my cat calendar

dear readers, if you have friends abroad, send them mail. even if it's just a postcard saying hi. getting mail from home is so awesome. one time a girlfriend sent me some bit o honey, it was the most wonderful thing to find in my mailbox.

for xmas, my homegirl cheryl sent me some gifts, including a cat desk calendar (i really miss my cats). not the kind of thing i'd have as decor in my home, but i did put it on my desk at work.

sooo many students asked where i got it, and when i told them it was a present from home, each conversation would have, "teacher, i will give money and your friend buy me one too." cute.

things like this can get distracting, but assert yourself and tell the students they may look at it/ask about it at break time, and "right now is class time. Work first." it got to be a competition as to who got to keep that days page of the calendar. then the students starting writing their names on the pages, calling dibbs and eagerly awaiting the day thier page came. it's super cute.

a year plus later

ive gotten many a request for an update, wow, i feel like a celebrity!! i do keep another blog about some minor everyday shizz, in the form of the emails i send to my parents, if you're just really dying to know more about me. stalkers.

in february i finished my one year contract at cdi. i saw 3 runners (teachers who stop showing up to work w/no notice, usually they leave the country & go back home), 3 people get fired, and multiple transfers (teachers requesting or getting sent to a different location). of the 8 or so new teachers that i came in with a year ago, 2 of them finished their contracts.

cdi offered to re-sign me, with no raise. *puh* this is my fault tho, for being technically tardy multiple times. we're to log in on the computer 20 min before class, and i would do a late log in maybe 1 or 2 times a month. update: i asked for and got a raise 6 mo later, holla!

I got a top score of "S" teacher last term, which entitled me to a 1 million won bonus! i didnt get that either, b/c of my tardies. And now that it's been a year, im responsible for my own key money, which i of course dont have saved up, so 1 million won is being pulled out of my paycheck every month for the next 5 months until my key money is paid. i get it back when i move out of the apartment.

with all the above, i feel like a sucker sometimes for re-signing, but honest to goddess, i still love working there. i love the kids. and now that i know the structure, teaching is not labor intensive at all. my prep time for class is 30 min tops, if i take a nap and write left handed. the classes are 3 hours long, but i dont care b/c i love that i only have two sets of kids a day, i feel like i really know my kids. i work 6 hours a day, and i dont take work home with me. i love that i never have to set my alarm clock b/c my work day doesnt start until 4pm. and in my year here, i've never been paid late.

if youre super duper into making money, you could make bank w/cdi. if your score as a top ranked teacher, you get a bonus of 1 million won, second highest set of teachers get 500,000 won, and opportunities for these bonuses are every three months. since class doesnt start until 4pm, you could do (illegal) private lessons in the morning/afternoon (i hear people charge minimum 50$ an hour), with the summer and winter time come cdi "intensive" classes where one month you teach in the morning AND afternoon, but you'll pull a paycheck of over 5 grand. you get paid more if you work your way up to "Head Instructor" but with more work/responsibilities of course. btw, i do none of the above b/c i like my work load as it is and i value my free time.

would i tell people they should come work for cdi? no. i have plenty of gripes about my job. we dont get a year end bonus, we dont get holidays off, we dont get free housing, we dont get health insurance, we dont get paid vacation, we sometimes have to come to mandatory meetings and arent compensated for them. ive seen and experienced things that i thought were unfair. and maybe you wont get easy peasy classes to teach like i do, maybe you'll have these beast classes that require a few hours of prep. im lucky right now, but i fo sho have some coworkers who arent and their workloads are monsters.

so kiddies, check out all kinds of different jobs and pick what works for you. but i do like cdi enough that i'm staying, at least for another year. i have fun at work, the kids are awesome. i love walking down the hallway and seeing a student wave wildly saying, "Oh! Hello Sister Sha!!!!" im happy where i am, things is good. :)

yes, i complain about the cold, A LOT.

the thing i wish i bought the second i got here-->
i have them now, and i friggin love them.

my homegirl emailed me, she's thinking about coming to korea, and told me she appreciates how i say a lot of neutral things and positive things about my experience here. thass cool. i do get the blues here, guys, real bad, but i make efforts not to write it here, b/c really dont we all get the blues, anywhere/everywhere, anyway? fo reals.

soooo... she teased me and said the blogs were great, except it seems that i hate the cold b/c i complain about it a lot. and yeah, i do.

i grew up in southern cali! ive never known cold like this before, not like this where i have to live in it every single day. it's mostly just me; my colleagues, tho they complain of the cold as well, dont let it stop them from doing things, experiencing korea. some coworkers are in north korea right now, taking advantage of the holiday weekend. i am, of course, at the internet cafe where it's warm. and then i'll go home, a mere 100 meters away, to my warm apartment.

i bought these wonderful earmuffs in itaewon yesterday for 3,ooo won. they're available in a wide variety of colors, camaflouge for example.

why oh why didnt i get them sooner. they're awesome.

today in seoul it is 32 °F / 2 °C
in san diego is it 65° F /18° C

when i go out, i put on long johns under my clothes, a scarf to wrap around my face and ears, gloves for my hands, and a sour face to match my attitude.

relax. have a drink.

you can also sit on the lawn furniture they have in front

of the convenience stores and drink as many, many, bored,

and lonely foreigners do. not me, tho... yet.

eating when i first got here

when i first got here, i was put in a nice hotel and told training starts on monday. i think i arrived on a saturday night? and i had nothing to eat, and was pretty timid about finding a place.

well, i did try... i remember going into a place that looked like a restaurant, and i smiled said i wanted to eat, i made the international "eat" gesture w/putting my hand to my mouth. and the guy said, "No." i was so embarrassed, i left and didnt go anywhere by myself to eat for months. maybe he thought i was a beggar, maybe he didnt want to deal w/someone who didnt speak korean, maybe he hated my glasses, who knows...

look for convenience stores. Places like Family Mart, Buy The Way, or GS Mart. 7-11 is here as well. it's cheaper of course to buy at a proper grocery store (big bottles of water are around 2-3,000 won {$2-3}, but you can buy a whole pack of 6 for under $5 at emart). BUT if youre fresh off the plane like i was, you just want something to eat and drink.

ramen is easiest and cheapest. a big ol' cup of ramen is under one dollar (around 750-900 won). at the store, they have hot water dispensers and chopsticks gratis, sometimes you'll see students standing at a little table slurping down their noodles before their next hogwan. spaghetti ramen is my favorite. ramen bokki is good too, but a tad spicy. most of the ramens are spicy. if youre a baby about spicy/hot like i am, buy a milk or yogurt or something dairy to go along with your food to sooth the palette.






also good to try are these little triangles. they're seaweed with rice inside and some sort of filling. i cant read korean and it's a gamble when i buy them as to what i'm getting, but ive never had one that i didnt like. i always hope for the tuna. they are also under a dollar, maybe 900 won or so.

there's fruit and veggies to buy too, but if it's the right season, you can walk around and see a truck parked w/a guy selling fruit. the tangerines this year were fucking awesome. the apples are bomb, and some other fruit that tastes like a sweet pear, but it's round. i thought it was a vegetable. take a gamble and buy an assortment of things, it's fun, es un adventura, si mon.

my hotel had a hot/cold water dispenser, so i bought ramen en mass and kept them in my room... b/c again, i am from southern cali and the cold here made me never leave my room unless i absolutely had to.

also look for a "fast food" chain called Hansot. they're little lunch counters, they have pictures on the menu and you can just point to what you want, it's wonderful. food there runs from $1.50 to $6.00, most meals i spent around three. you get a tray of rice and whatevers. as i was so sick of ramen when i found hansot, it was the most delicious food i'd ever eaten in my life.

in pink, a typical Hansot meal

fish cakes are yummy

this is my new favorite thing to eat in korea. they're "fish cakes."

i dont know how to ask for them, but usually you'll be walking around and you'll see a truck, or cart, or a stand set up, sometimes in front of a restaurant. they'll have these skewers in boiling water, and on these skewers are these beige strips. they dont look good, but they so are. you can take a little cup also, and drink the soup (the liquid the skewers sit in).

they're only about 500 won each... 50cent. you can spray them w/soy sauce or brush it with whatever sauce they have sitting in front. you eat it there, and them leave them the stick. which i hope they at least rinse off before they use them again. or maybe you can walk off with the stick? i dont know, i always eat it then and there like everyone else does.

my utility/maintenance bill

update 04/08: please note that the korean won and the US dollar has been fluctuating lately, be sure to check current conversion rate.

i dont know why my first bill was so friggin high. i guess i was stuck w/some of the last persons bill... oh, and i didnt even GET a bill the first couple of months, actually, so it looks like they charged me all at once. jerks.

anyway, in an officetel, you pay a maintenance bill which includes utilities, water, electricity, and keeping the common areas clean. so, these are my bills from my moving in up until whenever.

some of my coworkers have had extremely high bills: i remember one month my bill was 150 something, and the couple who lived in the next building had a bill of over 300. others who swear they never use the heater/air conditioner (whereas i had the ondol all all the time in winter and constantly used the ac in summer) have bills comparable to mine. so, i dont know, i guess it depends on the building you live in? since so many people email asking me about bills, ive posted this, but dont assume your situation will be the same. ive friends who live in houses or apartments or villas, and their bills are 20,000 won. Yes, i said TWENTY. go figure.

Date	Won	Dollars
06/07	265,670	$279.74
07/07	119,070	$119.65
08/07	117,010	$123.20
09/07	120,670	$127.06
10/07	129,930	$136.81
11/07	113,440	$119.45
12/07	121,270	$127.69
01/08	147,810	$155.64
02/08	145,550	$153.26
03/08	163,860	$164.67
04/08	155,580	$156.35
05/08	137,510	$138.19
06/08	127,170	$122.37
07/08	118,190	$113.34
08/08	123,570	$84.92
09/08	139,050	$95.56
10/08	108,770	$74.75
11/08	117,450	dunno
12/08	127,820	$95.00
01/09	164,720	109.71
in	february	i moved
to a	new	place.

in my place in jamsil, i get a bill from Korea Electric Power Corporation, a bill from Daehan City Gas Company, and another bill that i think is water.

electric bill Date	Electric bill Won	electric bill Dollars
02/09	.	.
03/09	.	.
04/09	32,210	.
05/09	.	.
06/09	33,990	.
07/09	18,250	.
08/09	20,320	16.63
09/09	36,280	29.68
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gas bill Date	gas bill Won	gas bill Dollars
02/09	.	.
03/09	.	.
04/09	40,840/46,570	.
05/09	?/14,330	.
06/09	5,340/14330	.
07/09	.	.
08/09	.	.
09/09	.	.
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water Date	water Won	water Dollars
02/09	.	.
03/09	9,670	.
04/09	.	.
05/09	7,260	.
06/09	.	.
07/09	.	.
08/09	.	.
09/09	.	.
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how ise feelin right now

i dont know what this is a picture of, it comes up when you do a google image search for "first anniversary." pretty hot.


holy cow, here i is near 11 months later! happy new year!

my contract is up in february, i'd like to go home and visit family/friends, and i definitely want to come back to teach again. probably at the same school, i like the job, i like the kids there.

i have plenty of gripes about my job and korea in general of course, but you all can find lots of that on other blogs.

but anyways, as i get blue for just a hot second, here is what i miss right now (excluding friends and family):

1. the san diego weather. it's so cold here right now, my ears ache, my face hurts where my glasses are resting on my cheeks/nose, i dont go outside, i cant, it's torture.
2. soy rolled tacos from el zarape. hmmm...
3. familiarity. knowing where everything is and how to get everywhere.
4. harar. ever since ive been here, ive had a reoccurring dream that im in san diego, rushing to get to harar b/c i want to eat the no.17 one more time before i go back to korea. and then i wake up all the way, realizing im nowhere near my favorite restaurant.
5. my cats.
6. the clubs i frequented that played hip hop i loved. btw jean grae is the number one emcee in the world.

merry xmas

from a rather infamous blog the metropolitician, who plugs another great blog feet man seoul:

This Christmas season, the must-have item is the bear hat, courtesy of Paris Baguette. And if you are a couple, a matching pair is the way to go. This couple is the quintessential Seoul Christmas couple, since they're not only rocking the hats, but have a Christmas cake in tow, as well as a little bit of candy, a lollipop that looks freshly picked from a Dr. Seuss Christmas tree. All items, it appears, that you can find in the original commercial.

from sarah

click to enlarge and read this lovely letter from little sarah--->

hey, i've been working here in korea at cdi for near 9 months now. *phew!* i have my complaints about my job, as do we all, but overall im really happy there. i love the kids, and i like teaching. i love my apartment. i LOVE my apartment. like really, i love it. i may never leave.

it's coming to the end of my 3rd term and i'll say goodbye to my kids, and hello to a whole new group of classes. sometimes students will leave before the end of the term, which i really dont like b/c they seem to disappear one day and then i dont get a chance to tell them goodbye. :(

sometimes the student knows they're leaving, so i tell them how wonderful it was to have them in my class, and i tell them to watch lots of english movies, and read lots of english books, and tell them they're brilliant and good luck in the future and email me if you ever need anything. i don't tear up or cry, tho when sarah told me goodbye and gave me this note, i got real reeeeeeeal close.