Whoa! Another post.

Crazy, right?! It hasn't even been a month! First, here are some pictures of our new place, we haven't decorated yet, but you'll get a pretty good idea of what it looks like!

This is the pool and hot tub.

Tanning area that I haven't used yet.

A koi pond...crazy!

Our bedroom.

The living room area.

Kitchen.

Dining room.

Guest balcony, our room has one as well, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

Guest room, we'll get a bed someday!

We got insanely lucky with this place.  We are a 20 minute commute to work by subway, we are right next to a shopping centre, it came fully furnished...aside from the guest bed, our real estate agent was incredibly helpful and understanding, and we are only paying a little bit more than we had anticipated. We checked out some other places and they were either way too expensive or not very nice. We could not have asked for a better place to live!

Work is also going really well! We work at the same school and it has only been open a few weeks, so we don't have very many students enrolled yet, which gives us a bit of down time.  However, enrollment is increasing, and when we are not teaching we can do pretty much whatever we want, within reason of course.  The owners of the school are also incredibly nice! The type of school that we work at is similar to our employment in Korea, where there is a school name or brand and then the individual owners of each franchise. So, similar to Korea, you can have good and bad owners, and again, we got really lucky.  Our first day of work was the grand opening of our school, where the owners came up to us and welcomed us to their family.  They are a married couple and Kyle teaches their son.  Every Saturday they come in and chat with us, make sure we are getting settled and everything is going well.

So far, Singapore has been incredible, and things only seem to be getting better. 

Not keeping it so Koreal anymore...

Sitting on my balcony in Singapore, picking up sketchy internet from the shop across the street, waiting for my fiance to come home so we can have dinner, I thought updating my blog a bit would be a good idea.

First of all, I am now living in Singapore. I have signed a two year contract and could not be more excited about it! I live in a beautiful condo with my fiance, in such a beautiful country, and things are really, really good. Oh yeah, and I'm engaged now. That happened a little over a month ago and I am so incredibly stoked about and so stupidly in love it's ridiculous. Hopefully I'll go into more details about that later, but a brief run down of our relationship...We were good friends for a year and a half, he lived in Daejeon and was friends with my friend Laura from university. We always liked each other, but neither of us said anything about it.  Then, one glorious 4th of July, I decided to tell him that, "I kinda dig you," and it has been crazy wonderful ever since. More later, but that's pretty much what happened.

So, I left Korea the 1st of December, me, Lola, and a bajillion suitcases.  That was a mess. Thankfully, Laura and our friend Calvin went to the airport with me to help me carry everything.  Laura was also quite crucial in getting Lola home. I was never told she had to go through quarantine, then they told me and quarantine was closed. So they said I had to go home the next day, I was absolutely devastated. Anyhow, I cried like it was nobody's business, and Laura was very adamant that I would be going home that day. No questions asked. I am pretty sure the language barrier, my crying, and Laura, made all airline staff quite uncomfortable, so they opened quarantine for me and I got to go home. Yay!

Well, this was brief. But I am going to start making dinner now. I'll write more about my last few months in Korea, my time home, and starting a new life in Singapore

Everything is peachy!

So it has been quite some time, as it usually is.  There are many things to update on and pictures to post and I intend to do that soon, however, right now I just wanted to post an article on the current situation with North Korea and hopefully put any fears or worry to rest.  All is well here, I promise.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/32263/north-korea-news-is-all-hype

Some gems from my nuggets.

Yesterday I was talking to my kindergarten class about the election, not quite sure they got the full picture...
Student: "Teacher, what is a president?"
Me: "He is kind of like the boss of a country."
Student: "Ohh, so he is like santa?"
I laughed, and moved on.

Today while teaching my after lunch class one of my students informed me that he has a hamster that he has named Gangnam Style, and then the class broke out in song and dance.  If you don't get the reference don't worry about it, it is a ridiculously catchy and annoying song by a Korean artist that has made it all the way over to the states.

I also think that I was asked out on a date by one of my six year old students, "Teacher, I dinner for you tonight?" Either that, or he assumed that I was going to cook and eat him.

I am sure there are more, but those are what stick out right now.

Also, yay America! I was constantly updating the polls while teaching yesterday, and when the final results were in I ran around and told all of the foreign teachers around me.

Not too much to say, but here are some pictures!

Halloween crafts with the kiddies, Emily, as always, posing.

Wendy and me with our spider hats!

Rita and I at sports day.  It was so much fun!  It was a beautiful Sunday filled with my kindies, their parents, and some athleticism. go red team.

Danny was dancing to get warmed up.

One of the events had the dads jumping over each other.  I was quite impressed.

Kids getting ready for tug-o-war.

The whole group.

The mens tug-o-war. White team. 

Red team.  Unfortunately, they lost.

It was such a fun day, and it ended with a beer chugging contest.  Weird to be doing that in front of my kindergarten students and their parents, but I am in Korea, so it was appropriate.  I made it through the whole day with only falling once, and my arm is still a bit tender, but I am not too concerned.  

Why hello there!

It's been a while, as it usually is, so I figured it's time for an update.

I have now been back in Korea for three months and am living in Busan.  I absolutely love it here. Please see the photos below:

A palm tree that is in my neighborhood.

Most of these were taken at the beach that is about a 20 minute walk from my apartment.  I feel it is necessary to pinch myself several times a week to make sure that this is where I am actually living, it is quite beautiful.  On top of living in a wonderful city I also have a rather lovely apartment!

This is my view, Mt. Jangsan is in the background.

This is my bathroom sign.

I have a real shower!!!!!

Lola is still wonderful.

My kitchen.

The whole place.  It's kind of small, but I dig it.

Next, my new students and my new job.  First of all, my new job is great.  I have such supportive managers who are willing to help and make sure my time in Korea is nothing but enjoyable.  I also have a much more dependable employer than my last job.  Korean business is odd and, especially not being Korean, means that I am very easy to take advantage of. My last employer was not always the most dependable when it came to paying on time or making sure that I had health insurance, but I couldn't really do anything about it.  My current employer goes above and beyond to see that everyone is taken care of and we're happy, and that is something that I truly appreciate.

When it came to my new students I was a little weary at first.  I felt like I was cheating on my old ones by liking my new ones because, if you have read my previous posts, I was and still am absolutely in love with my first group of kindergarten students.  I still keep in touch with them and was even able to see them I first came back, it was wonderful.  My new students are just as great and I have been able to love them just as much. Here are some photos of the new group of little terrors who are filling my days with laughter and sunshine:

This is Wendy, she is probably my favorite.

Sarah and Annie are pretty silly.

Emily, on the far right, is a little princess, seriously.  One day in the middle of class she just said, "Teacher, I am beautiful," and then started dancing around. 

This is Yuni.  She didn't want her picture taken, though I wish she would have because she has the cutest most pinchable cheeks in the world.

These kids have come to call me Jungle Teacher or Lion Teacher because of my hair, which is now more often than not pretty curly.  They also are quite witty.  I still wear the necklace that I made at a temple stay as a bracelet, and my kids love to play with it.  They also wonder why I wear a necklace as a bracelet, "Teacher, do you wear you necklace as a bracelet because your head is too big?"  Wow. Talk about keeping you humble.  My oldest students are also pretty funny.  One day they were trying to coax me into not giving them homework so one of the boys, in an attempt to flatter me, said, "Teacher, your skin is like milk and your hair is like lemon spaghetti."  I still gave them an assignment that night. My oldest students also have decided that my insulin pump is not actually an insulin pump, but a device that I use to communicate with North Korea, because they have decided that I am a North Korean spy. 

I have also made that decision that this will be my last year in Korea, for now.  So I am prepping to take the GRE on December 15th and hopefully be back in Milwaukee in August of 2013!  Busan is full of lovely coffee shops, which provide for some lovely study environments.  My favorite part of the city is called Nampo-dong, one evening after studying I was walking back to the subway and stumbled upon this:

A group of old Korean men playing John Denver's, "Country Roads".

There was also a rap battle going down, I couldn't understand much, but there was a lot of talk about love. 

Usually I don't post too much about my personal life, especially interactions with the opposite sex because, well, there hasn't really been too much to report.  However, I feel this story is worth sharing and hopefully the humor in the situation will translate well when written.  The other night I was out with a few friends and when they decided to leave I was talking with a guy who I will call John, because his real name is far too unique to say without risk of him someday coming across my blog and know that I was talking about him. Anyway, John and I were talking about Lance Armstrong and my utter disappointment in his titles being taken away, I have watched the tour since I was pretty young and think quite highly of Lance, so I am not happy to hear this news.  We were sitting outside while we were talking and it was getting pretty chilly so we decided to go get some Korean BBQ and keep the conversation going.  Then our conversation about the Tour de France took a turn for the worse, and he started crying, yes CRYING to me about his ex girlfriend.  I don't really care that he was talking about his ex, he didn't seem like someone I would pursue, so his talking about her is not what bothered me.  What was weird is that HE WAS CRYING, to a complete stranger.  Then, he asked me if he could tell me a story, I said sure.  So he begins, "There is this puppy, and the puppy just loves his family.  But the owners come home, sometimes pet him, feed him, and then ignore him. But he loves his family, even though they don't pay much attention to him, he just loves them, and they don't love him the same."  The story continues for a bit, but it was pretty much him saying the same things, the puppy loves the family, the family doesn't pay much attention to him, blah blah blah.  Then I stop his story, and ask, "John, are you the puppy?"  He looks at me with tears in his eyes and gets out a, "Yes," through his sobs.  It took so much strength for me to not burst out laughing, perhaps that is mean of me, but come on dude, you just made up a story and in the story you made yourself a puppy. So, that happened.

My social life, is not always filled with men sobbing to me about their ex girlfriends, last night I was on a pirate ship! It was a halloween cruise, and it was pretty cool.

Here is a picture of the ship.

Here is my friend Meagan and myself.  I was dressed up as the Morton Salt girl.

Well, I feel like that is a pretty solid update for now.  I am off to go study!

happy birthday Lola!

I got Lola a year ago today!

So, in celebration, I got her a hat that she clearly adores. 

my kids have already started to draw me.

adorable, right?

so, I am back in Korea.

My time at home went so fast and was so wonderful!

The flight back wasn't too bad, though I did have to run across the entire Taipei airport...in 5 inch heels, not the most practical choice in footwear, but I was a champ and didn't break any bones in the process!

The second I landed in SanFrancisco I started crying. I was so excited to be back in America and I knew that Dani was there to pick me up and ugh, it was wonderful.  After getting through customs and gathering all my luggage I was running again towards the exit and when I saw Dani I immediately dropped all of my stuff so I could run faster and give her a giant hug. Holy moly, even though we skype regularly it's just not the same as talking in person, I am pretty sure the first thing I did I was apologize for smelling.  It was definitely one of those big dramatic reunions that they have in the movies, and it was beautiful. Then I gave all of my luggage to her boyfriend to lug around and we carried on like it hadn't been over a year since we saw each other.

Once we got to her apartment we grilled brats and had pbr. My word, it was so delicious. seriously. The next day Dani and I spent wandering around Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville.  It was so lovely and so cool to see what Dani had been up to since I left, she moved to California shortly after I moved to Korea so I hadn't had a chance to see her life there. Unfortunately, we only had about 36 hours together, so after a lovely time hanging out she brought me to the Amtrak station at 7:00 in the morning and tears were shed as we had to say goodbye for another year.

me and my bestie. 

6hours on the Amtrak and an hour bus ride later and I was in LA to get picked up by Tanner, his wife (which is CRAZY! He and I have been friends since elementary school and now he is married) and Andrea! Again, it was so cool to see how much his life has changed since I left.  He got engaged, married, and moved into a new apartment in a years time. Damn, that kid was busy.  We all had a lovely evening! We went out to eat and walked around a bit, but turned in early because Andrea and I had quite the drive ahead of us starting early the next morning.

We were on the road by 6:30 with the end destination for that day being in Denver.  It was a lot of driving, but it was so pretty!

Here we are right before we started the drive.

Alf was wonderful company for most of the drive. 

Day two of driving wasn't quite as pretty. Nebraska is the most boring state in the world to drive through, it was painful.  It does, however, have attractive State Patrol officers who are willing to help two young ladies check the air pressure in their tires.  After getting through Nebraska I was so excited to be in Iowa, seriously.  Being there brought back memories of visiting Erin and Andrea when they were in University, and how much I loved the drive there and hanging out with them.  Once we got to Minnesota I could barely contain myself.  I was so excited to be in a familiar area, driving on roads that I knew and seeing things that felt very homey.  We got in to Shakopee around 10:00 that night, I could not have been happier to sit with my parents, eat some pizza that didn't have corn on it, and drink some quality beer. 

The rest of the trip flew by. We got home on a Tuesday night and Wednesday was the 4th of July, so we just hung out all day and grilled, it was perfect.  On Thursday Stevo, Erin, Andrea and myself did one of my favorite things to do in MN, we walked from Ft. Snelling to Minehaha Falls.  It is such a pretty and fun walk, and at the falls there is a lovely pavilion that serves some wonderful MN brewed beer, which is a lovely way to end the walk. That weekend Erin, Andrea, Zach and I went to the Basilica Block party, an outdoor concert put on my one of my favorite MN radio stations, it was so much fun!  The weather was perfect, the music was wonderful, and I could not think of a better group of people to go with.

That next Monday Andrea and I had a girly day with my mom filled with manicures and shopping.  It was so lovely to walk into a store and not be told, "No big size".  The rest of the week was filled with rollerblading trips to Lake Cleary park, sun tanning, visits with some high school friends, and a little Oake on the Water, another outdoor show put on by a radio station.  On Saturday the family came over, and when I say family I mean everyone.  There were babies and dogs and kids who could run and talk but had been in diapers the last time I saw them.  It was a really lovely way to see everyone and catch up before heading back to Korea.

Both Erin and Andrea left Sunday morning, goodness, goodbyes never get easier.  It's so great that we have been able to stay as close as we have with being as far apart as we are.

Sunday night was a very relaxed evening with Stevo and Arls.  After we grilled some chicken for dinner Stevo and I sat in the basement and listened to a bunch of his vinyl records, it was pretty awesome.  Monday morning we woke up a little late to head to the airport, but got there in time to say goodbye and make sure I caught my plane.  I had a layover in Chicago so my friend Mike from University came to visit, it was so good to see him and grab coffee like we used to do back in the day.  The flight from Chicago to Japan seemed to take ages, and the layover seemed even longer, though I did have a high school classmate of mine at the Japan airport at the same time I was, which was crazy! We tried to meet up, then realized we were in different terminals and were unable to. I barely even remember take off and landing of that last flight, I think I feel asleep the second I sat down.  When I got into Korea my luggage had already been gathered for me and my director was waiting there to pick me up.  He brought me to my apartment and briefly showed me my school, I then alerted the proper authorities that I had made it safely to Korea and I went to bed. 

Well, now that my trip home has been covered I should probably say something about life in Busan,  it's awesome and I am crazy happy here! More details to come at a later date. 

: )