Birthday Celebration in Seoul—I'm Old!

Technology is basically my best friend while living abroad, allowing me to communicate with people around the world. This is particularly important during holidays, and my birthday is no exception. Nothing has made me appreciate family and friends more than celebrating holidays without them, but this isn't to say that I don't enjoy holidays while abroad!

This year, Rob really spoiled me. I had a rough first week of November at work and I came home on Friday night to flowers, a card and a pre-birthday present (because isn’t your birthday a week-long celebration too?).  On Saturday, I was woken up with kisses and even more presents. As most of you know, I’m anti-cold weather, but we ventured out in the rain to eat a delicious brunch at Honey Bowl. OH GOD. Honey Bowl, I want to take you home with me. Thankfully, we live just a short walk away from the Hapjeong area, so we can start going more often (edit: Honey Bowl is renovating in November 2013. Boo.)! Photos of our meal below include a veggie omelette (yuuuum), eggs benedict (I’ve had this before and just think it’s okay; the sauce is a bit bland for me. Rob thought it was good though!) and chocolate chip pancakes (aka the BEST part of the meal). Chocolate chip pancakes have been a birthday/special day tradition in my house ever since I can remember, so it was the perfect brunch dessert to split. Yep. Even brunch can finish with dessert! 

Note: Directions at the end of the post.

That night, we made our way to the Seoul Lantern Festival, which ran for a few weeks in November. There were some really interesting ones from various countries (photos below), but it was raining the entire time we were there, which kind of dampened our mood. In all honesty, it was almost identical to the Jinju Lantern Festival that I went to last summer, but it was nice celebrating with the boyfriend.

Of course, my birthday didn’t end on the day. On Sunday, we went shopping and I finally chopped off four inches of my damaged-from-traveling hair! But that’s for another post.

Until next time x

Directions: Honey Bowl (decorated with yellow and white decor and honeycomb on the outside) is located right off of the main street of Hongdae that consists of bars/restaurants (including Taco Bell, H&M, the kebab place, etc.). Walk away from these places in the direction of Hapjeong. If you think you've gone too far, KEEP GOING. Honey Bowl will be on the right on a side street, but easily viewable from the main street. If you've hit a dead end with a 7/11, you've gone too far.

Other Directions: Go to the Hapjeong station, exit 8 and make a left at the first street. Keep walking for about 5-10 minutes. When there is a 7/11 on your right side, make a left. Make another left onto the first street and Honey Bowl will be on your left.

First Month at Pagoda Academy

After a month of mid-afternoon naps and schedule mishaps, we've made it to November. Mid-November, actually. Who knew the first week of classes was so hectic? Oh, yeah. Every. Other. Instructor. So apologies for the late review of Pagoda Academy (all specific information is referring to the Jong-ro branch). Hope it helps some of you make the right decision for yourselves!


Pros: They're adults. They're SLE (speaking, listening, expression) classes. At the end of the day, the job itself is really good. Most students are decent, friendly human beings. The other instructors and managers at this branch are too! I only taught one level (2A), which is the lowest intermediate level, and my students were amazing. There's not much to complain about when you're just teaching a bit of grammar and having conversations. 

The classes are loosely based on books, but if you aren't fond of a particular unit/lesson, you have the option to supplement with anything. As long as the students are happy, the managers are happy.


Cons: The hours. The. Hours. THE HOURS. In two different ways. 
1. Timing. 90% of the instructors here have both the first class and the last class of the day, and our schedules were no exceptions. The first SLE class is at 7AM and the last one finishes at 10PM. It's a long day. If you can't take a nap during the day, you are in for a rough month. For October, we woke up at 5:30AM, tried to take naps 2-5PM, and then always went to bed around 12-1AM. It's probably the hardest part of the job. You know what you're like when you don't get enough sleep. Now multiply that by 100 when it's on a regular basis. Yeah, I wouldn't want to be your friend either.

2. Scheduling. If you don't have a long enough break between classes to go home, get used to sleeping on couches. My snoring will not be appreciated. Not only that, but because of either the number of instructors or the number of students, there seems to be some heavy competition for classes. The minimum number of classes that we are required to have every day is six, with the maximum being eight. However, classes with less than three students are dropped. Therefore, if you are only scheduled for six classes/day, but a couple of them have less than the mandatory three students, the classes will be dropped (cancelled) and you will be under the minimum. Mass. Panic. You then have to coordinate with the managers and other instructors to figure out how to rectify the situation. It generally gets sorted out, but additional stress during the first week of new classes is never appreciated.


Overall: Based on my first month, I have no qualms recommending Pagoda. Even though the hours are really hard, the classes are exactly what I want. Sure, there are certain students/classes that I prefer, but I would pick all of them over kids classes in a heartbeat. I enjoy discussing various subjects in depth, especially those that I had never given much thought to before. We're able to gain different perspectives and even my own grammar/vocabulary has improved! Rob can attest.

Hope you're all surviving the cold weather! I'm already wearing scarves and gloves! x