Back for Year Three

Back again!

After several safe flights, I am back in Korea for my third year, which I will spend in Gwangju. I think this will be a very good year because, while I undoubtedly miss everyone at home like crazy, already there are many things to celebrate here in Korea. In no particular order:

1. My apartment. Oh. My. God. It's amazing. It's got 2 rooms. TWO. A living/kitchen area and a bedroom. And then a ginormous bathroom. Oh, and a separate storage room. Usually, single foreign teachers just get a very small one-room studio, as witnessed my previous two years in Korea. To be single and have 2 rooms is nothing short of complete apartment utopia. Plus my building has a rooftop, which Koreans use for air-drying laundry. I have plans for tanning with a good book and multiple glasses of wine in peace. Also, my apartment building is brand new. So new, in fact, that the landpeople are still coming by to add chain locks, replace the regular windows with UV-resistant windows, etc. 

2. My area of town. I fell in love with Gwangju about halfway through my first year here, and after a year in Daejeon, I decided I loved and missed it enough to want to move back. Now I live in Suwan, an area very far from downtown, but still in the city. I was a bit worried at first, because Suwan is so far from everything. I had visions of taking buses and taxis into more populated areas of town for every shopping and social need. But Suwan is the perfect neighborhood because everything is right here! And it's so beautiful and new. I'm about a 10 minutes walk away from work (which is normal), 15 minutes from Lotte Mart (think Walmart/Target), and there's a beautiful river walk area in between, along with countless cafes, restaurants, boutique stores, a post office, and more. There are also batting cages a block away from my apartment. I love this area. 

3. My birthday! Ok, my birthday would have come no matter what city I lived in, but it just happened to come on my second friday back in Gwangju, and I was able to party like a rockstar with my friends Gwangju-style. It was a fantastic 30th second 21st birthday. 

Since I've been back, I've done a few interesting things, too. Last Saturday I decided to rent a car and drive to Elizabeth's place in Daejeon to get all of my things from her place in one trip (instead of 4-5 trips on the train). I was so nervous to drive in mainland Korea, but it just so happens that my apartment in Suwan is very close to the Gwangju airport. So close, in fact, that I can hear plans as they're taking off and coming in for landing. (Not too close, however, to be annoying.) Anyway, the airport is just off of the highway, so it was a straight shot up to Elizabeth's in Daejeon, which is also just off the highway. Lucky for me, because after the few minutes of city driving that I did do in Daejeon, I have since vowed never to drive in any major city in Korea again. (I did make it safely, but driving in Korean cities is another blog entirely.) On Sunday, Elizabeth and I had one of the safest roadtrips ever, driving from Daejeon back to Gwangju. Ha! 

And finally, my first week of work at my new academy. I really love it, and I can tell that it's going to be a good year. Everyone I work with is very nice, and all of the English teachers are fluent in English. This should be a given, you should know English to teach English, right? Well, in Korea this doesn't seem to be a requirement. Just a basic knowledge is apparently enough. But all of the English teachers at my academy are fluent, which is fantastic. They're also very well traveled, and very open and accepting of their foreign teacher. They even took me out to dinner last week to celebrate my birthday! After only having been there 3 days! And, what's more, I had a great time!!! Usually, going out with the school on any occasion is very ... difficult, at best. Communication is difficult because no one is confident enough in their English skills to want to use them, and gestures get old. But last week when my work took me out, I felt as though I was going out with my friends. I had a wonderful time, I talked with everyone, and I felt very comfortable. I am so very happy that I work at the school I work at, and work with the people that I work with. I am definitely a very lucky girl. 

Cheers to a beautiful year in Gwangju, to my lovely family and friends, and to appreciating the big - and little - things in life. ^^ Gun-bae! Yamas! Salud! And na zdravie!