words "wagook-in songsangnim" a million times..meaning "foreigner/alien teacher" . It's funny to hear yourself talked about like that over and over again. Like, hello..I am right here and I actually DO understand SOME korean..and I also have a NAME! Funny country I live in here. Tomorrow I will be level testing my new students with my partner teacher and getting a bit of training as well. Other than that, I've been on a crazy apartment search. I've found some HORRIBLE apartments that unfortunately no longer shock me, but let me tell you...if you saw these back home you'd be HORRIFIED. You may or may not know that most korean apartments just have a shower head over the toilet to shower with. I lucked out last year and had a SHOWER DOOR since my apartment was very westernized and new. I have seen bathrooms on this search that are just sick. Buckets of water for "flushing", no bathroom sink, very dark, SO DIRTY and SMELLY! The bathroom situation has been the reason for the most part that I havne't taken an apartment yet. I may have to eventually suck it up and lower my living standards..eek! The area I am trying to get an apartment in is about a 1/2 hour subway ride from my school, but it's in the foreigner area of Seoul (Itaewon). I have decided to live here this round in order to have I guess a more "normal" life. I can meet more foreigners, find foreign food products easier, go out to foreign restaurants, and just feel more at home I guess. I loved having the full korean experience last time around but living in Itaewon will just keep me busier and happier during the week. Ther'es so much more to do around here and it's nice to somewhat blend in and feel less like a freaky blonde alien. Cross your fingers that I'm not homeless for too much longer. Jenn and I have been living in hotels and now at our friend Lisa's apartment here in Itaewon. Near the end of March or early April I will be going to Japan for a few days to Fukuoka to get my visa process finished up. That's about it for now! I'm a little sad this week since my friend Michelle left, I have no home, it's cold out, and I miss my vacation life! But, once I'm all settled in things will be good. It was surprisingly nice to return to Korea after being away. I feel like I'm starting another new adventure. February 10 Backpacking Week 1Finally we started our trip to SE Asia. Jenn, Michelle and I have been touring around Thailand this week. We arrived last Friday, and since then have been in Phuket in Phuket Town, Patong Beach, Karon Beach and Phi Phi Island. Most of our time last week was spent on Phi Phi Island. It was amazing...so beautiful! We did a lot of suntanning, shopping, sleeping on the beach, swimming, eating great food, and drinking! We also went to a lot of different islands and beaches around Phi Phi..including Maya Bay, where the movie "The Beach" was filmed..it was breathtaking, despite the ridiculous amount of tourists that were there. After Phi Phi, we took the boat back to Phuket, and flew back to Bangkok. Now we're staying on Khao San Road. I've unfortunately been sick the last 2 days with a chest cold and to top it off some pretty bad stomach issues...travelers stomach. But, as of today I'm finally better, just have to kick the cold now. We're going to spend a few more days here in Bangkok before heading to Ko Samui for some more island beach fun! So, I know this isnt the most exciting entry here, but too much has happened in a week of travel to be able to post it all on here. Luckily Ive been doing a journal/scrapbook along the way for friends and family to see and read when I get back to compensate for my lack of blogging here. November 19 One month to go!I can't believe I just have one more month left here in Seoul before I get to go home for Christmas! I'm so excited to go home, but also will be sad to leave Korea. Although I don't have to be sad just yet, as I am coming back for another month in January. I am only coming back so that I can make money to travel Asia for the month of February. Jenn, Michelle and I will be having a whole month of vacation and travelling and I can't wait! These last few weeks in Korea have been so awesome. Our friend Tara-Lyn has been coming from Busan to Seoul the last 2 weekends to hang out with us before she heads back to Canada in a few weeks. We met a great group of airforce guys in Osan and we've formed quite the party group on the weekends! We've been staying in our usual hotel, but this weekend we ended up booking almost the whole 4th floor with how many people came out for the night. We had a really fun night Saturday and the fun kept going for Sunday with shopping for Jimmy Choo purses which all 4 of the girls bought, except for me..(I'm waiting for the red one). After that we went to Stereo Bar for a few pitchers with the boys before heading into Seoul again. Now it's back to the real world. During the week us ladies usually just text message all throughout the day to eachother while we're teaching about how much we just can't wait for the weekend to do it all again. Tara-Lyn's boy Zach, my boy Austin, and another friend of theirs will be joining us in Busan next weekend for Tara-Lyn's goodbye party..sniff sniff. We're so sad that she's leaving but its' going to be a super fun weekend to end her time here! The best part about these girls I've been lucky to become such great friends with is that we're all from Toronto and just outside Toronto. So, sad goodbyes aren't too bad this time around, since we really will all be able to hang out again when we're home! Nonetheless, our misfits crew won't be the same without TL! October 25 North Korea won't get me down!I won't waste my time posting on this North Korea BS, but be happy to know that all is okay out here in Seoul! We had a week of being kinda nervous and worried about crazy Kim Jong Il and his nuclear test, and although I'd hate to jinx it and say nothing bad will happen, I do still feel safe and not scared at all.
So, on a brighter note, Busan was an excellent trip at the beginning of October for Chuseok. We did a lot of relaxing, went to SongJeong Beach and did some watersports, including surfing, woowoo! Too bad this time I was less successful as a surfer as last time, I need my Balinese instructor Yaya to help! We also went to Beomosa Temple, which was really beautiful. Went to a Jinjabong too (korean sauna). Its the second one I've been to in Korea, and they're definitely an interesting experience. A strange and alarming amount of nudity for us westerners, but still quite cool. They have many different hot springs, and different temperature sauna rooms including freeeeeezing cold ones. Made me think fondly of winter in Canada. We of course did some shopping, some partying, and got the usual questioning of "you are russian?". It sure is getting old after 10 months of everyone thinking I'm a hooker, thats for sure. Blonde hair sure gives you a bad rep in Korea. But let me tell you I've seen these russian hookers, and I just DON'T see the resemblance, other than hair color! We spent our last night in Busan in what we shall refer to as SKETCHTOWN BUSAN! It was near the shipping ports, so a lot of strange foreigners that it was weird to see in Korea. The fun part was that we got to play our favorite game of "guess why that foreigner is in Korea"..it's always a fun one to figure it out if they're not english teachers or military, we just don't get what they're doing in Korea! Jenn, Michelle and I tend to come up with some creative stories. Strange though, it was the first time I actually didnt' feel safe in Korea. For the most part, I feel safer in Korea than in Canada..but not in this one area of Busan.
Other than that Busan trip, just been trying to get through the boring work week, livin for the weekend! I finally have a potential plan for next year. I will be coming home to Canada for Christmas (my flight is December 22nd). Potentially I will be home for 10 days, then returning to Korea to work for my school again, but this time at Jenn's campus which will be about 10 million times more fun than my campus! After that month of work, Jenn and I are planning a trip for a month around Asia..hitting at least a few countries..most importantly Bali and Thailand again! Maybe we'll try to fit in Vietnam, or Singapore, or Malaysia, or Cambodia..who knows!
September 27 Sandy's September UpdateComing back from that amazing vacation in Thailand and Bali, surprisingly Korea's been pretty fun this month too. My classes that I'm teaching have been so great, which makes the time go by much faster. Usually I have a class or 2 that isnt much fun, but luckily this time around I enjoy all 5 of my classes. I hope that these are my students for the rest of the year...likely they will be so that's great news!
September's been a pretty eventful month. Jenn, Michelle and I had a fun weekend at a hotel with a pool in Osan, soaking in the last of the summer weather and having some fun shopping and partying times. I was most excited because I got a bunch of hollister sweaters for $10 each! Sweet deal! Michelle's birthday was just a few weeks ago, so we went to TGI Friday's, and a few clubs in Hongdae. It was a really fun night...lots of people made it out for the night.
The bad part of the month was that my good friend Noah got fired, and had to leave Korea. He was ready to leave his job and everything, but it was a sad departure nonetheless. I have been so sad since he left, and it's so strange to think of him not being here, since I met him before I even left the airport in Korea, and did everything with him in the beginning of our time here. Now he's in England, living with his sister and I wish him the best. I just hate those goodbyes when you dont know if you'll see the person again, and they've been a big part of your life in a certain place. On the bright side, I have his sweet kitten, Nuna (means sister in Korean). She's the cuddliest little thing and she just might have to come back to Canada with me cause I dont know if I'll be able to give her up, shes just so cute.
Last weekend Jenn, Michelle and I did an overnight stay at a Buddhist temple..pictures will be up soon. It was a pretty awesome experience, and so interesting. Yet of course the 3 of us crazy girls managed to have too much fun, and piss a few weird anti-social tree huggers off...but it was a great time. We did a lot of bowing, meditating (which I am not capable of doing), talking with the master monk, tea ceremony, community work around the temple courthouse, temple tours, and learned a lot of information and history about buddhism. The Korean leader of the temple trip BJ loved us and called us his Canadian sisters..I guess because everyone else took things a little too seriously, while we were there to have fun, and have an interesting experience. We also got nicknamed by other people as the "crazies" and "trouble girls" and "charlies' angels". I guess we were the rebels of the group but after all that meditating, there was no way we were getting up at 3am to do more..my form of meditation is SLEEP..and it's a deep meditation if you ask me. Also, while everyone ate kimchi and rice, we managed to bring the "snack attack" including sandwiches, chips, and cookies. Maybe thats the real reason why people seemed to not want to be social with us..they were hungry.
Next week is Chusok, Korea's biggest holiday, sorta like Thanksgiving, except with a big emphasis on ancestors and visiting their graves. We get 6 days off work so the girls and I are heading to Pusan, coastal city. Hopefully the weather stays nice so we can get in some more beach time, and perhaps try surfing again!! Can't wait for vacation time!
Thats all for now I think!
August 31 The trip of a lifetime!Well I'm happy to report that things really only got better and better after Jenn arrived in Pattaya. When she got there, we had a nice italian dinner. Unfortunately we had some old fat man hover around our table, in hopes that we were for sale. After that fine experience, we went shopping and got some great deals. I got a gorgeous Louis Vuitton bag for $30. I think it's real, but if not, its as close to real as its gonna get. That night we went to Walking Street, which is a big neon street full of shopping and partying...and some obscene shows! We saw an interesting ladyboy and thai girl dirty show, which I can't go into great detail about..but let's just say after a little while Jenn and I had seen enough female anatomy and disgusting tricks to run outta there! The next day we layed by the pool, did some more shopping, and then head out for an elephant ride! It was really incredible...scary but awesome! We felt like we were going to fall off the whole time, but it was such a great experience to have.
After Pattaya we head to Bangkok for the night. We took a 3 hour cab ride (not wanting to do the whole factory bus thing again) and went straight to Khao San Road, backpackers heaven..just like Leonardo Dicaprio in the beach! It was quite a sight, with all the shopping and cool travelling people there, from all over the world. We got a cheap hotel, and did a super speed shopping for 2 hours, ate some thai food. We almost cried because the shopping deals were so great, it was a dream come true..paradise for 2 shoppers like Jenn and I!
Next morning we head out to the airport to catch our flight to Bali. As soon as we stepped off the plane, we knew this was going to be the best part of our vacation. The first day we did some shopping, laid on the gorgeous beach full of surfboards, Australian travellers, and laid back Balinese surfers. Kuta Beach is breathtaking. The water is gorgeous, and the view of it all was just perfect. Our hotel was right on the beach, with a gorgeous pool, overlooking the ocean and the Kuta Beach strip. Of course when the sun was going down, Jenn and I head out to do more shopping, as we had then perfected our bartering skills. We had a gourmet fine dining experience at our hotel, complete with a lot of red wine for ridiculously cheap prices! After that we head out to some bars, which were jam packed with drunk young Aussies. Surprisingly, Jenn and I didn't go into our usual party girl mode. I think we had been doing so much in the daytime during our vacation, that after a few drinks we were exhausted. The next day we chilled out, suntanning on the beach, being bombarded by Bali women trying to sell us anything and everything under the sun. We found various ways to get rid of them, which included fake sleeping, being downright rude, and pretending to not speak english. This was of course our favorite, as we had to communicate to eachother in broken korean and french to pull it off and sneakily barter, with less pressure to buy things. It was quite funny to see people try to communicate with us, thinking we spoke no english..I couldnt keep a straight face. We also got cheap beautiful manicures and pedicures, complete with hand painted balinese flowers on each finger and toe nail. After that, facials and hair extensions! So, we totally look like rastafarian surfers, with braided extensions going down our back, very long!
The most exciting part of the trip for me, was when we finally decided to check out the surf lessons. I've always wanted to go surfing, but have always been pretty terrified of big waves, and just convinced I'd never be any good at it. Well we sucked it up, and hit up Big Kahuna Surf School. We had 2 awesome Balinese surf instructors, Yaya and Rio. Surprisingly, I got up on the board on my third try, and kept getting up after that. I really loved it, and can't wait to be able to try it again. It's rare for me to find something I love that much, so it's something hopefully I'll try again as soon as possible. Jenn enjoyed more, being pushed out into the waves by the instructors, and then not attempting to stand up, but instead to ride on her stomach and yell "weeeeeeeeeeee" every time. We became friends with our surf instructors too, especially Yaya. He took us around on his motorbike, helped hook us up with a great tattoo artist to get balinese flowers tattooed on our feet. (Yes, I have another tattoo..and I love it). He was such a great little friend to us, and we'll be keeping in touch. The next day, we went to another beach area, where we went parasailing, snorkelling, and jetskiing. Jenn only fell off the jet ski 5 times..and I'm sure at least 4 of the 5 were on purpose and "just for fun"...man she's a crazy one. On our last night, Jenn and I finally went into party mode, out with Yaya, Rio, and Rio's norwegian girlfriend who is a student in Bali...how on earth she hooked that up, I don't know, but I know I need to find a way to live there too! We partied it up, even dancing on stage, and funny enough being filmed for a balinese tourism video, yikes! We thought the guy was a pervert..and Jenn accused him of this, but he really stuck to the fact that his huge video camera was to tape footage for this tourism video. Bali is a place that I insist on going back to. There was such a beautiful laid back vibe there, the people were so incredibly friendly and welcoming. Everyone on the strip of Kuta Beach knew us by name, and when we left they all said "see ya in February" since Jenn and I are dreaming and hoping with all our might that we can make enough money this year to be able to afford to go to Bali for a few weeks.
Anyways, that's the most I can blog about here..I was hoping to blog more along the way, but we were just having too much fun to stop and take the time to post it. Kuta Beach in Bali rocks! Can't wait to get back there again someday!
Check out all the new pictures I'll have up in the next day or few days. August 23 Battling Pattaya alone! Where am I?Well since it's my vacation, it may be surprising that I'm in an internet cafe posting on my blog. WELL, I am in Pattaya, Thailand and it has been quite a unique experience. I was unaware before coming here, that it was known as "one of the sleaziest cities in the world" or the "most popular sex tourism destination in Thailand". Oh my god. This was definitely not my idea of travelling alone! Thank god Jenn comes later today. I was hoping to be able to be all independant and go out to check out the nighttime sights and bars, but there was no way in hell I was doing that. It took me 4 hours on a bus from Bangkok with girls from sweatshops, and the bus stopping every few metres to pack more people in from the street in their factory uniforms. When I finally got here, I was dropped on a random street, where I payed a Thai guy 100 Thai bot to take me on his motorcycle to my hotel. That was the most fun part of being here, riding on the motorcycle! But, since I got to my hotel in the centre of the nightlife, I have discovered that Pattya is nothing more than a dirty, sleazy area of open bars, with literally thousands of hookers. Not really my scene if you know what I mean! The only foreigners here are looking for hookers, cheap sex, and thai wives. So, this morning I woke up very early, not being able to sleep due to my poor overworked nerves. I went for a walk on the beach. The beach sucks. It's just a lot of boats, barely any clean beach. Tomorrow I will likely take one of these boats with Jenn to an island to escape this scary place! Not my ideal vacation here, but definitely a memorable experience. One more day here, then back to Bangkok for a night, and off on a plane to Bali for 4 days...cant wait for that! As for today, I will spend my time by the hotel pool, eat my included breakfast on the hotel terrace, and wait counting down the minutes until Jenn gets here to join me in my fearful time!
Onwards and upwards on this vacation, (I hope)!!
August 07 Countdown to Vacation timeIntensive time is here at Yes Youngdo..which means working almost 12 hours a day, but making some good overtime pay. It's pretty tiring, but the good thing is that it gave me a bit of a schedule change, which I was kind of looking forward to. I have some great classes, which makes my days much easier. One of my classes came new to the school, with no english names so I had a great time naming a bunch of them. I now have a Sly, Snake, Harry Potter and Michael Jackson in my class..hilarious. Only 2 more weeks till Jenn and I hit up Thailand and Bali for our sweet vacation. I'm dying for it and can't wait to be on the beach again. I think I'll be spending the first day and night alone in Pattaya, Thailand because Jenn doenst arrive until the next day. I'm kinda nervous about being in Thailand alone for my first time there, but I have heard it's quite easy to get around, and let's be honest..I need no company when I am in the land of shopping, partying, and laying on the beach. I think that after vacation, time is going to fly here...which I have mixed feelings about. Sometimes I miss home a lot, and can't wait to get back there. But, I have had a lot of moments lately (mainly on the weekends) where I just love Korea again. I'm happy about that, cause it's been a few months of feeling kinda bored and ready to move on. If it wasn't for my friend Jenn, I"m not sure what I'd do here. All the best parts of my time in Korea have been thanks to Jenn and her wild escapades she includes me in! We have been going to Osan the last few weekends, to get out of Seoul. We end up spending the same amount of money to get out of the city, stay in a nice hotel, do lots of good shopping, meet lots of cute airforce guys, and just feel normal again. Hearing all the english and seeing so many North Americans there really makes me feel at home again. Now, I'm actually anticipating how much I'll miss it here when I do have to leave. But, enough about that, cause there's 4 1/2 more months to go!
July 18 MUDFESTThis weekend was crazy! MUDFEST at Daecheon Beach! So many foreigners, it was shocking. So many white people all together, made me feel like I was at home. This weekend I had a great time. We stayed in a motel along the beach, and even though it was rainy I managed to leave with a tan! Finally, I got to swim and lay on the beach with my friends. We got covered in mud, went mudsliding, and did a lot of drinking and partying on the beach. The best part by far was when Jenn and I jumped in the water at night, and had korean police setting off sirens, and yelling at us to get out! We really wanted to go swimming, so we decided to "fight the power" and stay in the water. The police got us out once, but then we ran back in. Finally after yelling "NO" enough times, they actually gave up and we were officially the only foreigners allowed to swim at night! hehe We even had foreigner fans cheering for us! Hilarious! We just really wanted to swim, since we did go there for a beach weekend, which we decided should include swimming at night! Maybe they didnt want all those drunk foreigners trying to swim at night..understandable... but once they realized Jenn and I were not going to come back in, they just ignored us, and made everyone else get out of the water! WE ARE THE WINNERS!
All in all, awesome weekend that was desperately needed out here. Now I just need to keep the beach memories alive so I can make it till August 22nd, when I go to THAILAND and BALI!
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