http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Shutterbug1218/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Shutterbug1218 en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:41:17 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:41:17 +0000 My students are rock stars. I need to say this because I am just so proud of them. They give me reason for being here. They are walking the path to their dreams and I can be their cheerleader. I can give them some of the tools that they may need along the way too. What a great time of year. The cleaning of my apartment needs to happen. I just hate cleaning and can think of so many other activities http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-460255.html Many things have been happening. I have been just like last year rolling in and out of fogs. While I am in the fog time just flies by and I struggle to keep up... But recently I have emerged and am feeling rejuvinated.I posted this on my yoga studio's website and decided to throw it up here as wellI want to start talking about a new topic... a topic I was asked to write about and am interested http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-458905.html Life feels like the scene is Fantasia where the fairies parade around turning everything frosty for winter. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-457308.html I wanted to revamp an old entry I did about coming to South Korea.There are many factors that affect what one should bring to SoKo when coming over to live for an extended period of time.If you are working for a private academy hagwon it is pretty safe to say that you will not be in the deep in the countryside. If you are headed to Seoul you will be able to find just about everything you need t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-452792.html So there is a saying It takes a village to raise a child. The saying for SoKo needs to be revised a bit It takes a village to get a student into university. It turns out my online applications to university were a piece of cake compared to the shinanigans that my students are expriencing. Absolute insanity. My students have had to compile endless amount of documents take tests travel to t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/blog-450698.html H1N1 has resurged in Korea... 10 of my students have gone home with either the potentiality of it or fullblown H1N1. This weekend should be cool. On Saturday I am going to the yoga leadership class for the first time since I graduated. It will be awesome to be back in the space. I am hoping that my Korean comprehension beefs up by then.Recently I have been having such a tough time understanding http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-447337.html Greetings from a distant space... I seem to only be a ldquogoodrdquo blogger sometimes. I guess that is the flow and rhythm of my life though so I accept it. Life here is acutely chaos right now. I am hungrily devouring novels as I simultaneously walk to school. I have been lesson planning and planning my winter trip to India. I am missing my recently departed American friends while trying t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-445060.html Yesterday was a blur. I have been awake but asleep or like a robot. It has been a mad rush to get information. Information about India information about Gyeongju Samcheok and Palgong Mountainhellip On Tuesday I rocked it at school and then around lunch time my friends came. We walked around and saw some of the students. We told them that we were going to have a free talk time. A group of abo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-443094.html I want to blog as much of this as I can before it jumbles up in my mind and becomes some huge blobby memory that is only made slightly clearer when I look at the pictures that were takenhellipThis weekend a magical four day weekend ushered us off to the island of Jeju. I did as much prep work as I could muster. This was Chuseok weekend which meant that businesses would be closed at least on http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Jeju/blog-442482.html This week I stopped shaving my armpits. The scary thing is that I have no idea what it will look like. Society has us so conditioned. The moment I had some peach fuzz I was all over my mom to let me shave it so that I didnrsquot stand out. Irsquom actually kind of excited to see what it will look like.For something innate it is insane that I am so disconnected from it. It makes me think abou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-441120.html This week is just making me giddy. Yesterday was Kathleen's birthday and Friday at 1am I get to welcome Jamie and co. to SoKo. Sooo good.I got my Korean driver's license today It was so much easier than expected. I think it is because I read some blogs of people from Seoul going and getting theirs. In Daegu at least in the morning the people traffic at the DLA was so minimal. It was incredibl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-440910.html In case I have not said it yet WELCOME FALL The leaves are changing colors... There is a bite to the air... The rain cools the skin... All signs of Fall are making their appreance. I stand here looking out at the black night and am so greatful to be alive. To be witnesses so much life and to have the capacity to love. The awareness to know that I love. To feel with all of my senses and witness http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-440433.html Itrsquos 830pm on Sunday and I am settling back into life in Gyeongsan. I spent the weekend celebrating the birth of a friend. We went on a lsquocampingrsquo trip. I put camping in parenthesis because the camp site was in the middle of a heavily trafficked area of a national park. We were expecting to go out into the woods and experience an escape from society. Instead we camped right next http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Jeollabuk-do/Muju/blog-440130.html I was handed a stack of essays to judge today. They made for an interesting read. The topic was mass media and the question was whether or not younger generations are effected more by mass media. Students unanimously stated that they believed younger people were more affected. The students cited examples such as the prevalence of cyber culture how young people arenrsquot given the tools to crit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-439039.html It is a rainy day and the great thing about a rainy day is that it forced everyone to slow downhellip I am teaching tonight at my high school. That means no studio. I have to guide myself today through yoga. It is great practice of self discipline but I love the energy heavy in the air at the studio.Last night I had a dream that I went back to the United States and was rehired at the coffee sho http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-438900.html How to describe todayRebirth Today was graduation day for the yoga leadership course that I have been a part of for over 10 months now. I spent a decent part of today laughing to myself about how interesting life is. I along with my classmates who were also graduating crawled through a canal of white spandex that was lined on both sides by nongraduating and previously graduated members. They http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-437920.html Today I graduate from the leadership course... After 10 12 months in a 6 month program I am spreading my winds and joining the ranks of the other 10 graduating classes. Magical. We are having a party which I am really excited about because it has been too long since we the yoga studio have let lose and celebrated in an official way. I am bringing a bunch of little yogurt packs. It should be g http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-437746.html Yesterday had me meditating on selflove. For several reasons I am feeling a little home sick which as the owner of the yoga studio frequently says this is me rejecting the moment and saying no to life living in the past or future but alas it is how I feel. It will change. Also going to the yoga studio three times a week I am getting much less body contact so my body is protesting a littl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-436958.html Week two of teaching is in full swing. And my students are pretty much professionals at ushering me into situations where I put my foot in my mouth. We are doing a series that I am in the middle of constructing called ldquoTaking a Trip.rdquo The students plan and organize a fictional trip that they would like to take to anywhere for any length of time. Then they have to create a budget pack http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-436684.html I enjoy experiencing yoga with every ounce of my being. It is so encredible how even unintentionally yoga is transmitted through people. I was at a cafe drinking coffee last night with two friends. I had just come from the Leadership course where we spent the day talking about breathing fear of deathfear of life and therapy. One of the guys I knew and one of the guys I had never met. He had http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongsan/blog-436090.html