Katie's Wandering Seoul

Orphanage fundraiser MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Well Christmas came and went pretty quickly here in Korea.  It's not quite like at home, and it didn't really feel much like Christmas until Christmas day.  Korea isn't a place that really has a lot of Christmas decorations, trees, or lights.  In fact only about 1/3 of my students actually celebrated Christmas, and even the ones that did did not celebrate quite like we do back home.   Singing Christmas songs Snowball fights I tried to bring the Christmas feeling into the classroom as much as I could.  I had Christmas lessons, sang Christmas songs, and made snowflakes to hang in the room.  The students did seem to enjoy talking about Christmas and how it is different here in Korea.   Presents! This Christmas was my first Christmas away from my family, and it was a bit strange and sad.  I'm used to being around my family all day long and cooking and eating and playing with my little cousins.  BUT th

Since starting the entire process of coming to Korea EPIK and my recruiter have done a pretty good job on helping me to prepare for this adventure.  From getting interviews set up, helping me with all my documents, lesson planning, teaching, and Korean culture they are all things they we were told about.  No, nothing could really prepare any of us for the adventure we were beginning but everyone involved tried really hard to help us along the way. Since coming to Korea I have found my little Korean family.  I have met so many people these past 9 months and I'm thankful that I have found a family in Korea.  We speak on a regular basis, we see each other daily or weekly, we have traveled around Korea together as well as to different countries.  Being away from your family and friends at home is scary and hard, but having this adventure with all these people has been and I'm sure will continue to be an amazing time together is something we all need to cherish a little I think.

Since being in Korea I have noticed that they tend to do things to the extreme.  This includes many different things:  school (going 12-14 hours a day is a tad ridiculous in my opinion, but what do I know?!) and the weather seem to be the big ones. We will just focus on the weather part, because what else can you say other than children should not be in school for 14 hours a day and then have to go home and do homework?!  It still just blows my mind that these kids are able to function throughout the day ( I know there is no way I could) I know this because I am sitting here writing this solely because I am running on about 3 hours of sleep and this is one thing that will keep me awake.  No way I could do this everyday like them. Ok now really time to talk about this weather thing!  Korea really doesn't do the in between thing.  When it was about a million degrees in the summer they are blasting the AC.  Yes, I'll admit it felt good at first, but after about 5-10 minutes  I

As I wrote in my last post Thanksgiving has come and gone.  Although, it was a depressing time because it is my favorite holiday, I still had a good Thanksgiving. It was nothing like any other Thanksgiving I have ever had before.  There was no big family meal, no little kids running around me, and no turkey.  I did however spend Thanksgiving and the entire weekend with some really great friends, which is what the holiday season is all about really.  Spending time with your friends and family, and here in Korea my friends have become my family. I also got to Skype with my family at home, so I got a little bit of the things that are the most important. Now it is the Christmas season and I'm very excited for it.  I do think that I will be a little depressed being away from the family, but we are already planning our Christmas day.  Many Koreans have Christmas yes, however it is not as big of a holiday here as it is at home.  I will only get Christmas day off, from the looks of it I