looking into my seoul

#71 sOmething interesting

2009-12-30T16:29:00.000+11:00

#7o sOmething funny hehe

2009-12-29T10:22:00.002+11:00

[ disney's desperate housewives ]

#69 peperO day

2009-12-15T15:53:00.002+11:00

11.11.o9

its pepro day! apparently a long time ago these school students started exchanging pepero on november 11 (cos it looks like 4 pepero sticks) then lotte (who makes pepero) decided to turn it into a holiday haha.

a week or 2 before pepero day, the shops and streets are full of pepro.. u can buy them already made, or u can buy kits and make them yourself.. its not only for couples but students give it to their teachers and friends also.

my students gave me pepero =]

안녕~

xo m

#68 hallowEen!

2009-12-15T15:26:00.003+11:00

sam- nudist on strike, moises - school boy, ron - mormon (is that how u spell it?)

the brown eyed girls!

its halloween week! this week, i scared alot of my students with scary videos.. they all had a good laugh after that.. we also played lots of halloween games and activities.. i spent ALOT of money this week on candy.. i think their teeth are all rotten now haha

on the weekend we had this gathering with chris's college students, we met up in gangnam at this bar.. ate and drank.. made some new friends. after that we went to another HOF.. ate and drank some more and then went to NB.

i think im getting over clubbing, its becoming boring for me now. we went inside, danced a bit. the brown eyed girls were there! that was really exciting for me.. i think i've met alot of famous ppl in the last 6 months that i've been here haha

안녕~

xo m

#67 school spOrts day

2009-12-15T14:18:00.009+11:00

sports day!

this boy sleeps in my class every week, only once he paid attention and did a wordearch

3-9, the hospital patients

these students were naughty

3-2 - superman

this boy catches my bus every morning

my worse 2nd grade student

minwoo - wearing my glasses, he think he looks like rain

weird games (see the boy walking on top of their backs)

Wheehyun - my neighbour, we also get the bus together

3rd graders playing soccer

girls playing dodge ball

the boys here are very affectionate towards each other

the hospital patients dancing haha

jintae - he's a trouble maker

23.1o.o9

today my school had a sports day... it was all the grades against each other.. it was fun for me cos sports day here is soo different to back home. they played games that were weird and very funny (as in not real sports, they were like walking on each others back and throwing the small students up in the air all the way to the end to win.. thats weird)

some of the homerooms even made t shirts.. some had superman shirts, one class showed up in hospital clothes (they were the patients, their homeroom teacher was the doctor) haha

안냥~

xo m

#66 chan's biRthday

2009-12-15T12:22:00.006+11:00

dinner

ho bar 3

fire show at cocoon

out side the 라면 shop

o9.1o.o9 - hongdae

on friday night, chan (hectors gf) celebrated her bday in hongdae.. we all gathered and went to have dinner at a samgyeopsal restaurant. after that we all headed to ho bar 3 to get wasted b4 we hit a club.. it was a really fun night cos nearly everyone was out that day. after ho bar, we went to this club called cocoon.. i really liked it, the music was good and it wasnt as packed as NB or tinpan.. we all played til about 2-3am then left and went to some famous ramyeon shop that was used to film some korean drama. ramyeon at 3am is sooo gooooddd =]

after that we all just went our seperate ways and went home when the subway came.. it was very cold that day but i had a lot of fun =)

안녕~

xo m

#65 chuseOk

2009-12-15T12:05:00.004+11:00

walking to muiido

hiking suraksan

chuseok weekend! everyone had about 4-5 days off (incl weekends) .. my friends and i decided to explore incheon for chuseok.. on friday morning we all met up in incheon and went to china town to have lunch.. it was ok.. wasnt as good as we expected.. then after that we headed to wolmi do - its a place by the sea that has a fair and lots of food. we played there for a while then left and went to some exhibition of the future.. i have no idea what it was about but it was fun.

later on in the night we headed to bupyeong (where my sassy girl was filmed) we found a motel, checked in then went out to eat.. to a few bars.. it wasnt all that great some half of us headed back to the hotel early.

the following morning we decided to go island hopping, we headed back to wolmi do and took a ferry to the island where the aiport is on.. we got off, took another bus and that took us to the water.. it was sooo nice here.. we walked when the sun was setting and it was really nice just to be by the sea.

we finally made it to muuii-do .. now that i think back to it.. i dont really know why we went cos there really wasnt much on this island .. lol after eating and walking around we headed back to the airport island and took a bus straight to the airport... it was hard trying to decided what to do but eventually we all got on a bus and headed to my area.

ron and sam have never been up north to my area b4.. we took them to amusing world where we sang and played ping pong and wii.. at abt 2am.. we took a taxi back to my house and they crashed at my place.

the following day we met up with moises in uijeongbu, had lunch then went hiking mt suraksan! out of all the mountains i've climbed, suraksan was the best.. it was sooo tiring but totally worth it.. the views were sooo amazing. after the the hike, we met up with kenny at VIPS, had dinner then everyone went home.

on monday, i met up with thuy in myeongdong and we went shopping! it was a good shopping day but i spent and bought soooo much.. it was really hard going home on the packed trains with all my shopping bags haha

it was a good chuseok weekend =)
( i read this post and it totally sucks.. i think cos im in a hurry, i have classes in 15 mins and im trying to rush it hahah sorry.)

안녕~

xo m

#64 asia sOng festival

2009-12-15T11:32:00.004+11:00

the long lines to get inside

19.o9.o9 - world cup stadium

every year, korea holds an asian song festival.. artist from all over asia come and perform.. we got to go to this year for free =)

all we had to do was go online.. register and print out tickets.. it was fun =)

we got there really early that morning.. like at 11 and there were ppl there already.. we were told that we they wont let us in til 3pm so we left and went to itaewon for lunch. after that we headed back to the stadium (why lunch took 4 hours i have no idea). when we got there was it was soooo packed.. the line was huge! we eventually got in and got our seats.. the concert was good, i was happy to see big bang and 2ne1 perform =]

after that we all headed to apgujeong, went to monkey beach again. it wasnt fun for me this week cos i'd gone the week earlier for my bday.. i kinda just sat outside and waited for everyone else to finish.. at about 4am a few of us went to a net cafe and just played til the subway started.

it was a tiring day =/

안녕~

xo m

#63 my birthdaY & star sighting #3

2009-12-15T11:18:00.004+11:00

me and se7en <3

every year when my birthday comes around i get lazy and dont wanna do anything. i don't know why? anyways, this yr i decided to go out .. nothing big.. just to eat and then whatever after. we started in gangnam, had dinner at hooters which was ok.. wasnt as good as i expected but now i can say i've been to hooters haha. after that we headed to monkey beach in apgujeong... seems that everytime i go to this bar i get really wasted lol.. this time not as bad as the first time when i got so drunk and dissapeared at 11pm haha.

we played at monkey beach til like 330 am ish.. after that we went for a walk around apgujeong to wait for the subway to start.. while we were walking these girls in front of us stopped and were making a big fuss cos of someone that had just walked past us.. i asked them who it was and they said it was TOP from big bang! i was so shocked (cos im a big bang fan). i wanted to run into the restaurant that he's just gone into (actually i did go in like half way) but felt weird so i came back out again. about 5 mins later another person came out and the girls told me it was se7en! i nearly died hahaha.. im a HUGE se7en fan since like forever. so i told hector and he grabbed me and made me go say hi to se7en (se7en was at his car getting something out). we got up to him and i said hello.. we talked to him for a bit, asked for a photo but he said no (maybe afraid of scandals i don't know) then we just said have a nice night and he went back into the restaurant.

after that hector got really excited (cos hector is a big MJ fan and the only thing he knows abt se7en was that once se7en did an MJ performance) and he wanted to camp outside the rest to see them again.. after half an hour he passed out so we left and went to burger king, ate then went home.

it was a good bday lol

안녕~

xo m

#62 everLand

2009-12-15T10:26:00.018+11:00

waking up at ron's place

everland map

everlandddd!

T-Express.. my favourite ride!

marlin & i

moises & jane

this ride got us all soooo wet

none of us understood the last line of this (will)

the music show

our safari bus!

dancing bears =)

everland show

ok first off... SORRYYYYYY =( i know its been agess since i last wrote something on here.. after my last post on august 27 school started and i was just soooo busy and totally had no time to even upload photos into my comp.

anyways.. so this will be a BIG update (hopefully).

on the last weekend of august, my friends and i decided to go to everland! i was really looking forward to this =). on friday night we all met up in gangnam.. had dinner then just went to a few bars.. at about 11 we all jumped on the express bus and headed to rons place. we dropped off our stuff when we got there then took a taxi to suwon. suwon is soooo nice, i really liked it, its still a little far from seoul (prob same distance as my place to seoul) but the city of suwon is hugee and theres so much to do there.

we walked around and looked for clubs but they were all gay.. it was kind of dissapointing, at rons we all just slept, woke up the next day and headed to everland! although ron lives in the same city, it took foreverrr to get there.

anyways we finally got there at about 11am and started exploring.. everland wasnt what i expected.. it was huge but there wasnt that much to do (it was all for little kids) the best ride was the t-express, i LOVED it.. we went on it a few times.. took ron on it and i think he got the most scared out of all of us haha

we also went to the animal safari which was really cool, we got to see real bears dancing right next to our bus!!

안녕~

xo m

#61 staR sighting #2

2009-08-27T11:04:00.012+10:00

hyung joon, shindong and brian!

people went up to ink their thumbs on the board

theres me going up to ink my thumb.. im the one right in the middle in the blue jacket

giving out water bottles

hector ran after shindong when he was leaving the station

yesterday (26.o8) hector, moises, kenny and i went to uijeongbu to eat popeyes... after a few hours there we headed back to the station and went home.. on the way up we saw alot of people crowded around one area so i ran there to see what was going on.. the first person i recognised was shindong from super junior! i had no idea what he was doing there but stayed and watched anyways... afterwards i realised the other guy was hyung joon from ss501! although im not a big fan of these 2 bands (im a big 2pm and big bang fan) i stayed to watched anyways cos it was exciting!

i like ss501 but only the leader (hyun joong... too bad the one that i met was hyung joon... confusing o.O). the other guy that was in the blue shirt is brian from fly to the sky! i use to like fly to the sky (when they were popular) but im not that big of a fan anymore.. they have good songs though.

anyways they were there promoting a show or something.. it had to do with the environment.. they spoke for a bit and then got people to come up.. grab a bottle of water and then ink your thumb with green paint and then print it on this poster of a tree with no leaves (which means ur thumb print is the leaf).

i went up there and did it! i had no idea what to do so i was speaking english to them.. brian heard me and after when i did it, he handed me a poster and was like here you go.. hehe afterwards he spoke some english about what was going on.. i couldnt really hear the words clearly but his english was perfect!

anyways just as we were about to leave and get the train, they finished and headed off... hector like ran after them and got a photo of shindong about to run down the stairs..

this star sighting made my day =) it was a crappy day cos it was raining ALL day and i didnt wanna go out afterwards but im glad i did.. i hope one day i can meet the boys from 2pm!

안녕~

xo m

#6o lottewOrld

2009-08-27T10:12:00.024+10:00

the day begins!
lotte world entrance

meeting the mascots... lorry and lotty

at the dynamic theatre

we were going on a jungle ride so i was trying to pose as a jungle explorer with my hat on but it didnt work out cos u can't see the elephant at the back.

my lotteworld map where i kept track and made sure we went on every ride!

DIPPING DOTS!!! this is actually ICECREAM!! it was so cool

HAHA i loved this ride.

this ride called desperados.. u get on a horse and u have a gun and a huge screen in front of you.. the horse starts to rock and u have to compete with everyone in the room and shoot the bad guys that come on the screen.. this was fun!

these girls came to lotteworld in their pajamas haha

magic island in the daytime!

lotteworld parade

waiting for the donkey to shit out my prize

the giraffe ride

magic island by night

magic island cinderella castle!

balloon ride.. a view a lotteworld from high above!

the gyro drop... this was one of my favourite rides! this is very very long video cos it starts from when i got on til i got off... if you just wanna see the part where i go up and then drop then fast forward to 2.15"

lotteworld parade!

the donkey prize... u insert $1 and it shits out a prize... i tried to catch it with my hat but it was too fast.. it was just a gay candy anyways -_-

me on the giraffe ride.. it was sooooo slow... but so fun!

walking to magic island at night time... cinderella castle!

on sunday august the 16th moises and i decided to go to lotteworld. its a themepark that is located in seoul. our other friends have either been or didnt wanna go so we thought we should go since it was a good day and we had nothing to do.

anyways so on sunday morning we left quite early and got to lotteworld around 10am. bought tickets (31,000won) and headed inside. Lotteworld is a big indoors themepark.. its huge and even has a rollercoaster that runs through it... it also leads outside to magic island which has a big cinderella castle that lights up at night time, it was pretty cool.

We had a mission that day and that was to do everything at lotteworld.. first was the balloon ride.. u get into a fake hot air balloon and it takes you around so u can see the whole themepark from high above. it was a very very long ride but it was heaps of fun.

After that, we set off from floor to floor and went on all the rides on every floor.. some were fun... others were just gay.. we also went and saw most of the shows.. 4d, ghost, musical, water and fire, dynamic theater etc.

after we finished inside.. we headed outside... it was sooo hot... outside had the coolest rides.. the atlantis and gyro drop was my favourite... it was a big thrill and i love thrills so i enjoyed it heaps.. i went on the gyro drop like 3 times!

anyways we also saw the parade which was really fun.. most of the people were not even korean... they were like south americans!

after a long day we decided to leave at 9pm.. we spent a total of 11 hours at lotteworld! how crazy.

안녕~

xo m

#59 laCk of updates

2009-08-14T16:47:00.003+10:00

hey guys.. sorry for the lack of updates.. i've been busy (LIES! im just lazy) ... i did a massiveeee update today.. a total of 11 blogs ... my last one was about 2 weeks ago (#47)... please start from blog number 48 (click on older post link)... start from my adventure to ice bar! (which happened like about a month ago... sorry >.<)

enjoy~

안녕~

xo m

#58 dobOngsan extra - photos from hector

2009-08-14T16:35:00.018+10:00

the moutains of dobongsan
picnics at the stream

moises and i .. ready for the hike

on the way up

making our way up to the very top of the peak

i made it!

people rock climbing

reflecting on my life .. HAHA

close up of the people rock climbing.. danh, nam and co.. u guys should come here and climb!

the beautiful views~

#57 soyOsan extra - photos from hector

2009-08-14T16:22:00.019+10:00

families having picnics

chilling at the stream

ready for the hike.. do not ask why i was in sandals.. i was out the night b4 and didnt have time to go home and change shoes.. i made it to the top anyways! gladiator sandals helppp ahaha

LOL

moises was dying...

some random man.. prob reflecting on his life..

there was a temple on the mountain.

#56 ganGnam

2009-08-14T14:50:00.005+10:00

the street of gangnam outside nb and harlem

nb - gangnam

harlem - gangnam

this week is moises bday.. we decided to go to gangnam for a night out.. brett (who i met the week b4 at club day) was also celebrating his bday so we decided to do a joint one for both of them ..

we met up in gangnam at about 9ish.. gangnam (as mentioned b4 - the rich suburb) is just like new york city apparently (i've never been to nyc so i dont know but i've been told) the streets are huge and its packedddd with people and shops.. just like apgujeong

we went to eat then went to look for nb and harlem.. i did a search on gangnam and apparently these were the 2 clubs to go to in gangnam (rnb). nb was awesomeeee... it was better than the one in hongdae (and the one in hongdae is pretty good). the club was much bigger and looked really nice (i guess cos its in gangnam). anyways it was too packed downstairs so we all went upstairs where there was alot of space to dance.. after a few hours there we went next door to harlem.. nb and harlem are owned by the same ppl so with the wrist bands u can go into both clubs for free.. harlem was also a nice club.. the layout was alot different to nb.. it looks like a strippers place to me.. lol but still good

at about 430.. we left and went to maccas for breakfast.. and also to wait for the trains to start.. the rest of the weekend i spent in bed.. haha

안녕~

xo m

#55 summeR camp

2009-08-14T14:47:00.003+10:00

some of of my summer camp students.

this week (o3.o8) i have summer camp.. the grade 1s... they sign up for my classes... about 24 signed up but only a total of 15 came everyday... everyone came atleast 1 day lol.. summer camp is fun.. i got to know some of the students more.. they became more comfortable with me also...

some days i taught them stuff.. some we just played games and watched videos... these kids are smarter than i thought.. i thought they'd be really stupid and not understand most of the stuff i was saying but they did and classes went really quick everyday so we always just sat around and talked..

summer camp just lasted for 1 week... its been fun... now i have another 3 weeks of just sitting at my desk doing nothing.. i guess my job is to come and guard my desk everyday.. waiting for semester 2 to start haha

안녕~

xo m

#54 hikinG dobOngsan

2009-08-14T14:36:00.006+10:00

at the top of dobongsan~

on sunday we decided to go hiking.. this time we decided on donbongsan instead... it was a very hot day.. once we got there we were having 2nd (even 3rd) thoughts about whether we should hike or not.. in the end we decided to go.. dobongsan is a much bigger and more challenging mountain than soyosan.. there were heaps of hikers there..

we decided on a peak and off we went.. this time we went prepared.. backpacks full of food and about 2-4 litres of water each.. it took us awhile to get to the peak.. we started at about 2ish and didnt get to the top til about 5-6pm... it was a longgg hike that included many breaks...

as soon as we got to the top.. it was all worth it.. the views were beautiful.. u could basically see the whole world from up there... we stayed at the peak for a very long time.. there were even ppl rock climbing up on the other peaks..

on the way down it was quick... we didnt take many breaks.. just went at a slow and steady speed.. it was a good day =)

안녕~

xo m

#53 cLub day in hOngdae/cOex aquarium

2009-08-14T14:14:00.009+10:00

nb2 (noise basement) - hongdae

m2 - hongdae

every last friday of the month is 'clubday' in hongdae.. clubday started in 2001.. only a few clubs participated but now about 22 clubs join in.. on this day .. all the clubs that are a part of clubday set up a table outside.. they sell wrist bands for 20,000won.. this gives u access to all 22 or so clubs all night including 1 free drink on the house.. the reason for this is to try and experience as many clubs as you can without having to pay the cover charge.. its a whole variety of clubs.. techno.. house.. rnb.. indie.. rock.. etc.

clubday is a good idea however its TOO packed.. the first club we went to was nb2.. we'd already gone to nb2 the weekend b4 but the other ppl that we were with didnt so we tried that ... nb2 was too packed.. u couldnt walk anywhere or even move to dance so we changed and went to hooper... hooper was across the st from nb2.. this was a small rnb club.. we liked it but it wasnt many ppl there so we left and decided to go to qvo/m2.. when we got to qvo the lines were so long.. it went around the corner to the end of the street... we decided there was no point going inside cos it would be just as packed as nb2 so we went to m2 which was downstairs from qvo.. they played house/techno music, some of the ppl i was with havent been to a house club b4 so this was their first time.. they liked it.. it was a different atmosphere to rnb clubs..

a little while later we decided to move back to hooper... m2/qvo/nb2 were all too packed.. there was no point going in there. once we got to hooper we discovered another rnb club that was below hooper called saab.. this club was pretty full as well and it was good.. we stayed there fot awhile until about 4am.. at this time we were sick of clubbing.. we'd only gone into 4 clubs out of 22.. it felt like such a waste but atleast we got to experience them..

we then went and sat outside the chicken man store.. after awhile we decided on karaoke so we went to luxury karaoke (where 2pm also went to for their episode in wild bunny^^) everyone was dead tired so no one really sang.. by the time our session ran out it was 530.. we walked sam and brett back to the train station.. then all went back to motel to sleep.

the next morning we decided to go to the coex aquarium... this aquarium was hugee.. its the biggest i've ever been to.. they had really cool stuff in there... sorry im lazy to write about the aqaurium.. its good though so you should go see it if u get the chance!

안녕~

xo m

#52 mOnkey beach, nb2, harLem, myeongdong, cOstco

2009-08-14T12:56:00.034+10:00

at rodeo drive
hector is retarded

my tequila sunrise bucket

ron was excitedd

yayyy.. australia.. korea.. america!

hector is a retard #2

wilson is prob thinking... wtf?

lol.. no comment

i passed out early...

so did greg...

ice cream at myeongdong

the following weekend (after ice bar) we decided to go to a bar/club called monkey beach.. it was located in apgujeong.. in the gangnam area (apparently the 'rich' area). it does live up to its title i guess.. gangnam is known as a rich area.. when we got there.. everything was so different to other places in seoul.. nice cars everywhere.. people dress up more.. alot of brand shops.. nicer looking shops and the streets are so wide.. there was about 11 lanes on the road.

we got there quite early and our mission was to look for a mcdonalds.. mcdonalds is not that popular here in seoul so its hard to find it sometimes.. we walked around about to give up when hector spotted a huge maccas across the street (americans and canadians don't know what maccas is.. they think its strange we call it that.. over there they call it mickey ds... like wtf??!!) anyways.. so we headed to maccas and ate while waiting for the others.. eventually everyone started showing up.. liz, letti, kenny.. then chris and shawn.. then greg and wilson.. then finally ron... after that we started to go to monkey beach..

monkey beach is a thai theme bar.. that turns into a club once everyone is drunk enough.. it had a nice atmosphere and the interior was really nice as well.. unlike alot of other bars i've been to... the drinks here are served in buckets .. 1 bucket costs 15,000 won and contains about 8 shots inside... we all decided to pair up and split a bucket.. in the end everyone bought atleast 1 bucket.. i think 1 bucket was enough to get u drunk (well i did anyways) at 1030 there was a fire show.. that was pretty cool... after the show.. everyone was drunk off their faces and on the tables dancing (the tables had poles on it so it was made for dancing) .. i was so gone at this stage.. it was only 11pm and i was soo drunk (the buckets really killed me). monkey beach was alot of fun.. i just wished i didnt get drunk so early so i could actually enjoy my night more.. hahaha

on saturday we decided to go to hongdae.. we werent in the mood for clubbing but since we were already there we stayed anyways... first hector moises and i went to karaoke.. it was weird singing with just 3 ppl but we had nothing else to do while waiting for the others to come.. liz and co finally came to we went to nb2.. we didnt know about nb2 cos no one had ever talked abt it b4.. we asked the chicken stick man (he sells awesome spicy chicken that we eat everytime we go to hongdae) and he told us m2 and nb2.. since we'd already gone to m2 (qvo) we decided on nb2..

we got to nb2 and there was a special deal going on called 'twin deal' or something.. 20,000 and u can go into nb2 and harlem all night (with 2 free drinks on the house). nb2 was an awesomeeee club... way better than qvo.. the layout was better and it was heaps bigger and the music was awesome as well.. we got in at about 11pm and there was not many ppl in there.. at about 1230.. it was packed out... so packed that you couldnt even walk.. we left and then went to harlem.. harlem was a bit smaller than nb2 and not as packed.. it was a good club.. they had good music and there was enough space to dance.. at abt 230 we were all feeling it and decided to head to the hotel to sleep (we had a big night at monkey beach).

the next morning we woke up.. checked out and went to myeongdong.. liz and moises has never been to myeongdong b4 so i suggested there so they can see what its like.. we ended up shopping and i bought too much stuff.. haha after that we went to costco.. i had no idea what costco was.. i've heard of it b4 (just the name) but didnt know what was in there.. it was basically a big warehouse that sold supermarket things but in bulk.. everything was huge.. i didnt really buy anything.. just some chocolates.. then we ate chicken bakes/churros then went home.. it was another big weekend >.<

안녕~

xo m

#51 the ppl i love mOst..

2009-08-14T12:52:00.004+10:00

on my wall at home..

i didn't forget about you! miss you guys lots!!

안녕~

xo m

#5o last day of schOol/teachers tRip

2009-08-14T12:47:00.003+10:00

last day of semester assembly..

so its the last day of semester 1... students are happy because they get 6 weeks off school.. today (21/o7) we didnt really do anything.. students only had 2 periods then they were able to go home after assembly on the field..

after that all the teachers got on the bus to go on a trip to gangwon province (2days 1 night). at first i didnt wanna go on the trip because half of my co teachers weren't going (1 left, the other 1 pregnant).. i was like who am i gonna talk to? in the end i decided to go.. i had nothing else to do.. if i didnt go then i'd have to come into school and just sit..

the trip took quite a long time.. about 3 hours ish.. we went to a beach which was really cool cos i havent been to the beach yet since i got here. On the bus.. within 1 hour.. i started to see a change in the teachers.. they weren't like what i expected.. they were all getting drunk and rowdy on the way to the beach... everyone was telling jokes.. laughing.. walking around giving out food and beer.. it was totally crazy.

we got there and was assigned to our dorms.. 6 teachers in one dorm.. i stayed with one of my co teachers Tina and her friends... they were all young so i got along with them well. We got change and headed to the beach for banana boating.. this was so crazy and totally awesome.. about 12 of us got onto 1 boat.. none of us fell off which wasnt fun.. i wanted to see someone fall into the water haha..

after banana boating we headed back to the dorms to change and go to dinner.. we had dinner at a sashimi place.. the teachers ordered TOO MUCH alcohol and by 9pm everyone was drunk off their faces... when teachers get drunk.. they start speaking english .. its hilarious.. most of them were trying to talk to me.. we were speaking in broken english and broken korean.. i got to know most of the teachers more through this dinner.. alot of them made me drink with them.. i was really surprised because nearly ALL of the teachers can speak english .. i was wondering why they never spoke to me at school.. they told me they always wanna talk to me but im always so busy and they dont feel confident enough because they think their english is not that great.

anwyays so after dinner we decided to go to karaoke.. the VP got so drunk she was running around kissing everyone on the lips.. i was so scared of her i ran and hid on the bus.. karaoke was like a big dance party.. we got one very big room that fitted all 40 or so teachers.. no one was even sitting down .. the whole night everyone was dancing around like crazy..

daniel.. one of my co teachers told me that him and some of the male teachers were gonna go to a club.. he told me to come so that was our plan of actions however we never made it.. the clubs ended at like 3am.. we ended up going all going back to their dorms.. ordered some fried chicken, bought alot of soju and played games. i was taught many korean games that were really fun (esp when drunk). hahaha

we all didnt get to bed until 4am in the morning.. the next day.. breakfast started at 8am so i was dead when i woke up... after breakfast we had time to clean up and rest b4 we head home.. i was so tired i just went back into the rooms and slept until 11am when we had to hop on the bus..

overall.. it was a fun experience.. i got to talk to many of the teachers and got to know them more.. now when i walk around the school they actually talk to me instead of just bowing their heads and saying hello.

(sorry didnt take any photos at the teachers trip.. i was too busy on banana boats and getting drunk haha.)

안녕~

xo m

#49 hiking sOyosan

2009-08-14T12:25:00.014+10:00

resting at the top (not really.. there was nothing to see)

on sunday we decided to go for a hike.. we decided on mt soyosan.. it was an ok hike.. it was our first time hiking so we didnt really know what to expect.. it took us a long time to get up.. we kept on stopping for breaks.. when we got to the top .. there was like no view? it was gayy... we couldnt continue because we didnt come prepared.. we had no more water or food.. we were very dehydrated and also had no idea which way to go ... in the end we decided to just go back down.... it was really quick going back down .. it took less than 20 mins.. on the way up it took us over an hour (maybe 2)! thats how unfit we were... haha

안녕~

xo m

#48 iCe bar/qvO

2009-08-14T11:46:00.027+10:00

getting ready to go inside

ice bar!

our bartender preparing drinks

our drinks..

there was a fire place.. hahaha

lol.. don't ask..

getting drunk in the playground/park.. the camera was foggy cos it was so hot outside!

yes it was very cold inside...

eskimos.. group photo!

qvo.. very packed

sorry for the lack of updates... blogspot sometimes doesnt load my photos.. theres always errors so i get lazy to write.. its kinda boring blogging without pictures or videos..

anyways.. so on the 17th of july we decided to go to ice bar (subzero). Ice bar is located in hongdae.. this seems to be our weekly spot.. haha. so we got to hongdae about 9ish ... it was early so we went to eat at this mexican/tacos place.. it was ok... a little expensive but atleast they have restaurants like this here... anyways after eating we headed to ice bar.. we got there about 11ish and NOONE was there... we were the only ones there..

when we got in and each paid 15,000won ($15aud) .. we were given ugg boots and a silver cape. inside the whole room was made out of ice.. even our cups were ice... the room wasnt that big.. maybe a little bigger than my house. inside, the bartender made us our drinks and there was music playing.. at first we were all ok but later on i started to get really cold.. it was freezing in there.. after a while, people started to come in ... it was mainly foreigners there..

after awhile we kinda got bored because no one was drunk enough.. the drinks were really expensive (like 5000 for a beer.. 10,000 for a shot). we asked if we were allowed to go out and come back.. they told us we had a 30 minute time limit.. we quickly left and ran to the convenience store nearby .. when we left ice bar.. it was seriously like an oven outside.. it was so hot i couldnt even breathe.. it was horrible.. anyways, so we bought a few bottles of soju and beer and went to the playground/park in front to drink.. after 30 mins we went back to ice bar.. it started to get a little more packed inside.. we snuck soju and eer inside.. by 1am everyone was a bit tipsy so we left and headed to another club.

we ended up going to qvo.. its basically one of the popular rnb clubs of hongdae.. it was so packed inside.. like you couldnt even move so we all went on the stage to dance... nothing really interesting happened here.. just danced.. at about 4ish we left cos everyone was tired... moises, liz and ron went to the motel to sleep while hector and i went to eat.. we ate and waited around for the trains to start.. it was a long night.. (i hate it how korean transport dont start til 530am in the morning.. they should have nightrides like sydney so we can go home anytime we want -_- )

안녕~

xo m

#47 mums visit - seOul namsan tower

2009-07-21T10:59:00.027+10:00

a fence of lockss

namsam seoul tower!

martial arts show

hiking namsan

kids playing at the city hall

after namdaemun, we decided we were all shopped out and decided to go to the namsan tower instead.. we walked there and took the lifts up to the start of the cable cars.. to get to the top of the mountain there are 2 ways.. 1 is to hike and walk up.. 2 is to get the cable.. we took the cable car.. it was a good ride..

at the top u can see pretty much all of seoul... u can ever go higher and pay to actually go into the tower but we didnt and just stayed at the top of the mountain. there were many ppl there just chilling. there was also a martial arts show that was on.

the coolest part of namsan tower is the fence.. hahah ok that sounds gay.. but at the top of the mountain there are fences.. couples when they come here and buy locks.. they write messages on those locks and then they lock it together to the fence and throw the keys into the bushes below so that it can never be opened... some cheat and use combination locks though ahahaha i thought this was a really creative idea.

after namsan we got a taxi back to city hall (where our bags in the lockers were) and then trained it home.. it was a long and tiring weekend.

안녕~

xo m

#46 mums viSit - palace, myeOngdong, namdaemun

2009-07-21T10:25:00.017+10:00

the morning after..
the motel we stayed at.. this street was full of love motels

outside the palace

myeongdong

namdaemun

after a good slepe at the motel, we woke up for another long day.. we checked out about 11 and headed to city hall. In korea nearly most of the stations have lockers so we were able to leave all our stuff in there and shop without having to hold them..

first stop was the palace that was located right next to city hall. we walked around.. had a look at everything... couldnt understand the history of it cos everything was in korean so that really sucked. After that we headed outside and there was a show on... i dont know what show it was or what was going on but it was interesting... i think it was just to get peoples attentions to go in and look.

After the palace we walked to myeongdong.. myeongdong was packed out like always ... i didnt buy much from myeongdong.. like i've mentioned before.. everywhere in korea sells the same thing so there was not much to buy. we were quite tired and sick of shopping so we headed to namdaemun so that my mum can take a look at ginseng... mum and dad eat this alot to keep their energy up when they're out shooting weddings etc.

i've never been a big fan of namdaemun.. everything is so cramped and u cant really buy anything.. mum didnt like it much either .. it was pretty much similar to vietnam. we just went for a walk arounf and then left.

안녕~

xo m

#45 mums viSit - hOngdae

2009-07-21T10:10:00.009+10:00

hongdae station... always packed with people
the streets of hongdae

shopping..

after coex i decided to take my mum to hongdae for a look around at what nightlife was like in korea... hongdae is packed with uni students so we didnt stay out for very long, first we went to sinchon... checked into a motel then headed to hongdae to eat and shop... i bought cool spartan shoes for myself and my sister.

we didnt stay very long.. prob like an hour or 2.. ate some chicken sticks and then hdeaded back to the motel for some rest.. its been a long long day... another long day ahead 2moro!

안녕~

xo m

#44 mums visit - cOex mall

2009-07-14T10:32:00.003+10:00

buying tickets at the kimchi museum

banditbooks.. where inyeong was

서인영!

next up was coex mall... this place was so big! in the tour books it says coex is the largest underground mall in asia.. i guess its true.

at coex we walked around and just shopped... we dropped by the kimchi museum which was ok.. it wasnt that interesting... just a big room with alot of kimchi on display.. hahaha we then went shopping.. some shops had awesome things.. others not so much... while walking around i met 서인영! (Seo In Yeong) for those that don't know.. she's from this korean girl band called jewelry.. she was also in the show we got married. I use to watch we got married so much and at first i hated her but then eventually got used it.. we didn do much at coex.. just shopped and ate =)

아녕~

xo m

#43 mums visit - dOngdaemum

2009-07-09T10:56:00.014+10:00

some man playing music for money
selling fruits.. my mum finds these interesting

me in front of a food stand... in vietnam they have these but many many fruits! i look so dorky

the streets of dongdaemun... prob making more shop

mum in doota

its saturday and we have a big weekend planned - first off was dongdaemun. i've been to dongdaemun before so iw as able to take her to all the good places... problem with dongdaemun is that there are TOO MANY shops ... like theres so much that i cant be bothered to look anymore.. we started off at the markets then off to the other big buildings like doota.. hello apM... migliore.. there were 2 more after that but i was just so tired looking so we left =P

안녕~

xo m

#42 mums viSit

2009-07-09T10:43:00.003+10:00

so my mum decided to visit me for 12 days.. she arrived on thursday (o4.o7) and is staying for 12 days. I couldnt pick her up so i gave her a mission... to make it to my school using public transport.. hahaha. in korea, the airport is soooo far from everything.. when i got here, it took me about 2 hours to get to my place. I gave mum a letter with everything she needs to do to get to my school... get the aiport bus to uijeongbu (near my house) then get off and get a taxi to my school.. everything was written in korean so all she had to do was show them and they would point her in the right direction. She got here in one piece which was good. When she arrived, i was in class teaching so she sat and had a talk with the vice principle -_- when i walked in and saw them talking i was like omggg =/ luckily im doing a good job and the principle had no compliants =) she actually told my mum that i was an excellent teacher and that everyone loves me here, yayyyyy.

i was let home early today because mum was here, she let me go home at 11am which was awesome, it was raining anways so we didnt do much.. i pretty much went home and slept.. at 330 i took her to eat... mum already doesnt like korea.. she says everything is too spicy and there is no salad lol. After that we headed to uijeongbu so she can take a look at the shops and area... we shopped for a bit.. bought a few things then headed home to lotte mart for groceries... my mum opened my fridge and only saw water and juice in there... ahaha so she had to stock up my fridge with food... i live like a poor person i know =/

Friday i taught.. it rained again so we didnt go anywhere.. i told her to rest up cos we had a very very big weekend planned! continue to the next post to see what we got up to on the weekend!

안녕~

xo m

#41 more photos from hongdae #1

2009-07-09T10:37:00.004+10:00

#4o hOngdae take #2

2009-07-09T10:19:00.007+10:00

liz & i
ron, liz, kenny & me

again..

me, liz, moises

me, chris, chan, hector.. i dont know what we were doing here... being asian i guess

on saturday the 27th of june we once again went back to hongdae for a catch up. this time more ppl came.. it was the usual.. me, moises, hector, greg, jin ... elizabeth also joined us along with dan, his gf ashleigh, hectors gf chan, chris (both of them), kenny, ron, magical mike. It was a fun night.

We started off with dinner at a BBQ place... we seem to eat this alot.. nearly everyday.. after that we went walking to find a bar. We wanted to go to boom bar however it was only 9pm and it doesnt open til 10pm so we just wandered to a diff bar. At 10pm we headed back to boom (why we went clubbing so early i do not know?) boom is always a fun place.. too bad tonight was the last night that they had this 10,000won alcohol deal.. everyone got drunk/tipsy again.

We left after awhile and just walked because we didnt know what to do or where to go ... boom kinda got empty so we decided to go and eat.. the boys wanted to eat at foam chicken. After chicken we headed to tin pan... some ppl wanted to go in and some didnt so greg, kenny, ron and i walked to the park and just sat there. Heaps of ppl were at the park.. i think everyone is just sitting around waiting for the trains to start working again at 530am. After while liz and moises joined us. We left the park and walked to the uni to their stadium... finally 530am came and we were on a train heading home to yet another long night. It was another sunday wasted sleeping.

안녕~

xo m

#39 back to reaLity

2009-06-23T16:11:00.013+10:00

an awesome and relaxing first grade class... they were all sitting quitly listening to korean music that i was playing while doing their wordsearch... even my co teacher daniel is sitting at the back doing the worksheet.

dominoes pizza... very good but sooo expensive

this bear costs $990!!!

weird korean advertising... only in korea

its monday and its back to work.. honestly im glad to be back and see the students faces... they were very happy to see me which was good. im tired alot though cos i had a massive week along with a massive weekend.

after school hector moises and i decided to meet up for dinner... we just went to uijeongbu and had dinner.. then walked around.. i've got nothing else to blog abt because im so tired right now.. last week and the weekend killed me hardd.

안녕~

xo m

#38 yOngsan & hongdae

2009-06-23T09:35:00.010+10:00

yongsan camera level
video game filming

moises handing over his 800,000 for his new phone

club boom... where u pay $10 and all the drinks on that list are freeeeeee

greg and jin bumping into some friends

moises and hector outside

on saturday we decided to go to yongsan to buy some gadgets... yongsan is sooooo awesomeeee its like gadget heaven there.... it was an 8 floor building with everything u can think of that has to do with electronics... floors of cameras, computers, laptops, games, hardrives, aircon, those funny electric toilets... like literally... EVERYTHING, i think my guy friends in australia and my mum and dad would look and die cos i was in shock when i entered.

at the top of the building they had this room.. we saw many ppl entering it but didnt know why.. we went and looked anyways and realised it was where they filmed the video game channel! over here they have a few tv channels that just shows ppl playing video games... i always thought to myself who the hell watches this? but many of the guys i've spoken to do.. its basically like warcraft or watever and they just compete.. on tv it shows the actual computer screen on whats going on... i find it funny. anyways so after that we ended up exploring the whole building... moises finally found his phone and bought it for like $800 ... i bought a new hardrive cos my old one is fked.. hector bought a wireless router and elezabeth bought a new camera... at the end of the day we all got what we wnated so that was good =)

after a long day of shopping we decided to stay in the city and party afterwards.. we called a few ppl but we only just saw them the day b4 so not many ppl wanted to come out.. plus we already planend a very big weekend next sat so we decided to keep it small.. grag came out and he brought his friend jin.. jin was korean so he knew where to go. our first place was this club called boom... this place was awesomeee.. u pay $10 at the door and all the drinks are freeeee... yesss its true its all FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE and u can drink as much as u want... that means we all got wasted on $10! after that we headed off to another club cos moises wanted to check out korean girls... we went to this club called tin pan.. it was very packed with heaps of foreigners.. it was an ok club but we all got split up... hector left with some guy that bitch... moises was passed out in the corner.. it was only me greg and jin that were left.

we didnt stay long and left abt 330 ish .. wandered the streets and kinda just sat outside buy the way (convenient store) eating and waiting til 5am for the trains to start so we could go home.. we got home at 730 and crashed... then it was sunday and it was time to do lesson plans and start school on monday -_-

안녕~

xo m

#37 GEPIK orientatiOn day 4

2009-06-23T09:12:00.012+10:00

the bus that took us there

the dorms

the oval and obstacle course

morning lectures on how to control students and activity ideas

auditorium

the free internet cafe

our dinners

one of the many bins full of beer cans that we drank every night

today is our final day.. i woke up again really late with another hangover... chris and i chatted til like 330 until we went to bed so i am so tired today. This morning my roomate Flavia and i woke up super late... we had to be in the auditorium by 9am for the teaching contest but i wasnt up til like 845... i felt so crappy haha

i made it on time anyways... our final day included a teaching contest.. the ppl who were doing it in my group were simone and james.. they made up a song because their topic was music... to make them feel better the whole of A1 decided to come up on stage with them... the winning group would win 100,000 each ($100aud) and our group won! i think everyone just enjoyed it because it was different.

after that we just packed our bags to leave. we were given tuna/ham sandwiches, a bottle of water and sent on our buses. it was sad saying farewell to everyone... we made plans to meet up the following weekend though so i guess its not too bad.

the bus ride was quick ... we were dropped off at uijeongbu and then all went our own way. Moises Hector and I decided to go shopping cos moises needed to buy a phone. we went to every single store trying to find this one phone that he wants a HTC diamond.. it wasnt available anywhere so we gave up and decided to go yongsan the following day.

we decided to go eat ... this was the biggest part of our day.. we were walking around looking for a samgyeopsal place.. thats like pork and lettuce etc.. we walked past a store and saw pictures of 2 pigs holding up frying tongs and they were wearing glasses... they looked cool so we decided to try it out. We went in and saw the menu which was tiny so we decided lets order the set... thinking it would come with strips of pork and lettuce and all the side... 10 mins later the man bought us a big pan with food already cooked.. we were like.. ok this isnt right but all well we'll just eat anyways cos we we're hungry. Started digging into it and realised where is the meat? we searched and searched and all we saw was sundae (this black sausage thing.. i dont know how to explain it) some pig skin and jabchae and cabbages.. we were like wtf is this? we kept eating not knowing what it was and was still confused to why there were cool looking pigs outside but not the dort of food we were looking for. After eating about 1/4 of that (i only ate the noodles and cabbages) we took and break and kept laughing at where we were... we looked into the kitchen and saw them cutting up long strips of intestines.. we were like what did we get ouselves into... we're like in an intestine house or something. We then looked outside at the huge sign and decided to use my phone to translate what it said.. it said 급창타온 (gupchang town) which meant .... intestine town... from that day til now we will never forget this word and will never enter any restaurant with that word ever again hahaha

안녕

xo m

#36 GEPIK orientatiOn day 3

2009-06-22T17:03:00.019+10:00

moises and ron

group dances... basically making fools out of ourselves

some weird game

the americans on stage doing something.. i think they were singing

greg - i cant remember where he's from ... somewhere in america

my hidden soju =P

greg and dan

chit chatting over beers

seth - from virginia i think?

moises - from san francisco

ron - from hawaii

chris - from pennsylvania (however u spell it)

my buddy hector - from canada

today i woke up again hung over... my friends in australia are not gonna be very happy with me... cos in australia i never drink =/ sorry guys i will get drunk with u every single day for 2 weeks next time im back to make up for it =) i woke up heaps late so i missed breakfast and just ran to the lecture room... its good we have lectures early in the morning cos it means i just have to sit there and listen.. dont have to talk or do any work hahaha.. after drinking alot of water and eating some biscuits i felt better and was ready to do some work... today we got told off abt having soju the previous night.. apparently we're not allowed to drink it on the premise... i dont know why since they sell like fridges full of beer.. they're prob just trying to make money so we can buy all their beers.. its so stupid.. i still had a bottle of soju left in my room so we just drank that on our final night..

it was a little sad that it was our last night.. i wasnt ready to go home.. i dont think anyone was.. we were having so much fun and it was such a good break from seeing screaming students all the time. gepik held a party for us .. it wasnt really a 'party' it was basically just fun and games.. we had to like make fools out of ourselves in front of everyone .. it was hilarious. after that it was another party outside... it was our last night so everyone went harder than usual. we knew we had no lectures the following morning so we drank til like 3-4 am. ppl were like heading into the store buying like 6-10 cans of beer just in case the store closed.. i spent most of the night just chatting to ppl.. met some more new friends on my final night.. it was a good night to end the orientation =)

안녕

xo m

#35 GEPIK orientatiOn day 2

2009-06-22T16:37:00.006+10:00

conflict issues skit

today i woke up too early -_- got up at 730 for breakfast which so so shit.. like i couldnt eat anything... after that i headed to the lecture at 9.. first up was simon and martina.. they were soooo awesome... they gave us really good tips on how to motivate the students and how to keep them entertained so they dont get bored easily... after that we had a nother lecture... i dont remember who it was from cos i didnt pay much attention after.. i was too sleepy after that hahaha..

after 2 long leactures we had lunch.. lunch there is so awesome ... they give u so much food and whole big variety as well.. most ppl who know me know that i loveeeeee to eat... i basically ate everything and so much of it as well... we went and played badmington after that.. it was a very hot and sweaty afternoon.. in the afternoon we had group sessions... its bascially get into your groups (about 20-15 ppl) and discuss your issues.. like teaching issue or culture shock stuff... after that we had to come up with an issue and then act it out and then a solution.. that was fun..

we had some free time so me and some ppl snuck out and went and bought soju at the local store.. after that it was dinner so we ate.. went and watched the korean movie and then started drinking... we played drinking games and once again we all got really trashed.. i found something on the web once.. GEPIK stands for Gyeonggi English Program In Korea however we have now decided to change it to Getting Extremely Pissed in Korea hahaha

wed night was a late night.. i think everyone crashed at like 2-3 in the morning, it was a fun night~

안녕

xo m

#34 GEPIK orientatiOn day 1

2009-06-22T16:06:00.005+10:00

our opening act.. they were called luna or something.. a bunch of girls prancing around on stage.. im sure the guys loved it haha

Simon, Moises, Me, Martina

This week i have orientation so i dont have to teach.. on monday i had to go to school even though i had no classes... i didnt really do anything, just sat and did lessons for the following week.

Tuesday i got up early to finish packing and headed off to Uijeongbu, i waited and met other foreigners in my area.. it was good to finally be able to speak english fluently and not act like a clown or speak so slowly that it doesnt even make sense. The bus trip there took abt 2 hours.. moises sat next to me.. he was filo and from san francisco.. we had a good chat abt life and teaching.. hahaha

we got there at 11 am.. met up with our roomates and checked into our rooms... going to this is like the same as college (in america) u sleep in dorms... have roomates... parties/drunkeness at night time.. eat lunch in the cafeteria ... and lectures in the morning. My roomate was flavia.. she edlives near me so it was good.. we were all grouped into where we live so everyone in my group A1 lives near me.

tuesday was spent just listening and learning abt gepik and also making new friends.. it was nothing interesting... tuesday night was however spent drunk.. cos it was the first night there everyone went hardd.. we drank so much we cleared out all the beers in the shop before 11am... i went to bed like at 12 on tues cos there was really nothing left to do .. plus breakfast started at 730 the next morning so i crashed early.

also.. i met simon and martina!!!!!! i was so excited i even screamed... for those of you that dont know simon and martina are like internet celebrities. they're just normal foreign teachers like me who also live in seoul.. they have a blog - eatyourkimchi.com, this blog basically tells u almost everything u wanna know abt korea.. transport.. food.. karaoke.. students.. gym.. kpop.. weird things abt korea. most ppl know abt them when doing research before moving here.. they're so awesome.. it was a very exciting first night!

안녕

xo m

#33 thuys viSit

2009-06-22T15:45:00.010+10:00

2 of my favourite students... they follow me everywhere and make me remember their names everytime i see them.. here we have han minwoo on the left and kim uihyun on the right

very awesome dalkgalbi... chicken stirfried with cabbages, cheese, sweet potato, rice cakes and some other vegies.

the peircing shop

before

after

last weekend thuy visited me.. on friday we went and had dinner in my area... we had dalgalbi which was sooooo awesome... it was the best thing ever. After that we just went to my house and rested for a big day the next day. the following day we were off to uijeongbu for shopping.. we spent a total of 8 hours there! i was all shopped out by the end.. i dont remember what i bought but i spent quite a bit of money.. also.. i got another peircing! this will be the final and last peircing i will get.. no more after this.. i think i have too many now.. sat night we had pizza.. it was ok not too bad.

nothing else happened this weekend.. just hung out and did nothing since id idnt have to teach the following week.. il be going on the GEPIK orientation next week! a whole week break! i cant wait.

안녕~

xo m

#32 students cLeaning

2009-06-10T16:35:00.005+10:00

over here all the students have to clean the school everyday.. every morning and every afternoon, students are assigned to an area... some have to clean their homerooms, some the library, yard, teachers room, mop the hallways, wipe the stairs and windows etc.. its pretty good cos it saves them on hiring cleaners! their classrooms get messy eevry single day.. they rip up their workbooks and notebooks and theres always paper and dirt/dust everywhere! most of the time they dont actually clean.. when i walk around i just see them standing there with a mop killing time until they're allowed to go home.. hahaha they're funny.

Anyways moving along.. teaching has been ok lately.. im getting the hang of it and getting to know most of the students well .. i know their levels so i know who to help and what kind of work to give them... they have the attention span of an ant so you always have to find things that can motivate them to do work... elementary u can sing songs and dance with them .. but can u imagine my yr 9s singing and dancing? i dont think so.. they think they're too 'cool' for that. hahaha

most ppl say that the first 2 months were like hell cos they were put into a school with no teaching experience and are just expected to know what to do ... i went through the same but its not as bad as everyone said.. if the first 2 months are meant to be bad then i guess im doing very well cos im not having much trouble lately with them.. they seem to enjoy my class and they're well behaved. Some teachers warn me that this class and that class are very noisy and naughty but i dont see it so i guess im doing a good job =)

안녕~

xo m

#31 kOrean soju

2009-06-08T15:20:00.008+10:00

water bottle size! it looks just like a bottle of sprite but its really alcohol!

large size

paper box size! it looks big on here but its actually small like the chrysanthemum tea boxes that u buy from asian groceries! dont u think this is so funny!

in korea so ju is sold everwhere... like anywhere u go u will be able to find a place that sells it.. so ju here is really cheap and costs as little as $1 some places even 95cents!

anyways thats not whats weird about ... soju in korea comes in every size imaginable.. they come in the original glass bottle size.. a medium sprite/coke bottle size.. a large 1.8 litre size.. and even a small paper box juice size.. no wonder koreans are always drunk on the street!

안녕~

xo m

#3o ewha women's univerSity shopping district

2009-06-06T21:03:00.004+10:00

Today i was bored so i decided to head out and explore. I ended up going to Sinchon... its on the green line and its where some of the universities are... there were alot of shopping there with many department stores. After living here and shopping here every week nearly, i've realized that every place sells the exact same thing.. i actually didnt buy much today.. i just bought 1 skirt, i think i spent more money on food than i did on clothes. After Sinchon, i headed to Myeongdong but once again just ate alot haha.. check out my video of ewha womens university shopping street!

안녕~

xo m

#29 kOrean summer

2009-06-03T14:05:00.004+10:00

the students at assembly on monday .. i snuck this photo from the office window cos i didnt go to assembly
the area that i live in... this was taken from the 5th floor of my school.. like i've mentioned in previous posts, my area has many many many apartments.

its nearly summer over here and the weather is very weird... the past week its been hot.. like really really hot... im in a classroom teaching and im like sweating in there. Also, because we are teachers, we are not allowed to wear like sleeveless tops so i normally wear tshirts or something that will keep me cool but its still so so HOT!! thats not whats weird about this summer though.. over here it rains alot in summer... this morning i woke up to a big storm! like a HUGE storm, there was lighting and thunder everywhere and it was huge.. i've never seen a storm as big as this morning before.. i was scared to death and wanted to take the day off school cos i was afraid to leave my house. Anywways now its 1pm and its all sunny again... how weird is that.

so another week of teaching.. this week im still on the same topic as last... hobbies for the 2nd graders and maths for the 3rd graders... this week i got them to do readings and speaking but then half way through i also got them to play games and do mini activities. The 2nd graders played pictionary... i got them to get into teams and they had to draw pictures of hobbies that were on little cards that i made. The 3rd graders did math riddles and brain teasers. Its been good this week cos i dont have to talk alot.. it saves me cos recently i've been losing my voice.

Other than that nothing else has been happening here... i got my tv cable and internet installed yesterday. Korean internet is very very fast... like super duper fast.. yesterday i dl a movie that was 870mb and it finished in 20 mins... how awesome is that??!! my friend said he once dl a movie and it was done in 5 mins!! plus they both come in a package together so i only pay like $30 a month for it which is really cool.

anyways i got nothing else to blog about today.

안녕~

xo m

#28 yanGju festival!

2009-05-27T16:37:00.009+10:00

some traditional drum thing

cheerleading act

superkid

YES - it really is what you're thinking.. these are condom mascots... they were giving out free condoms at the childrens festival!!

kids in hanbok (traditional korean clothes) playing games

the weekend that just passed was a quite weekend for me... i spent both days just reading through the stduents books and writing out dialogues and short scripts for them to practice... it wasnt very fun...

in my area, the yangju festival was held... like i mentioned before, on sundays, the streets around my place are closed to that the kids can play... ride on their bikes.. skateboards... some even bring out mats and sit and sell they're stuff like baseballs cards... toys etc.. its very cute..

this sunday... the streets were closed and stalls were set up for the festival.. im not really sure what sort of festival it was but it was ok.. they had traditional dancing.. cheerleaders... this band called superkid.. belly dancing and a whole lot of stalls that had face painting, games and food.

this week is my first week of actually teaching teaching... as in real english.. its been ok.. i find alot of the students dont want to learn english and i cant really make them.. i plan a lesson and i teach.. its up to them if they participate or not .. i still get paid even if they don't hahaha

i guess now i'll just have to find activites to get them motivated to learn... they like games and watching movies... i guess games can help improve their english but i dont know how watching movies and filling out worksheets will.. we'll see how it goes.. i need to put my thinking cap on!

anyways 2moro i will be getting my mobile and my bankcard!! yayyy!! that means il get paidd!!!! then next week or the end of this week il be getting my tv and my net installed!! yayyy!!! i wont be bored anymore.. hahaha

last note: teaching middle school is not as easy as it seems -_- i love the students but they stress me out LOL

안녕~

xo m

#27 first week of teaChing over!

2009-05-22T16:57:00.007+10:00

Officially a registered alien in korea!

its fridayyyy!!!!! yayyyyyy!!!! my first official week as a teacher is over! this week has been a mix... i've had really good classes and then i had really bad classes... the 1st day was a total nightmare.. students were just out of control and like i said in the previous post.. when they cant understand you.. they'll just stare at you blankly... the only good class was my grade 7 ..

on monday night i was dreading coming to work the next day.. not only because i couldnt handle the students but because i was sick of doing my introduction already.... that day i only did 4... i teach 25 classes so i had 21 more to go!

after 2 days of teaching i started to get used to the students and got an idea what kind of level each grade was on and what kind of attitude they would give me... the grade 7 was the best.. the grade 2 .. they were ok.. they're willing to participate and join in what i had but they werent as enthusiastic as the grade 7... the grade 3 however was the worse... the first few days i played nice and let them sit there.. but i got so fed up with it i became a mean and strict teacher.. hahaha

today i had the BEST class.. it was one of my grade 7 class.. it was so fun.. i did my intro then had them ask questions... they asked everything.. are u married... do u have a bf... where do u live... do u like korean food.. can u speak korean... do u like girls generation.. whats your ideal type bf... are u gonna marry a westerner or a korean.. it was heaps of fun... after that i got them to introduce themselves to me... some told me they were in love with their gf... otheres danced and sang... b4 i knew it 45 was up and class was over...

next week i start teaching the classes for real... as in from their textbook... i actually have no idea what to teach them yet... today i started writing up dialogues that they can do but i think il need to do more searching... its very hard to teach the students how to speak and pronounce words correctly.. they say v as vuie... we played hang man and i kept hearing vuie vuie vuie .. i was like wthhh ?

lol so this weekend will be a quite weekend.. i think im spending to much money anyways on shopping so i think i should stay in and save my money until my next pay... i guess its gonna be a weekend of tv shows/movies and lesson planning!

안녕~

xo m

#26 my first claSs

2009-05-18T12:57:00.005+10:00

my introduction .. this is how it went..

Hi, my name is Misha Nguyen but you can call me 4 things... Teacher.. Miss.. Misha.. or Miss Nguyen

I am 22 years old and i was born in Vietnam so no I am not Korean, please speak to me in English

Like your former teacher i am also from Australia

In Australia, i live in the city of Sydneyy!!!

in Australia we have.. kangaroos... koalas.. and wombats !!

In my family i have a younger sister, mum and dad...there are 4 people in my family

Recently i graduated from university, i studied media!

my hobby is baking...

going shopping... eating... and playing on my macbook

I also enjoy listening to rnb music!

Its a pleasure to meet you all, do you have any questions?

today i taught my first class.. it was ok.. not as bad as i expected but not as good as i'd hope for.. the classes here are very big and sometimes it hard to control all 40 students in one class. My first class was the 3rd graders (yr 9), i do not enjoy this class at all... the students just sit there and stare as if they just wanted to get out of there and not learn english... i got them first to watch my slide show of my introduction and then i got them each to introduce themselves to me... they did a good job, however they weren't very confident in speaking so i had to walk around the class to hear what they said.. after that i wasnt sure what they'd learn so i just went through some dialogues in the book with them. they did well however this class went on forever and i was just hoping it would end.

my next class was the 1st graders(year 7) i seriously don't remember being this small when i was in year 7... the 1st graders are always a joy to see, they're always very happy to see me and is always willing to participate in whatever i have for them... we did mine and their introduction and then played games... we ended up playing hangman which was fun... they were better than i thought because they could get most of the words i put up.. i ended up giving them prizes (my souvenirs) after ...

3rd period i had the 2nd graders.. they were also well behaved and werent ignorant like the 3rd graders.. they were able to participate and some of the students were actually very good with their english.... we did a mini activity which they had to say their hobby and ask the other person what their hobby was .. after that we played 2 games of hang man where i gave out more prizes.

so far today has been fun.. its my first day teaching so i expected to not do very good but i did ok... hopefully by next week after i've done all of my introductions, we'll get into teaching.. atleast now i have something to do while at school and not just sitting around chatting all day

안녕~

xo m

#25 a saturday in dOngdaemun

2009-05-16T22:02:00.007+10:00

doota shopping mall!

shoooeeeeesssss
womens clothes

bags everywhere!!

and more baggsss

men's wear

very spicy rabeoki

today i was meant to meet up with thuy for this tour that she booked however i waited for ages there and no one showed up... i might've waited on the wrong platform i don't know so i just left after an hour or so and went shopping on my own..

i got the train and headed to dongdaemun... today was a really crappy day cos the weather was raining and gloomy and it was just a day that i didnt wanna go out and just wanted to stay at home and rest.. but since i was out already i thought i'd make the most of it..

my first impression of dongdaemun was .. why is there fabric everywhere? thats all i could see... just floors after floors of fabric.. i didnt really like it cos i went there to shop for clothes, shoes and bags.. after walking around and observing everything i ended up in a market... the market had heaps of belts and hats.. it was nothing interesting until i found pauls cap! my friend paul wanted this hat for so long and i couldnt find it anywhere in sydney but eventually came across it in korea! i was very proud of that purchase =)

after that i headed to all the other markets.. i was about to give up and go home when i saw this department store.. it looked expensive but i thought i'd give it a try anyways... the mall was called doota and it was so awesome!! they had really really nice clothes bags and shoes in there.. all reasonably priced.. not as cheap as markets but much cheaper than australia... i had a look around then headed upstairs for lunch.. i ate rabeoki - its like ramen (dry) with deokbeoki (spicy rice cakes) in it.. i've always wanted to try it when i was in australia but they dont sell it.. it was good but very very spicy!

after doota i headed to migliore and hello apM.. these were also fashion malls but the clothes here were much cheaper than at doota .. i managed to buy a lot of tops for work because i didnt bring many with me... i bought quite alot and spent less than $120!!

after 4 hours of shopping i decided it was time to head home.. i went home and then headed out again to e-mart and gsmart... everytime i go in there i seem to buy a whole house full of things.. i've spent so much money on household stuff like mats, cleaning products, mops, dish racks, laundry basket... hopefully this is it and i won't have to buy more!

2moro is sunday and my plan is to head to uijeongbu to take a look around... last time i was there i saw there were many good shops however didnt have much time to buy anything cos i was with eunice.. i hope the weather clears up and it doesnt rain!

another note... i'll start teaching from next week!! aaaarrrrghhhhhhhhh

안녕~

xo m

#24 teaChers day!

2009-05-15T12:18:00.006+10:00

my renovated apartment!

kitchen
bed

comp table & sofa

wardrobe & door to the toilet

today is teachers day! all of the students came to school today with presents, flowers, food and drinks and balloons for their teachers... the staff room is now decorated with flowers everywhere!

today we finish early after 3rd period.. the kids get to go home and all the teachers at my school are gonna head to uijeongbu for lunch... the faculty is huge! i don't know how we're all gonna fit in a restaurant lol

this morning i observed the 1st graders.. they're sooo adorable.. they're very cute and innocent.. not like the 3rd graders.. they're the biggest trouble makers -_-

anyways hope you enjoyed my previous blog with my video post...

안녕~

xo m

#23 a videO tour of my apartment

2009-05-15T09:21:00.004+10:00

I decided it's abt time i made a video tour of my apartment!

NOTE: i've only been here a week that is why

1. There is no food in my fridge

2. I eat out alot

#22 school lunChes

2009-05-14T13:49:00.004+10:00

teachers day gifts! (2moro is teachers day) we got mandarins and strawberrys as well but i ate them.. hahah these are korean rice cakes we were given
my souvenirs that i keep at my desk.. alot of the students come in to ask for them~

in korea, everyone eats at school... i think this is an awesome idea and that schools all over the world should do this.. at 12.30 all the students and teachers we head to the cafeteria for lunch .. lunch usually consist of rice, a soup, kimchi, meat and salad... everyday the meat and salad dish changes but there would always be rice, kimchi and soup. The lunches are pretty good... i've only been here for a week but i've enjoyed it everyday... so far i've had meat with eggs, these spicy buckwheat noodles, potato and bacon bake and today i had spicy pork. This set up is good for me because it gives me a decent meal everyday.. something that consist if rice, soup and salad..

in australia at lunchtime i usually eat a roll or a sandwhich then will have a proper meal at nightime, here il have something proper for lunch then at nightime i usually eat a salad or street food... the street food here is awesome

today im going to observe the 2nd graders - the year 8s. i hope they wont be as bad as the 2 previous class that i went to... im really scared now to teach next week cos the students are so noisy and misbehaved.. 2moro i get to observe the 1st graders .. they're usually very cute and innocent... hopefully they'll be good.. im looking forward to that class ahahah

안녕~

xo m

#21 classroOm chaos

2009-05-13T14:17:00.008+10:00

haha don't u think this is funny

at school, all the students and teachers have to wear slippers - hahaha im being serious, we wear normal shoes to school then when we get here there are lockers with our slippers in them so we change and wear slippers at school throughout the whole day... its a good idea cos now i dont have to wear heels all day!

my desk

i spend all day chatting!! but now i've started to look up site for worksheet ideas and lesson plans, im nerdy =P

wow the kids here are crazyy!! i've only been to observe 2 classes and the kids go wild here... my first observation was with one of my co teachers Tina - she taught the 3rd graders - they're in yr 9... this class was ok.. half of them were sleeping, some fixing their hair and others talking.. only about half of the class was paying attention and participating with what was going on.

Today i observed another 3rd grade class with my other co teacher Mrs Cho, this class was a total nightmare! the projector didnt work so because they couldnt see anything on the screen they just all decided to not to anything.. i was sitting at the back so the students at the back was more interested in me than the class.. throughout the whole class this 1 boy and 2 girls just kept staring at me and asking me questions.. he was a trouble maker though so he really didnt do anything.. he started singing, dancing, arm wrestling, hitting ppl, flicking them with rubber bands, playing on his phone, listening to his mp3.. anything u can imagine besides participating..

i don't understand why the teachers dont do anything abt it. When the students are sleeping they just ignore it and let them sleep... the students leave the classroom and still they dont say anything... what am i gonna do?? right now i am so not looking forward to next week -_-

안녕~

xo m

#2o firSt week of school

2009-05-12T10:06:00.003+10:00

my timetable~

this is my first week here.. i havent started teaching though. this week i basically come in to do nothing. yesterday (monday) i pretty much sat at my desk and chatted til home time at 430 pm. alot of the students have been spying on me though, i havent been introduced to them yet so they're very curious who the new teacher is i guess.. the whole day yesterday i had kids coming in between periods just standing there staring at me, when i turn around to say hello they just giggle.. ahahah they also start following me in the hallways and when i turn around they just stand there and giggle, its so cute. this little boy yesterday at the end of the day he was cleaning the teachers room, he came to my desk and wiped a small corner of my table, when i turned around to look at him and say hello he just smiled and ran off.. ahahha

so today is tuesday and im guessing it's gonna be the same as yesterday. in 4th period i get to attend one of my classes though to observe one of my teachers to see how she teaches, that would be fun cos il get to meet some of the students atleast... today is a long day because we have 7 periods, Eunice.. the teacher that is managing me has no classes then so we're gonna go and get my ARC (alien registration card). im really happy she's organised... some ppl take up to 3-4 weeks to get theirs done, with this card i can then apply for a bank card, internet, phone etc.

i was told yesterday that i have to teach an extra class... i have to teach all the teachers in my school english as well! how do i do that? lol i cant even speak english properly myself hahaha i thought teaching the students was one thing but now the teachers??!! im only 22 and am the youngest teacher in the school.. are they even gonna take me seriously? where do i even start?? we'll see how that goes!

안녕~

xo m

#19 a weekend in anSan/seoul..

2009-05-10T22:06:00.020+10:00

the streets of ansan
street food! my favourite

ansan nightlife.. a city of its own!

namdaemun market

it was so big i got confused i had to leave!

the streets of seoul~

lotte young plaza... where they only sell clothes for young ppl... literally lol

lotte young plaza.... very nice .. but expensive

entering myeongdong!

streets full of shops

and many many more!! my favourite place in the world!!!

markets in myeongdong

and more...

on sunday.. they close the streets around my place so kids and their parents can play... when i walk out they're everywhere riding their bikes and rollerblaidng.. i think this is really cool!

this weekend i spent it in ansan and seoul... on friday i had to go to school... i don't know why because i basically did nothing all day.. i just sat at my desk from 830-1230 and chatted until it was time to go home... a few of the students saw and came up to say hi cos they knew i was the new foreign teacher.. they're very shy though.. mayb because they're not confident with their english.

so after school i headed to ansan... it took me 2 hours to get there... it was like hell and was seriously the longest train ride of my life. i eventually got there and we spent the night in jungang... this place was so maddd.. at night it was like a city of its own even though it was located like over an hour away from seoul... we basically just ate, sang, drank and shopped!

the next day we headed off to seoul... first stop was namdaemun market... namdeamun was ok... im sure its a lot better but its so big and so crowded i didnt know where to start looking... after spending about an hour ish there we headed off to myeongdong...

myeongdong is soooooo awesomeee... its my favourite place in the whole world!!! the shopping there is crazy.. there are streets after streets of shops... i spent about 4-5 hours there and i still didnt finish going through everything!! i bought too much stuff though so after while decided to go home and rest.. in the end im living here now.. not for a holiday.. i can come back anytime i want.. lol i keep forgetting that.

so far my impression of korea is pretty good.. im finding my way around places and settling in ok... my place finally feels like a home now because i started unpacking and buying stuff for my house... 2moro will be my first official week at school.. i won't be teaching though.. just observing... we'll see how that goes!

안녕~

xo m

#18 my first apaRtment (cos i'll be moving maybe)

2009-05-08T10:51:00.007+10:00

my sofa and comp/study table.. the glass door heads to the laundry

my bed and new sheets!
kitchen and bed are both in the same room =\

the kitchen

#17 firSt day in yangju..

2009-05-08T10:04:00.008+10:00

welcome to yangju!
the many restaurants and shops underneath my apartment

a street full of FOOD!

the middle school opposite my place (not my school) with apartments behind it .. and many many more after that!

apartments after apartments after apartments...

today was my first day in my town.. i live in the city of yangju.. its about half an hour away by train to seoul.. i woke up quite early this morning because my curtains are white and it woke me up at 530.. i ended up waking up anyways and got ready.. from 8-10 i just walked around a explored my town.. this place has like everything! anything u can possibly imagine.. pizza hut, dominoes, bbq chicken, dunkin donuts, lotteria, pet shops, banks, florists, markets, clothes, fruits.. anything you need!

the biggest shock here was the living style of koreans.. there are apartments.. EVERYWHERE literally there are like 100 or more apartments in sight from where i am.. the streets are also very clean and the ppl are very nice.

after exploring i went home to wait fo eunice my co teacher, she took my to uijeongbu which is a city nearby for me to get my health check .. the doctors here are are so young! most of them were like may age and they were doctors already.. wth ?

anyways so after that we went for lunch and then headed to school, school is nice and big, the students are on exams atm so i didnt meet them yet, today i just met the teachers and principle and vice principle. i wont be teaching this week or next week because they want me to get use to it beore i start conducting classes.. they also gave me a laptop! it helps cos now i don't need to bring my mac with me to school.

after that i headed to lotte mart to buy a travel adapter and sheets and blankets for my house.. i had to carry it all the way home and it was so heavy! i ended up organising my place today so it feels more like a home..

hopefully i'll be changing apartments soon, my place is on the ground floor and i dont feel very safe because when ppl walk past they alwasys look into my place and can see everything inside.. i hope i get something big and new!

안녕~

xo m

#16 hello kOrea!!

2009-05-08T09:59:00.004+10:00

welcome to korea!

first class.. there wasnt much difference from first and business

business class.. where i was treated like a queen =)

the plane trip from sydney to here was sooo good, i sat in business class and was treated like a queen, food was good and the sleep was even better.... 11 hours flew by quickly because it was so comfy i just slept and ate most of the time, i didnt even read any of my magazines!

so i landed in korea safely and got picked up by a driver. luckily he spoke english so i was able to communicate with him with no problems, he did however started to ask me stuff in korean but, i found that i was better in korean than i thought. as soon as you get here, everything changes, no one speaks english and u just have to find your way around in korean. back in sydney i went to tafe for 4 hours a week and only used my korean then. i never practiced it so i sort've forgot abt it until now, there are still things that i cant say or explain so it was up to my broken korean and their broken english ahaha

i got to my apartment about 2 hours later ... the ride was so long! from the airport to the city is about 40mins-an hour and then the drive from seoul to my area was another 40mins ish! it took forever but in the end at about 830 ish we arrived and met up with my co teacher.

my apartment is ok... its not as nice as i would like it... the area im living in however is awesomeeeee, its abt 15 mind away from my school and train station but its very lively and busy. as soon as i walk out of the apartment there are streets of shops and restaurants EVERYWHERE... its so bright and lit up.. i love it!

as soon as i got here i dropped off my stuff and headed out to buy food and to find a net cafe to let my family know that i was ok... this was a bit of a challenge because there are so many small streets everywhere, luckily i saw this student and i asked him where it was, he was so nice he took me there =) it was only 2 mins away from me but just hidden.

after that i pretty much just went to shower, eat and then went to sleep.. it's been a long and tiring day, i got a big day 2moro so will update soon!

안녕~

xo m

#15 the airpOrt wait..

2009-05-08T09:49:00.009+10:00

my sister & me

my mummy & me

business classs yehhhhh!!

waiting in the lounge..

i am currently sitting at the gate waiting to board... in about 10 minutes i can go in.. this morning i arrived at the airport at 5am ish... i met up with sammy sarahs friend and she checked my 30kg bag in and gave me a good window exit seat (which means theres no one sitting in front of u so u have plenty of leg room.

quite a lot of ppl came to see me at the airport.. i love my friends!! we basically just sat around and talked.. at 7am i had to start going in... it was very sad, my mum started crying so much so i cried, then my sister did as well... im sad to leave but im really grateful my parents are supportive of it and are letting me go.

after going through immigration i just shopped around, theres not much to buy here, i think its not that cheap the duty free stuff.. i reckon its prob better to buy things in korea so i saved my money.

sammy called me while i was inside and asked me to come to the gate cos the gate was changed and that she had to give me a new ticket.. i got there and found out i was upgraded to business classs!!!!!! that was pretty cool.. i don't know what to expect yet cos im sitting in the lounge still but im sure its good!

anyways time to board now... bye australia!!

안녕~

xo m

#14 my finaL day...

2009-05-08T09:43:00.003+10:00

my cousin came to visit me
so did sarah!

my last day in australia was quite hectic... i woke up early to go to cabramatta, met up with sarah for lunch and bought a few magazines for the plane ride. after that we went home and just chatted and catch up cos i havent caught up with her for agess.. i then took her for a ride on my electric scooter LOL that was fun... then we went in and ate pho.. my mum cooked a huge pot of pho that could feed a whole army!

i then went out to buy more stuff such as locks and a neck pillow! i bought this really cute pig neck pillow for the plane hahaha

in the afternoon ppl started dropping by to eat pho and to say goodbye.. it was time for me to finalise my packing.. its so heavy!! sarah has a friend that works for korean air so she hooked me up so that i can get good seats and also increase my luggage limit.. i can now bring 30kg!

at night time i just basically stayed home.. me and peter went for a ride on the scooter again ahahaha we had nothing else to do but it was fun.. my cousin and aunty came over as well to say goodbye to me

i don't think i'll be able to sleep tonight.. first is cos im too excited.. 2nd i keep thinking im forgetting or missing something so i think thats gonna play in my mind and im just gonna forget! lol

anyways.. 2moro is the dayyy!!!! im leaving australia and moving to korea!!

안녕~

xo m

#13 what tO pack?

2009-05-05T01:26:00.008+10:00

my packing adventure!

10.30pm the packing begins! (i actually cleaned it up for the photo haha)

stuff all over my couch..

and all over my bed!!

12am - all packed and ready to go!!

packing is so hard? theres a question thats been playing around in my mind for the past few days...

"how do u pack your whole life into 1 suitcase?"

its really hard... i guess if im missing anything then i can just buy it over there but i want to bring my whole house with me!

the past few days i been throwing stuff onto my couch... things that i want to bring so i don't forget abt it.. my room is now a total mess! i hope i don't go over the limit ... hahah i been reading blogs lately of other ppl who are lviing there .. i've read many posts that says to bring deodrant.. like whatt??? do ppl not smell there or something... how can they not? thats totally weird to me so i stocked up on deodrant lol

my most impt thing is just to bring clothes and my laptop i guess... everything else can be bought over there... korea is cheaper than australia anyways..

well its late and i have about 24 hours ish until i'll be heading to the airport.. it's gonna be a big day 2moro!!

안녕~

xo m

#12 last wEekend..

2009-05-03T11:23:00.004+10:00

my last weekend with my friends..

group photo!

muck up photo

my surprise! they decorated the house for me.. awww....

opening my gifts

a photo frame of the ppl i love

and an album filled with photos and comments!!!

cho me & vu

my sister cho & i

this weekend will be my last weekend here in sydney.. i've actually been quite busy the past week... everyones been making plans with me to catch up, all i've been doing is eating really ahahah

yesterday i was spose to start packing however the furthest i went was i took out my space bags.. hahaha i pretty much spent the day fixing my computer and just watching the OC (repeats) my rooms is like a total mess... theres just stuff all over it everywhere, theres not even enough walking space and i didnt even bring up my big suitcase yet!

last night i spent it with my group of friends.. they first took me to dinner which was really nice.. i had this duck pizza which was awesome.. i really liked that, then after we all went back to billys house to drink and catch up.. my friends are awesome and i love them so much... they decorated billys house with streamers and made a big sign that said 'farewell misha' that was so sweet of them.. they also gave me a photo frame with a picture of the group and also a photo album full of pictures! i cried when they gave it to me... i told myself not to cry in front of them but i couldnt help it ... im gonna miss them so much. last night while everyone was talking and mucking around, i just sat there watching them ans thinking.. this is what il be missing when im away... it makes me sad that i'll be leaving them of a yr but thats life i guess... a yr will fly by quick i guess.

today is sunday and i have a family gathering.. havent seen my relatives for awhile.. since like chinese new yr which was in feb so its a good chance for me to see them b4 i leave. today will be a busy day so i dont think i can pack either.. i will definitely start 2moro! i have 2 more days left to go ... i better get to it!

안영~

xo m

#11 prOcess over/flight info!

2009-05-02T00:54:00.003+10:00

visa process officially over! on tuesday i went to the consulate for my interview... it was basically just a chat with her for about 10 minutes... after that i worked for 2 days then left on thursday.. now i got 4 days left and im just busy packing. today i went to the city again to pick up my passport and visa.. they got it all done which was good so i didnt have to chase it up.. now all i have to do is pack and then leave!

after the consulate i went shopping.. i bought new phrase book, a pop out map of seoul and souvenirs! bought alot of australia pens, keyrings, and clip ons.. they were basically koalas, kangaroos and sheeps ahahahah .. i bought them to give out to my students/coteachers/principle etc.. they been really nice to me lately through this whole process so i wanna get them all something in return.

other news is ... my flight has been booked! i was really angry at myself and of this visa process cos all the flights kept getting booked out! on wed night i spent a few hours on the net just refreshing the page hoping something will show up.. most of the flights was via singapore or thailand.. they were pretty much 24hr+ flights... i wasnt looking forward to that.. luckily after hours on the net a flight opened up and it was a direct flight via korean air! good thing is it was so cheap as well.. only $825.. so i will be leaving on wed morning at 7.55 .. just 4 more days left to go!

안녕~

xo m

#1o my final weEk...

2009-04-28T08:12:00.007+10:00

the people i love most~

this week is pretty much considered my last week here in sydney... i've been trying to spend as much time as i can with all my friends.. it's a bit sad when i think abt it.. knowing that i'll be leaving for a year and i won't be seeing them anymore.

i love you guys! you'll be missed =\

안녕~

xo m

#o9 nearing the enD...

2009-04-27T21:35:00.005+10:00

my school

it is now officially confirmed... im moving to korea in a week o.O to be honest.. i told everyone that i was moving but i think it hasnt click yet that im leaving soon..

last week the embassy in korea approved of my documents and issued me my visa number.. with that number all i had left to do was to apply for the visa here in sydney.. i sent them my documents yesterday and am scheduled for an interview 2moro... from what i've been told from my friend, i just go in for like 5-10 mins.. they just want to see me and then they'll stamp my passport with my visa and then i book and fly off! how exciting.

im so glad this process is over... this last step is driving me crazy.. i think every part of it drove me insane... koreans like to do everything at the last minute.. i pretty much had to call and chase up all my documents all the time ... i think i've made like 10 calls in the past 3 adys just to see if they received my passport and to get them to schudule me my interview.

this is my final price list of this moving process..

$50 - CRC
$20 - Uni transcript
$60 - Uni letter apostille
$60 - CRC apostille
$74 - Send documents over via fedex
$75 - Visa
$15 - Express envelopes for visa
$10 - Postal fees
$10 - Phone call fees (hahaha)
------------------------------------------
total = $374!!

wow... i seriously didn't know i spent this much money... only now that i realised this was really expensive .. but its all worth it in the end!

anyways im off .. will update later after i have my interview with the consulate 2moro.

안녕~

xo m

#o8 graduatiOn~

2009-04-22T22:22:00.009+10:00

i graduated today!!

i wasn't allowed to do this.. ㅋㅋㅋ

accepting my award~

getting ready for the walk

me & sarah!

안녕~

xo m

#o7 what a wEekend...

2009-04-22T17:20:00.005+10:00

last weekend i had the WORSE weekend of my life.. just one thing happened after another and i seriously could not take it.. il explain..

first off i went to havana for the 1st time last weekend.. my friends asked me to go and since i havent hung out with them for a long time i decided to go.. the night was good.. i had a good time and was able to see everyone b4 i left.. it wasnt until about 230 that my night turned into a nightmare -_- i'd put my leather jacket in the cloak room when i got in.. at 230 when i went to get it, they couldnt find it.. there was stuff literally everywhere in that cloak room.. on the ground.. chucked all over the place and everything was a complete mess... for 2 hours, i stood there while they searched for my jacket in that room.. not long after they admitted that they had given my jacket to somebody else... how is that even possible??!!

i got really shitted at them for losing it in the first place but got even more pissed cos they kept saying there was nothing they could do abt it. ermm .. like if i pay u to look after my jacket and you lose it and gave it to someone else then i think its ur responsibility to pay me back? anyways after hours of arguing, they decided that if next friday, the girl doesnt return with it then they will reimburse me for it.. i mean it wasnt like it was a cheap jacket ... so annoying -_-

next thing on my list was even more of a nightmare.. my mum accused my friends of stealing her top.. but get this . a dirty top that she had left in the bathroom so she can hand wash.... does that sound crazy to anyone? if it is .. please leave a comment.. i think it'll make me feel better that i'm not the only person that thinks my mum is going looney... i mean seriously... why would my friend... a 23 yr old girl .. go into the bathroom and steal a 55 yr old womans dirty clothes ?? wthhh??!! then she started telling me off cos i was defending my friend and now she hasnt spoken to me since then ...

that wasnt all.. so much more happened but those were prob the 2 worse things that happened to me this week... never have i been so happy that im getting out of australia soon.

til next time

안녕~

xo m

#o6 the waiting gamE...

2009-04-08T16:37:00.010+10:00

a map of my school!

i have the best news!!!! i have finished my part of my korea application~ so in the past week.. since getting the letter from my professor last wednesday, i been busy trying to get my documents apostilled. i sent it off last thur and got is back yesterday so i called fedex and got them to pick it up just then..

Fedex charged me $73.30.. i still think it's silly that it costs that much just to fly papers over to another country.. i also don't understand why korea didnt just let me send it by express post.. thats kinda weird but anyways its all done.. i think i checked my document folder like 5 times b4 i gave it to them.. i don't wanna forget something..

anyways so now all i have to do is.. wait, i hope they don't take too long to process my application, i wanna be out of here as soon as possible. my graduation is in a few weeks. hopefully they will grant me my visa within the next 2 weeks or so.. then i can go to the korean embassy here in sydney to get my actual visa then il be off by the 28th of this month!

will update soon!

안녕~

xo m

#o5 moving to kOrea costs aLot!!

2009-04-04T11:26:00.011+11:00

since the last post, i wrote that im having problems with my uni degree so moving there might be delayed.. however, i got a letter written from uni to say that i have completed my course and is waiting for graduation.. the korea recruiter accepted this letter and now im past the halfway and the hard part!

i'm so relieved.. honestly this whole process is very stressful.. i spend so many days on the telephone just chasing up my documents.. seeing if they received it.. seeing how long it'll take.. seeing if the payments went through -_-

atm my documents are at dfat to get apostille, once i have them back, i will be able to send them to korea and then its all up to them to get me my visa.. once its granted i'll be gone! other little things i need to do is .. write my personal essay.. get 2 recommendation letters.. get my passport photos.. and re read all the contracts and sign! sounds easy but its a lot of work -_- especially getting all the documents together ... if you're lucky, things will go smoothly.. im actually lucky cos things are going ok.. i'm not having that much trouble... other ppl i've heard had heaps of problems.

this moving costs a lot of money though... luckily they'll pay me most of it back when i get there as a settlement allowance .. but still... i didnt know it costs so much just to get papers together and sent to another country??!!

this is what i've had to pay so far:

$50 - CRC

$20 - Uni Transcripts

$60 - Uni Letter Apostille

$60 - CRC Apostille

so all up i've spent 190 so far however that is not all! i still need to pay about $80 to send my documents over with fedex ($80 just for papers .. like.. wth??!!) i need to pay for my visa ... which im guessing is about $50-$100. then after all that .. once i get my visa i will need to pay about $1000-$1200 for my flight over there! it's so costly! but.. i think it will be worth it so im gonna put up with it -_-

ppl who are considering moving to korea to teach.. here are my suggestions... go to dave esl (google it) there are a lot of recruiters that post on there.. like heaps!! i went with Korvia.. i actually had interviews and email tennis with a lot of other recruiters as well but i found Korvia to be very good.. plus my friend went with them and she's there right now and there werent any problems so i trust them.

another tip is.. get your documents ready early! depending on your country... it might take months for things to come back ... for example.. CRC takes about a month... certificate of residency also takes about a month.. apostille is quick (in australia it is) university degrees.. if u don't have yours yet (like me) then go into your uni.. talk to the dean of your department and get them to write you a letter to cite that you have completed your course and is waiting for graduation to receive your certificate. Make sure you also get is stamped with the uni stamp and JP it.

other than that .. if you're planning on moving to korea say september.. start getting your documents ready by june ish .. just in case there are any problems...

anyways i think i've written enough.. hopefully next week i will receive my apostilled documents back and i can send them off and get ready to leave!

Dugkye middle school!

til then

안녕~

xo m

#o4 updatE.

2009-03-29T20:44:00.004+11:00

i havent written lately.. been quite busy.. news is .. i got a job!!!!! im working atm at this medical lab.. it's pretty cool.. i do admin and data entry. i dont mind it actually.. it's right in fornt of my house so it's very convenient. I'm learning a lot from this job and it's really good to get some office experience.

Other good news is ... IM MOVING TO KOREA!!!!! i got hired at this school located in yangju.. it's just north of seoul.. about 30 mins away.. im so excited!! i can't believe this is really happening... it hasnt sunken in yet cos i havent done anything.. i didnt even send in my documents yet. I just had my interviews with the recruiter and the co teacher from the school and they liked me so i guess il be going very soon! im meant to be there on May 1st, however cos im having problems with my uni degree... it might be later... but im sure it won't be too late... i'll either be there 1st of may or a bit later than that.

So moving along... not much has happened lately... last week we went to bamboo ... honestly it was so gay.. we hired a bus there so that we can all drink.. half of us met at billys house to drink up.. i think we had more fun there and on the way to the city than we did when we were in the city. I think it's cos we're all getting old... i use to go clubbing so much and now it's just boring.. i don't understand how i use to do it every single week -_- i guess it was good to get out though.. we meet up and play poker everyweek.. its a good change of atmosphere.

Last night we went to mounties for drinks... that was a good change as well, even though we met up under bad circumstances.. the ppl im close to know what im talking about.. i hope the boys are ok.. they were really upset last night and it worried me a bit.. but i was glad to see that they were all there supporting each other through this rough time.. i know there was nothing i can do but im glad i was present just in case they needed someone to support them or give them a hug. feel better boys!

til next time.. i need some sleep now.. cos i work! =P

안녕~

xo m

#o3 white day~ 사랑해

2009-03-14T20:06:00.007+11:00

so today is white day.. why im posting about this.. i do not know..

for some of youse (or maybe most) white day is a day celebrated in korea.. on valentines day - 14.o2 girls are meant to give their bf/husbands gifts (weird i know) so in return, a month later on white day 14.o3 the boys return that by giving their gfs/wife something even bigger.. thats so cool aye.. too bad i don't have a bf (and that i live in australia.. haha)

so today i woke up early and went shopping .. BAD i spent more than i shouldve... actually i wasnt spose to spend at all.. i went out just cos i had nothing to do at home but is pent so much money that now i am worried.. lol.. i bought a nice brown leather jacket (not really leather). a few dresses and a few tops.. i actually proud of what i bought. funny thing is everything was dark blue ahaha

tonight i was gonna go to billys house for poker but theres a huge storm in sydney right now. its pouring outside so i think im just gonna stay home and rest.. watch some tv then sleep.. i cant turn on my computer anymore... after the powercut, my comp turned off and now won't turn back on again... im so annoyed! everything is on my comp... my whole life is on there! im gonna be very pissed of i lose everything.. like seriously pissed.. i think my next payment i need to go out and buy a removable hardrive.. this is so gay... theres nothing to do at home.

im so bored... happy white day! 안녕~

xo m

#o2 korea update - new job!

2009-03-13T22:58:00.004+11:00

so finally today i started getting ready for my korea job.. today i went to the post office and started sending off my forms - my criminal record, transcript, and residency status.. all i need left is my uni degree which is quick anyways i think... this thing costs so much money -_- i hope i can afford it all... and then have money left to buy my plane ticket and also money to spend over there.

today i actually applied for a new job and i think i'll get it.. its at this laboratory near my house.. i wasnt even sure if they were looking for anyone but they interviewed me on the spot and liked me!! i came back after like an hour to try out.. it was pretty easy stuff.. just data entry. im quick with computers anyways so i picked up heaps quick.. the guy that trained me was nice.. cos when the manager man came around and asked how i was doing, he told him that i was a really fast learner.. so im doing good so far! they asked me to come back on monday for a whole day so they can teach me a few more stuff to see if i can do it.. hopefully il get this job, and its so convenient as well. right in front of my house!

anyways on other topics.. my parents went to perth today so i've just been bumming at home, i think im gona cook some stuff 2moro.. i have this thing for cooking and baking atm.. i dont even have money but im spending most of my money on food -_- so much for the gym.. i miss it! i didnt go for 3 days and i feel slack and bad.. it actually it addictive cos 2moro im def going to the gym! i wanted to go to ffld markets as well but il see what happens... i wanna do fight do but thats at 1030. it kinda messes up my times cos i wanna go shopping first and then to gym.. but cos that class is at 1030 i dont think i can do it.. we'll see what happens 2moro .. i think il sleep now. need to sleep early or i wont be able to get up at 8 on monday morning!

안녕~

xo m

#o1 - the beginning - 안녕하세요~

2009-03-11T19:52:00.007+11:00

so.. i start again with a new blog.. i decided the other one was boring so i deleted everything..

so anyways.. i came back from vietnam not long ago, it was a good (but long) holiday, i was glad to be back but there was 1 downside to it - jobhunting.

job hunting has been ... HORRIBLE, i've been jobless for like 2 months now, seriously it is so hard... i bascially live on Seek. I spend everyday just searching and honestly there is nothing... it's ridiculous.

So now i've started to do volunteering work... i've applied at a few places.. soon i'm going on a kids camp as a camp counsellor. That should be fun. Iive done it before back in Perth for St Vinnies. This time I'm doing it for Edmund Rice though... i'm so excited about it!

In addition to that... i'm planning on moving to Korea!!! to teach that is... the jobs here don't exist, so the only thing left to do is to move to Korea and work there! i guess it works out well anyways - free house and airfare... all i'll be paying for are bills and food.. i could save a lot of money from that i guess.

I've been talking to my friend Thuy a lot. She's going soon ... in like 2 weeks or so.. im so excited for her! 2moro is when i'll start my process. I have to get A LOT done - criminal check record, uni transcript, uni degree... theers too much to put down. hopefully by the time of my graduation, i'll have all these documents ready and i can be off by the end of April!

will update soon... 2moro is gonna be one long LONG day... will have to make plenty of phone calls and a trip to uni.. i'm excited!

안녕~

xo m