Overdose of Satisfaction

Friday the 13th was my one month anniversary of being in South Korea.  It has went by so fast, I'm trying my best to keep up.

So this weekend was another over nighter in Seoul, this time I went ice skating...for the first time.  As soon as I step on the ice, I fell.  So for the rest of the time I hugged the wall or held someone's hand.  I was more terrified of running over a little kid, because they keep falling in front of me. But it was a lot of fun, I am definitely up for going again.

I came across this video and decided to do a post about my day....


I love Slimmy, he sort of reminds me of Mika but his voice isn't that high.

Today after work was a good day and has made me a very strong believer and things happening for a reason.  I went to the post office to pay a bill and they told me the office to pay the bill was closed...I think.  So I decided to go the supermarket, on the way I ran into my neighbor and we decided to have dinner.  We were going to have Italian but the place was closed, so we settled for pizza.  I really enjoyed dinner with her, she is very funny and cool to hang out with.  During dinner I got a call from the random guy from the club, who I found out is Persian (Iranian).  I missed the call, called him back no answer.  So he calls back and we have a good conversation, he seems like a nice guy.  He is learning Korean and will start studying for his masters in Korea, he's in Korea because his brother lives here.  So we are planning to met up this weekend...by the way my weekend is already looking busy and it's only Tuesday.  I was planning to go to an art exhibit, but I was also invited to Hongdae and ice skating.  I was going to start Korean classes but I'm debating it because of the cost, 100,000 won ($86) for a three hour session.  The session would be once a week.  I will talk with my co-teacher who offered to teach me twice a week, for free, which is much better.

Also i decided to finally take my trash out and ran into a teacher from my school.  I don't see her much because she works with kindergarten, who are usually separate from the other students.  She introduced me to her husband, who shook and rubbed my hand.  Then she gave me a gift of biscuits for 11.11, which is pretty much Korean Valentine's day.

It was very sweet of her and I really appreciated it, all because I decided to take out the trash tonight.

So this weekend I decided to go to Seoul...again. I was suppose to take the bus around 12:30~12:55...so I made my way to the bus station bought a ticket and was super excited because I was the first in line.  I waited almost an hour for the bus.  They said because of traffic and one of the buses needed repair.  I don't buy it, there were so many people in line only half made it one the bus.  An ajuma (an older Korean woman, they are known for being notoriously rude) skipped the entire line and stood by me, she even spoke to me (in Korean).  When the bus decided to show up she got on first.  But not before motioning me to get on first.

After the hour bus ride I took the subway with my co-teacher who was going to Itaewon also.  For those who don't know Itaewon is the area in Seoul with LOTS of expats...and I mean lots when you get out of the subway it's like you're in another world.  A majority of the signs are in English and everyone speaks English.  I like going because it's a break, plus they have a large Indian and Turkish community so I know where to go when I'm craving tandoori chicken or a kebab.  Also it's a place to find clothes if you're over a size 6 and your shoe size is larger than an 8.  Koreans are so tiny.  I only met up with 2 people in Itaewon, we were suppose to meet for a late lunch but because of the bus we pushed it back and we met at a nail salon.
When they were done we headed to Gangnam.  We went to a place called Dr. Fish.  We ordered a coffee, which was really good, and also had free bread with jam and butter. Which was also good, maybe because it was free.  After that we went to the "fish doctor", the fish doctor is a pool of fish who eat the dead skin off of your feet.  I was thinking it was in a separate area of the cafe, but no it was in a little stage area at the front of the cafe.  I have to say it was a unique and fun experience. 

So I live in Ildong, in a studio apartment.  I like my apartment because it's comfortable.  It's right above a Chinese restaurant,  so now that it's cold I can leave my heat of and my apartment will be warm from the heat below when I come back.  In Korea, there is no designated shower, just a shower head and a drain.  The owner was nice enough to give me a pair of slippers for the shower because the entire floor gets yet.  It's pretty convenient, when I clean the bathroom I just clean everything at once. 
The apartment still looks a little empty, I'm slowly "nesting", I want to get a cheap rug and maybe a few plants.  My only complaint is no actual storage.  So my massive suitcases are on the other side of the fridge.

...Asia. 

Someone asked me that question earlier this year.  I really thought I would be, but in China and doing an artist residency.  But instead, I am in South Korea, teaching English....and I LOVE it.  I know it's been awhile, almost a month and there's so much to say about my past 3 weeks in SoKo.  But I'll keep it short and maybe spread out the info some.

First off, I flew from Atlanta to Chicago to Tokyo to Seoul.  I was uber exciting about flying to Tokyo only to realize that the airport is in the middle of nowhere.  So new great views of Japan.  But I did people watch in Tokyo.  I've realized Japanese men are hot.  Korean men are cute.  Anyway, on the plan from Chicago to Japan, I was sitting next to a Japanese lady who lived in NYC.  A few minutes into the flight we started talking and then out of nowhere she says "in 6 months you will fall in love with a Korean guy"...a laughed (on the inside)...but keep reading for the next six months, it may get interesting :)

So upon arriving at the airport, it was a made rush to baggage and a very quick trip through customs and immigration.  I met my driver Mr. Kim (very common last name in Korea) and we drove about 2 hours to my new home...in silence.  I arrived in Ildong to be greeted by my co-teacher, the administrator and two other teachers.  I also met my next door neighbor and another American teaching in the area.


After half a day of rest I was taken to Jihyun where I teach, it's a very small town.  I meet the other teachers (who are all really nice and welcoming) and then I meet the students.  It's only 55 of them, so it was a quick meet and great.

I arrived on Tuesday and by Friday I was teaching with the head teacher (or as my co-teacher put it "king of teachers")  he is super nice.  His class, the 5th grade class, has been my favorite ever since.  The kids are super cute and a few of them are very funny.  So the run down of my classes:

Kindergarten: I only see them once a week, but they are the most adorable kids I've ever seen.  They have learned "hello" and wave at me every time I see them.  I really enjoy teaching them.

1st grade:  I think one of the girls in the class is a bit violent, but I like them, again very adorable.  Plus one of the boys in the class likes to dance.  I can't deny the cuteness of that.  Also, the first grade teacher is extermely nice and I talk with her all the time.

2nd grade: one of my harder classes, the first two classes with them were calm (because the teacher was in class) so at first I never understood why the Korean teachers said they are the worst...now I know why, the other day two of my students walked out of class, and it's hard to explain for them to sit down and be quiet when the don't understand and some just keep asking "why?"

3rd grade:  another of my favorites, because the roles are reversed.  The girls in this class are quite chatty, so much so that on the first day of teaching them they asked "what do you think of the 3rd grade teacher?"...who happened to be young and male...I just claimed ignorance.  Some of my favorite students are in this class, one who always has something nice to say, she even gave me a hug today.

4th grade: The other difficult class, but also some of the funniest students.  I love the girls in this class because they stick together (only 3 of them) the boys are over the top but I always get a laugh out of them by the end of class.  Also it's one of two classes where I know everyone's English name. 

5th grade: my favorite class and the largest class, they are very well trained.  They also help each other out (well pretty much all of my classes do this) one girl in particular is the classroom translator. 

6th grade: I have the most fun in this class, only 5 students (so I know all of their names) they are into soccer and music.  I have two translators in this class but a third one is stepping up.  The teacher of this class is my co-teacher.

In the next post I'll write more about my apartment, my weekend trip to Seoul, and other random things.  Feel free to ask any questions or comment on what you want to read about in the next post...I'll be sure to add more pictures.

Thanks to everyone for checking out the 100 post.  I'm happy to announce the winner of the drawing is Viajera ,congratulations on the win.  You can send me an email at kourtj@gmail.com and I will get the drawing out to you.

In other news, my flight leaves tomorrow at 10am.  I am a little nervous, but not as much as my past trips abroad.  Probably because I've traveled enough to know the ends and outs of airline traveling.  Also when I get in Korea I already have a little network of people to contact.  So I'm ready for my "awfully big adventure".


I spent Thursday and Friday in Atlanta getting my visa.  It was a nice trip and I have a new appreciation for Atlanta.  So here is the rundown, I arrived on Thursday, instead of driving into Atlanta and paying parking fees I parked at the College Park MARTA station and took the MARTA into Atlanta.
I've heard people say the MARTA is disgusting and they would never ride it alone.  But I was quite surprised, it was really clean.  Maybe because I've taken the rail/tube/subway/train in Boston, London, Paris, Milan, Vienna, Budapest, Berlin, and Melbourne, so I've been on some pretty dirty ones and really great ones. 

After that I made my was to Peachtree Center and had breakfast, then went up to the Korean Consulate.  I was very early but I didn't want waste money, which I always do when I have time to waste.  I read "Things Fall Apart" as I waited for the other interviewees to show up.  First was a guy from Buckhead then I girl showed up at 11, in shorts and a t-shirt...keep in mind the interview was to start at 11, we were told to arrive at 9:30 if you hadn't mailed in documents or 10:30 if you have.  One of the Korean girls had a go at her for arriving late.  Then we waited for 30 more minutes, after that we went to have our interview...all 3 of us at one time.  The guy gave us this long lecture because the girl was late, he told her he was 5 minutes late for his interview for his social security number and they canceled it.  He then went into telling us how Americans have it so easy, we have a passport to the world, and then said it was "United States of Korea".  Then he stated that there are too many people from the southeast in Korea teaching English and that we come from the most conservative part of the US.  He was not happy, however when he got to my file he was extra nice, he liked that I didn't give the generic answer of "I've had Korean food" to his Korean culture question. We talked about Korean ceramics and he liked that I had traveled a lot and starting talking about Cypriot art. 
For some reason, I loved this guy, he made great points.  Because showing up 30 minutes late is unacceptable and he really couldn't do anything because she was an American citizen and our passport means we can go pretty much everywhere.  So I'm not sure why people take it for granted.  I take every interview I have seriously, regardless of the fact that I knew this one would be a cake walk, but the people are there to do a job and I should at least give them the respect.

After the interview I had 3 hours before I could check into my hotel (paid for by the free points from Hilton Honors :)  so I decided to check out the da Vinci show at the High Museum.  It was a nice show, it was made up of drawings by da Vinci, which is rare because most art museums promote paintings and sculpture.  It was nice to see his sketches, because it made him more really. It was nice to see that he did multiple sketches on one sheet of paper.   Overall, I like the High, it's in a nice location and I had a really great croissant there. 
The next day I just hung out in the hotel and then around 11:30 made my way to Five Points to have lunch at Rosa's Pizza with my aunt and cousin.  My aunt works at the courthouse and my cousin at CNN, so we sort of met in the middle.  It was great to have lunch with them because I rarely see them, plus the pizza was amazing.  You have to call out your order, one lady didn't know what she wanted so the guy told her to get to the back of the line. The line was crazy long but it went very fast because they didn't just take orders and fill them one at a time. I had a white pizza with spinach, every time I eat at a place that hand makes pizza I always get white pizza.  I love it, you can't go wrong with feta and mozzarella. 

I wanted my 100 post to be about my passport interview and trip to Atlanta but I forgot my camera cord, so that will be posted this weekend.


In other news, this is my 100 Post!!!!! To celebrate I am giving away a free drawing...

Just make a comment or enter in you name as the comment by 10 pm Friday night (EST). I will pick a name randomly and announce a winner on Saturday morning, so check back then because I will need to get the address to mail the drawing before I leave for Korea on Sunday...yes this Sunday, crazy, I know.


So I decided to post some comments made by Jason Mraz, that makes me like him even more, Enjoy!

Transformation is my favorite game and in my experience, anger and frustration are the result of you not being authentic somewhere in your life or with someone in your life. Being fake about anything creates a block inside of you. Life can’t work for you if you don’t show up as you. It’ll weigh heavy in your stomach when you sense something isn’t being said. It eventually turns itself into stress, which unattended explodes in the form of anger. Many people ignore themselves in a situation and look for other people and circumstances to blame, but anger and frustration form within. Your thoughts, speech, beliefs, actions and attitudes create the picture of your life. Draw it well.

Frustration and Love can’t exist in the same place at the same time, so get real and start doing what you would rather be doing in life. Love your life. All of it. Even the heavy shit that happened to you when you were 8. All of it was and IS perfect.