The Jen Diaries

You know, being here would be great if it weren't for work. It's just like working in any country, really. I am set in a routine, have my alarm for 8:00 am, get up at 8:45 am, get on train at 9:15 am to be with children for ten hours a day. By children, I mean the people running this joint. Simply put: the principal is a lunatic. She does not talk to us for weeks at a time, leaves us alone and then she tries to stir things up when she is bored just to to make sure we understand she is in charge. "Don't be a bitch, I can, but not you.", "I have a temper, you do not want to see it", "You had an attitude in front of the other teachers, do not do that", "I do not like when people do not follow my directions".She and some of the Korean co-teachers have very high and really unreasonable expectations of us. Private schools almost always only hire people who do not have a professional background in teaching or have had experience in teachin

Thanksgiving is approaching and although the cause for celebration behind it does not really resonate with me, (the pilgrim hijack), I will honor the more modernized tradition which is being thankful for everything that brings us joy, health, love and overall happiness. I am thankful Koreans do not have a black frid--er-- week. Nothing about waiting in line in the freezing cold while still digesting my turkey or fighting off the tryptophan sounds appealing. I don’t care if there is a 90" TV for $200. Who needs a 90" TV anyway? Yeeesh! I am thankful for the subway because it's a buck and I love when Koreans stare at me. I’ve become a pro at the quick wink. It creeps them out. I am thankful for all the different types of coffee and my floor heating, the 24 hour Korean fast food restaurant on my building’s first floor, their-cheaper-than-Indy cabs, the food stands on the streets, ButterFinger Pancake restaurant, my mother for taking care of while profusely worry

I would just like to comment on the HEINOUS beds here: they are awful (just like the drivers). The mattress is hard and the springs can be felt throughout the night digging into you. There are no memory foam or mattress pads anywhere. They use blankets to "soften" the rock mattresses. Thank GAWD for that otherwise I'd still be having back pains (spoiler alert: they don't do jack shit!). Being the spoiled princess that I am, and being accustomed to a life of luxury, I ordered a mattress pad online and got it the next day. How pretentious am I? Don't care. Tonight, I'm sleeping like a queen and here's Enzo bean because I incessantly miss him.

i feel like death. I have been sick for the past week. Apparently it is inevitable for one to become sick the first month regardless of the thousands of mg of vitamins you take. It's like a rite passage. "Have you been sick since your arrival? No. Then you haven't really lived in Seoul yet" Well here I am sick as a dog and not ready to take on the day with the culprits: the slimy balls of snotty children. The word "etiquette" is more foreign to them than I am. People cough and sneeze in your face, slam into you, push you for a seat on the train, and cut you in line. I went to a stand up comedy last week, and one of the comedians said it best "they don't bless you after you sneeze because they hope you die and take your train seat". I am the art teacher at school, so my work life has never been this easy. This job is easier than working the cash register at Bed bath and beyond. I just walk into the class and ask the kids what the material i

This is a video of my first day in Seoul. I just got home from my first school day and am so exhausted I may not make any sense. When I got in Friday night, Laura took me around her neighborhood, we got some Korean beers and called it a night. The next day, we went to get tickets for the Korea vs. Brazil game since Laura is a huge soccer fan and begged me to go ha. We waited in line for two hours but alas, the tickets were sold out. So we found a scalper. They are so sketchy, they signal us with their head and take us in the back of the trees to negotiate, as shady as they seemed though, they were so trustworthy, he gave us the tickets and let us deliberate while trying to sell other tickets to people hundreds of yards from us. Also, people leave their cars open, they are helpful and eager to practice English with you. They eat and talk with their mouth open, and also have conversations on their phone while you are at dinner with them. Very attractive, especially when food falls o

As of now I am still in Chicago. On the plane. They are trying to fix the heating and A/C.  This airline SSSUUUCCKKSSS. 45 minutes late and counting. People are getting off the plane to get food. Shame on you UNITED AIRLINES and your baggage fees and rude employees. Typing from my phone sorry about the format and since I'm complaining ill just add that there isn't a USB port to charge my phone or laptop. Oh wait! It's been solved! Mazel. 

My move to South Korea is 100% official. My visa arrived today. I am one step closer to living in the future (SK is 13 hours ahead). I don’t even know what to say at this point. I am probably still in denial, I am, however, starting to feel angst, maybe a bout of sadness, but mostly anguish, torment, anxiety, sorrow, worry and fear. I watch a lot of movies and have a vivid imagination; my dreams are borderline real and foreboding I can pretty much write M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie. It’s that bad (pun intended, he ruined The Last Airbender movie). Thankfully, you do not die in your dreams, Inception 101. The worry came on after my father’s heart attack last weekend. It scared me to think something could happen to anyone while I am away. After all, shootings and bombings seem to always be in season, unfortunately, and are uncontrollable and unpredictable. Diet and stress can be controlled so I hope this was a wakeup call for him. No Camembert, Roquefort, steak or foie g

Got school offer. Signed contract. Waiting for visa. Boom.

I was offered a teaching position last week with the second school I interviewed with. The school looked great, had a handful of other foreign teachers who all lived in the same building. I had great hours and was to teach up to elementary school. I was set, I just had to wait on their contract to be sent and signed. So I waited...and waited...(okay just 2 days but still, it was KILLING ME!) My recruiter kept apologizing for the delay since the school was in meetings and my contract needed to be looked over by the principle. Alas, it was too good to be true, my recruiter let me know that they had pushed back the starting date from end of September to November! Back to square one. Apparently this is common and happens often but I am still frustrated and upset. I will just take this in stride and as part of the experience. I reached out to multiple other recruiters. Hopefully my inbox will be filled tonight. GGGAAAAAHHHHH!!!! I WILL be there this month!  Blog with you soon

                                                                      Eeeeeeeeek!!!!

After two and a half months of filling out forms, mailing, requesting, and becoming #1 customer with Fedex, I finally got all my papers, documents and passport ready. I am starting to interview with schools and getting a better grasp of what my life will be like. I would have never thought of doing this. Like, ever.  It is, in a sense, somewhat out of character for me to just pick up and leave, but on the other hand, not that much…I've always been spontaneous and strange or unexpected. The excitement of it all keeps me going and fills me with new found hope and stimulates me to a point of exhilaration.   However, if I had known how long and frustrating this process was going to be, I proooooobably would have had second thoughts. Usually, if something is too much work and I do not see an end result or know what the outcome will be, I give up. But I had this feeling. I knew that no matter how difficult and discouraging this is, I would make it happen for myself. When my recrui

I have an announcement. I have something to look forward to. Something frightening and nerve wracking enough that I might not even have nail beds by the time the date rolls around. This experience will broaden my views and sense of self. This may be my right of passage! Maybe I am glorifying it all and will end up hating it. After all, I am not a big fan of children, but what do I know? I've escaped any room that contained more than two children at a time by simply glancing into it. They are exuberant, loud, and intense but I may get some gems: preferably shy and laid back ones. Regardless of their personality or characteristics all children have the pure joy of a light heart and the open space of a clear mind. To be a kid again would be so liberating to me! I still think I carry certain characteristics: I'm curious and have genuine interest of the world around me and I am taking a big risk, a leap of faith. Life isn’t perfect - and some risks are worth taking. At thi

Lately, I've wondered: am I happy? Fundamentally speaking, I am considered to be 75% wealthier than the world population: I keep my food in a fridge, my clothes in a closet, have a bed to sleep in and a roof over my head. Add to that a healthy family and group of friends who love me, a relatively well-paid job with benefits, a car, and Enzo's unconditional love and affection. I'd say I'm at 100% satisfaction, yet I still feel I can't get any. So I took a happiness test (you can take it here ). My Strengths: I feel loved and supported by my social network. I am not a cynical individual (this one  must be erroneous) My Potential Strengths: I fall in the mid-range of optimism and pessimism. My outlook on life is fairly hopeful. I possess adequate coping skills My Limitations: I have none! I don't think this gave me anything substantial. I'd have to pay $5 to get a full report....how cheap of me. Here is my problem: I have high expectations and c

This past weekend I was ranked in karate, was 41 feet in the air crossing 452 feet of trees, and squeezed in 4 hours of work in order to celebrate orbiting around the Sun for 26 years. I was up at 6:30am for Kyu testing, which is the opportunity to be ranked at kyu: white and brown belt ranking.  The rankings are as followed: White belt: 8th kyu, 7th kyu, 6th kyu, 5th kyu, 4th kyu Brown belt: 3rd kyu, 2nd kyu, 1st kyu Black belt: 1st degree, 2nd degree, 3rd degree, 4th degree, 5th degree (highest degree). As of saturday I was not yet ranked since starting again in February. Obviously my goal is to become a black belt but we were reminded Saturday morning that it was not a Pass/Fail test and it is not as important what rank you are but how strong your mentality and spirit are. You are your own opponent. Shotokan founder Gichin Funakoshi has said that:  [...]mind and technique become one in true karate. We strive to make our physical techniques pure expressions of our mind’s i

I got picked up at 3am for our drive down to Memphis. Tournament day had begun! Five of us in a car for seven and a half hours would be the first testament to how much our bodies could handle in the next couple of days. I slept most of the ride over, although very uncomfortably, but it was not bad and what better way than to get close with my fellow karatekas than by being stuck with them for more than 36 hours? We get there 5 minutes before practice begins. Just enough time to change into our kimonos (or guis) and for me to wrap up pretty much all of my toes to prevent blisters from emerging again (let me know if youd like to see those ) aaaaand I’m ready! We were close to 40 people. Some came all the way from Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota and Georgia. The day was broken down into 4 parts: 10 am - 12 pm: practice drills, three time sparring, closing in on an opponent, counter attacks. After a quick warm up, the leader of the practice demonstrated three differ

After going back to practicing karate for two months, I decided to do something terrifying. Something I despised as a child: KARATE TOURNAMENTS! The thing is, tournaments are scary! Everybody has opponents they don’t like facing for fear of getting their ass whopped! I'm thinking the more I do it, the more I will get used to facing and controlling this fear which is basically what karate teaches you. Karate instills ethical principles and can have spiritual significance. It is also practiced for self-perfection, for cultural reasons, self-defense and as a sport (side note: In 2009, in the 121th International Olympic Committee voting, karate did not receive the necessary two-thirds majority vote to become an Olympic sport (see: IOC factsheet ). That would be amazing to watch! Also, did you know there are 50 million karate practitioners worldwide?) The type of tournament I'm taking part of is called  Jiyu Kumite which tranlates to "free sparring"