버벌진트(Verbal Jint) – 시작이 좋아 (Good Start)

First of all: Happy New Year!

2013 is definitely a year of new beginnings for me! I started a new job this week and it has been a super challenging yet rewarding week. I am now working at an international school teaching Grade 2! And my contract is for 18 months so I will be in Korea for at least that long. It’s all very exciting but overwhelming at the same time.
On the first day of school I talked with my students about New Years resolutions. They came up with some average responses (“I will be better at soccer, I will do ‘plus’ better in Math”) and some really outstanding resolutions such as “I will be more creative” and “I will be a more positive person”. I can tell that I am going to learn a lot from these kids. My personal resolutions are to be more organized (although looking around my room I see I still need to work on that one) and to be the best teacher I can be for my students.

So far 2013 has gotten off to to a very good start and listening to this song just makes it better :)! I love Verbal Jint, especially when his songs feature a strong female vocalist. The lyrics are really good too. He talks about getting over a break-up and looking past everything to the year ahead.

It’s a good start
I came to the quiet sea alone
And I made wishes for the New Year
The strong cold that tortured me for a while is now cured
It feels good

So yeah, this may be a new favourite! I like everything about it except for the inappropriate beach footwear! Oh Korea! Hope you enjoy it!

skin for life!

Here are a few very important beauty tips that I have picked up while living in Korea. They’re not necessarily Korean beauty tips, just things that I have become much more aware of since living here.

Here are some simple rules to follow for healthy, beautiful skin :):

1. Don’t tan. Growing up in Canada I believed that being ‘hot’ means being tanned. When I came to Korea I was so proud to be the most tan person I knew. Then I noticed how well people take care of their skin so I started looking more closely at my own skin. I noticed spots and wrinkles and damage that I really hadn’t noticed before. The idea is that being tanned makes your body look more defined and slimmer. Well… it does make a marginal difference but being tan does not make you hot. If you’re slim and pale you’re going still going to look slim, and vice versa. But tanning CAN make the difference between getting skin cancer and not. I have opted to stay out of the sun and stick with my natural skin colour.

I’m not sure who’s acting is worse but I do know whose skin I would want!!

2. Be good to your eyes. I shudder to think of how I used to remove my eye make-up. I used to just wash my face then literally rub it off with my finger or dry tissue. I’ve worn make-up for almost 10 years now so if you think about how much I was tugging at the sensitive under-eye skin each day there’s no wonder I have wrinkles! I now remove my make-up properly using make-up remover and a soft tissue. I gently apply wrinkle eye cream twice a day and I try to avoid rubbing my eyes as much as possible. I think it is helping a lot and hopefully I will preserve my under-eye skin for the next ten years!

I know it looks funny but I would actually take off my make-up like this! :S

3. Moisturize moisturize moisturize! Moisture does not equal oiliness. Whenever I used to get a pimple I would avoid moisturizing that area of my face because I thought it would make it worse. Moisturizing can actually help prevent pimples. When your skin is too dry (most acne medication dries out the skin) it is more susceptible to bacteria getting into the pores. If the pores are already sealed with moisture there is less chance that bacteria will form (that’s my understanding of it anyways).

What a pimple looks like under the surface.

4. Get to know your products. In Korea when you buy cosmetics the store will always give you tons of free samples. I love getting these because it means I can test out a product before I commit to buying the whole tube! In Canada I would often just buy whatever product was the cheapest or that my friends were using. Now I consider what I want the product to do, and how it looks and feels on my face before I add it to my daily routine.

Ok, this one was free but it’s so silky smooth!

5. Drink up! Your body requires water to carry out every single molecular process. This includes everything from digesting the hot dog you just ate to fighting off diseases. Your body needs water to break down unwanted cells (ie. bacteria in your pores…), repair damaged cells and create new ones. Over the past few months I have made an effort to drink a lot more water. I try to keep a full cup of water on my counter and take a drink every time I walk by it. I have to pee a lot more often but I have noticed a difference in my skin!

Don’t you want your skin to look like that!?

I don’t look too happy here but my skin looks all glowy and such :)!

That’s all I’ve got for now! If you want more advice, I’d suggest searching the World Wide Web. It’s great! ^^

 

SNSD – I got a boy

 

Girl’s Generation is BACK in full force!!
In true GG style, they are back to all fighting over one not-even-cute boy. I was pretty confused about what the song is supposed to be about after I read the lyrics.

At first they’re talking about a girl who is average-looking who looks way better after she meets a guy:

Gosh! Again look at her, look!
From head to toe, her style has changed
Why did she do that? I’m curious to death
Why did she do that? Tell me.

No way! No way!
She became so pretty and sexy, it’s because of him, right?
I almost asked her what her new makeup was!

But then they’re talking about falling for a guy and being confused about their relationship:

Sometimes he is as reliable as an oppa but when he acts charming, he is so cute

I’m really angry, my boy doesn’t look at me as a girl
What should I do when I feel hopeless?
Should I make him feel jealous? I’m so upset! What do I do?

So what I think they’re saying is that they like this boy and he makes them want to be better and he brings a spark to their eye, to be cliche. But they’re not sure what he wants and they’re frustrated, like most people beginning relationships.

So the lyrics aren’t so deep and meaningful, but generally I like the song. It’s fun and catchy, although I’m pretty sure it’s going to get way overplayed and in a few weeks I’ll be sick of it.

Seriously! If I wore any of these outfits I would look like a complete tool.

What I love about this video are the costumes! I love the quirky girlie outfits at the beginning and my favourites are the funky retro looks during the dance. I thought the costumes at the end with the orange wigs were a bit tacky but overall the clothes were to die for!

Not a huge fan of this look.

What I don’t love about the video (I guess this goes for all music videos actually) is the impossible standards they set for girls. How do they look so incredibly cute yet sexy at the same time? They pull off the innocent vixen perfectly and all of Korea loves them for it! I guess it goes for guys as well. Not many real guys look like TOP and yet most women look to their celebrity crush as their ‘ultimate guy’. I suppose it’s good that the mood of the video is not so “realistic” because in reality NOBODY LOOKS LIKE THAT!

Nope, sorry, not possible.

What made me laugh about this video is the girls’ reactions to the boy touching their hand or their cheek. Um… ladies, you were just hip thrusting like it’s your job and you’re acting as if you’ve never held a boy’s hand before?

Aw, sweetie. Your sparkly nails will not distract us from your mixed messages!

Overall, I loved the video, the dance and the music. They’re still as sexy as in ‘The Boys’ but not so obvious about it. You go, girls!

my merry little christmas

As most of you know, I was stuck in Seoul this Christmas after I was unable to go on my perfectly-planned oh-so-tropical Bali vacation.

A White Christmas not meant to be.

It was a major oversight on my part. Lesson learned: always research the passport regulations of a country before you travel! My passport was only valid for 5 months and Indonesian immigration requires at least 6. So close! I like to think I’m an experienced traveller, having been to 17 countries, so I’m feeling pretty silly and embarrassed by the whole situation. Actually, what I’m feeling most is disappointment at not being able to visit Bali! My Teacher’s College friend Shannon and I were going to have a fabulous Christmas filled with pina coladas and white sand (separately ;P). We searched for hours to find the perfect hotels in the perfect spots, from Kuta for New Years to Ubud and the Gili Islands. Not to mention the sun and humidity would be the perfect cures for my wintertime blues and dry skin.

Snowy Seoul… not impressed.

BUT I will not despair and break down like I did at the airport, subway, embassy and other various public places in Seoul. Every cloud has a silver lining, right? So I will now list the various ‘silver linings’ to my cloudy holiday.

1. I got organized. Like, SUPER organized! I don’t think my apartment has ever been so organized and I am loving it!!

2. I read two novels in three days. One of my favourite things to do on vacation is just lie on the beach with a good book. So I turned the heat up in my room and just relaxed with some light reads!

3. I finally went to the bank with my huge bag of coins. It totalled $52!!!

Yeah… moneybags!

4. I caught up with friends. I sent out a plea for company on Christmas eve and got to have an American-style on base with friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. I’ve also been spending a lot of time with my (former) co-teacher who I don’t get to see much outside of school. Lots of food and friends makes any holiday great :)!

A Christmas Eve Feast!

Sarah tried to look like a goober so I tried to look like a rasinette 😛

5. I consumed more chocolate and wine that I have all year. Maybe this shouldn’t count as a plus, but it definitely did at the time! Plus I had time to go to the gym, so win-win!

My post-christmas-eve-feast dessert 🙂

6. I did my first nail art! (See previous blog) ^^

7. Best of all… My DAD IS COMING TO SEOUL!! As soon as he heard I was unable to go to Bali he booked a ticket and should be here tomorrow afternoon! To quote my sister “He’s really taking this YOLO thing to a new level”!  WOWEEEEEE! I am so excited to show him around and spend time with him!

Me and Dad in 2010. Can’t wait to ring in 2013 together!

I feel much better after writing this. So often we (well.. I know I do) focus on our disappointments and forget to count our blessings. Merry Christmas everyone!!

panda-licious

Yesss… my first nail art ever!!! Korean women are ALL about the nail art. So many people spend incredible amounts of time and money at nail parlours, changing their nails to match their mood, the latest trends or the season. After watching Bubz paint mini pandas on her nails I thought “hey, I might just be able to do this”! Watch her video tutorial here.

So here is my first attempt at nail art:

Supplies! My nail polish is from Nature Republic. Wine is optional.

First I put a light taupe as a base coat. Easy!

Next, I painted a “squished circle” as Bubz calls it on the tip of my nail. This was also pretty easy. I just used to the nail polish brush. I had to do two coats but the second coat was a lot easier than the first!

Then I used a bobby pin to make the ears. They’re all lopsided and different shapes but I figure real pandas don’t have perfectly shaped ears…

Then I took the same bobby pin and made the eyes. I was always hesitant about nail art because I didn’t think I had the right tools (or steadiness-of-hand) but who doesn’t have a million bobby pins lying around!?

For the nose and whites of the eyes I used a safety pin since I don’t have toothpicks. Just don’t press too hard ;)!

Finito! I just added a top coat once it was dry. It was so easy and quick… the only frustrating part is the drying time. I did little paws on some of my fingers just to test it out! The result was so cute, I can’t wait to try another style!! Awesome!

Mr. Panda loves them too!!

skin deep

I’ve been inspired by my latest youtube obsession – bubzbeauty (check her out!)- to share with you some of my daily make-up routine. You may be thinking… “I thought this blog was supposed to be about Korean things?” and you would be perfectly correct. Korea has some of the best cosmetics in the world. Women and men from all over Asia (and probably the world) flock to Korea for skin and hair products… some of which I will be demonstrating in this blog. Instead of just telling you about some popular products, I thought I would show you my personal supplies and how they work on my face.

Let’s get started – what Korea is known for first and foremost (cosmetics-wise) is BB Cream. BB stands for blemish balm and was first developed to help people’s skin heal after plastic surgery. It has miraculously turned mainstream and we can now buy it for very cheap. Personally, I use power perfection from The Face Shop. It costs about $20 for 1.4 oz. If you are buying BB cream in Korea, be careful of products containing a whitening agent if you don’t want to go for the paler-than-pale look.

You can order this one online if you’re not in Korea, but there are lots of international brands that have started making their own!

I start out with a primer (I use Nature Republic ‘provence’ blending primer) to help control oiliness, minimize pores and of course it helps blend the bb cream for a more even look.

Applying primer to my not-so-fresh morning face!

I use just a tiny dab of BB cream to cover my face and blend it in with a make-up sponge. I use this instead of sunscreen (it’s SPF 37), cover-up and foundation. ‘Tis a miracle cream!

Just a dot will do!

After I’m all blended in, I like to use an eye highlighter to brighten up the bags under my eyes. and to highlight my cheekbones. This one is called ‘Botanical Vanilla Eye Brightener’ by Nature Republic. It cost about $5 and blends nicely with my skin.

I highlight down my nose, under my eyes and the tops of my cheekbones. There are lots of diagrams online to show you what will be the best for your face.

The post primer, BB and highlighter face.

A bit of blush, eye makeup and hair and I’m ready to start the day!

Another very Korean product is the sheet face mask. These are like very cheap facials in a pouch. A sheet mask is different from a regular face mask because it actually comes in mask-form… no sloppy goo to layer on your face and wash off, just open, stick, wait and peel.

These are not even a fraction of your options but you get the idea!

Ok, the flash fades out the wrinkles a bit but believe me, they’re there!!

The one I’m showing you is from Olive Young (Korean Rexall equivalent) and cost about 80 cents CAD. I chose the collagen for tonight because just today one of my students was pointing out all my wrinkles to me (she’s so considerate!). There are tons of different types, made for everything from moisturizing to firming to whitening.

Spooky!!

There is no possible way to make this look cute!

These masks always leave my face feeling smooth and refreshed but I’ll sometimes get a pimple the day after I use one. Maybe it clogs my pores? As you can see, I still have the wrinkles, but I like to think it makes a difference little by little.

Ahhh, silky smooth. Mr. Snowman says hi!!

I’ll just demonstrate one more product for today but I have lots more to show you :)! I like to use a tint on my lips when I want to add some colour. I use ‘mango-tinted lip & cheek stain’ by benefit. I won’t tell you how much it cost but I will tell you that I used a gift card!

So shiny!

It feels like I’m painting my lips with nail polish!

I like tint so much better than lipstick because it gets absorbed right into your lips and you don’t even feel it. I apply lip chap over it so my lips don’t get tried out and the colour lasts for a few hours! You can use it on your cheeks too but I haven’t gotten used to that yet.

MUAH!

So those are my top 3 favourite beauty products that I have only started using since I got to Korea. I love to experiment with make-up so any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Can’t resist ;)! Peace out!!

fantastic baby!

Big BANG! R-L G-Dragon, TOP, Taeyang, Seungri, Daesung

I haven’t written anything about K-pop for a while so I thought I’d let you all know how super-duper incredibly pumped I am to see Big Bang live in concert! At the moment my favourite K-pop group is on a world tour promoting their album ‘Alive’. Their last concerts are going to be in Seoul at the end of January. Tickets go on sale soon and I’m not too worried about getting them as I don’t think they’ll completely sell out because there are three shows during the weekend.

Seeing them at the Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong (on TV of course) made me sooo much more excited to see them live! I think it’s going to be an amazing show! Here is their performance from MAMA:

I love how they all have their very distinct characters. Top is always so pompous sophisticated with his giant hats and capes. I think they were trying to show his inner wild side through his crazy contact lenses. GD is just a born entertainer and I think the most talented member of the group. He actually changed his hair colour during the award show (when he accepted his first award it was bright yellow)!! Seungri is always the classic gentleman, although the Japanese tabloids would have us think otherwise. Taeyang is the party animal always bopping around full of energy. And then we have my precious Daesung… personally I don’t think the mesh/fur/leather ensemble suits him at all. On TV he is always so sweet and bubbly but I guess that didn’t match their ‘monster in me’ theme. I think he looks a bit lost here and that the costume people just threw as much as they could on him trying to make him look cool. Nevertheless, he’s still my fav!

No matter what they boys are wearing, I’m positive they’ll put on a FANTASTIC show and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us :)!

So excited to get my CRAYON with G-D!

날 사랑 해요?

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line while the shortest distance between two hearts is Love Itself. – Austin Ogwu Chinuwa

My co-woker, Sunny got married last night at the Intercontinental hotel in Gangnam. It was an absolutely gorgeous venue and the bride looked even more stunning than usual. Plus it was my first Korean wedding experience!

We left work at 6 and debated whether to take the bus and subway rather than a taxi because with rush hour it would have been tight to make it there by 6:45 (even though it’s a 10 min drive!). So we opted for public transportation and ended up at the venue with a few minutes to take a picture with the bride in her ‘sitting room’ before the ceremony.

Beautiful Sunny!

The wedding hall was beautifully decorated. very similar to a reception room for a wedding at home, except that there was a raised aisle going down the middle of it. The ceremony started promptly at 7, as the groom walked down the aisle followed by Sunny and her dad.

The ceremony wasn’t too long… apparently the priest talked a lot about Jesus and religion but obviously I couldn’t understand what was being said. Even though we didn’t know what was going on, us foreign girls were the only ones paying attention during the ceremony! Everyone else was on their phones, taking pictures of themselves or eating the rice cakes that were on the table. It was quite bizarre and I was glad that Sunny was turned away from the crowd so that she wasn’t offended.

After the service, the dinner started right away. It was delicious; there was a really yummy smoked salmon to start, then a very creamy mushroom and oyster soup. Each course was brought out JUST as we finished the previous one. It was all very efficient but it was clear that we weren’t supposed to linger over our food. The other courses included a prawn and steak dish, green salad, spicy traditional wedding noodles, then coffee and an amazing raspberry mousse cake. NOMS!!!!

During the meal the bride and groom were still up on the stage/alter thing, where they took picture after picture; cutting the cake, toasting with their parents, lighting candles, and standing with their friends and relatives. One of their friends serenaded them but there were no speeches otherwise.

As soon as the last of the mousse cake was downed, people started leaving. We stuck around for a while to take advantage of the free wine and flower arrangements but basically the whole thing took an hour and a half.

Everyone was taking the flowers… the waiter just happened to hand me the most ginormous bouquet!

There were a lot of parts of the wedding that we didn’t witness, such as the traditional ceremony that usually happens with the groom’s family. Also the couple took wedding photos a few weeks before the wedding and had them as a slide show during dinner.

Saying their ‘thank yous’ to each table.

I wouldn’t say Korean weddings are better or worse than weddings at home as I’m not a huge advocate of big white weddings in either place. The bride looked gorgeous and the groom had a huge grin on his face the whole time so I would say it was a huge success ;)!

so precious 🙂

Pics are all from facebook – hope you’re ok with that Sunny 😉

3 days in Japan

Here are a few snippets from my recent visit to JAPAN!!

Osaka castle

I spent two days in Osaka and then one in Kyoto. It was absolutely magical :)!

My trip included a lot of walking and eating. I mostly decided on something I wanted to see, then walked around there until I got hungry. When I first got there the weather was BEAutiful so I went and visited Osaka castle. The castle itself was quite nice, but the best part was walking around the gardens, park and plum tree orchard!

In the plum tree orchard on a warm November day!

That night I checked out dotonbori and shinsaibashi. I’m not sure what I would compare these areas to in Seoul… maybe myeong-dong? Shinsaibashi was basically a strip mall that went for kilometres! The stores were all blaring with lights and music to attract customers (I’ve read it described as the darwin theory; only the flashiest survive in shinsaibashi) so it was total sensory overload! The shopping was really good but I didn’t buy much because I only had a small bag with me. Plus I can get most of the stuff in Seoul for a lot cheaper.

I ate in dotonbori at a place that had lots of pictures on the menu ^^. I had okonomiyaki.. a kind of shredded potato and cabbage pancake with vegetables and lots of sauce! It was delicious. I also had some sashimi which was comparable with other sashimi I’ve had. I’m not a huge fan so I can’t really judge the taste.

By the river that goes across shinsaibashi… really cool district!

The next day was pouring so I went to the world-famous aquarium down by the harbour. It was nice, but very similar to the COEX aquarium and super packed with families on a rainy saturday afternoon… should’ve known! The best part was the whale shark in a huge central tank, plus the hugest stingray I’ve ever seen! Then I did some more touristy things in the same area like a petting zoo and a (enclosed) ferris wheel. When it stopped raining I headed back to the hostel and walked back to shinsaibashi for some more shopping and food. This time I tried takoyaki, a piece of octopus fried in a ball of batter, with sauce on it. I’ve heard Japanese food described as light and fresh before, but I certainly wasn’t in the right place for that!

Eyeing up the takoyaki…

The next morning I woke up early, packed my stuff and left my stinky hostel room (co-ed dorm… ugh) to go to Kyoto! It was a bit of a trek to get there – it was only 40 mins from Osaka station but with all the transfers and waiting it took a lot longer. Kyoto was just amazing. Every five minutes I would stumble upon another gorgeous temple and there were all kinds of celebrations and ceremonies going on so I got to see plenty of people in kimonos.

Kids are so adorable in their kimonos… maybe even more-so than hanboks *gasp!*

I walked from temple to temple and went into a beautiful park called Maruyama and then headed to Gion. The main reason why I wanted to go to Kyoto was because of Gion. I have read Memoirs of a Geisha and got a bit obsessed with it, so going to the place where it was set was like a dream come true. The close streets with their dark wooden slates were not exactly how I pictured them but it was pretty amazing all the same.

what happens in Gion….

When I went off the ‘historial’ streets and onto the main street I found some pretty great shopping and was surprised by a high school marching band! The girls were adorable, waving to me and saying “kawaii, kawaii!”, which I have since learned means “cute”! The way back to Osaka was a little stressful just because the trains were sooo crowded and I had some trouble finding the bus terminal but I made it to the airport in plenty of time and had an easy flight back to Seoul.

Japan was definitely similar to Korea but with many distinctions. I think I would have had complete culture shock if I had gone straight from Canada but coming from Seoul it wasn’t too shocking.

The money was a lot different. The physical coins actually say a lot about their economy I think. Their 500 yen coin is smaller in size than the 500 won coin but worth 13 times as much! Things were a whole lot more expensive in Japan but nothing was completely exuberant. I paid $10 to $20 on a meal and beer was $6-8. Now, coming from my usual $5 meals and $2 beers I was a little put off but not too much.

Another big difference is that they drive on the other side of the road! I’m a bit embarassed to admit it but I was walking around for at least 4-5 hours before I realized this! So while I thought it was interesting, it didn’t really affect me.

The mode of transportation I saw the most of was actually bicycles. It was amazing the amount of bicycles on the sidewalk! And they are all really good at avoiding pedestrians which was nice.

These bike parking lots were every 10 metres.

Overall I found the people exceedingly friendly. When I was looking a little bit lost there was always someone giving me a directions.

Fashion: now, granted I was not in Tokyo but I didn’t find the fashion as great as Korea. There were some amazing get-ups to be sure, but I found everyone dressed to extremes in Japan. People were either dressed in outrageous (-ly awesome) clothes or they were at the other end of the scale. In Korea, I find that the fashion is all quite safe and similar, but everyone looks really good. In Japan, there are a lot of risk-takers and lots of people who clearly don’t care about their clothes. Korea is more consistent in their fashionable-ness, but don’t have that ‘wow’ factor. A few times I actually picked Korean tourists out the crowd based on their wardrobe!

This store had the most amazing costumes… although I’m not sure everyone considered them costumes.

Now, I usually hate when people I’m traveling with say “I’ll come back and see that next time” or something like that. I want to shake them and say “YOU’RE HERE NOW and probably won’t ever come back!!”. That being said, I really really do think I will be going back to Japan and next time I will do a bit of research to know what I actually want to do once I get there ;)!

Wow, this post has gotten quite long so I’ll just say sayounara and arigato Japan!

teacher teacher!!!

Woohoo!! Another blog post! Be prepared for lots of cute kiddie pictures!!

If you or anyone you know is considering teaching abroad, I’m sure you have many questions. Fear not! Getting a job teaching kindergarten in a hagwon (private academy) is easy as recruiters are paid to find teachers from overseas. From there, you can look into other opportunities such as teaching at an international school or university. It’s difficult to get teaching jobs in Korea other than hagwons but if you’re qualified then go for it! If you are at all considering coming to Korea, here are some pros and cons of teaching at a hagwon that might help with your decision.

Seriously, do I really need to convince you? How cute!?

Pros: 

Let’s start with the obvious. Working with children is the career I always dreamt of and what I hope to do for the rest of my life. Even if being a teacher or care-worker isn’t your goal, working with kids is probably the most rewarding work you can do.

Smiling faces every day 🙂

Money. I could have put this as a con because the salary of an English teacher in Korea is not very substantial. However, if I was back in Canada, I would probably still be looking for a job or substituting. A small, steady paycheck is a lot more than most people can say they have. With the money I’ve earned, I have been able to pay back my (small) student loan and save enough to travel southeast Asia for 5 months all while feeding my shopping addiction. In my books, that’s more than enough.

Another pro – gifts from the rich mummies and daddies!

Teaching experience. It’s an easy job to get and if you’re not sure if you want to get into teaching, it’s a great opportunity to try it out and see if you think it’s a good career choice for you. Plus, if you’re at home in Canada trying to get a job, wouldn’t you rather be working with kids than waiting for that phone call?

Who wouldn’t want to teach these guys!?

Life experience. I don’t have to lecture you on the benefits of travel and living abroad. Just do it. Living in another culture is the most mind-broadening, exciting, humbling and educational thing you can do for yourself.

Bumped into one of my students while hiking!

Cons:

Management. Now, I don’t want to burn any bridges here because my bosses have always been good to me, however there are certain things they do and that I hear most hagwon managers do that are just not ok. First of all, they always side with the parents. Just one example… a student of mine went home and told her mother than my co-worker and I were laughing at her how old her mother’s car is, which is of course untrue. Instead of telling the mother, how ridiculous that sounds and that she has faith that her teachers aren’t pretentious dickheads, our supervisor told the mother that she would talk to us about this ‘incident’. Basically there is no support or trust between the teachers and management. Our school has 3 bosses, and if you ask the three of them the same question, you will get three very different responses. There is no clear direction that the school is following and no consistent policies to refer to. I could write an entire blog on this subject but basically every school has teacher-management relation problems because the system is so completely different here than at home.

Yawn… nap on the way back from field trip.

Curriculum. The problems of curriculum and management go hand in hand. The people running the school don’t seem to understand how important simple things like learning goals are. Therefore, we’re not teaching with a goal in mind… we’re just having the students fill in workbooks, hoping some of it will sink in. Our students aren’t learning anything valuable such as problem-solving, co-operation or investigation but they can ‘fill in the blanks’ like a pro! There is no balance to the school day – the students sit at desks for 85% of the day (ps. they’re 5), they have phys-ed an hour a week (with no outdoor play area!), math for 15 minutes a day, and the only hands-on activities are too difficult for the students. There is also no rhyme or reason to anything that the school asks us to do. If we weren’t all dedicated, flexible and creative teachers these poor kids wouldn’t stand a chance.

We also teach ESL classes, which would be great if we had time and resources to prepare for it!

Housing. Schools will almost always pay for your accommodation but the accommodation they provide is not always livable. My first apartment was beyond tiny and my friend’s apartment stank of sewage. We have both moved to more comfortable apartments but we were stuck at our old places for months. The school has a certain amount that they allow for accommodation so if the rent is higher than the allowance then we pay difference. Right now I really like my apartment even though it’s still pretty small.

Another con – saying goodbye to your old class is really really sad!!

This is all based on my particular experiences. Maybe other schools attempt to actually follow a curriculum or have a great employer but I have yet to hear of it. Personally, I think the pros way outweigh the cons. Every school and workplace has its problems and no job is perfect. If you are at all considering coming here, my advice is DO IT!

So much fun :)!