Costco

Uijeongbu has Costco now! This place would have been way beneficial months ago; like when I first arrived! Jeez eh. Oh well. 

I was stoked to have not much planned this Sunday - my yoga in the park class and Shakesphere Midsummer's Night Dream - and had elected to take a bus adventure and discover its location. My mouth was drooling for a Costco hotdog. 

Ooooh maaaan.

Much to my dismay, it was closed for a holiday - a holiday of I'm not sure what as it is not a red number day in the calendar. This hankering for real, legit, mouthwateringness that is the Costco hotdog will have to wait sadly. 

So close!

Yoga

Last night I was able to try a regular (meaning not hot) yoga class for FREE! Awesome right. I know :) The studio is the cheapest in Uijeongbu, so my school "secretary" was apprehensive to send me there. She felt the atmosphere may not be up to snuff with it being 70,000 won/month (70$). 

I arrived a bit late. Oops! But joined in immediately. Thankfully I have taken yoga classes prior as it was all in Korean. I needed to sneak a peek out of the corner of my eyes and watch the instructor for visual prompts.

A supervisor brought me to the class as I did not know it's location. Regardless of how many times I told her she could leave, she stayed and watched THE WHOLE CLASS (one hour) on her Friday night after work. I felt/feel really bad. But I did tell her it was ok to go ... 

During dancers pose the class and instructor began to laugh a bit. I knew they were laughing at me. OH GOD! Dancer pose is my favourite and I am actually pretty good at it. Turns out, they were commenting that I was too long. Haha

Lucky for me, Friday night classes have 15-20 minutes of partner yoga. LOL! I was paired with an older, little korean lady. We did good I think :)

I will try this studio for a month as it is the cheapest and I did enjoy the atmosphere very much so.

I may try the hot yoga here, but you are required to buy into three months at 351,000 won (351$). A bit steep for me, but we shall see.

I am hoping to hit up yoga m-f from 730-830. It will give me something to look forward to every night!

African Museum

Had a fun field trip today. It was so rushed! I don't even know if the kids really saw anything it was that fast. Was cool though. May have to go back. The performances were so cool though! 

I could have a field trip every week. It really helps to break up the week!

week three

The days are so looooooong but the week flew by. I am surviving on little money; no I am not running low, I am just spending less than anticipated. Will be paid this Thursday. Fingers crossed that the pension is been paid into ... !

Weekend was ok. Movie at my place Friday night, tried to go to the baseball game Saturday but it was rained out, hike Sunday. 

Now back to the grind ...49 more weeks to go.

It is starting to cool off quickly. Fall is approaching.

acupuncture

Found a place for acupuncture through one of the students at our school. It was good. Definitely not like back home though! Back home provides you with more of the zen, full mind-body-spirit experience. In Korea, I laid on a bed withy clothes on, bright lights in my eyes for 15 minutes, then it was over. Glad I can do it here, but would really like the full meal deal of home; I think it truly does add to the overall process.

Never having something to say

In talking with people back home I feel like a blabbering baboon most times. During the week I don't do anything. My weekends are my fun times. I have new things to say and new experiences to share come Monday, but between Tuesday - Friday I only have enough words to complain about my school. Which is a hogwon though advertised as a Canadian International school utilizing British  Columbia curricula. Ballz ass lies!

People I love back home: please bear with me. I am trying. Honest. 

I love our chats/calls/texts/skypes. Please. Keep them coming. I need them. I miss them. And I miss all of you. Tons! More than I ever thought.

Dinner at Rice Story

week two

How it is hard to believe that I have completed two weeks here. It truly feels like I have been here for ... Forever! My weeks feel doubley as long because of the split shift, which is awful. I know that I am crazy busy right now at school due to conferences, open class, bulletin board writing and writing contest but it still blows chunks.

If I was fortunate to be off earlier than 7:20pm every Monday to Friday I would enjoy either more time to explore, relax, read a book. Anything! I would appreciate more time, ya know. Because really, I only have 50 more weekends to explore ...

I have been to Nami Island, the market and Myeong-dong. Am off to a baseball game this Saturday too!

Missing home, but technology helps:)

home cooking

My kitchen is very small. This is me attempting to cook up some stirfry in my tiny kitchen.

screwed

Though things are complete crap with the Canadian International School (CIS) that I work for, I am slowly learning to just let it go. It is what it is and honestly there is nothing I can do besides where a smile.

For anyone planning to work for CIS I would strongly recommend against it even though the money is better than most other schools. Look up the school WonderLust; they have a strong affiliation. They are basically the same school.

Hours are awful, the amount of work you need to do increases daily, nobody can tell you what's going on, your supervisors (Koreans) speak ok English-getting meaning across is hard at times, everyone (even the koreans) are feeling screwed over, basically no time off in twelve months, pensions not being matched .......

I am just wanting to put it out to the world. You, have been warned. If you do still come out, I would not recommend staying any longer than your one year contract.

All the best!

FOOD!

Oh man! I may have to start running miles a day to stay ahead of my waistline. Here is some delicious Korean BBQ that I had last night. A bit pricier - 15$ Canadian - but finger licking good!

peppers

An old lady lays out her tarps and sells these peppers on the bridge near my place.

late night mandu!