Oh, hello there.

Yes, I’m alive.

How have the first four (five) months living in South Korea been for you?

Well, for the first six weeks I was sick.

Like, really sick.

Like, to the point where I went to the hospital, twice.

Don’t worry, thats THE PLACE to be if you want to see a Doctor (oh, you knew that, did you?)

I’ve always had allergies, but for whatever reason, they were super heightened here, to the point where I couldn’t  swallow without extreme pain.

No voice/sore throat doesn’t mix with being a teacher.

Thankfully, one injection later and a 3 day pill-cocktail regimen, you’re back on track!

Also, Doctor visit, injection, meds in total equaled under $16. Love this country already!

Yes, I love this country.

I live in Gwangju, about 3.5 hours South of Seoul.

We are near the coast ( a 1.5 hour bus ride) and parks with lots of hiking trails.

Its also a great hub to get to other parts of South Korea- Busan, 3(ish) hours, Seoul, 3.5 hours, both by bus.

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And the buses, are super nice:

Things are relatively cheap; a local bus ride will run you a little over a dollar ($1.07- Take that! MTA!)

All-You-Can-Eat Korean BBQ establishments are around $9.00

An average, weekly Grocery store run is out $30-$40

My Apartment is F.R.E.E and the utilities in total are less than $40.

I will update once the summer and winter months hit.

How’s the school you’re working at? 

Great! A much better setup than Thailand; here, I feel more like a teacher, whereas in Thailand I felt like a camp counselor.

I’ll dive a little deeper, and do a “Compare and Contrast” post in the near(ish) future, but lets just talk about Korea, shall we?

In just a few short months, I have checked some pretty nice beaches:

I went and waded through the shallow tides of the Jindo Sea Parting Festival. Each March,  the tides at the particular part of the sea get low enough that you can walk across it wearing waders, although, it was mostly foreigners making the bumpy,toe stubbing journey across, while one-lookers watched us, but still a nice day.

Activities of the Jindo festival also included wrestling, a Dog show, various dance performances and a mini Holli Festival.

Next, we headed to the Boseong Green Tea Plantation and took in the lovely, lush greenery…

After trekking down the hillside, we came back own the plantation (Did I mention, the Green Tea Fields smelled-AMAZING?) and enjoyed some Green Tea Ice Cream.

Not pictured: The Green Tea Ice Cream- BECAUSE I WOOFED IT DOWN AFTER WORKING UP A SWEAT TREKKING UP THAT Mountain  Hillside.

Sooo, thats it, for now.

I currently have a side project that I am excited to share with all of you that will be unveiling shortly.

Also, I am going to put this out into the universe right now and say that I have   will come up with a more frequent posting schedule, so look forward to seeing more of me.

Apologies for the long, long overdue, somewhat short, some what of a photo dump post.

But we will talk again soon.

Hugs,

Jenna