Archive for the 'Home Life' Category

May

Changes – Part Sam (ie 3)

OK. Here’s the deal. I was just offered a job in Daejeon. I think this is the one. The director’s teaching philosophy meshes quite well with mine. I think she has a great kindergarten program. She’s willing to work with my schedule (I finish here the beginning of July but she doesn’t really need me until the beginning of August). Daejeon seems like a pretty cool city. It’s known as the Silicon Valley of Korea. That’s right up my ally (even though I wouldn’t be able to really take advantage of it).

Once I get some more details, I’ll update again.

I’m so excited.

posted by Kathryn in Daejeon,Home Life,Korea,Moving and have Comments (2)

May

Changes – Part Ee (ie 2)

So after accepting the job at the school in Pohang, but before signing the contract, I backed out. I don’t feel bad about it at all. Let’s just say they were playing games with money that probably would have cost me in the neighborhood of 2 grand by the end of my contract.

Please understand I’m not a money hungry monster. But when a company (and let’s face it, these schools are still businesses) plays it fast and loose with pay in the contract, it doesn’t bode well for what they might do while working there. I’m sure it’s a great place to work. But I’d rather be safe than sorry. Without going into details, if they had decided to take me out of the kindergarten, I would have lost almost 20% of my monthly salary. No thank you.

So I’m back in the job hunt. Ugh. The good news is Little Campus has asked me to stay until the end of June. That gives me another 3 weeks-ish to find another job.

*wipes sweat off brow*

So, I’m still leaving Little Campus. I’m leaving a bit later than thought. And I’m not going to Pohang.

posted by Kathryn in Home Life,Little Campus,Moving,Off time and have No Comments

May

Changes!

I will be moving shortly. Like in less than a month. I’ve accepted a new job at one of the Korea Poly schools. This one happens to be in Pohang. They look like good schools with an interesting philosophy and curriculum.

Pohang is an industrial city near the east coast of South Korea. It’s a big steel manufacturing place. In fact, the city is a sister city of Pittsburg, PA. And their football (that is soccer) team is called the Steelers. As a loyal native Clevelander, I don’t know if I can root for them. But I’ll try. :-)

Check out their city website. There appear to be quite a few beaches as well as temples, museums (the POSCO steel museum looks interesting) and markets to visit. I’m looking forward to living in a new place, though I’m sad to leave my friends in Ulsan behind. Luckily, it’s not that far from Ulsan. I’ve been told it’s about an hour and a half away.

posted by Kathryn in Home Life,Moving,Pohang and have No Comments

Feb

Happy New Year!

Today is Seollal (설날), or Lunar New Year. It’s a time when Koreans travel to the homes where they grew up and celebrate the new year. In that way, it’s similar to Chuseok. They dress in Hanbok, the traditonal Korean dress. One traditional food eaten during Seollal is tteokguk, which is a soup with rice cakes. Although I didn’t have it this year, I did make it last year. A student’s mother gave me a number of packages of rice cakes as a gift.

One traditional activity is kite flying. I was wandering around Ulsan today, but I didn’t get to any of the parks. At least that’s where I assume people would be flying kites. Another tradition is called Sebae. Children show respect to their elders and wish them a happy new year by bowing deeply and saying “saehae bok manhi badeuseyo” which translates to “please receive many blessings in the new year”. Children are rewarded with money, usually in the form of brand new bills.

More information can be found at the following sites:

posted by Kathryn in Celebrations,Food and Drink,Holidays,Home Life,Korean Vocabulary and have No Comments

Jan

Happy 2010

I’d like to wish everyone a very happy New Year. As we big 2009 goodbye, I hope everyone has had a productive year. I hope the same is true for 2010.

posted by Kathryn in Celebrations,Fun things,Holidays,Home Life,Off time and have Comment (1)

Dec

Merry Christmas

I’d like to wish all my friends, family and readers a very Merry Christmas. Stay safe this holiday season. You are all important in my life.

posted by Kathryn in Celebrations,Holidays,Home Life,Off time and have No Comments

Oct

Songpyeon

In my post on Chuseok, I talked about songpyeon.

I was at Lotte Mart this afternoon doing my weekly grocery shopping. I was actually having a songpyeon craving. Does this mean I’ve been in Korea way too long for my own good? I don’t know.

So I bought a small package of them. The homemade ones (as provided by my students in the past) are better. But these were passible. There were white ones and green ones in the package. I’ve also eaten pink ones.