Successful Weekend!

I had such a great week last week and my weekend was even better.
I think I already mentioned that this term will be more difficult than the last because I have middle school students. I need to put a couple of them in their place. What I really mean is tell the Korean staff about how rude a few of them are to me. Completely disrespectful.
Friday I woke up super early to remember it was my birthday! I went to the gym and renewed my gym membership for about 6 months. They guy working there asked me how old I was and I told him twenty-three today! He was almost like jumping up and down and was super excited. I was nervous he wasn't going to let me get on the treadmill because he was dancing around!
I talked to my Mom on skype and opened a few things my parents had sent to me. I also received beautiful cards from Grandma Loie and Pa and Maureen! Lovely cards!

I went to school and some of my co-workers found out it was my birthday! Darn that facebook!! I went into class right at 4:00 and found a cake and birthday hat sitting on my chair. My class and I brainstormed for about ten minutes on where the cake came from! At 5:00 we took our first break and Racheal was the one who bought it to for me!!!
Super cute and I loved that she got me it! It was a light cream fruit cake, perfect for me:)

After work I was planning on booking it out of school, but found out about the tragedy in Japan and had to stay to look at the news reports. My Mom called wondering if I was okay because she had received many other phone calls from family. Nothing hit us and we were not affected in any way, but it was nice to hear that people were worried!!!
Thank you if you called!

Some co-workers and I then went to dinner and we met up with my friends who took a bus to get to Seoul! My friends Ash, Kat, Lauren, Braden, Sanam, and her friend Courtney all came to meet for dinner!
There was around twelve of us at an Indian restaurant I go to with Racheal. Great Meal! We ended up at a few other bars and I had four of my friends stay at my place for the night. It was hilarious because I don't have a lot of room, but we made it work!!!

The next day we went to do some shopping! I bought another dress I like for the wedding! I already have my bridesmaid dress...but I want a couple of dresses to wear for other functions that weekend. Unfortunately I have two dresses I like, but only should keep one. I want to save money. I will figure it out!!!

On to week three of the new term! I will be busy with school and planning other birthday parties that are coming up!!!!

Stay well!

Kristen

Start of a New Term

Definitely about time I updated this :)
Last week was my first week of my new term. Right now I think that my classes will go well just because I now have a lot of experience to manage my students. I have four high- level reading classes which are all composed of those greaaatttt middle school students. Does anyone sense some sarcasm?
Last term I only had elementary students. They can give me whichever level they want though. I am up the challenge and will learn from my mistakes as well.
I also have a couple of classes with the small elementary school students. I had a couple of the students last term as well. I am teaching the same level for the little kids, but a few of my students didn't level up. I will be honest. The test they take to get to a higher level is not easy.
Along with a new term at school comes a new classroom! I have a window and a room that doesn't get too warm....at least not yet! I am able to see the sun go down which is a bonus. How exciting that it will be getting darker later and I can see the change through the seasons.

The last couple of weekends I have been hanging out with some friends and doing a little shopping. I found a dress that I can wear to the rehearsal dinner for my brother's wedding :) I will be home in exactly two months!!! I asked for some time off and my faculty manager gave me an extra day! I will be home from May 5- May 15. I am booking my flights this week. They don't look very cheap, but I need to come home of course!
My Bridesmaid dress is being sent to me this week so I will have to see how that fits!!

Besides the fun festivities coming up back in the States, I am weighing my options for when I leave Korea.
Right now I am planning on taking the GRE, going to Grad School, and becoming a teacher....
Have no idea if I will actually want to do it when I leave here, but that is the plan right now. I am getting a few books to study here in Korea and maybe I will be able to take the test here. I might need to take a class because I haven't studied math in forever. Not sure how I will be doing things.

Nothing special going on this week at school. Just looking forward to the weekend with friends for my birthday on Friday!!! Twenty-Three years old? Ahhhhh!!!

Love,

Kristen

Six, Six, Six!

Six Months in and still truckin' on through:)

It is hard to believe I have been here for six months!! I can only pray that my next six months are just as good or even better than the last.
I have had a good couple of weeks. There are only two whole weeks left for this term and I will be getting new students again.
I am semi-excited, however, these kids have been one-hundred times better than last term which is what scares me. I am afraid I will get evil kids that don't want to be there.

Two weeks ago was the Lunar New Year here in Korea! Seoul was a complete ghost town. I had some friends who went to China and Japan and they had a blast. I decided to stay in Korea because even though I had two days off, I want to starting really saving money. Furthermore, flights to other countries during the new year were double or even triple what they usually are.
I hung around with my friend Lauren from South Africa. We went out at nights, did some shopping, and watched some movies.
It was a nice rest from everything going on around me.

My friends and I are starting to plan what is to come in the next few weeks. We have a few people leaving Seoul to go back home :(
Also, we have about four of our birthday's coming up as well! Should be a exciting time with everyone!
Just this past weekend we talked about maybe some trips to Southeast Asia after our one-year contract in August :) Who knows where I will be going, but I definitely want to travel before coming home!!

Everything is going swell here and it is not as chilly as it has been. That might change.....not sure!

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

Always,
Kristen

Finally! Some positive feedback!

This past Friday I received some positive feedback from work. Not that I was waiting and looking for any, but I got an e-mail from my faculty manager saying I did well on my student surveys!! Yeah! My kids actually like me this term :) Or they did until I started yelling at them for the last couple of weeks.... (just kidding, well sort of)

Last term I did okay on the surveys, however I was not real pleased with myself. I thought I could have done better.
Out of around 40 instructors I did a whole lot better than last term. I hope I can keep it up. Helene, my faculty manager, told me she was proud of me. My group leaders, Sasha and Junho also sent me an e-mail saying they were proud of me as well.
Once and a while it is good to hear I am doing alright at work. I told Helene my goal for this term was to work on student management and just improve.
Maybe because I am going to the gym and taking some extra energy there would be one of the reasons I have a better attitude toward work.

This week I only have to work two days before the Lunar New Year! It will be interesting to see what Seoul looks like when everyone goes back home to visit family.

One other hilarious thing happened to me today. I have to write this on here because I am still laughing. I always go to the same coffee shop to skype with friends and family. Just an hour ago one of the workers at Cafe Bene came up to me and gave me a letter.
He doesn't speak very good English but told me he had a letter for me and doesn't speak English real well.
I read the letter and I will write some of what he said.

Here it reads:
To my dear...
Hello, my name is Kim Su-Young. I'm sorry that I couldn't even know your name.
I thought about many things before I wrote this letter.
Frankly, I'm not good at speaking English, so I give you this words on paper. I always waited for you at the cafe. One day, when I couldn't see you, I thought you would come here tomorrow?
You are the first person who takes my first coffee at this cafe-bene......
and he wrote more.
I immediately called Racheal because I am like what is going on!!!!!
He wants me to text him and he gave me his phone number.

Just thought I would share with you some funny things in my life right now.
I don't know what I am going to do, some comments would be great!!!

Have a great week!

Kristen

Winter Wonderland

Wowza! I have abandon my blog for about two weeks.
Most definitely time to write a little.

I have had a good couple of weeks. Nothing too different or super exciting happening here.
School is good as always. I am now approaching my ninth week with these kids and it has been a lot better than last term.
They take their big "level-up" test this week to see if they should advance to a higher level.
I will be administering the test to three of my classes. I hope they do alright :-)

The weekends have been extra cold here! It even snowed a good amount yesterday. The streets are filled with brown slush and are super slippery. The sidewalks are no better. I have to make sure I am wearing appropriate shoes so I don't slip.

This weekend I went out with my co-workers. Friday after dinner we all got together to have a sort of "going away" dinner for a co-workers boyfriend. A lot of other people know him much better than I do, but it is always sad when people leave. There was sixteen of us who went out for Korean BBQ and then drinks. I wanted to stay out later for Karaoke, however I had to get up early to work.
I volunteered to take an extra shift on a Saturday morning to give the level-up test prep class. It went by fast and I was actually glad I did it.

Besides the slick snow and having fun in the evenings, there is not a whole lot that is different here. I have been reading more and finishing up some work for school.
I am also beginning to think more about what I would like to do when I leave South Korea ...what will come next. It is a difficult task because I am not entirely sure what I want.
It will be an on-going task for the next couple of months. That I am sure about.

Take Care!

Kristen xoxo

New Years Resolution!

I am not so sure I have ever made a New Years Resolution. Maybe when I was a little younger I did, but I can't really recall a serious resolution.
However, this year is different. I am living in a different country and it was about time I took a look of what I want to get out of this year here in South Korea.

Teaching has been going pretty well over the last couple of weeks. I have had a couple of students who have been sort of a pain because they won't listen or get mad at me because I put them in a group that didn't consist of his friends.
Yes, I do feel a little bad for having to put him in a different group, although the kids need to learn to work with other people and not just friends. In life you don't get to always work with your friends or people you like. It is all about the experience and sometimes you need to take what life throws at you.

Anyway, my point for writing that is because even though the kids are the ones learning in my classroom, I have learned something about myself for a resolution.
I need to be more patient with everything, but in particular the kids. I'll be honest, when something doesn't go quite as planned I tend to freak out because I am afraid I will not get a page done in the book or I will run out of time. Or when they ask me the same question ten times I get annoyed. I have to remember that I was once a kid too and definitely did the same thing.

Despite all of these crazy things in school, I am enjoying myself. I have nice co-workers and I do like teaching.
The intensive classes in the morning have been my favorite. I am without a doubt a morning person. I love getting a coffee and walking into class with a smile and just taking it all in. I like teaching in the afternoon too, however I tend be more tired and a little drained.

I had a fantastic New Years with some friends from Ulsan. We celebrated with some free drinks from the bar we were at and I couldn't help to smile and realize where I was. I had a great Christmas as well with people I trained with back in August. I have been hanging out with my friend Aisling for the last couple of weeks and her frienda Kat and Lauren.

This weekend I might go visit Aisling and Kat for what is called the Ice Festival. I don't know much about it but apparently everything is all ice. It will probably take me an hour or so by train to get to the North East part of the country. I will have to figure out what I want to do.

I am off to bed as I have a full day tomorrow! I do like my Mondays off though :)

<3 Kristen

Photos!

My Brother gave me a Flickr Pro Account for Christmas so here are some pictures I have taken on my brand new Nikon Camera!

Enjoy and here is the address!!!

http://www.flickr.com/people/kristensadventures/

Then click on photosteam under my name!!