Jazz

I really enjoy the sense of inspiration and freedom I receive when I listen to certain Jazz music. This weekend a couple friends and I went to a Jazz club called MoonGlow in Seoul. The moment I stepped into the club I felt as though I entered a therapy session. The decor/warmth of the club and the amazing musicians made an evening I won't forget. Also, I think the timing of getting lost in music that's major element is improvisation was key. Often times when I listen to Jazz music I am reminded to live for the moment and to be willing to change if inspiration comes my way! After having a long stressful week at work it was so refreshing to be reminded of this lesson through music the international language!

Weekends

I don't know what I would do without weekends? I need that time to live life beyond my daily routines and embrace the life of spontaneity. This past weekend included a perfect balance of events. On Saturday I woke up early and met with some friends to hike Bukak Mountain. The hike wasn't very intense, but it did consist of a billion stairs(lets say 40 minute stair master)! The timing of this hike was perfect because the trees were all showing the warm autumn hues. After the hike we were planning on taking a walking Tour of “Old Seoul” that was suggested by National Geographic. We didn't get to do too much of the walking tour because it started to rain. The only part we were able to explore was the Samcheong-dong area. This neighborhood is to be Seoul's most charming area with small buildings, cafes, boutiques, wine bars, and idiosyncratic museums. I had a great time walking around this area with a warm cup of coffee in hand! Later that evening I met up with other foreign teacher's from my school to have a farewell party for a teacher that finished their contract. We started the evening having galbi gui which is Korean BBQ! I must say it is very tasty!

On Sunday, Heather and I took on the challenge of taking the subway by ourselves to another neighborhood about an hour from our place. We were planning on checking out a church in the late afternoon. Since we got to the area early we decided to kill some time by walking around the area. Due to it being a chilly day we decided to sit in a neat cafe called “Moss” that caught our eye. Right when we walked in we were intrigued by how they brewed an individual cup of coffee. They brewed coffee using a glass Vacuum coffee maker. While we were discussing the process an older Korean woman approached us asking if we had ever seen this done before. After a little small talk she motioned for us to sit at her table and she bought us coffee. She was a very nice classy lady and turned out to be the owner of the cafe. We really enjoyed our visit with her and she really loved practicing her English. She owns the cafe for fun on the side, but her main job is designing traditional Korean dresses for women. She has done a lot of traveling and I'm sure has many stories to tell. We exchanged information and we have high hopes that she will be our Korean “grandma”!

P.S. I started an online photo album! The link is http://picasaweb.google.com/lnsimmons

Rolling Stones

My first week of teaching I learned a few things. First, of course my Kindergarten students are really cute and funny. However, they are also typical kids. They love to be silly, loud, talk a lot, whine, and complain. After a few day of too much whining and complaining I taught them a lesson from the Rolling Stones. I started singing the chorus of "You can't always get what you want"! They caught onto the words and the meaning very quickly! So it was really fun and cute for the last few weeks, anytime a student would whine or complain everyone would join in and sing!! Then today, I realized just how clever my little students were. I told them to all get out their writing books and start their story. They responded by singing to me "You Can't Always get what you want"!! It was so hard to keep in the laughter! However, the teacher in me decided to teach them the "other" chorus which is "Ms. Lindsey ALWAYS gets what she wants"!!

My First weekend in Seoul!

I lucked out by having a 3 day weekend my first week! Friday was “founder's day” for South Korea which meant freedom for me to explore Seoul. On Friday morning, I went to Insa-dong with a few other teachers from Kid's College. It was a very neat area to buy traditional Korean souvenirs and there was a Buddhist temple close that was really pretty. It was hand-painted with amazing detail. Heather and I bought some traditional Korean paper called Hanji to make some art to jazz up our apartment. We had “art time” later that night which ended up being a laughing fest. Let's just say I don't think we should enter our art in a gallery.

On Saturday, I spent the morning at the school looking at material to prepare for the next week. I'm realizing how much work can go into teaching, but so far I think it will be rewarding.

In the evening I went with a few friends to a phenomenal Drum/Jazz Festival at a beautiful park in Seoul. I had no idea what to expect but I was blown away by the performances. The first act had a boy probably 7 years old on drums and he was very talented! The music was combined with some traditional dancing. It's hard to properly describe how great the festival was. After the festival, we went to an area called Hongdae and met up with some more friends. The Hongdae area is close to Hongik University which is known for concentrating on Art majors. The art focus at the University spilled out into the neighborhood and developed a very neat culture. The gu(pronounced “goo” meaning neighborhood in Korean) was a true gem in my eyes. It consisted of narrow streets flooded with small boutiques, cafe's, art galleries, bars, restaurants that were all uniquely designed. Seoul is packed full of vendors that sell anything from food to jewelry and the list goes on. This particular night we found a vendor that served cocktails in a zip lock bag with a straw! It was quite classy I must say:) We also found a vendor bar to grab a beer that was so charming with tables surrounding it.

Someday I will be able to include some pictures! I forgot my cable to transfer pictures from my camera to my computer. So until then you have to use your imagination:)

Natural Oasis

On Saturday afternoon, I decided to go explore the small mountain behind my apartment. It was a gorgeous hike with many trees and flowers. The views from the top were really great! It was also very humorous when I found an outdoor workout station at the top of the mountain. It was full of Koreans doing funny exercises including a couple older women hula hooping! This treasure in my backyard is necessary to escape from the busy city life!

Life in Neon

On Sunday September 27th, I was greeted by a neon lit city after getting off flight 972! The excitement of the city that evening set the pace for the rest of my week.

On Monday morning, I started my transition to be Ms. Linzy teacher(They decided to change the spelling of my name?) The first day was very overwhelming to say the least. While suffering from jet lag I observed the teacher I was replacing. I had to soak in all the information quickly, because I was going to be on my own on Wednesday. Even though the day was exhausting, I knew my year in Korea would be worth it after meeting my students! They are so funny and cute. I have a very diverse class schedule. Some of the classes are drama, writing, reading, speech, art, science, music, etc. I'm sure in few weeks I'll have the routine down!

After having a full day of school I was very tired and hungry. Heather and I decided to try out a small restaurant by our apartment. The owner and cook was very nice and patient with us. Everything was in Korean and no pictures so I basically acted out that I was hungry and anything would suffice. Not knowing "anything" would mean a side dish of small dried fish with the skin and eyeballs. I guess that is the beauty of being in another country! You just roll with the punches. The owner also found the way I was using my chopsticks as inefficient so she cut up my food as if I was a little baby! We were both able to laugh about it! After dinner, it was definitely time to get rested for the next day!

Jumping on the Seoul Train

On September 27th I will fly to Seoul, South Korea. I'm planning on spending a year in Seoul to teach ESL to Kindergartners at Kid's College. I have never been anywhere in Asia so this will be a very different experience for me! I'm very excited to see what this year brings! The only way I know to prepare myself is to keep an open mind:)