5 day weekend!

Last week the moon did everyone a solid and was full on Thursday the 19th.  So what?  Full moon, big deal, right?  Right.  Korean Thanksgiving, or Chuseok, follows the lunar calendar.  Last week's full moon was the harvest moon and in Korea, that is Chuseok.  The holiday, focusing heavily on seeing family and honoring ancestors, requires people to go back to their hometowns and prepare a big feast with their families.  Because of that, the holiday is actually 3 days long.  The actual full moon (August 15th on the lunar calendar) and the day before and after.  This year, Chuseok fell on a Wednesday-Friday.  Can't get much better than that.  5 day weekend!  Sometimes it falls on a Friday-Sunday and isn't so great.  

But this year was awesome.  With how busy the actual holiday was, it was nice to have the weekend to relax before school started again.  It was also nice to have time to digest.  There was so much eating involved.

My rough Chuseok outline was like this:

Wednesday: Go to the traditional market and buy all the ingredients/requirements for the Chuseok food.  I'm not clear on the rules, but I think it's something along the lines of "something from the mountains, from the ocean...etc."  The rest of the day was spent cooking and at night we took a loooooong walk through Soho-dong.  It was reminiscent of the Narragansett Sea Wall.  

Hello, Thursday morning.

Thursday:  We woke up early.  Really early.  6:30 early.  So early that the sun hadn't even cleared the mountains yet.  See picture above.  By the time we had actually gotten out of bed and put decent clothes on, Victoria's dad had already set out all the food.  We did the memorial ceremony "Jesa", ate, and took a nap.  An 8am nap.  When you eat that much food and drink makkoli that early, you DEFINITELY need your 8am nap.  Later on we visited the columbarium.  5 points if you didn't have to look that one up.  That night, the rest of Victoria's family came over and we ate and drank like it was going out of style.  

The Jesa feast

Friday: We're just going to write Friday off.  It was a recovery day.  

Luckily we had another two days to relax before the week started.  Chuseok is a great holiday to meet family, but it is pretty exhausting.  Though I do miss the times when I could go party in Seoul or take a trip somewhere during the holiday, it has become just as fun to spend some quality time with the family.  It makes me really want to go back stateside for a Christmas or Thanksgiving.  

"Fall"ing Into Place

My lame attempt at a clever title.

Summer is officially over.  The white raven has arrived (anybody? Ok. No more jokes).  School started.

I've fallen into one of my periodic bouts of stagnance again.  Probably because I don't have any real goals.  The goals that I did have were more like things that I just want to do.  Go to the gym regularly.  Blog more.  Stop parking it on the couch with a tub of ricotta cheese.  Mostly things that are achieved by simply doing or not doing them.  I need a real goal.  A goal to work towards.  A SMART goal.

I think I've found one.

This January (or if not, then April) I'm going to take the TOPIK test.  The TOPIK is for Korean what the TOEIC or TOEFL is for English.  My Korean is ok, but I would like to learn more.  I feel like it is my responsibility for being a long term resident of Korea and being married to a Korean.  Even though it is not imperative for my survival here, It's something I feel like I can do.  The TOPIK test is a way to quantify my skills.  Having an official result is more validating than someone saying "but you speak Korean well!"  This will get me on track to study more often and more seriously.  I even compiled a list of resources!  I love lists!

The test is broken up into 3 levels.  초급, 중급, and 고급.  Beginner, intermediate, and advanced.  The total TOPIK score range is 1-6.  Levels 1-2 are for 초급, 3-4 for 중급, and 5-6 for 고급.  I would start at the beginner level, 초급.  My goal is to get a 2.  Then I can prepare for the intermediate level 중급 test.

I think that I have a solid foundation and that my goal of getting a 2 is attainable if I put my mind to it.  Yesterday I downloaded a previous version of the test and was able to answer quite a few questions without getting stumped.  I can do this!  The hardest part will be forming the study habit.  I think I can, I think I can.  I know I can, I know I can.  

10 Reasons I'm Happy To Be Staying In Korea

Making the decision to come to Korea almost 4 years ago was easy.  A new life.  Adventure.  A good job.  Easy peasy.  Since then, I have decided twice to move back to America, and then twice to stay in Korea.  Here is a list of 10 reasons why I'm happy to be staying in Korea, and why.  Hopefully it can give some clarity to people who think living here is crazy, and also show that while soju is abundant, the party life is NOT one of the more compelling reasons to stay.  These are in no particular order.

1. Potential to save money.  Living in Korea as a foreign teacher can be extremely lucrative.  Between the cost of living, ticket reimbursements, free housing, pension, renewal bonuses, and severance, you can make a lot of money here.  More if you stay longer.  Also, if you find your own housing and pay for the deposit money, it's almost like a savings account that gives you a house.
   
2. An easy job at a good salary.  Only speaking for public school teachers here, we make good money.  If you want to figure in your rent free apartment, your salary goes up.  For the money we get here, we have a pretty easy job.  This year I have 20 classes per week plus two online classes that I chose to sign up for.  This leaves me ample time to plan and I am rarely stressed about my work load.
   
3. Travel opportunities.  Korea is pretty close to a lot of countries.  That paired with school vacation time and a good salary makes for great travel opportunities.  Since coming to Korea I have traveled to eight different countries.  A month from now I'll be on summer vacation in the Philippines.  Once the travel bug bites you, it's hard to stop traveling.
   
4. Korean fried chicken.  Korea has some of the best fried chicken I have ever eaten.  It's even better when it's delivered to your door.  Just trust me on this.  This is a perfectly valid reason.
   
5. Healthcare.  The healthcare system in Korea is great.  In the past two years I've spent two weeks in the hospital.  One for an appendectomy and one for pneumonia.  Both weeks were very affordable.  My surgery, morphine, week long hospital stay, and medicine, all together, were under a thousand dollars.  Before a month long trip to Southeast Asia, I decided to get some malaria medicine.  The hospital said it wasn't covered by my insurance and that it would be expensive.  A 6 week supply cost me about $25.  Good healthcare doesn't have to be expensive.
   
6. I like the feeling of being an expat.  There is just something about living in a foreign country.  It gives you a different perspective.  It teaches you to become more independent and adventurous.  It makes you able to feel that anywhere can be home.
   
7. The opportunity to learn a foreign language.  I know a lot of people who would like to learn a foreign language.  I like living in a country where I can practice what I learn.  I'm nowhere near advanced, but I'm proud of the level at which I can speak Korean.
   
8. Incheon International Airport.  Hands down the best airport I've ever been to.  It's so convenient and efficient.  At ICN you can take a shower and a soak at the (very nice) public baths, use free wifi, go ice skating, go to the movies, and even take a free bus to a casino.  On top of that, ICN is just very clean and pleasant to be in.  Of course, I associate the airport with traveling, so I'm predisposed to liking it.
   
9. Meeting people from around the world.  Through living and working in Korea, I have made friends with people from all around the world.  From traveling, I have met even more people.  It's kind of cool to know so many different kinds of people.
   
10. Korean convenience.  Korea is the most convenient place I have ever lived.  You can make internet purchases and have them billed to your cell phone.  Almost every deliver I've received has come in about 2-3 days.  If you're not home, you can have the package delivered to a convenience store and just pick it up later.  So far, I've been amazed at how convenient my life is here, and I love it.

So there they are.  10 reasons why I'm happy to be staying in Korea.  These past 4 years have been great and I'm looking forward to the adventures and experiences that await me here in the future.

Welcome back!

Ok.  Now that I've revived and dusted this blog off, let's get back to business.

First off, I'm going to try to take this blog in a slightly different direction.  My goal is to write more useful posts than I have in the past.  Kind of like when I was first coming to Korea and wrote about the visa and immigration process.  Hopefully it will be a successful combination of "this is my life" and "here is some Korea info".

EDIT I can't believe I forgot to include that I changed the name.  My blog is no longer "my expat life" and the address is no longer expat-ray.blogspot.com.  In case you missed it, I'm now living "the kimchi life".

However, I do feel like I need to recap what has happened in my life since my last real post from early 2011.

What has happened in my life:

• I started my job at Yangji Elementary School, where I have worked since February 2011.
• Visited the US twice.
• Went to Thailand again.
• Moved into a real apartment (no more one rooms!) right across the street from my school.
• Got married!
• Got a Boston Terrier named Simba.
• Honeymooned in Bali.
• Ate incredible food at the Yeosu World Expo.
• Was visited by some friends from back home!
• Got my permanent resident visa!
• Put a deposit down on an apartment so new, it's not even built yet.
• Started going to the gym regularly.  

That's pretty much the gist of my life from the past two years.  A lot has changed and I'm sure it will continue to change.  I've had some great times and not so great times.  The one thing that remains true is that I'm happy that I made a decision almost 4 years ago (almost 4 years!!!!) to up and move to the land of the morning calm.

Under construction.

Whoa it's been a long time.  Time to revamp things here.  Almost 4 years ago I started this blog to catalog my adventures moving abroad to South Korea.  Now, my life here has taken a more permanent direction.  So, I'll be resurrecting and updating this blog to reflect those changes in my life.

Welcome to winter intensives.

Clearly I'm not following through on my resolution. Or maybe its because I have zero time.

I guess that's what happens when you work 12 hour days.

Thank you winter intensives. Class from 9:30-12:30, then my normal 1:30-9:00 days.

Wonderful.

Although seeing as how tomorrow is the last day, I kind of missed to boat to complain about them.

Anyhow, they were long and stressful.

Good news though, I was able to find a public school job! GA Education really came through for me in the clutch. The job is somewhere at an undisclosed elementary school, with details to come shortly.

The best part is that I get to leave my hogwan job early! My release letter was signed, stamped, and sent to immigration last week so its official.

1 more winter camp day
10 more teaching days
19 days total

Feb 16: public school life.

New Year's Resolution

UPDATE THIS THING MORE OFTEN.

Quick recap from....August. China was hot, dirty, and crowded. Shanghai was better than Beijing. The Great Wall was cool but rushed. The world expo was awesome.

Back in Korea: Hogwan life < public school life. New immigration laws are annoying. Somehow Yeosu's "mild" weather includes sweltering hots and frigid colds.

Lessons learned: Don't quit your public school job. Don't drive your scooter in the rain, you WILL crash. Eating live octopus isn't as scary as you would think.

So now its New Year's Eve. This year we're kicking it up a notch and going to Seoul. Specifically, the club neighborhood of Hongdae. Antics will no doubtably include bag drinks (exactly what they sound like...drinks in plastic bags) and shwarma. Hopefully we run into some celebrities. On Christmas, G Dragon and T.O.P. were hitting the Hongdae scene.

In other news, it snowed for like 10 whole minutes in Yeosu. People were FREAKING OUT.