Day to day: Busy, but Happy

I find myself writing another entry tonight, but I doubt it will be great reading material: I am writing so that I will not fall once more in the I-stop-once-to-write-my-blog-and-then-ten-months-later-I-realize-I-haven't-written-al-all sort of trap. So here I am: every single day since I got here, I have been studying songs and stories to learn them per heart (and know each single word of stories that sometimes don't even follow any patten when it comes to "the/a" etc. yay!). I realized yesterday, that I had been silly in my observation of other teacher's classes. I had focussed on learning the songs and see how to intervene with students when they did not do as they're told - which surprisingly does not happen that much - and had forgotten that while the order of things and the way they interact with the students might be natural to the teachers, I personally haven't taken enough notice of those small and important details. 

Now I am studying both songs and stories, while trying to learn the course activities' order and make sure that everything ends up looking and feeling natural for the students. 

I tried other coffee places around Gunpo but up so far the best I have tried is Café Towb: both the coffee and the place are really nice. I went once more yesterday to study in a different environnement (and give Alyssa, who's housing me, some time for herself: while I don't think I am a bad guest, I AM taking a lot of space in her flat, and I know having time on your own always is nice) but this time I tried getting a tea. They do have a large variety of nice teas and herbal teas so even if I end up going often there, I don't think I'll be bored of the place or the beverages they have there. I tried sweet ginger tea: it came in a pretty glass teapot and they brought it in a wooden tray. I also had a sandwich, but while it was tasty, I would not get that another time, $8 is a lot for a sandwich: I will got for dessert next time, it fits more with the place, and also they look amazing. 

NESQUICK IS EVERYWHERE! They have the pink one too! <3 

Happy Psy advertising Shin Ramyeon black

강남의 고다방

First time walking around Seoul today~~

The weather was above zero for the first time since I got here so it was quite pleasant day to walk around, even though I cannot say that it was "warm" yet. The weather was still not inviting for hiking or the like, so I thought going to a museum and try a nice coffee shop could be sweet. 

I really want to go see a Teddy Bear Museum while I am here ( I know the most popular is in Jeju island, but I read in a couple places that there is also one in Seoul) so I asked A if we could try to go there. Not being familiar with the place, I left the direction taking to her but we somehow never got to have clear information on where it was and turned in circle for quite a long time, including a complete bus circuit going up Namsan (it was supposed to bring us at the Museum, but no one seemed to know which stop it was so we just ended up looking around. Result: we had a complete bus tour around Namsan for 10 cents). 

We decided to leave the Museum search for another day and try our second destination choice: CAT CAFÉ! The Cat Café was in Gangnam, right beside the exit of the subway station. It was quite easy to find but we got to wait some 30 minutes before entering (there was space to sit so it did not seem that long). 

The Café has tons of rules to follow to make sure nothing goes wrong with the cats. And they many. Like, a lot. Like, tons of them. As you enter, you change into slippers (typical in Asia) and sanitize your hands (less typical) so you don't pet the cats with hands full of whatever can be on them. You need to buy at least one drink, that will cost you 8,000won (approx. CAD$8) but that will allow you to chill out there for as long as you want. The drinks are poured in takeout format cups (I suppose that is to avoid having cat hair in them) so you don't really need to worry about them spilling. 

All in all it was really sweet, I love cats, they're such cuties.

I just realized that most of the pictures I took of cats were of
the big rounded faces and small eared ones: easy to know
what type of cat I think is the cutest  <3

This cat is a male called Honda (like the car: all of the cats there have
car company names)and has a special story: he is a TV commercial diva

Yooga nae : awesome food, cozy place

After we finally got back to Sanbon in the crowded subway, we decided that we should get a well deserved pancake from a little takeout store in front of the apartment building teachers live in. This was just amazing: the pancake sorts of have a sugar coating that makes it slightly crispy, while being tender enough to be cut in pieces with a plastic spoon/fork. I wanted the strawberry one, but I got banana-choco since they did not have them. I think it was the right choice in the end, I know know if the strawberry one would have been half as tasty as that one was. 

Cat Rounds

I don't remember where I know this from - don't even remember from which language I learned it from, but I was once told about the idea of "cat rounds": just how cats wander around new places in circle, slowly increasing the size of the latter until they get acquainted with all their surroundings...

That's what I'm doing right now, at least, that's what I try to do. The fact that the weather is so cold right now does not help me go out when I finish at work (10pm : COLD) and in the morning, for now anyways, I am trying my best to keep learning the stories and songs I will be tested on this afternoon at 1:30. Meh. Not like I can do anything with my brain: I am still a bit jet-lagged so I get tired quickly at night and I never was a morning person when it comes to study. 

I initially thought bringing my cloak-like coat to Korea would suffice for the humid winter of Korea, thinking that wearing warm clothing underneath would be enough, but I was wrong. I decided to get a coat here (with actual sleeves) as well as a scarf and mittens. That should keep me going for a while I think. 

I really like the fashion here, but I realized that at least 80% of what I like here is way out of price: I found a nice coat in a store that had nice shades of green (color I don't have much so it would make a nice change) and when I looked at the price - $780; I look at small not-supposed-to-be-pricy items to hang after cellphones, I pick the only one that is $30 (the rest being between $3-$10). The coat I ended up buying is orange (!!!) and was %50 off. I got lucky, I think that color of falling out of fashion, so I got it cheaper, but I don't really care about what's in and what's out: I am more of the I-like-it-then-that's-enough type of buyer.

One of the Cafés I was introduced to is Café Towb. It has that homey feeling to it that I like very much. There actually is a second floor but I haven't gone yet. The coffee shop is right by the place I work and they have free wifi so I might end up there often to study for my classes or just chill. Their coffee is really tasty and they bring tea to you in very nice looking china. I haven't tried tea yet but it's on my list. I love to have warm drinks when it's cold outside: makes me happy. 

Oh, and the people who work there are all good looking. If I ever open a store, I want to have that: people can say what they want to delude themselves, good looking people make a place much better in so many ways.

I'll keep doing cat rounds, see if I find other interesting Cafés and keep updating when I find the time

A-Class Academy

Today I followed the teacher I'll replace in February in three different groups she teaches to. There are two things I can say for sure after today: the place looks awesome, all the rooms are bright and well decorated, nothing looks cheap and everything seems brand new; and the kids are incredibly adorable. My favorite classes are what they call the Meysen groups of young kids, a name that comes from a Japanese curriculum using songs to teach English. I've seen level 20 of young 8ish years old kids, who are actually really advanced, but I found it amazing how they love learning. It might just have been because their teacher is really good at what she does, but well, at least I have got to see an awesome example <3

I like the small kids' classes better than the older ones because there is more energy and movement, but then, I was told that the older students I saw today were particularly amorph if compared to other groups. I'll be watching classes all week and should start co-teaching starting of next week. Now the challenge is that I have to learn all the songs and stories for level 1 and level 20 kyaaa >.<

This is the desk of my roommate of the moment, a sweetheart who's got
a lot of stories to tell

Doesn't that look awesome? I'll take picture of the classrooms later.

Here is the very inviting A-Class Academy hall

I just realized I hadn't had any picture of me taken since I came
here! Truth be told, I don't really like that picture because it looks
like my waist is super large T__T

Korea, 1st day

Today is my first day in South Korea.
The weather is cold and humid (-11), a bit windy and the ground is icy and slippery.
My dad told me it's going to be cold in SOKO for at least the coming two weeks.

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Saturday morning at 3AM I woke up from Montreal's Maritime Plaza and my parents drove me to the airport to take my flight at 6:55AM. The previous day, we had driven 8 hours to get to Montreal by car, and gotten up quite early (5:30AM) to get there in time as I had to pick up my E2 Visa and Passport at the Korean Consulate of Montreal before it closed: it was Friday and I was going to take my plane the very next morning, so you can imagine the happy stress of the whole thing.

Everything went smoothly, even the flights. The first plane I took was quite cramped and crappy: an American Airline so small we could not even keep our cabin luggage with us. The plane, I believe, was even smaller than the planes we take from my hometown to Montreal, but then, I suppose the distance between Montreal and Rouyn is quite similar to the Montreal/New York one. I was really dead tired so I did not really care about that flight: I basically slept through it as soon as I saw that my carryon luggage was put in the actual plane (every time I travel, my only stress is to make sure my luggage is coming along with me: I have heard too many horror stories of friends who got theirs only weeks after their arrival).

New York airport is awesome. There are those things everywhere.
Sadly, I did not need to use them at the time and there're none in
Incheon airport...

Found out that Nintendo 3DS has its own Internet connection when in airports!
Happy happy me using facebook with my nintendo. How nice is this?????

New York Airport is huge. Tons of different terminals, all the size of a regular airport. I was so tired though T)))T once more, I haven't paid that much attention to the details, except those who were really jumping to my face. I took a happy (yes, happy) croissant sandwich and milk; whatever I could afford with the little American money I had.

Then, I took the Asiana Airline plane. How I love Asian planes. Starting off with the attendants' uniform (I had to hold back asking them to take a picture with me for a souvenir) up to the service and food, nothing was amiss. They even had tooth brushes and toothpaste in the toilets to freshen up.

One of the nicest meal I had in a plane. I am always amazed how in Asian planes, the asian food is so legit, whereas
the White food always looks like dog food. Damn us and our lack of sensibility for small details. Notice the METAL
utensils :fork, knife and spoon (all with Asiana Airline written on it) why are those still allowed while we can't even bring a nailclipper on the plane anymore? Another of life's mystery...

The plane had its own individual hot pepper sauce (gochujang) !!!

While I know these are actually good, I never really liked to eat stuff of which you can
still see the head and eyes. The problem I am sure, comes from the eyes. This is the only thing
I did not eat in my Bibimbap

Travelling Tips!

Fact: If you travel from North America to Asia, you will get out of your plane smelly, gross and feeling tired and sick of everything: in the plane you keep on getting too cold and too hot non-stop.

1. Make sure you wear something that is not too tight around the waist and ankles; you'll be seated way too long to be comfy.

2. Wear something that will keep your feet warm (bring a pair of warm socks that you can wear only in the plane when you take your shoes off - because taking your shoes off is a must in such a long flight, plus, your feet get sort of inflated since you don't move much).

3. Bring, in small bottle, the necessary to (1) wash, rince, cream your face and brush your teeth (2) wash your body; body soap - I prefer liquid one - (3) wash your hair, and a hand towel.

4. Bring a change of clothes (if the comfy clothes you are wearing look like crap), socks and underwear.

5. Take your makeup.

POINT: Two hours before landing, go to the toilet with your stuff. There you'll get to go to the toilet, wash your face, brush your teeth, wash your hair (I usually just wash my bangs, really, that's what makes the hair look dirty) and body with the hand towel. Then change your clothes and put a bit of makeup: MAGICAL TRANSFORMATION!

**Worrying about taking up space in the toilet? Well technically it takes maximum 10 minutes. People make other wait even more just to shit sometimes: I rather use that time to NOT look and feel like crap when I get out of the plane. Plus, there is never only one toilet in such a big plane as those flying from North America to Asia.**

Very first sight of South Korea

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I haven't got to do much since I got to SOKO, I don't even have my own apartment yet. I will when the teacher I am replacing will leave. Meanwhile I am staying with another teacher at the same school, who's been there since the summer. She is a sweetheart, we've been walking around Gunpo, a suburb town near Seoul (still on the Seoul metro line). She says everything basically is in walking distance and showed me a couple of nice coffee shops near work, that is around 10 minutes by foot from the apartment building. I feel bad I am making her apartment look messy with all my luggage ;_; can't do much about it though...

I have the day off so I have been around and bought a few trinkets. I feel quite tired even if I slept a lot on the plane so I wonder what I should do: I feel like going to a Café, but then, I'm lazy... I'll see what the rest of the day will bring me.

The first official Korean meal I had: Korean BBQ <3 yum (meat had yet to arrive)

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I found the same toys we went shopping for my niece, my sister and I, last Christmas <3

Bad resolution, stupid camera... Isn't is the cutest coat?

Second meal in Korea :) It's a restaurant that my new roommate calls
the Ajumma's kitchen, as you basically eat what she makes for you,
and for a full meal you pay 5.000 won ($5)

Isn't this coat just insane? There are googles on it XD

Bought a Yearly planner <3