aquamaggie

Oh Korea, My time in Korea is done, and it has been a long last month and a half. Difficult is to say the very least. To make a long story short…. things have turned in direction which has made my choice to leave very easy. I was moved to an apartment, thinking it would be better because the utilities wouldn’t be so high. Evidently, was my expectations were too high. My new apartment was definitely unique. I had to leave my shoebox of a room and go in to square corridor to enter my long tunnel of a bathroom. Even more pleasant my bathroom wasn’t heated and exposed to outside air for ventilation…but its only February! And to add to the fun and games of my living situation, there was dial that controls the hot ... read more

I went to China with a friend from Korea, Chris. He is someone that I met through Darren whom I traveled with in Vietnam. Chris and I arrived in Beijing after slight detour. Our 2 1/2 hour fight turned into 4 1/2 hours because we landed in another part of China for no apparent reason. The fight attendants did not explain what was happening. We waited in a city called Dailian for about an hour and were off again. After arrival to a very chaotic airport, we figured out the bus we needed to take and were off to the heart of the city. Dropped off at a bus stop, we decided to take a cab to the hotel, easy right...wrong. We got a taxi, put all our stuff in the trunk and I was telling ... read more

I had to go to Fukuoka, Japan to get a work permit to teach in Korea. I didn't mind since it was a country that I have not been too, and the school paid for the trip. Not so bad! Actually it is fantastic, (my passport has one page left in it). I found out the night before I left that another teacher would be traveling with me to Fukuoka. Michelle started working for the school one week before. She has come straight from Portland to teach at the school. I didn't mind the company and she was relieved not to travel alone, she is not use to being in a foreign country. So I woke up at four in the morning to get to the airport early. When I woke I realized that I ... read more

Who's idea was it to move here....Oh yea, it was mine. It was rough in the beginning, but I have accomplished a lot since my first week. I went on two interviews. Both schools really wanted to hire me. They love Americans and women, so I was in high demand. My email was overrun with requests for interviews. I didn't go on many because I really liked the first school I visited (kid's college). At this school, I would teach a wide range of classes, like math (my favorite), computers, gym, science..etc. And the salary was bigger then other schools as well. Typically, schools have the native English teacher just teach English classes and to many children. So, I took the job at Kid's college. And when I told my agent that I would take the ... read more

Traveling back to Thailand (Bangkok) on a over night train was smooth and easy. I definitely like trains much better than buses. I even had soft bed to sleep on, and made some friends at the train station. I has been awhile and I can't remember their names anymore. One was french and hard to understand, be we had fun in the dining cart, mostly laughing at the Thai man dancing to American music. His moves were a mixture of spins pounding the air with his arms. I spent the next few days pounding the pavement in Bangkok. I bought my ticket for Korea on the 31st of January. I enjoyed my last days of warm weather and smiling Thais, and even made some Thai friends who rode to the airport with me.... read more