The end...

...of a GREAT year.

Well, a little time for reflection. This past year has been pretty phenomenal.

Starting from the beginning, I spent last Christmas with my Dad, Sister and boyfriend in sunny San Diego. We hung out in the pool, barbequed, drove up to LA, and enjoyed some much-needed sunshine. After that, I flew back to Bemidji for New Year's with my friends. I spent time with those people (and kitties^^) I had missed the most while taking time to straighten up my things in the storage space.

At the end of February, I headed back to Daegu for my second contract teaching English with MK. I found I really liked my new neighborhood and school. I got a new house, (then I got another one!) I met new people and reconnected with friends from the previous year. Over the past 10 months I've discovered new restaurants, neighborhoods, parks, music, arts, and buses to cool places in Daegu, as well as all over Korea.


I had some sweet visitors in August - My college friend Annie and her sister Gina! On a trip around the world, lucky chicks. They stayed a week and we travelled all over Korea. Daegu, Busan, a beautiful temple in the country, then ended up in style in Seoul.

In September, I embraced my life in Korea and began to truly enjoy my time here. I decided that I could comfortably stay here for another 2 years or so. On Chuseok, I celebrated the Korean Thanksgiving holiday thrice over - two days (of constant eating) with my friend's family, then another day with my boyfriend's family.

I also took vacation to go to Japan for 5 days. I wish it had been longer, but finances ran out. It's an expensive place, you know! I stayed in hostels mainly, save for one night at a cheap onsen. I ate my fill of amazing, super-fresh sushi, bought (and illegally transported!) more than my fill of sake, saw some castles, and shot across the country on bullet-trains. Quite the life.

Oh, and I can't forget the world famous Kobe beef... that melts in your mouth... literally. No knife necessary. It's like buttah, baby... mmmmmmmm.
And delicious okonomiyaki. Yeah... It's all about the food for me. ^^

Since September, my job has gotten harder to bear, my rabbit has been seriously ill, I've had to move, I began a frantic (and expensive) search for a new job, but I'm finding myself more and more in love.
Since September, US home prices dropped by a record percent, the world economic situation has become dire, the Korean Won has hit a new high against the US dollar (thereby decreasing the value when I send money home), but a black man was elected president of the United States.

Good luck and well wishes to all in the new year. That includes you, America.

Christmas? Mmmm, I guess it is...

Wednesday is Christmas Eve Day. I have to work until 9PM, then only have Thursday off. At least I have Thursday off. (I don't have the following Thursday off. Yep - working on New Year's Day.) On Wednesday night, I will be making a large batch of homemade eggnog and some corn souffle base, both of which will be fleshed out with additional cream and eggs. Then on Thursday, the food, Deuk Kyun, and I will head over to Bummeo (different part of Daegu) for some ice-skating and our annual MoonKkang Christmas potluck dinner. After a rousing "Bad Santa" gift exchange, we'll head home to relax and rest up to get right back to work on Friday. Humm.

This is why I seek a job with national holidays, and winter and summer break. Here's hoping. And here's some Christmas cuteness found while searching clip art. "Sleigh bells ring, are ya lis'nin'?..."

The new house

So here it is! The long-awaited, mold-free, teensy-bit-upgraded house.

1. Looking in the front door.


2. On the right, my laundry/storage room + rabbit!


3. On the far-right of the entry, my little-bit-bigger-bathroom!


4. The kitchen-wall


5. Looking into the second room (bedroom).


6. In the bedroom.


7. Looking back to the entryway from the bedroom.


8. My new teeny table to fit the teeny house.


9. My light fixture - the sticky glow-in-the-dark stars came with the place. ^^

That's cool!

I just added music! And you can play it right here. Except - sorry! Some of the songs are only 30 second clips. I wouldn't have put them on if I knew that before... But it's still pretty cool!

No job as of yet...

Went for the interview in Busan - didn't get the job. And I haven't heard anything yet from the ones I applied to last week. I sent emails to Duksung Women's University and an adult academy (both in Seoul), and I sent packages to Dongguk University (Seoul) and Kyungpook National University in Daegu.
I suppose if I don't get any university job I'll start to look at public schools. I could work days at an elementary or middle school and be pretty happy. We'll see what happens with these last couple colleges. meh.

Artist of the Month - December

Each month, MTV Korea crowns an Artist of the Month. I'll be bringing you the artist's newest music video. Here's December. (The woman in this video is Lee Hyori, a very famous Korean singer.)

Wheesung - Fading Star

The Update

Well, I didn't get the interview for Hongik University. But I did get one for Busan National University! On Friday, December 12 I'll take the train over to Busan to meet with the Director of the program. I'm not sure what to expect, so I'll have to research a little bit and prepare before I go.
I'm also going to apply for a couple other jobs, one in Daegu and others in Seoul.

On another note, my new house is great. (Pictures to come soon.) It has good energy, I can just tell it! It's a little bigger and has a small bit of storage so my boxes are out of the way. And I got a small vacuum so I can clean up all the rabbit fur - easier than sweeping!

So, that's the dish for now.

New

Well, it's 12:10 AM on Wednesday December 3rd. I'm going to check the website for Hongik University to see if I got called back for an interview...

... Wish me luck!! ......
...
...

Boo! No news yet. It still says "If you applied for the position, please check this website on December 3 to see if you are invited for an interview."

They must mean business hours on December 3.
________________________________________________________________________________

In other news I'm finally moving to another apartment. Unfortunately, it was quite a hassle to get that to happen. The guys who help us teachers out are usually quite easy going and helpful but this time they made me feel really bad about moving. This is primarily because I was the one to decide to move - due to the giant mold creature gaining territory on the ceiling of my bedroom. Of course, they agreed with me that a person shouldn't live in that condition, but it still amounted to additional work for them.

On top of that, I even took it upon myself to meet with a real estate broker to look at (more than a few) properties. I picked a couple nice ones, the first one of which was lost because my school didn't move fast enough on it. The others were, according to my school, too good for me.
"You see," I was told, "teachers compare their house, so you can't have a much better house."
They also thought that my second choice was too far from the other teachers' houses in my neighborhood. This is just a stupid argument. Anyway.

A house very much the same as the one I have now was chosen for me - just around the corner. So, I'll be moving my things in on Thursday.