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The Jen Diaries

Update: South Korea

September 12, 2013

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

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Head Space

November 13, 2014

Imagine a place where, by simply being there, boosts your confidence, uplifts your thoughts and broadens your mind so as to make room for the ambition and optimism that is about to inhabit/set in. Imagine a place where the time you've spent there makes you realize who you are as a person and figure out what you want in life. Imagine yourself coming back from a place where you've established a group of genuine friends, where you've adapted to the city's whereabouts as if it were the back of your hand, where planning trips was feasible in a few weeks and where you felt it was home...Why would you leave? Alas, the countdown had begun: six weeks, four weeks, two weeks left... Not all good things have to come to an end, I thought, entertaining the idea to carry on another year. Leaving a place where memories could not be duplicated, where even the low points were overshadowed by the...

The Runners

May 28, 2014

Since moving to Korea, I have encountered people who have come here and after a couple of years of living, have decided to make it their permanent home, and not return. They are called "Lifers". Some stay because they've met someone, or a person who has the same affinity for the country, or met a native, or simply enjoyed what the lifestyle had to offer as opposed to what they knew was awaiting upon their return back home. Being a "Lifer" however comes with these notions that anyone who travels for a year or more, or isn't interested in working just yet or getting married, must be running away from something. They are running away from life, escaping it. They must have been leading miserable, awful lives back home, or experienced a traumatic event that made them want to never look back. People assume that people who travel long term are running away from problems, from the inevitability of life. My own family and friends have asked me "Are you su...

Life of a Seoulite...

March 05, 2014

February has been kind of low key. We haven't taken any weekend trips or had any time off to explore. I went to a Buddhist temple site but that was boring. I wandered my eyes around for 30 seconds aaaaaaannd I was done. There's been some changes at work; the school acquired two new foreign teachers, British lads. I warned them of my aptitude to speak in accents (in a British accent of course) to which one quipped it was "rubbish". We get along great! The principal has not been herself lately. She's been kind and understanding which is worrisome and makes me uncomfortable. I thought I would've formed some sort of bond with the children by now, or shown more affinity towards them but my heart remains as cold as ice no matter how cute they are while belting out the now annoying song "Let It Go". It still won't thaw. Sorry Elsa, they are still assholes. Eating out can be quite ex...