My Happy Halloween in 2013!

Me in my witch costume! I left my giant hat in the states!

Happy Halloween!! 

 It being my third Halloween in Korea, I already had a routine, more or less. I always found a way to celebrate the holiday on a night out with my friends, and I always celebrated it with my school.

Not everything went according to plan! I'm still satisfied with the way things turned out though.

Halloween fell on a Thursday this year. The Saturday before, I had a rather complicated situation. I wanted to meet two sets of friends, and also meet up with a date. I was supposed to have dinner first with the date, meet some friends in Hongdae, then meet some friends in Itaewon.

What it ended up being was: I dressed up as a pirate in the grungy women's bathroom in the subway station. Next, I met the friends in Hongdae for about 30 minutes, then had dinner with the date in Itaewon, then went to a bar with the guy, while waiting for the other set of friends to explain to me where the bar was (they had gone to a place I'd never heard of). I ended up getting tired and going home early!

No matter, the Aussie bar we went to had a couple there with an intense makeup job:

Yikes! I was told that she did the makeup.

After that, I genuinely scared for the night. ^^

The Korean Folk Village in Yongin, and Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon!

The Chuseok holiday gave me a five-day weekend in Korea, and I wanted to do whatever I could to celebrate the holiday and appreciate my free time! Aside from doing homework for school and cleaning my apartment, I set out to learn a little bit about Korean history.

Suwon's Hwaseong Palace and Fortress

On a Thursday, which happened to be Chuseok day, I paid a visit to the Hwaseong Palace and Fortress in Suwon [수원 화성 (행궁)], which happens to be the city I live in.

Scenes from the Hwaseong Palace in Suwon City, Gyeonggi-do Province

 How did I get there? From my neighborhood, it was a simple 20-minute bus ride away. I personally took a bus to the Hwaseong Henggung stop, then walked to the folk village. From Suwon Station there are many buses that head there, such as the numbers 2, 7, 7-2, 8, or 13. At least some of these would be taken be leaving out of exit 6 and crossing the street to the bus stops on the other side. You would get off at Jongno sageori (which means intersection).

The palace was open, and it's open every day. On Chuseok day, it just happened to be free, and all of the guests could just walk right in and explore.

My Next Step: Getting My Teaching Certification from Abroad

Back to school again?

Why I'm getting certified

While I started things by tutoring children during undergrad, I began teaching full-time in 2010. In the beginning, it was just something I was experimenting with. At the time, I had recently left my retail management job and was living with my father. I thought the appeal of earning money while living in a new region was great.

Teaching was something that I began to enjoy, and I continuously looked for ways to improve myself as an educator. At the same time, I am working at a 학원 (private after-school academy) in Korea. It's a good entry-level job, but it's not something that's meant for you to do forever. There's a glass ceiling in place. If you're foreign, don't speak Korean and you're not married to a Korean, then the chances of advancing within any Korean language academy are slim to none.

I figured that since I enjoy teaching, then why not make a career out of it? However, I'm not that interested in teaching stateside. I did some research, and learned about teaching at international schools. It seemed like a good career path with chances of upward advancement, along with appealing pay and benefits offered to teachers worldwide.

One of the basic requirements to work in these schools is for me to be certified in my home country, the United States, and for me to have at least two years of experience.

Getting certified is my step #1!

For My Birthday: What Advice Would I Have Given Myself 10 Years Ago?

I came across a question on the internet recently:

Knowing what I know now, what advice would I have given myself ten years ago?

It's an interesting question to answer for my birthday.

Aside from realizing that I'm getting older and there's nothing I can do about it, I thought it was interesting to think about since my life was so different ten years ago. I stopped to think about where I was and what I was doing. It was a turning point in my life.

Posing with family members about 10 years ago

Where was I ten years ago?

Let me see. I was just starting out my senior year in high school. I went to a medium-sized public school in the home state, where I spent my time with a close-knit group of friends and otherwise kept to myself in most aspects. At the same time, I was gaining a new confidence in myself I hadn't had before. I tried my best to stay away from the drama in my high school and was more focused on my future.

It's Chuseok Time!

 The kids at school in traditional Korean clothing, called the Hanbok, and making rice cakes

 
Chuseok or 추석 is the biggest and most important holiday in Korea. It celebrates the year's harvest and it's a time for Korean families to come together, be thankful and recognize the contributions of their ancestors.

It's a family holiday known for its food and gift giving. They come together and eat traditional food, and its staple is called Songpyeon (송편), which is a type of rice cake that is rolled into a ball and contains a sweet filling. There's also quite a bit of gift giving, where practical presents are given to friends and neighbors. Ideally, Korean families will visit the hometowns of their ancestors to pay respects to their spirits. It's technically one day, but it's celebrated as a three day holiday.

This year's gift box!

There are some similarities to Thanksgiving, so Chuseok is often described to foreign people as "the Korean Thanksgiving." 

You can read more about the Chuseok holiday here and here.

Since I'm not Korean, I don't have family that's from here, leaving me with little to celebrate. While I've heard of it happening before, it's not really common for the locals to invite foreigners to celebrate with them. It's strictly a family thing, so we are normally outside of the bubble of celebration.

Common Scams in South America... and Ways to Avoid Them

Just about everyone is excited to travel and explore new places. Although I would always recommend a new, fulfilling experience in South America, there are people who are only looking to gain access to your money. Sometimes, these people are just plain dishonest and walk away with your cash that they obtained illegitimately.

Children talking to a reporter in Bolivia

Many of us have heard of the extremes of what could happen to visitors, which include kidnapping for ransom or even murder. However, that's not likely for the average person, so this post isn't about emphasizing those extreme cases. 

In other words, these are the sort of things that visitors are likely to encounter, either directly or indirectly because they're so common. These are the scams to look out for on a day-to-day basis.

Check out these true stories about some of the negative parts of my adventures to countries such as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia!

Better than Busan! Our Weekend at Jumunjin Beach (주문진해변)

Two weeks ago, a friend invited me to go to the beach. This beach was called Jumunjin (주문진), which is located on the east coast of South Korea, in Gangneung City in the Gangwon Province (강원도 강릉시).

Jumunjin Beach

I had always heard that the beaches on the east coast of Korea were better, but I hadn't gone to the east coast at that point. Now that I've been, I can safely say that I also agree with that statement. If you're looking for nice beaches in Korea, but haven't checked out the east coast, then you're really missing out!