With 2014 coming to a close, and the new year of 2015 opening up, I decided to take a moment and reflect on my year come to pass and see if I can figure out what my new years resolutions will be. Being in South Korea perhaps is the biggest thing I can image posting, but the time it took to get here and the work I've done and people I've met have provided both an amazing experience chalk full of new challenges to face and learn from.
January
The first month unemployed back in Toronto. I had finished my current job in Security, working for Securita's Ontario. I had a nice position for the two years I worked, but after awhile, it just wasn't what I wanted. Don't get me wrong, the job was good, but the hours were awful; weekend shift during the night. I had little time to do stuff on the weekend, let alone hang with friends, so after awhile I decided to check other ventures. Finding work in Korea was something I had been suggested by many friends and family, so after having spent the prior year searching, I had already landed a job (was told in late December) and was prepping for my trip for South Korea.
I had spent most of January just being with my friends, I had the freedom of not needing much to worry about as I had enough dosh saved up for pleasure and enough put aside for expenses of the trip-soon-to-be. I guess I was also very excited, and felt energized to be going to a new place to work,
February
The time of travel is upon thy! I spent this month getting everything ready, packing, organizing, communicating with the other foreign teachers abroad I would be working with. I also spent this month going to the doctor and dentist, getting my check-ups and final things sorted for my trip. I had spent a lot of time with my family and friends during this month, many wanting to spend more time with me and I felt pretty good about it. Still, I'm more than excited to go to South Korea and begin my new adventures there.
I traveled with my mother and father mid-February, it was probably one of the longest flights I've been on as we first flew to Japan to spend a week. Japan was awesome, I loved every moment of being there. The culture was interesting and spending time in Tokyo was a dream come true. We spent the week checking our parks, sight-seeing temples, walking around Downtown Tokyo and even going to some pretty cool districts. My personal favorite was Akihabara district, a place filled with nerd or 'otaku' culture from manga, figures, to airsoft and cosplay. It was a nice place to be, and I do hope to get a chance to go again before I return once my contract is up.
After spending time in Japan, we spent another week venturing around Seoul. We toured the city, saw the sights, even checked out the old Castle in the heart of Seoul. However, once I was settled with my school and moved into my temporary housing, it was hugs and kisses and goodbye to my mom and dad as I staid behind to begin my work. I spent the next week getting to know the school, the kids I would teach, the teachers and co-teachers I would be working with and so forth. It wasn't a bad gig and I immensely enjoyed the opportunity presented to me. I felt like I would trun myself into a new person, learn new things about myself as well as others and gain valued experience with teaching.
March - June
Between these two months was work that I had come all the way to Korea for. It was a pretty interesting position located in Yatap, Bundang (souther part of Seoul) it was a nice little suburban community with its own charm of shopping, dining, movies and transit. The school was also good; I was teaching Kindy to Elementary classes from 9:30 till 6:30. At first
I was uncertain with Kimdy, but during the months I taught them, I found Kindy, despite being little kids, show the utmost affection for people they like. The clingers, who like to grab hold of you, the gigglers, the ones who laugh at everything, the screamers, who as you may guess, scream and the quiet ones. Each one reminded me of children I met and even the child myself I used to be.
Children Korea are also incredibly smart, they can pick up things quickly (even thought they may not always like to show it) and can easily read one another, helping each other during class. It was quite an amazing experience to say the least, but as I found out, I wasn't all that suited for it. Don't get me wrong, if given the chance I might try again, but after what had occurred, I felt Kindy wasn't my calling.
Elementary students were more my speed, especially between the grades of 1-4. The children in those grade still have the childish attidue and laughable fun as a Kindy, but the maturity and sense of an older student. They are willing to work hard to impress their teacher and always excelled when enthusiastic response and praise is given to them. I really did enjoy it, and the classes I taught, despite a few holding some troublesome kids, often had no issue of ill or problems as I taught them; the kids would listen, work, and do their assignments as order.
Through the period of four months, I had done many different activites, went to many different places and plaid many different games with my kids. I taught them English and they taught me about the wonders of being a child. They may not have given me some incite into Korean as much as I hoped, but the fact I could put smiles on their faces and make them enjoy their classes always brought a nice spur of delight to my heart. After the mess-up with the Open House however, I spent the last month trying my best to finish my work with my kids. Many of my classes were going to miss me. I was a good teacher, I was relaxed, I was fun, I made the class bearable for children who spend all day in school. I wanted to create a place for kids to relax, to be able to learn in a calm environment away from the bother of school. I worked my hardest in that last month, and when my time to go finally came around. I took it with my head up, knowing I did my best and that the company letting me go was losing someone valuable.
July - August
With the endless search for work going on in the background, i took some time to explore what I could of Seoul. I couldn't do much or go very far due to cost constraints, but thanks to a very special friend, Terry, I was able to see things I never expected to see and experience things I never thought I'd get to. Airsoft was one of the biggest things IU kept doing, it occupoed my time and gave me good exercise, but I also spent time seeing Musesum, the National Museum, the War Memorial Museum, and even the DMZ.
I have to thank all my friends for helping me push on looking for work. At times I did feel a sense of defeat for having been, in the first time of my life, fired from a position, but knowing how common it was and the situation around it being as silly as it was, the truth of the matter didn't seem all that bad. I pounded the payment, explored all the resources I could, and within a month, I found a new job that would be paying me the same, but for fewer hours and in a nice place just outside of Seoul.
After sorting thing's out on my end, Terry helped me move my mobile life all the way South to Cheonan where I unpacked my life once more and began my new job at a Howgan teaching Elementary kids, something I knew I had good experience with.
September-December
Now we get to the final run of the year. These last four months were of me getting reacquainted with teaching. The prior teacher before me was wonderful in helping me figure out the in's and out's of the job. it wasn't a difficult set up, everything for teaching had been provided and the kids were pretty good, well behaved and knew English very well. It wasn't so hard to pick up after David, the previous teacher, and having everything made out for you was pretty simple in keeping with the criteria for the courses. I still kept active, airsoft on the weekends, seeing my friends in Seoul, hanging out with new friends and checking new places around Cheonan. It wasn't as big as Seoul, and there isn't as much as Seoul has, but its quaint, quiet and the weather seems to be a lot nicer.
Since I started back in September, things have been pretty, well, ordinary. I've made some new friends, seen new things, tasted new food and just enjoyed myself as anyone else going to a new place would do. I've had a wonderful time and learned a little bit more about myself. I still hope to find the special someone soon, perhaps here, or not, back home even. I've learned more about who I am, how to deal with people and how to be a nice person all around, and I have the many trials, friends, and experiences to thank.
Lets hope there's more in store for 2015!
Coming close to my younger brother's birthday, I wanted to get him something super awesome in return for the cool swag he and my family got for me over my birthday, but where to find it? Knowing him, and with a little help from mum and dad, I found he would like some sci-fi books and a few cool toys to have for his birthday, something "uniquely Korean" as my mom put it. After asking my good friend Terry about it, he suggested the Kyobo book store in Seoul, located at Gwanghwamun station, just north of Seoul Station. I was going to meet Terry at the store and we were going to search around for books that my brother might like.
I was utterly surprised after meeting Terry and walking into this bookstore. It was MASSIVE! Books all over the place, everything from fiction and non-fiction to biographies and magazines and everything else in between. This certainly gave me the World Biggest Bookstore kind of feel from back home, and certainly an impressive selection was set before me. Thanks to Terry, I was able to find the English/Foreign book section and pick out a few books and things for my brother.
We didn't just stop there though, we decided to look around the store as we had some time to kill (what with Terry's 1 hour free parking going on.) We decided to meander around the lower level of the store, seeing everything from Japanese to Korean Manga, magazines depicting everything from muscles to military, technology bits and pieces and books on things like C++ and Auto-cad. It was mind blowing to see really and I totally enjoyed being able to experience such a place; definitely have to return in the future.
Our adventures weren't over yet though. I had found that the Changsin-dong Toy Wholesale Market was only a few subway stops away, or a quick drive, thanks to Terry having a car. We drove off and parked nearby and walked a good 10 minutes from Dongdaemun History and Culture park (a place I had been to prior) and made our way to the whole-sale alleyways of Dongdaemun market.
Though, when I say toys, I actually mean kids toys, toys that kids will enjoy and are a bit...below...my age interest. Still, seeing side-walk to sidewalk of toys was an interesting experience, and each store more or less sold the same kind of things; so much for unique shopping. There was however a lot of interesting nick nacks and odds and ends around and I did find a few cool things that I would be sending back home. That said, there was one interesting place I was glad to have gone to; Seungjin Toy.
Seungjin Toy, pictured to the left here, was one of the most notable stores to investigate along the Toy Street. They held a wide selection of RC toys, some low-grade airsoft toys (for little kids) and of course, LEGO, lots of it. Lego is a huge thing in South Korea, and a lot of children love to play and build it. There was also a whole upper section of baby toys, but that wasn't exactly what we were searching for. After receiving the goods I needed, my friend and I began our walk back, where we stopped for a very interesting snack; donuts. Hand made on-site by two old Korean gentlemen; and those doughnuts they made were amazing!
