A job, well, done.

The end of June in Korea means two things.  First, that the teaching year is wrapping up, or in my case ending, and second that by extension, everyone is gearing up to leave the city/ country for their vacations or in some cases for good.

 For me, the end of June signifies that I have made it through my first year as a Freshman prof without too many disasters or dissappointments and for me, that is something worth celebrating. 

As sad as I am that many people will be leaving shortly (or have already left) it is a fact of life as a foreign contracted worker in South Korea and for those of us remaining, life will go on.

I am especially excited that although I have decided to renew for another contract, I will still have the chance to go home back to Ontario, Canada for a good part of the summer.  Although this means that I will be leaving my wonderful boyfriend behind for 6 weeks, it also means that I will have the chance to see friends, family and places that I have not see in over a year and a half!!

It will be my first summer in Canada since my departure in August 2009 and I am as excited about having a REAL summer vacation back home and not having to work a summer job as anything else I could think of!!  Swimming, sun bathing, long luxurious evenings on the patio and at the cottage....

The only thing missing will be my boy, who will be teaching in Korea till the end of July and then heading back to Durben, SA for a family visit of his own!  It's funny because we're both at that point where we would actually really love to introduce each other to our friends and families back home, but the reality of time, money and distance makes it quite impossible to do so.

This brings forward one of the harder parts of bing in a relationship with someone from another country in another country than either of your own!  It's fairly convaluted when you think about it, but maybe some day we'll make the trip to Durban, SA and Toronto, CAN respectively?!

         

                        Students chilling outside in the main courtyard outside of our faculty building.  

Looking back on this past academic year, I'm pretty happy with what I have accomplished both as an educator and as a worker in a new environment.  I feel happy with the progress and the connections that I have made and I look forward to becoming an even better teacher next year... that is, if they hire me....

Now comes the slightly annoying waiting game to see if the university will offer me a second contract and if I will infact have the chance to continue the life that I have created for myself with hard work and determination here in Seoul, SK?

The fact that I have been given a schedule for next semester already and asked to even take on an overtime class really does bode well for my future in the academy, but you never know.  I have learned to never expect a logical, rational conclusion when it comes to working in Korea, but all that I can hope for is that in fact it DOES work out for the best.

So here's to a job well done and the reward of having a summer free to do whaever I please with.

Everyday Pleasures

~Summer is a time for doing things more slowly~

I can't say that I have been the most creatively productive person recently, but I do try to bring in elements of the creative into my daily life as much as possible.  Today was our final staff meeting and farewel luncheon, and we all convened for lunch at the Palace Hotel near Express Bus Terminal for a magnificent buffet lunch. 

Inspired not only by my gourmet meal, but also by the fact that the hotel was very near to the French village, I decided to make my own little gourmet meal for dinner.

I went over to the Paris Croissant and the Home Plus Express in the French district to see what I could find.  I was not dissappointed as I found not only a scrumptious 'Pain de Campagne', but also a healthy little basil plant (something that I've been searching for for a long time!!) 

After a long afternoon of leasurely reading and sketching, I made my way back to my apartment and made this tasty little morsel.  In all, it took about 15 minutes.  It took even less time to polish it off, but it was worth it!  Read on for my invented recipe.

Tomato and basil on toast:
-Cut two generous slices of bread and stick them into the toaster till they are medium brown.
-Finely dice two tablespoons of green onions (or to taste)
-Dice 8-10 cherry tomatos and add them in a bowl with the onions.
-Pick about 4-5 basil leaves and finely chop them.  (Add to bowl)
-Add salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil and mix up mixture thoroughly.
-Once the toast pops, slice 1 clove of garlic and rub the raw garlic about 4 times across the surface of the bread.  You don't want to add too much, just enough to give it a bit of a zing!
-Spoon about 3/4 of your mixture onto the toast and place on a baking tray. 
-Pour a little glug of olive oil over top and stick into a toaster oven at 150oC for about 5-6 minutes.
-Remove from tray (I used tongs to place them on the plate).
-Sprinkle the rest of the tomato, basil, onion mixture on top and coat with a final drizzle of olive oil.

Serve immediately with a little glass of chilled white wine (or whatever you'd like to drink) and ENJOY!!!!!!!!

Alex and Ryno's big broadway birthday bash!

Growing up in a close familly, specifically with a grandma whose birthday was only sepparated by two days from mine, birthdays have always featured prominantly in my life.  I've missed not celebrating my special day WITH someone else in recent years, but thankfully I was able to continue that tradition this year with my boyfriend Ryno.  One of the strangest and coolest thing about my boyfriend, Ryno is that we nearly share the same birthday (with the addition of two years) but still...  His birthday is June 9th and mine is June 10th if you can believe it?!  Possibly this is what makes us such a good couple; we are both wacky Geminis.  To celebrate our 26th and 28th birthdays respectively, we decided to get out and see the broadway production of "Wicked" which is curently touring in Seoul with an ENGLISHEEE cast!!  Dressed to impress, we set out on our b-day adventure with big smiles and even bigger sunglasses.

 English performance quality is something that is not that easily found in Korea and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to splurge and do something that we would otherwise not have done or spent our money on.  I was happy to do something that not only reminded me of how awesome home is, but that pushed me to do something I haven't yet done in Korea (see a musical, lol).  The Bluesquare Samsung Electronics Hall in Yongsan gu, was a great venue that featured a wonderful restaurant and a modern environment.  It was surprising to me, that such a cool place could be hidden just off beside Itaewon.  I'd never been to that area before and appart from the Theatre, there were mostly foreign embassies and International schools.   

The performance was in all respects "WICKED!"  The singing, the dancing, the acting, the humor... it all reminded me of not only how much I enjoy the arts, but also how much I miss curently about growing up and living in Canada; where sarcasm and skirts that cover your ass are not completely odd notions.  I sat straight up in my seat, smiling from ear to ear and thought how magical and wonderful it was that I could afford and enjoy such forms of entertainment surrounded by good people and in the mutual company of someone I love.  It was a good birthday present and a good birthday realization. 

It was 3 hours of joy that lead us to the conclusion that Broadway, while exciting is also exhausting to watch.  We took a couple hours to chill before heading off to Hongdae to meet up with a bunch of our friends for dinner and drinks.  What a to do!!  The meet up went well enough, but trying to get 16 foreigners seated and served in any restaurant in Korea is a major production that saw us turned away from our originally chosen restaurant and then when we found another venue, they managed to NOT even serve us drinks after 40 minutes, so off we went again in search of somewhere that would.

Finally we found a restaurant that would accommodate us as a group, however, getting served was another ordeal and from this entire shmozel I've learnt to ONLY make large party plans at restaurants that in fact WILL take reservations on weekends.  Fortunately, everyone was very good natured about it and we managed to get some food and beers into us before the night was too far gone!

After dinner, we decided to tone it down a notch and so head over to the hippy bar 500 (Obeg) for some great cocktails and a hooka!  I love bringing people to Obeg, because every time I do, people are always impressed by it's cool vibe and chill DJs.  I hadn't been in ages and while the drinks have increased somewhat in price, it's still the same fab, relaxed place I always loved in my first year in Korea.

 I was so happy to share a second birthday in a row with some of my good friends; Lindsay, Dara and Jesse!  I've been really lucky with the friends that I have made in the past couple of years here.  I was pleased to be joined by a bunch of new friends as well whose company I have come to enojoy and really appreciate recently.  It's always hard to be away from ones family on birthdays and special holidays, but being surrounded by good people and good friends does go a long way to make up for the lack of close family on these kinds of occations.  Thanks to all of my friends who made my birthday and make my life in Korea a much better experience!

A special thanks to my honey bunny, who has become my best friend these last 6 months and whose company I hope to enjoy for much longer.  A birthday to remember for all of the good times that were had and enjoyed and all of the liquor that was ingested (responsibly of course!)  Till next year!