So it was my birthday this week. To do something special for it I went to Daejeon for the first time. A wonderful friend hosted me for the weekend. She is the absolute best!!! We did many things but the coolest was going to a dog cafe. Yes dog cafe, which is exactly what it sounds like it is. You walk in and pay a cover charge of 6,00 won which is less than 6 dollars American.For the 6,000 won you get to stay and play with all of the dogs for as long as you want and you get any drink you want off of the menu. In the center of the room there is a fenced off area and there were about 10 dogs. outside of the fenced in area are table with comfy sofas where you can drink your drinks. If you want to you can carry the dogs out of the fenced in area and cuddle with them back at your table, which I totally did with the white Pomeranian you see me holding in the video.

This was such a great experience! I had so much fun playing and snuggling with all of the dogs. The dogs are constantly being handled by people so they were all really loving and mellow. It was my first time going to a dog cafe and it won't be my last. I know there are cat cafes too but I haven't been to one yet. A few of my friends have been to cat cafes and from what I understand they have a cover charge as well but there is no fenced in area they just roam free in the cafe. If you are ever in South Korea you should go to one of the many dog cafes that can be found here!

My Top 5 Thing I Dislike About South Korea

My top 5 things that I dislike about South Korea. The main reason for me posting this is because I did the 5 things that I loved so I figured I should hit the other end of the spectrum and do the top 5 things I dislike.

5. Littering

4. Honesty

3. Cold

2. Germs

1. Driving

Top 5 Things I Love About South Korea

This is a list of the top 5 things that I love about South Korea.

5. Safety

4. Cuteness

3. Food

2. Tradition

1. The People

Open Class Day



Today was an Open Class Day at my school. It was a half day for my students and their parents came in for the whole day. Their parents watched them in a homeroom class and in a special class (like English). Then the students performed for their parents. They did dance routines, musical numbers, and they put on plays. They also had their art work on display in the hallways. I only got to see the grade 3 and grade 5 hallways and classrooms because those were the only two floors that I worked on that day.

Grade 3 classroom and hallway:

Grade 5 classroom and hallway:

Hannah is so sweet for making me hamemade teas! I love my parents class! they are the best part of my Mondays. They are morre like a group of friends that I get together with for two hours. we talk about anything and everything. They are all so sweet and I truely enjoy spending time with them.

Korean Drinks 8

I tries two new drinks that I found at the convenience store. One was a plum juice and the other was a peach juice. The plum juice tasted a little wattered down, but the peach juice was good if you like the taste of peaches.

Korean Wedding

I went to a Korean wedding today! It was a lot of fun and if anyone is ever invited to one you should defiantly go. The Bride was breathe taking!!! I mean it. She was absolutely gorgeous! It was interesting how casual it was for the guests. some people were wearing jeans and sneakers. One of my co-teachers brought her two little boys, ages 6 and 4, even though they weren't invited. Some people stayed for the whole thing and other people left as soon as the bride entered the church and walked past them. 

Sadness In South Korea

This blog post is about a child abuse case that happened a stones throw away from where I am living in South Korea. It is extremely sad so I will understand if no one wants to watch the video. Please keep in mind that everything that I know about this is second hand knowledge and it was told to me in translated English from a homeroom teacher, not even a fellow English teacher. So what I say in the video might not be 100% fact. Again, second hand, second language.

Suneung (수능)

I was wondering why, on what i thought was a random Thursday in November, I was told to come late into work so I looked it up online. It was because of Suneung, or the South Korean entrance exams for college. After reading more about the exam my mind was blown!!! This test in not only no joke to the students that need to take it and their families, but it literally effects the entire country!?! On this day public building works, such as people that work for the government including teachers, arrive at work an hour later so to reduce traffic congestion to ensure that all students arrive at the exam place on time. Even the stock market may open late. In between 6 am and 10am buses and trains will increase in their frequency. during the 9 hour testing period people are prohibited from honking their horns near schools. All aircrafts are grounded during the testing hours. no planes land or takeoff so that the noise of a low flying plane can not distract a student. Younger students will stand at the entrance and cheer on their upper classmen as they enter into the building to take the exam. Parents will wait the 9 hours accross the street or many of them will go to the near by temple or church and pray for their child's success for the 9 hours. But I think the really cool part about this day is that from 6am to 10am taxis drivers will pick up students and rush them to their exam site for absolutely no charge. For this one day in South Korea the entire country is revolving around these students and this life changing test they must take. And for this one day everyone really pulls together, does their part, does whatever they can do to help, and the people as a whole are willing to sacrifice whatever they have to to help these students succeed. There is something really poetic in that.

There is a fantastic documentary that goes even deeper into the lives of students before they take the exam and the exam day. It is about 20 minutes long but it defiantly worth checking it out! Just click on the link below:

http://vimeo.com/24642646

Korean Drinks 7

I got two more drinks from the store. one was ok with a weird after taste and the other one was actually very good.

Mask Festival

I went to the Mask Festival in October but the video took a while to edit and I just not got the chance to put it on my blog. The Mask Festival is in Andong, South Korea. It is really easy to get to by bus, but for me living in Ulsan that means it is more than a 4 hour ride. If you are willing to make the trip your whole weekend it is well worth it. It is a cute festival where you can watch a show, paint a mask, and take pictures with and in front of huge masks. I went with my two friends Lea and Rosie. we had a lot of fun but it was pouring so that did put a little bit of a damper on the festival. Side note: Andong is also know for its soju which is even stronger than the normal soju found in other areas of Korea.

My Korean

It ended up being a pretty good day! I have been taking Korean lessons from my co-teacher 3 times a week for 30 minutes for about 3 weeks now. And yes she gives me homework. She gives me homework for every day of the week even if we don't have a lesson that day including the weekends. She is a Korean teacher after all. :) I have been working really hard and now that I have seen some progress I feel as though all of the hard work I put into it was really worth it! I know answering simple questions isn't that impressive, but its not the answering of questions it is that I was able to answer them without needed to translate the Korean into English first! It was great and I'm really proud of myself.

Students' Names

So I asked my students to write down their names for me. I told them that if they wanted to they could chose an English name. My 4th graders were really the only ones that chose to do this. In the video I read off about 20 names that they came up with but I got at least 70 from the whole 4th grade.

Tony - Iron man is really big here
Trevor
Jenny - Harry Potter is huge here
Shane
Julia
Kenny - maybe south park? I don't know?
Sandra 
Bella - twilight
Romi
Gary - maybe the snail from Spongebob 
Kim - even though nowhere in her real name is there a kim
Ma ree - Mary
Daean - Diane
Sein - Scene or Sign I think he was going for Sign
Ahn miri - Ann Mary
Mint - A common favorite color in Korea
Tabes - Tobias
Chwioo - I looked up the name and there is a famous South Korean soccer player with that name
Konan - I can only think of Conan O'Brien
Gino
Lime - a color and a food, yet her favorite color on the same sheet is yellow and her favorite food is pasta?
JIJ - I think these might be his initials after looking more closely at his Korean name

Sam's Socks

Hey Sam! So this is just a quick little post to you because when I was shopping the other day I came across these socks that reminded me of you so I had to buy them and then tease you with them! I love you Sam! <3

My School

Hi everyone. This is my elementary school that I teach at. The school is pretty big. 1,003 students attend the school. I teach the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. So I have about 720 students. I know that was a pretty crazy number when i first started but now I'm use to it.

My first weeks in the school i was a little weirder out because I was a celebrity in the school. I kid you not students would run up to me in the hall just to say hello. Some students would touch my arm, hand, or even my hair and then skip off smiling. students all the way down the hall would call out me name just to wave at me. One of the 5th grade teachers told me that many of her students were writing about me in their homework diaries.

Now that I have been at the school for a month, absolutely nothing has changed other than the fact that I an just use to it. If anything the more shy students that dreamed about doing those kinds of things but never actually acted on them do to their shyness are now no longer shy around me so they too call out to me in the halls and pet my hair.

Whatever I think its cute and I love it when my students come into my office to say hello and hang out with me. So I am in a comfortable state of being treated like a famous person, which is kind of what it is like. people, students and teachers, are always watching you and what you are doing. well I thought i was good with it, but the other day it was brought to a whole new level that I wasn't even aware existed.

So normally when I good food shopping I go to a place that is about a half mile walk from my apartment. but I noticed on my bus ride home that i passed a shop and the bus stop is a little closer to my apartment so I thought it would be smarted to leave school, do my shopping and then take the bus home. NOPE. Normally when I go to the store people will stare at me and sometimes they try to speak to me in Korean or English. Sometimes they even take pictures of me. But all of that has become kind of normal. When I went into the store I totally forgot that when I shop near my home I never run into any of my students and I never thought about what would happen if I did run into them. Oh my god!


They went absolutely bananas! They screamed. They jumped up and down. They ran outside and got more students to come in. They followed me around the store so that every time I walk down a new aisle they were already there waiting for me. It was crazy! I ended up not being able to do any shopping because they were basically chasing me around the store and I was afraid to stay in one place for too long. So I guess I'll keep shopping in the store near me. If I feel really lonely or something then I'll stop in there again because it does brighten your day being admired by the masses. ha ha ha

Korean drinks 6

So I tried two more drinks. They were both good but not great. I finished them but I don't think I'll be buying them again. I tried the apple fanta smoothie drink and the banana milk drink.

Public transportation...

It was so scary, uncomfortable, and at some points a little funny. It was basically a flood of emotions, but in the end the crazy passenger went on his way and I made it to my school! I really wish I knew more Korean so I could tell you guys what they were fighting about! The taxi driver was just plain adorable! she kept asking me questions and I would answer her in as much Korean as I could. She could understand me but then would respond in wicked fast Korean that I could not understand. to which my reply was a smile, nod, and nervous laugh combo.... I felt so bad that I couldn't have a real conversation with her, because she clearly really wanted to! so twice today i really wanted to be able to speak Korean while traveling on public transportation! :)

Korean drinks 5

I got two new drinks at my local store. They were both really good! One was an apple soda that wasn't to sweet which was nice and the other one was a green plum (which I didn't even know existed) juice which was also really good! I was very pleased! :)

Korean drinks 3 and 4

So that was extremely disgusting!!!!! I can't even put it into words! NEVER drink those drinks! You have been warned! So after I promptly poured those drinks down the sink and drank an entire water bottle I decided to just do another video. Partly because I was bored and my plans with my friend weren't for a few more hours, but mostly because I still had a funky after taste going on in my mouth! :( Anyway so here is my video in response to the previous one.

The seaweed rice ball was pretty good. It was just a little messy for me to eat and it was a little more on the spicy side for me. But I did finish eating it off camera. The drink was pretty good too. It wasn't my favorite but after the other two it tasted AMAZING! I did end up finishing it as well. In the end I was able to get rid of that awful taste so I am happy.

Good Buys!

So I went on a little adventure into the city today. I took the bus into a more populated part of the city which I have never been to before. It was great I walked around for 3 hours! I am pretty proud of myself for not getting lost :) I needed some odds and ends for my apartment so I knew I would be spending money. I would look at prices in the store but if I needed it them I got it. I wasn't that concerned about the price and I certainly wasn't paying any attention to the grand total. The mathematician in me was curious so when I got home I pulled out all of my receipts and added it all up. I just couldn't believe that I got everything including the round trip into the city for 20 American dollars and some change! That is just plain crazy!

My apartment tour

Okay so this is my apartment in South Korea. It is in Ulsan. It is so amazing and I love it. It took me a whio\le to figure out the washing machine and my neighbor had to show me how to turn on my stove but so far it's all good now. It only took me 2 days to unpack. I haven't really done much decorating though, so sorry if it looks a little bland. An extra thanks to Stacy the girl that lived here before me for leaving me some things such as cleaning stuff and toilet paper! You're great! And thank you to Brandon for walking around Ulsan with me the other night and for showing me how to turn on my gas :)

Korean drinks 2

I tried two Fanta drinks that I had never heard of before. They were both ok, but not amazing. I would buy them again though.

Korean drinks

The two drinks I tried were called 20's strawberry and 20's apple. The strawberry one was okay, but the apple one was delicious! I would recommend either of them really. 

Orientation Opening

I just had my orientation yesterday and it was really amazing. The Taekwondo team gave a performance that was just completely unbelievable! I took a video but it didn't save on my camera so I found one from a previous year. they did all the same things and so much more!

These pictures were taken at my orientation:

After the orientation and dinner a group of us went for a walk and ended up at a local bar... we just had to they had a sign for us and everything we couldn't be rude! :) There beer and Soju was delicious!

The Korvia Process

This post will be all about the documents you need, how to get them, and when you should start to get everything in order.

First of all here is a list of all of the documents you need:

1. Korvia application form
2. Resume
3. Diploma
4. Official sealed transcripts
5. Photocopy of passport
6. Criminal Record
7. Passport size photo
8. Two reference letters
9. Teaching certifiction or TESOL certification

Remember this is for the Korvia program and to get a teaching job in South Korea. Although many other companies and countries will probably want many of the same documents.

1. The application form was really easy to fill out. Most of it was basic information, name, date of birth, and so on. There is a 500 word essay but that too wasn't so difficult. I just wrote about why I wanted to go to South Korea and why I wanted to teach. I also talked about how I would handle the cultural differences that I would face when I moved there. In the last paragraph a talked about my teaching philosophy. The last part of the application was writing a lesson plan. My lesson plan was on verbs ending in "ing." The lesson plan needs to be written in the form of a script. I also included example dialogs between me and fictional students, students that did and didn't understand and how I would explain it in a different way. I also included blank worksheets that would be used for the lesson.

2. The resume should be up to date, accurate, include a cover letter, and look professional. There are plenty of sites to go on to help you set up one if need be. You should email your resume and cover letter in along with your application form. 

3. Your diploma needs to be mailed, not emailed, so I would suggest mailing everything that needs to be mailed all at once to save yourself some money. If you are currently graduating from college and need to wait to send your diploma and transcripts then you will have to send your things in two different packages.

4. The transcripts can be purchased from the registers office at your University. This also needs to be mailed to South Korea. 

5. The photocopy of your passport is just that a photocopy. It needs to be of the page that has your picture and information. I got a colored copy of mine, but I'm not sure that it matters if it is in color or in black and white. 

6. To get your criminal record background check you need to go to: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/criminal-history-summary-checks/submitting-a-criminal-history-summary-request-to-the-fbi
You need to fill out the form and mail it with a return addressed envelope along with the $18 fee and your fingerprint card. Go to your local police station and ask to get your fingerprints taken for a FBI background check. The address to mail the form to is:

FBI CJIS Division – Record Request
1000 Custer Hollow Road
Clarksburg, WV 26306

Once you get your background check  back you will need to send if off to get it apostilled. The form can be found here: http://forms.cerenade.com/esdotnet/editdocument.aspx?documentid=309
There is an $8 fee. The address to send it to is:

      U.S. Department of State
      Authentications Office
      518 23rd Street NW.
      SA-1,  Columbia Plaza,
      Washington, DC 20520

This can be a long process so it is important to start it as soon as possible. It took me about three months to complete the entire process.

7. You can get a passport sized photo at your local CVS or Walgreen's. Its quick and only costs some like $10.

8. The two reference letters can not be from friends of family. Mine were from my practicum co-teacher and my long time professor. You should send a scanned copy with your application but hold on to the original copies because you will need to send them in the mail later on.

9. If you are a certified teacher you will need to send an emailed copy of it to Korvia. If you aren't a certified teacher than You will need to take the online course TESOL. I am a certified teacher so I didn't take the TESOL course.

Korvia!

As I had said in my last post that I looked at many different countries I likewise looked into many different companies to go through. Korvia was the best and safest company to go through by far. Check out the Korvia website: http://www.korvia.com/

The Korvia website is extremely informative and easy to navigate. The Korvia company really takes care of us! You have one consultant (Ciena Bahk is mine) that is able to answer any question you might have during the year long process of getting over there.

One of the big things I was worried about as choosing a company that would abandon me the second I stepped off the plan or put me in a school that would close half way through the year. All of which can happen if you aren't careful in picking a company. Korvia will not do any of these!

There is a couple that have lived in South Korea for five years now and if you are serious in being interested in moving to South Korea you should really check out their website: http://www.eatyourkimchi.com/

They started off as teachers in South Korea as well and the company they went through was, that's right you guessed it, Korvia! They even did a video on how Kovia is better than the other companies.
Check out their video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e711fpz4wn4

Background Info

Hi there everyone! My name is Kelsey and I am a first time blogger. This blog is mostly for the benefit of my family and friends back home, but people that are interested in learning more about the country of South Korea, are planning on moving to or visiting South Korea, or plan on teaching in a foreign country might also find my blog interesting and useful.

A little background on me might be helpful to the people that aren't my family or friends. I am 22 years old and in less than two months I will be moving to South Korea. While in South Korea I will be teaching English. I am from the United States but, anyone from a country where the native language is English can come to South Korea to teach.

I just graduated from Westfield State University with a degree in Elementary Education. I decided to be a teacher around the age of six and never really looked back. I took my first trip out of the country when I was 18 years old and fell in love with traveling and experiencing other cultures. During the summer when I was 21 I took a trip to Ireland. While I was there I was talking to a high school girl. She told me all about this history teacher that she had that was from the States. I never really thought that combining my two passions in life was even possible until that moment. If I taught English then I could travel and teach!!!

I got home from Ireland and started looking into which countries I could teach abroad in. After months, I kid you not I was very thorough, I had decided on South Korea. I can't tell you exactly why South Korea won out over all the rest. It just felt like the best fit for me. So there it is. I'm moving to South Korea. I start the journey to get there almost a full year ago and now it's almost here!

Stay tuned for more information on how I got everything I needed to make this all possible and what company I chose to go through.