It's Fall in Korea

I have to post some more fall pictures because it is just too beautiful outside right now not to share! It was cloudy out today and I knew that would be perfect for capturing the bright leaves of the season. So we ate breakfast and went for a walk. Everything was so lovely, even the little rain couldn't spoil it.

Haedong Yong Gung Temple

We went to Busan last weekend and on Saturday is POURED all day long. There was a huge thunder and lightening storm passing through and we spent most of the day sheltered in a restaurant or drinking wine in an apartment. It was cool to see the lightening and listen to the pounding rain, but we were very grateful when the skies were clear and the sun was shining the following day.

We went to Haedong Yong Gung Temple, which is very picturesquely perched on the rocks by the sea. It was super crowded that day but we still had a great time.  

Haedong Yong Gung Temple

  You walk down a narrow stone path of steps with stone lanterns and bamboo lining the path. If there weren't forty thousand other people with me, it would've felt like I'd stepped back in time. It was charming in a spiritual way and everything seemed very old. Don't forget to rub the Buddha's belly to ensure you have a boy one day.

walking on the path, our first glimpse of the ocean and temple

rub for boy babies!

The steps take you down and across a small stone bridge, where you can stop and toss coins into the fountains below for luck. Extra points if you make it into one the bowls!

throw a coin and make a wish

As with any Korean temple, it was painted beautifully. I love the attention to detail and variety of colors. It's stunning! Also very cool was that bright gold, fat and happy Buddha. Isn't he jolly??!

love those hanging lanterns

We took more stone steps up and saw a brilliantly white statue of the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. She was beautiful and her view of the sea was equally so.

Buddhist Goddess of Mercy

On the way out we all took pictures with our zodiac birth year animal statues. I'm the year of the tiger and Spencer is the year of the ox.

Spencer and Maggie High at Haedong Yong Gung Temple

To get to Haedong Yong Gung Temple, take bus number 181 and head east from outside the Haeundae subway stop.

Dilemmas and Delights

The weather is now officially cold. It's no longer cool; it's cold. I was hoping that things would stay warmer this year until we left on December 2nd, but that was more like wishful thinking. Deep down, I knew we would have to face some cold weather since Korea seems to have six months of winter and six months of all the other seasons. Oh well, at least we don't have to stay the whole winter!

Here's what's been going on lately in Maggie-ville:

Dilemmas

• Indian visa paperwork. We're applying for our Indian visas now and as with obtaining any visa, there always seems to be confusion and chaos. We now have everything together and plan on having a courier pick it up on Monday morning. Here's to hoping it gets back soon. I always stress when I send my passport away. 
• Every month we write "report cards" for all our students. Recently, they changed the format we use. We used to use one report card for six months, where the kids would take them home, show their parents, and bring them back. Now we just give them the report card and they take it home. We have to fill out a new one every month for each student. Two months into this new method, we run out of report cards because they didn't re-order them. Now most of the report cards won't be done in time. It's comical because this is sooo typical hagwon behavior. 
• We've begun sorting, throwing stuff out, and packing up boxes. With only three weeks left, it's time to start thinking about what we really want to keep and what we can leave behind. I thought we would have so much stuff to send home but really, we don't have much. I keep cutting more and more clothes out of my wardrobe. When I did this before we came to Korea, I thought, "How will I ever live with so few clothes??!" Now I'm like, "Don't need this. Don't wear this." Toss, give away, give away. It's no problem!!! And is actually refreshing. Now, everything in my closet is something I love and will wear. 
• Parents' Viewing. Ugh, the dreaded time when my kindergarten students' mommies come in to watch me teach. It's terrible. My director gets all crazy and stressed and makes me all crazy and stressed. Everything gets changed a zillion times, all last minute. I'll be SO GLAD when it's over on Thursday.
  

Delights

• Fall is beautiful in Korea and I just LOVE seeing the trees change color. It's one of the greatest simple pleasures and makes me happy every day. 

• Skyping with my parents. I got to talk to my mom and dad this morning and I love seeing their faces and getting news from home. They are both amazing and beautiful people and I can't wait to hug them tightly when we make it back to California in the spring. 
• Mini-trip of a lifetime. I was searching flights back to the states and noticed that pretty much every one of them had a layover and some of them were crazy long, like 23 hours. Then I thought, "How much can you do in a city in 23 hours??" The wheels started turning as I furiously searched more and more, from different airports, into different airports, different days, different airlines. It was (and still is!) so exciting!! We could be coming from our SE Asia trip and stop for 23 hours in Cairo, Istanbul, Munich, or Kuwait. The most exciting for me is Cairo. I searched some more and found out that we could easily go see the pyramids in that time. THE PYRAMIDS!!! I am a little worried about traveling there now and will have to do more research before booking the flight, but just realizing this opportunity has been awesome. I'm stoked! 
• Halloween at Wonderland was really fun. We had parties all day! Easiest work day, ever! :) 
• Audiobooks are my new favorite thing. I love listening to them before I go to sleep. It's so relaxing and I love being able to picture everything in my head as it's told to me. I've started listing to the Harry Potter series, read by Jim Dale, who is just amazing. I love hearing the different voices and accents of the characters. Since I've read the Harry Potter books tons of times (especially the first three), it's super cool to hear them this way. It's like a whole new experience.
• THREE WEEKS LEFT! (of work) :) 

Loving Fall

Fall is the best time to visit Korea, without a doubt. The weather is perfect, the trees are beautiful, and the summer rains have finally stopped pouring. Every day, on the way to work I look at all the trees and note their colors. It's such a simple pleasure to see them change and watch nature at work. It's so beautiful!

loving the leaves

on the way to work

pretty gingko tree

this street is juuust starting to change

The only bad thing about fall is this:

smelly gingko fruit! yuck!

Korean Halloween at Wonderland

Halloween at Wonderland was wonderful! We had parties all day. We played games, learned about the origins of Halloween, colored pictures, and did Halloween themed word searches. It was bliss from a teacher's standpoint.

A lot of the kindergarten kids dressed up and they were so excited and cute!

Jayden, Caden, Owen, and Andrew

monsters!

A monster and four princesses: Lindsey, Stella, Clara, Stephanie, and Renee

Neptune!

Madison and Jason Teacher

Neptune

game time!

some of my Smurfs

Smurf class

Caden dressed up as....I don't know

Melanie and William

Little witch Lindsey all tuckered out!

Halloween moon...spooky and orange!

Dilemmas and Delights

This week went by so quickly and the weekend was even quicker! It's great that time is seeming to speed up, because I can NOT wait to get my feet on some Filipino sand. :)

Dilemmas

• I'm getting sick. The weather is getting cooler and it seems like sickness is just popping up everywhere. I've been trying to combat it by just taking it easy and using the neti pot and I hope I can get rid of it soon!
• There are two classes that I just can not seem to enjoy no matter how I try. They are lower level and so it takes a bit more work to communicate with them. I'm just not as gung-ho as I once was, I guess. 
• We went to Busan and were expecting to see a massive fireworks show but there was torrential rain, thunder, and lightening and the show got postponed....to a time when we couldn't see it because we had to leave. Wah, wah. 
• It's the end of the month which means, report cards. Blah. 

Delights

• We got a package from my mom and we got tons of goodies! :) She is seriously the best at sending packages, always tucking little surprises in every nook and cranny. Thank you Mom!! We love you! 
• We saw our wedding video, finally!! We've been married for a while now but for multiple reasons beyond our control, we hadn't been able to the video until now. It's beautiful and amazing and I"m SO glad we have it. It takes me right back! Thanks for making it for us Mike! 
• We bought a little fall plant from Home Plus and it makes me happy to see the pretty blooms when I get home every day. 
• I read the first two books in the trilogy called Matched by Ally Condie last week. I would've read the third one, too but it doesn't come out until November 13th. If you liked Hunger Games or 1984, you'll like this series! 
• My eyes are feeling great and I can see so well! LASIK is well worth it. 
• Last but certainly not least, we had a great time in Busan (even with the rain) visiting friends and dancing the night away in Halloween costumes. Thank you Courtney, Amanda, and Pete for being great hosts!! We had SO MUCH fun! 

  I love that Gangnam Style pose, Holly! :)

Praise and Gratitude From Your Boss

How many times has your boss told you "thank you"? How many times have they said, "good job" or "good work" or "you're doing well"?

If you work at a hagwon in Korea, that number is probably numbingly low.

Praise and gratitude are two things that are definitely missing from the how-to-be-a-good-manager textbook in Korea. I've heard from lots of fellow teachers and live it every day myself: "thank you" is not common.

At first, I didn't notice it so much. I guess I didn't think about it because I was on such a high of being in a new country and trying to learn how to wrangle kids into learning English. It was only after almost a year that I realized I was feeling some resentment towards management. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and under-appreciated, (even if you really are appreciated!) because of communication issues.

I want to be clear here, the management at our hagwon are nice and from what I've heard from other teachers, pretty great compared to what they sometimes have to deal with. However, I only have had one or two times where they've told me "good job" and "thank you" is a rarity.

I like to think of it as a cultural thing or language barrier but it's something you should know if you're planning on working in Korea because it can be disheartening.

I'm very curious to know, if you're an English teacher in Korea, does your boss ever say "good job" or "thank you"??

EDIT: Tonight, the very night of when this post went live, we had a free BBQ outside in the garden after work. Just wanted to let you all know.