Three Cheers For Green Tea, Boseong Style!

Did you know that there are only three working tea plantations in the US? And one of them is in my home state, South Carolina? Yup! Well, that means, if you're an avid tea drinker like me, all the tea needs to come from outside the country... usually from places like India, China, and Southeast Asia. But, surprise, surprise! Korea grows tea too! 

Particularly,  GREEN TEA OF GLORIOUS DELICIOUSNESS!!

Thanks to having a 3-day weekend for Buddha's birthday, we headed five hours south to Boseong, the home of Korea's green tea plantations! Little did we know how completely infused in 녹차 nokcha, or green tea, this weekend would be.

Would you believe that the 20-something people waiting to take pictures simultaneously "awwww'ed" as we took this picture? hehe

"Please, Don't Be Looks Like Daniel!" aka Student EngRish

What happens when you tell 90+ Korean students that your sister and best friend are getting married? Or better yet, that they are coming to Korea to be their new teachers? 

Well, today is your lucky day to find out!

As many of you know, when our current teaching contract finishes in September, Dan's sister and her now-husband will be coming to take our place! We're still throwing around ideas for what we'll be doing at that time (any ideas are welcome!)... but that's beside the point of this post. :) For Brad and Rebecca's wedding, we asked some of our students to make them a special wedding message/drawing. Doing paperwork for the teaching visa can be dark and gloomy at times; hopefully these will help bring some joy.

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-"Teacher, I don't know what to say." -"Well, what do you like?" -"Aliens." -"That's perfect!"

Is Reverse Culture Shock Real?

If you’ve ever been lived in another country for an extended amount of time, and then come back “home” to visit or for good, you know what I’m talking about. That ever-strange feeling of having stepped into your own personal Twilight Zone. Everyone else seems to be going about life as normal, while  you walk around in a daze thinking, “Was all this really once normal, daily life for me?”

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from the Fort Pitt Bridge

Why Being An Au Pair Rocked

To say I was “restless” my last semester of college wouldn’t begin to cover how antsy my feet were to get moving. I had just returned from an amazing semester abroad at Oxford while squeezing in a whirlwind tour of 12 different European countries.

With student loans and a frustration for classroom learning, I didn’t know what untraditional post-school options I had. Then, one glorious day, my French professor said the fateful words to me, "Why don’t you go to France and be a jeune fille au pair, like a nanny?" ...

Click here to read more about my experience as an au pair in Paris at my guest post on the lovely blog C'est Christine.

 

My lil' cuties!

On Teaching Students: When You Don't Speak The Same Language

Many people ask me, "How can you teach Korean students without knowing Korean? Do I need to learn Korean to teach in Korea?" As for the second question, we got our job (as do most English teachers) because we DON'T speak Korean. Korean parents like the idea of their child being in the same room with a native English speaker who has no choice but to speak English. Eventually their child will just "get English"... right? Regardless of whether or not that's the case, you definitely don't need to be fluent in Korean to teach in Korea. But let me tell you now, the day I purposefully studied some Korean swear words, my eyes were opened to a whole new world.