1 year

On March 6th it was 1 year since I left Korea.  It doesn't feel like a year because I was traveling for most of 2016 after I left and visited Korea twice during that time.  But it really has been a year since my life there ended.  I can't believe it.  Sometimes I miss my life there so much, but I know even if I went back it wouldn't be the same.  It's not my whole life there that I miss, it's more like I miss my first 2 years there... when everything was new and exciting.  At some point, during my 3rd year I think, it just started to become my normal life.  By my last year there my life was pretty boring.  I still liked living there, but it wasn't exciting like it used to be.  I didn't feel I was gaining much more by staying there, and I was getting sick of only being able to plan my life 1 year at a time since my visa and job contract had to be renewed each year.

I miss it, but I always knew it would end.  One of the really hard things to deal with now is that I cannot travel as easily as I could when I was there.  Being a teacher I was always able to travel during winter and summer breaks.  And all of Asia was very cheap and easy to get to.

I'm saving money now for a trip sometime in the future, to Korean and Japan, but I really don't know when it will be.

Starting a new life in the USA

Monday November 28th my life abroad ended.  In March I stopped teaching in Korea. Went back to the US, traveled a bit there, then mid April I went to Spain to start my trip around the world. I went to 10 countries: Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Myanmar, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.  That trip ended Monday.  By Friday I had started working again, making jewelry at my friends jewelry store in Iowa.  I wanted some more time before I started working, but I'm glad I have a job.

Being back I feel....awful.  I enjoyed my life in Korea, and my life while I was traveling.  And now my life is so different.  I feel like I woke up from a nice dream and now I'm in Iowa and all my friends, and the rest of the world are a million miles away.

Summer travel

I'm going to Malaysia on Saturday till August  16.  I chose Malaysia for my summer vacation just because I've never been there before.

new school year update

This week the students have midterms so I have a lot of free time at school.  I like it.  I try to do something productive while I am here.  I usually study Korean, and this week I started editing my photos from my trip to Japan in February. 

Tomorrow I'll go to Taiwan till May 6th.  About 2 weeks ago I found out I would have May 1st-6th off, so I decided I should go some place.  If I was in the US and had 6 days off I probably wouldn't go anywhere.  But while I'm in Korea it's so easy to travel to another country I want to travel every opportunity I have. 

The school year is going fine so far.  And since we are using the same books as last year lesson planning is much easier because I am mostly able to use the lesson plans from last year.

This is supposed to be my last year in Korea and it's really making me feel pressured.  I mostly feel pressure to improve my Korean as much as possible.  I have been here four years and I am really disappointed in my speaking ability.  I'm also feeling pressure to learn CAD better and make a good portfolio.  I have made a lot of designs with CAD, but I'm not confident that I am making good ones.

Japan trip 2015

In February I went to Japan from the 14th till the 24th.  I spent the whole time in the Kansai area.  I traveled around a lot.  I went to Osaka, Kyoto, Horyu-ji in Nara Prefecture, Ise Jingu in Mie Prefecture, Hiei-zan in Shiga Prefecture, Koya-san in Wakayama Prefecture, and a few other places.  It was a really good trip.

At Meoto-iwa, where it was very windy:

Ginkaku-ji in Kyoto was much better than I expected:

Someplace on Hiei-zan:

Koya-san:

キン肉マン in Osaka:

School year is over

Yesterday was the last day of classes.  I still had to come to school today, but I didn't have to do any work.  Tomorrow I will go to school then go to the hospital for my medical check, which I need every year for my visa.  Saturday I will go to Japan. 

Back from the US

I was in the US Jan 20th - 30th.  I got back to Korea Sunday morning around 5:00 am and was home by about 8:30am.  I flew from Chicago to Hong Kong, spent a few hours at the airport, then flew to Seoul.  Whole thing was about 24 hours of travel, not including the time going to and from the airports.  I didn't sleep well during any of that time, so when I got home Sunday morning I spent most of the day sleeping. 

My trip wasn't very good.  I never really got over my jet lag and I didn't have much time to just relax.  I was too busy meeting friends, shopping and doing some other things I wanted to do while I was there. 

I brought two 50 lb suit cases full of things I don't need back to the US, but looking at my apartment it still seems pretty full. 

Today I'm at school and don't have much to do here.  Tomorrow classes start.  We will have 2 weeks of classes then more vacation time before the 2015 school year starts. 

Going to japan again

I have a lot of vacation time this winter, so I decided to go to Japan again.  I'll be there for about 10 days next month.  I'll be flying to Osaka, but I haven't really planned what I'll do yet.  I'm just going because I like Japan and it's easy for me to go there since I live in Korea.  Once I'm back in the US it's a $1000+ plane ticket and a 14 hour flight.  From Seoul it's about 2 hours and I'm paying about $250.

Visiting the US

I'll be visiting the US this month from the 20th to the 30th.  I plan to eat a lot of food and buy some stuff.  I'll also bring back a bunch of things I don't need here.  I have way too much stuff here. 

2015 plans

I think this is my last year in Korea.  I like to decide a year in advance so I will have time to do the things I wanted to do before I go.  I didn't want to just suddenly decide that I'll be leaving in a couple months. 

So my plans for this year are to keep learning CAD, keep studying Korean, and to save more money.  I was doing those things during 2014, but with this being my last year I want to try to turn up the intensity a bit.

One more year in Korea

Winter is the most stressful time for me here in Korea because that's when I find out if I can stay at my job another year or not.  Twice I have lost my job because of the budget, so then there is the stress of trying to find a new job.

I like this school and recently found out that they will have money in the budget for me next year and I can stay another year.  I'm so glad.

I am planning on this being my last year in Korea.  I liked living here much better than I ever imagined and stayed much longer than I planned when I first decided to come to Korea.  But I'm sick of the stress every year wondering if I will have a job the next year, and getting a little sick of teaching kids.  I also feel that it's about time to move on and get back to my metal work. 

Japan trip

I went to Japan August 9th - 19th.  This was my 6th trip there since 1997 and it was great, as usual.  I was going to take a boat from Busan, but it was canceled cause of the weather.  Luckily I was able to get a flight for not much more than the cost of the boat ticket.

I flew from Seoul to Fukuoka, train to Kagoshima, boat to Yakushima (an island), jetfoil back to Kagoshima, flew to Osaka (KIX), then took trains between Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara.  Flew back to Seoul from KIX.

The pics below are from my phone.  I haven't had time to go through all the photos I took with my DSLR yet.

This is what I brought.  Each trip I try to bring less than the previous trip.  I didn't like that my bag was so full and I didn't have room in my bag for my camera.

I liked this white ant sign in Kagoshima-shi.

Yakushima

Me in front of a 3000 year old tree. 

 Toudaiji.  

I was finally able to buy more of my favorite incense at Toudaiji.  Last time I was there was 2004.

Deer near Toudaiji.

Fushimi Inari Taisha 

Summer camp

I'm almost finished with my first week of summer camp.  They call it "camp" but it's really just a class.  This week I have the 1st grade class (middle school 1st grade = 7th grade in the US) which I am teaching alone.  So far this is the best camp I have ever had.  It starts at 1:30 pm, rather than in the morning, which is nice.  I also have a good group of students.  The 1st graders are mostly well behaved, and the ones in this summer class have above average English. The best thing about this camp was my co teacher told me how he wanted it to be.  He told me exactly how much time he wanted me to spend on games, activities and studying, so it was easy for me to plan. 

Next week is 2nd grade which I will teach with my co teacher. The day after it ends I will go to Japan. 

Japan trip

I'm going to Japan next month.  August 9th - 19th.  The main purpose of this trip is to go to Yakushima.  But I will also be going to Osaka and Kyoto.  This will be my 6th trip to Japan.  Living in Korea, I am so close to Japan, but this will be my first time to go there since I came to Korea.  I'll be taking a boat to Fukuoka from Busan and flying back to Seoul from Osaka. 

Seoul Korean Language Academy Pt. 2

I've been taking Korean classes at the Seoul Korean Language Academy three times a week since April.  This is what it is like:

Right now there are 4 people in the class: me, another American, and two Japanese. 

Typically we spend 1 1/2 -  2 classes on each chapter.  We start the chapter with the new grammar.  There are usually 3 grammar points in each chapter.  The teacher explains it, makes sample sentences, and we practice making sentences.  Either with the teacher giving us some starting point or hint for the sentence we should make, or just making our own sentences.  I hate making my own sentences and I'm really bad at it.  Even when I understand the grammar I usually can't think of anything to say with it.  If I actually have something I want to say it's much easier for me to make a sentence. 

After the grammar we look at the new vocabulary and  the teacher clarifies what the words mean and uses them in sentences, and sometimes we make sentences with the words.  After the vocab we read the dialog.  First we repeat after her, then we read it with a partner.

The class is in all Korean, even the grammar explanations. The teacher rarely uses English or Japanese.  And even then it's just like a word or two, usually to clarify something when we don't understand.  At the beginning of class before we start and throughout the class there is a lot of talking about random things, mostly between the teacher and us.  I'm glad it's all in Korean.  I'm not going there to speak or listen to English. 

Overall I enjoy it, but the class movies too fast and there's no review.  I understand the new grammar when it is presented, but after learning it and practicing it that day we never see it again in the classroom, unless it comes up during a conversation.

My Korean is coming along ok.  I wish I there were more times when I really had to use it, other than things like ordering food at a restaurant or something.  Most people I know speak English well enough that it's too easy to just be lazy and use English instead of Korean.

My speaking still lags way behind reading, writing and listening.  That's normal I guess, but annoying because so many times I can understand what someone says to me but cannot respond quick enough.  Or I can only respond in the most basic way.  

Below are pictures of the school:

 

Seoul Korean Language Academy

I'll be starting Korean language classes next week on Wednesday at Korean Language Academy in Gangnam, Seoul.  I'm going 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I had planned on only going twice a week but my level class doesn't meet twice a week at the Gangnam location, only at the Jongno location, which is too far for me. 

I visited the place last week and sat in on a lower level class.  It seemed good, but we'll see. 

New city, new job

March 6th I moved to a new apartment in Yongin and started working at a middle school the next day.  So far I like middle school much better than elementary school.  I'm teaching 1st and 2nd grades of middle school, which correspond to 7th and 8th grades in the US.  Classes here are pretty big, around 36-39 students per class.  There are 11 1st grade and 11 2nd grade classes that I see once a week, so I teach a total of at least 792 different students each week.  I also have a 90 minute after school class I teach on Mondays.

Yongin is a pretty large city, but I'm living in the more rural southern end of it.  Still it's only about an hour to get to Seoul by bus.  

Below are pics of my school, apartment and neighborhood:

Desk at school:

 

English classroom.  I teach all of my classes here.  

 

English classroom:

 P.E. class.  The weather is getting nice:

School:

 On the way to school.  It's about a 15 minute walk.

   

Foggy morning:

 

 

 Going home:

My home:

Dunjeon Station on the Yongin Everline.  It's just a few minutes from my place, but not a very fast way to get to Seoul.  The bus is faster.   It's better for getting to other places in Yongin, Suwon, or Seongnam.

 

 Little trains on the Everline:

 

Random stuff near my home:

immigration

Friday March 14th I went to the Suwon Immigration Office to renew my visa.  Different areas are served by different offices, so we don't have a choice about which office we go to.  Because I live in Yongin now I had to go to the Suwon office.  I went here once before in 2012 when I lived in Pyeongtaek.  It was a terrible experience.  I was there literally the whole working day.  In 2010 and 2013 I went to different immigration offices and it wasn't bad at all.  I was hoping this year would be ok, but it was just as bad as 2012.  I got there around 11:30, and my ticket number was 490, with 371 people ahead of me.  I wanted to go there right away in the morning, but I was told I must come to school first so I can be marked as "leaving early" rather than taking a whole day off.  The whole thing took more than 7 hours.  This time wasn't as bad as last time cause I spent a lot of time at McDonalds and a cafe.  I found out too late, that you are able to make appointments online.  I'll do that next year if I'm still here.

New job

I will be be staying one more year in Korea.  In march I will be starting a new job at a middle school in Yongin-si. I don't know if this will be my last year in Korea or not.  Every year I say I want just one more year.

USA trip

Last month I went to the USA from the 14th till the 27th.  It was the first time I had been back to the USA since I left February 29th, 2012.  I mostly spent the trip eating food I can't get in Korea, meeting friends and shopping for clothes.  I also got a new driver's license.  Mine expired over a year ago so I had to take the driving test again, which was silly.  It was good to drive again, I just wish my parents had a more fun car to drive.