Korea Life: Coffee Shops

I had a given up drinking coffee on a regular basis about a year ago. I had switched it for green tea. But it is so hard not to be a coffee drinker in Korea. Why? Because there are cute little coffee shops EVERYWHERE! Down every road, on every corner I find them. The cutest, most welcoming coffee shops that say "Come in, Have a sweet latte." How can I resist the coffee shops. Yes I know they serve non coffee beverages, but I do love the taste of coffee. So it is hard for me to go to a coffee shop and not get a latte.

In Houston, we have Starbucks everywhere. And most starbucks look exactly the same, with a few minor difference. But the menus are the same and the people look the same. But here there are so many small, local shops. All of them have different drinks and items, all of them look so different. It is absolutely wonderful. I have fallen in love with all my local shops and a new one just opened up two doors down from me that I am dying to try.

It may not be healthy, but it is relaxing. I love a warm cup of coffee and the weather is only getting cooler. I know in winter I will really appreciate all the coffee shops being so close to warm me up.

It is also nice to have the fresh coffee, because most of the coffee in the stores is instant coffee. The instant coffee here is good. But after drinking it all week, it is so nice to have a fresh cup of coffee at a cafe.

Korea Life: Living Off Convenience Store Food

The first few weeks I was here  I could not find an international ATM. So, I was not eating out but living off of cheap convenience store food (thank you GS25). When I say convenience store food, I do not mean the really processed, disgusting hot dogs and nachos you get in the states. Here convenience store food is much different. You can get as healthy or as bad of food as you want. I probably now have an unhealthy love for Korean convenience store sandwiches. Most of them have eggs/egg salad and are oh so delicious. But I have gotten kimbap to sandwiches to a full on stew from the convenience store. None of it cost over 25000won (2.50 US). The point of this being you can live off of convenience store food for cheap. Now the second point, this blog has a lot about losing weight and healthy living. Even though I was poor and eating from the convenience store. I still ate in moderation and chose wisely. So instead of gaining, I lost weight the first few weeks. Meaning that even if you have to live poorly your first few weeks here or even months here, that does not mean you will gain weight. Choosing wisely and eating in moderation are still big factors.

Lets move on to my real obsession that I buy from the convenience store.... banana flavored milk. It was honestly one of the things I wanted to try most when I came here. It is a hit or miss among foreigners, but it was a bullseye with me. I love the stuff. I would drink a bath of it. Even though I grocery shop now, it is something I still need to buy from the convenience store (this is to discourage me from drinking more than one a day because they are high in sugar).

I can now report that I can access my money back home and am back to cooking for myself. But I still treat myself to an egg sandwich once a week and banana milk a little more often. I am very happy I went through those broke convenience store times because there are other gems I found that I will probably continue to eat as well.

Korea Life: Teaching Kindergarten

Before I came here I was not a kid person. They annoyed me. When they screamed, I winced. When they ran, I wanted to trip them. I did not want them in my restaurants, I did not want them touching me. So why did I move to South Korea to teach English to kindergarteners?? For adventure, for experience, for money, but now.....

Oh... how things have changed. Teaching Korean 7 year olds (in the US they would be 5/6 year olds) has really changed how I feel about small children. It may be the mothering instinct that I suppressed for so long or it could be the responsibility you feel for your class. Or it may be the fact that they are all soooooo cute, I mean seriously adorable children. But I love all my students, even the ones that are complete brats (and I have many brats).

I feel like it may not be my place to comment on these things because I have only been teaching a month and a half. However, it did not take long for me to love my students. As soon as they were put into my care, I felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility for their well being. They are only children and so small, so you have to take care of them. It has been a challenge though. Going from not being around kids at all to teaching them all day, it has been hard. I will probably spend the whole year learning how to best cope with them and how I can take care of them better. (I think anybody would do the same though because in all aspects of your life you never stop learning.)

I like to think my classes warmed up to me as quickly as I warmed up to them. They are very affectionate and give me lots of hugs and cuddles. They say very nice things to me and give me pictures they draw for me and cards with cute things. It is a very rewarding job, but not easy by any means. We do lots of fun things in class (although sometimes it is hit or miss with the activities). So,
I am constantly moving around with them and lifting them (or peeling them off of my legs) so it is an all day workout. I knew it was gong to be a different lifestyle than the cubicle I was used to. But I did not know how much until I was on my feet and lifting small (but heavy) children all day.

I am sure I will have more updates about teaching as the year goes on. But I think this is a good overview of how it feels to start teaching in South Korea, specifically  coming from being a person who disliked (now past tense) kids.

Korea Life: My Apartment

I have been living in my apartment just over a month a now. I read a lot about how I would have to adjust to a lot of things. However, so far, I have found the differences minimal, to say the least. The apartment is small, but I think it is perfect for one person. Just enough room. I have everything I need in the apartment, with a little room to spare. It is comparable if not bigger than a studio apartment in Houston or any other big city.
It is a one room apartment with a small kitchen and a bathroom. As you can see it is not the biggest thing ever. But it holds a desk/table, bookshelf, tv/stand, queen size bed, drawers and has a nice size closet. The floor has a good amount of space for my workouts in the morning. I have enough room in the bottom of my closet to store my weights and yoga mat. I am sad that I filled the top up and my clothes are trying to bust out of the closet. My kitchen is very small and cannot hold much food. But, as I have said, it is enough for one. It is a pain to cook in because there is no room to cut veggies. There is no oven, only a stove. It saves on a lot of space and a lot of heat, so I do not mind.

So, let's move on to the differences. The main one is the bathroom. It is not like a traditional western bathroom. There is no shower or bath tub, it is just one tile room. Your shower head is connected to the sink. So you have to take a shower in the middle of the room. There is not curtain or anything. Just you in the middle of the bathroom showering. It means everything gets wet in the bathroom, at least at first. It is not bad, just different. Another difference is the washer and dryer, or lack thereof. There is only a washer and then lots of drying racks to hang your clothes. My porch, which in the US would be used for patio furniture, is solely used for my washer and drying racks. The last difference is that it is not normal to keep the A/C on for a extended amounts of time. In Houston, the A/C stays running, even when it is cool outside. It is not normal to keep the windows open all the time. But here it is very normal to keep your windows open instead of turning on the A/C or fan. So, my windows stay open all day and night, I have only turned on the A/C  a few times since I have been here. This could be because of a slight weather difference (hot/humid is all Houston is and the weather is beautiful here) but I also think it is just something we get used to doing now. There are a few other nuances that I think are well known. You don't wear your shoes indoors, so there is a spot in the front to take them off and put them. The plugs are different. You have different controls for the hot water. But those are all a given.
I am not done decorating yet because I need more on the walls to complete it. I have been on a search for really cute things to fill my apartment with. You know, the quintessential Asian cute stuff they are known for. I have found a few things. Cute stickers for my kitchen and bathroom walls. But nothing that I am super excited over. I will try to remember to take more pictures when I am done completely decorating. That could take awhile though.

Korea Life: The Arrival

I have been living in Cheonan, South Korea for a month now. I meant to update sooner buuuuttttt surprise surprise three prong chargers are not easy to find in Korea. However, I finally got one on Friday.

Sooooo, my Korea adventure started a month ago. I have not taken many pictures. But that does not mean I have not been exploring everything, everywhere that I can. I have been trying lots of new foods and meeting new people.

I spent my first week in a love motel. It was kind of funny, because I was not expecting it. But the motel was very cute and super clean. It was fun for my first week, although a little creepy.. I think some people got the wrong impression of what I was doing there. For anyone that doesn't know what a love motel is, it is a cheap motel where people can go for uhhhhh "love".

I will post more specific blog posts about my apartment, food so far, and teaching kindergartners in Korea.

The Transition Abroad: Stocking Up

It's coming down to my last week in Houston and I am feeling the pressure to get what I need. I have been slowly stocking up on a few essentials. But now that it's down to the wire, I need some of my favorite products that I know I won't be able to get in Korea (or at least not as cheap as Wal-Mart). This should be a calm head to the store type of process right? For me... no... I realized that I may not be able to order all the things I want online and for them to ship to me in time. So I have been on a buying frenzy, and funny (not funny) enough something already got lost in the mail. (UPDATE : my amazing driver found my box!)

So, what do I need to stock up on? First my favorite mascara. Luckily I don't go through mascara that quickly (surprising since I use like 5 coats per lash), so I am guessing I need at least 4 tubes of it.... is that not enough? I don't know, I don't want to run out, I've been using the same mascara for 4-5 years and I don't like any other mascara. Mousse... it is the bane of my existence. My hair is naturally wavy/curly and some mousse' work and some do not. I finally found a formula that works well with my hair and gets my waves perfect. It is coming with me. 10 bottles....maybe just 6? I use it almost every day, so there will never be enough. Other things are simple and I can just grab at the store either when I get there or quickies before I leave. But my non negotiable items, I have no idea how many to bring for the year. I should have been counting how many I go through during the year.

Sneakers are one of my biggest fears right now. My training shoes just wore out recently (the traction on the bottom was gone, working out was so hard when I was slipping everywhere). Those lasted 4 years but with little to no use for 3 of them. I wore them down over the last 5 or so months. So I bought a new pair and it just hit me that I will need more than one pair to get me through since I workout 6 times a week. Now I am wondering if they will get to me in time if I order them TODAY. And so on and so on.

As you can read I am not a calm person and with all the lists and preparation I take, panic will always set it when things get closer. And inevitably, no matter how prepared you are, you probably forgot something. Or something that wasn't supposed to break or wear out will. Thank goodness for grandma saying she will ship me anything I forget or anything I need. Plus I am sure that I can find half of this stuff there, but my favorite saying is "It is better to be over-prepared than under-prepared."

Health: Staying Positive and Staying Motivated

During this journey my friends have expressed how proud they are of me and enviable they are of my ability to stay motivated. The ability to stick to something wholeheartedly for a year and having the same motivation, if not more, than when I started, it inspires them. I tend to always look at them baffled when they say these things, partially because, although I like compliments, I get severely embarrassed when given one to my face but mainly because it hasn't been hard to stay motivated throughout the year. I have a goal I want to reach, I have a fitness level I want to reach, I am not there yet, so I need to keep going. I see the changes in myself and I like them, so every change spotted adds to my motivation. I may even be too motivated, I have had to reevaluate my process in the past because I was over-training and under-eating at more than one point during this journey.

However, staying positive has been a whole different struggle. One that goes up and down with every passing day. Like most weight loss journeys, mine hasn't been completely linear. I do not see consistent losses every week. Sometimes the scale won't move for a month. These weeks are hard. I can be really rough on not only my body (over training to break through) but also my self image because I take out my frustration in the mirror sometimes. I know I put in the effort. I diagnose and overthink my whole system of weight loss. I dissect everything I am doing to the point of obsession and wonder why my scale isn't reflecting my effort. I read EVERY SINGLE article on why the scale may not be moving. Those weeks are the worst and while I keep going, the stress that this causes is sometimes unbearable. (And according to a few articles, may be the reason I am not losing weight. Vicious cycle).

So how do you stay positive during the weeks the scale decides it does not want to move? Realize that weight loss is not perfectly linear. Especially when you get closer to your goal weight. The pounds take more time and effort to get off. But mostly you have to put your full trust in the process. If you are putting in the work and eating correctly, the scale will move again. It is just a matter of time. I always tell myself, "the first 80 pounds came off, it is only a matter of time before the rest follows." This is after dissection and finding nothing wrong with my eating or exercise habits. And don't be too hard on yourself. Sometimes these things happen, and there is no point in beating up your self image because, as I've mentioned in a previous post, those two things should not correlate. It is disappointing but you are never going to get further if you don't keep trying. And you won't want to keep trying if you are beating yourself up, you need to pump yourself up instead. (That was really cheesy... I apologize.... Never-mind, I don't apologize. "Pump Up the Jams" is now in my head to back up that sentence).

Now patience isn't my strong suit, so I know that sometimes no matter how many positive things you tell yourself, it is still hard to see a light through the darkness. But even I know that at some point I should put faith in myself. I know what I am doing. I know when I am cheating and should not expect scale movement. I know when I am on point and if the scale doesn't move, then wait it out. So it is easy to regain a positive disposition when I remember to trust myself and what I am doing.