We're Graduating || Goodbye JES Island

{50/366 - Graduation}

Here's most of my class. One girl couldn't make it and another was late. I can't believe my time with them is up! It was pretty emotional. I'll remember these kids and this experience forever. It changed my life. Who knew that teaching English would have such a strong impact on one's life... sigh. 

Some kids were pretty emotional while others had no reaction. It was really moving to see young children become emotional about saying goodbye. 

While it was an emotional and sad day, it was also a really good day. I'm really thankful for my managers, my co-workers and all the students I worked with. Normally when a chapter in my life is ending I end up feeing some regret for all my inadequacies. This time, I felt confident in everything I had done. No use in filling your head up with regrets. I'm looking forward to what is to come :)

Last day of work ended with a pizza party, my final pay cheque and a severance pay ^^ along with awesome gifts from my students' parents. 

Now I'm off to Singapore for 5 days! 

Last Day of Teaching || Project 366

{49/366 - Phileo Love}

It was our last day of class today! Rather than doing work, we ended up playing a lot. We spent time practicing our graduation song for about an hour and then we ended with a final game of dodgeball with the students against the teachers. Here I caught Rina and Jenny being really loving with each other. I loved that every student in my class loved and liked each other. Phileo love is brotherly, friendship love. It was definitely seen in my class everyday. 

little jenny || Project 366

{48/366 - jenny and me}

Here I am with my little Jenny. I'm starting to say my goodbyes. I don't know if they fully comprehend that it'll be rare that I'll see them again. This makes me really sad. Who knew that seeing them almost every day for a week would get me so attached. Tomorrow is our last day of teaching and then Friday we have graduation. I can't wait to be free but I'm going to miss my kids terribly. This was taken by my co-teacher Hannah.   

Cloud-Like Cake || Project 366

{48/366 - Cloud-Like Cake}

Rina's dad brought our class a cake. It was a surprise since we didn't have any reason to have cake. It was delicious. Normally I don't like cake but this was really nice. It was delicate and fluffy. Most cakes tend to be too heavy, but I felt like I was eating clouds! Look at Rina looking at her cake. 

For MY Good || faith

As a Christian I often heard the words, "It's not about you, it's about God." What does that really mean?

Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" tells me otherwise. It is about me. My Father in heaven works for my good. He wants the best for me. Even with 7 billion others on this earth, God orchestrates everything so that things go well for ME. This is pretty tough to swallow since I've always been told that it's not about me. How can it be about me when I'm not perfect and have so much to work on. Yet, it is about me. It's about me because I am His dearly beloved. It's about me because I am created in HIS image. It's about me because I am his daughter. It's about me because I am his bride, the one he shed his blood for. It's about me because Christ lives in me which is the hope of GLORY. His glory is manifested in ME so it has to be about me. When it is about me it becomes all about the Lord. I used to have this terrible view of God. I was suspicious of his provision for me and really believed that I didn't deserve anything good in my life. This is NOT true!

It sounds a bit ludicrous but I find this truth to be liberating. It's about me because I am no longer me. It's a paradox. When there is less of me, there is more of Him. When good happens to me, it automatically means good will happen to those around me. It isn't selfish to want blessings in my life because it will naturally flow into my relationships and the different settings I enter into.

Run with this. We don't have to remain in a place of false humility and defeat. This truth tears down all kinds of anxiety, fear and uncertainty. It gives me hope and a new passion to live.

Matthew 11:11

I tell you the truth: 

Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

5th Last Day || Project 366

{47/366 - hula hooper}

It was my 5th last day with the kids. I have a countdown. I'll miss them, but I'm also ready to be done!

Here's Belle NOT hula hooping. I love when kids are missing their teeth and they're laughing. I know they're insecure about missing their teeth because they won't smile when you ask them to, but they have no shame when they're laughing. It's great

The students made their own popsicles. Here is Jenny going in for a bite into her popsicle. 

Just Do It || faith

Just do it. These three simple yet powerful words have been guiding me for the past few months. I actually wrote a blog post on my tumblr about a month ago on how I don't want to be a dreamer anymore but I want to be a doer. Dreaming makes you think you're doing something, but you're not. You're not going anywhere unless you DO something.

Marcus really confirmed so many things for me tonight. I'm currently living in Seoul right now and I've been here for technically 2.5 years. I'm going home to Canada in 3 weeks. I have no idea what awaits me, but I'm really excited. Terrified and excited at the same time. I've got an open road ahead of me. As scary as it is, I know it's going to be a beautiful journey.

In his sermon, Marcus shared with us three keys that would allow us to create and recreate the truth and love of God in our everyday lives. He redefined what it means to be creative.

1. Receive your inheritance. 
We need to be in a place where we receive words of life. A place where we are being guided by those who are wise and mature. That would mean to be in submission to someone else other than me. We love independence. We think we know it all, but that's may be the biggest red flag to the terrible truth that you may not know it all. Wisdom and truth from a mentor is so necessary. It's a humbling place to be at, but a place where life flows.

2. Beware and stay away from the pitfalls such as fear
Fear limits us from trying anything. We dream something for 2 minutes and then fear destroys it. Fear keeps that dream far away. It'll never be a reality because we give too much control to our fears rather than controlling that fear.  When we have the first key, we should know that we are in a completely safe place.

3. Be Willing to JUST DO IT!
This is so obvious. We have to just do it. We need to take small simple steps. Not doing anything doesn't take us anywhere. How does a song get produced? The artist sits down, jots down a few words here and there, plays around with different melodies and BAM, you've got beautiful music. My small steps will take me higher. These small steps will let others take giant leaps into their own destiny.

Hold onto these three keys and you'll do great things in your life; things you thought you could only dream of. With these three keys we're going to change the world. No more of the same ol' same ol'. The worlds needs for us to be creative! Go and just do it!

Isaiah 43:9

See, I am doing a new thing! 

   Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? 

I am making a way in the wilderness 

   and streams in the wasteland.

bon iver aka bonny bear || music

When there's amazing music like this being produced I can't NOT share. This session makes me feel so happy to be alive. I'm sure people were wondering who the heck he was when he won two Grammy awards, but he deserved it. Can't get enough of this guy.

first outfit post (kind of) || i wear

Ok, it's not a full outfit since I don't really show you my footwear. I just really liked this shirt so I asked my lovely friend Melody to take some pictures of me. Can I tell you something? I felt so silly asking her to take pictures of me. But luckily she's such a comfortable girl that it made the experience a lot better. You gotta start somewhere right? Who your photographer is really does make a difference!

//grey lace sweater - Lindarasa by Smile Market//

//dark skinny jeans - UNIQLO//

//leaf necklace - Accessorize//

//boots - Le Bunny Bleu//

As soon as I saw this shirt I knew I had to get it. I'm in love with anything lace these days. I thought the neckline was perfect. It wasn't too low or too high. As I wrote out where each item was from I realized that I can't get ANY of these in Canada. With the limited time I have left here this makes me want to get as much as I can before I go! Did I mention that the lace is SOFT and fuzzy. Yea, its pretty cool.

orange noser || Project 366

{46/366 - orange noser}

Aimee is actually the brown noser of my class. She's always trying to be like the teacher and will do whatever she can to impress me. We had oranges for lunch today. She loves making her friends laugh so I caught her doing this with her orange. Cute.

clay faces || my life

Last week at JES Island the art assignment was for the kids to observe a teacher or remember a teacher's face from memory and recreate the face with clay. I became the object of observation for most of the kids. Here are the results. 

All three were done boy boys. I was shocked but had a good laugh.

I was really impressed by this one. My eyeliner was done differently on this day so you could notice it. The student noticed this detail and created it in her piece. So awesome.

These are just two of the classes. There are three more. Keep reading to see what other masterpieces were created.

wink wink || Project 366

{45/366 - wink and kick}

this is sean again. i asked him to wink for the camera. i love how he casually put his hand on his head making this shot even cuter. 

he forgot to write his name on his work so instead of going back to his desk he sprawled on the floor and started to write. i love how adorable his small feet look in these crocs. 

valentine's day || Project 366

{44/366 - reading cards}

Koreans don't really give or make Valentine's Day cards. All they do is buy a lot of chocolate. I miss buying random boxes of cards and then choosing which one I would give to the people in my class. It was an important decision to make. I was so shameless in how I'd pick the pretty ones for my friends and the ugly ones were left over for the people I didn't like. Terrible. Luckily I printed out really cute ones for my kids so they were all happy with giving and receiving. They were SO excited to look into their bags and see what card they got from their other friends. One student kept pounding her chest saying that she was so anxious and excited to see her cards. It was so funny. 

This is the chocolate I received from my students. The chocolate on the left was hand made by Daniel. He was so proud of what he made. The story was that he bought chocolate bars. Before he started baking with his mom, he logically thought that he could melt the chocolate in the microwave. Without really timing it right, he ended up burning the chocolate. He was so confused and didn't understand why. Luckily his mom bought him extra chocolate and showed him that he had to slowly melt it. It was even cuter because he designed these and even gave special ones out to his classmates. 

It was a good day. Spent it with my kids. Spent it with a good friend of mine and was reminded to hold on tight to love. It's always around us. We just need to open our hearts to really see it.

beautiful friend || Project 366

{43/366 - cassandra}

This is a beautiful friend of mine from church. I really like how this picture turned out. She's wearing a cat mask because we were at a superhero themed birthday party. Do you see how that bokeh turned out? It looks like it's coming out of her mouth. 

get lost || music

I don't think I'm made to work 9-6. I've got exactly 9 more days of work left. It's kind of unreal. Nine more days for me to take as many pictures of my kids. If I really think about it, I highly doubt I'll ever see these kids again. It makes me really sad.

On these kinds of tiring days I like listening to certain kinds of songs as I walk around the busy city of Seoul. Sometimes you just have to get lost while walking amongst millions of others. I allow my mind to just wander so I don't have to think too much about the reality of life.

Here is one of my favorite songs that I like to get lost to.

Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks

friendly cookies || Project 366

{42/366 - friendly cookies}

My co-teacher and I decided to bake cookies for our students for Valentine's Day. It was pretty simple and they turned out really cute. 

shimmery hair accessories || fashion

Barrette for 5,000KRW

Simple shimmery golden hairband for 4,000KRW. It comes in other colors as well. 

There is a store called Apportion in Korea. Such a strange name for what it sells. It's a hair accessory store. I'm not an accessory girl, but I love hair accessories. Some of their products are overpriced, but I've definitely noticed that their quality is much better than the accessories they sell on the streets. 

There are two located in Itaewon. This one above is the bigger one. Just go out of exit 4 and walk straight toward Noksapyeong station. 

crafting crowns || Project 366

{41/366 - crafting crowns}

These are handmade crown name tags for the guys at my church. We were doing a night of appreciating the guys at our church because in Korea the girls do things for the boys on Valentine's Day. There's another day called White Day on March 14th where the boys do things for the girls. So me and a few girls made these crown name tags. I hope they one day invent glitter glue that dries in less than a minute. I had to sit around for far too long to wait for these to all dry. Thank goodness I really enjoy crafts that this wasn't that bad of a task.

Jacob || Project 366

{40/366 - Jacob}

This is one of my favorites. His name is Jacob. Somehow he got tagged as the Korean boy that looked Mexican so you'll find saying Hola, como estas? when really he should be saying Hello, how are you? I only teach him art once a week, but we'll always say hello in the hallways. He's not that developed in his fine motor skills, so his artwork will usually turn out very messy. He also never puts in much effort and will spend majority of the class scribbling or cutting without ever finishing his work. This past week we were making clay faces of the teacher. I told them it'd be easy if they looked at me and tried to make my face. Jacob actually put in some effort and this was his final product. This is pretty good considering his history with art. I was very proud of him. 

Sean || Project 366

{39/366 - happy sean}

This is Sean. He is the loudest student at our school. He is always seen laughing. Even when he gets in trouble and comes in crying, he still looks so cheery. His English is amazing. You can have a real conversation with him which is rare in Korea. One time I was trying to take his backpack from him and he says, "if you take my backpack then i'll take your clothes out and see your brassiere" and then he ran away. I was left speechless. Kids say the most hilarious things. 

dimples || Project 366

{38/366 - dimples}

Melody is so cute. She has two massive dimples which made me think about how unique each person's face really is. I asked everyone in this class to smile and to look at each other's faces. I asked them to see what was the same and what was different. Most of them didn't notice Melody's dimples. After pointing them out, they started to notice the friends who did. I think dimples are extra special. I have one on my right cheek and never thought much about it until recently. I wonder what makes a cheek dip in like that. 

Super Mario Marc || Project 366

{37/366 - Marc aka Super Mario}

Before Angry Birds became really popular with Koreans kids, Marc LOVED Super Mario. Everything he would draw and do was related to Super Mario. After finishing making his clay face, he started playing with the leftover clay. I love how kids can make use of anything they have their hands on and have no limits what they do with it. I think we can learn a lot from kids. They have no boundaries and it's accompanied by innocence. Below I posted some older pictures of Marc as Super Mario.

eyeliner for the azn eyes || makeup

Oh my goodness. I'm doing my first make up review. I don't even know how to wear make up, let alone know anything about what good make up is. But with my most recent purchase, I wanted to share.

If you didn't know, I am Korean. This means I have typical East Asian eyes. I don't have the double eyelid, so I guess I have what is called the "monolid". East Asians eyes are so unique, because rarely will you find two people who have the same eyes which includes length, height, and whether one has a double or mono eyelid. Now this isn't to say those of other races all have the same eyes, but East Asians, along with Mongolians, are the only group of people where some people have monolids and some others have the double eye lid (without any surgery). And I apologize if I'm wrong about this generalization ^___^

Before moving to Korea, I never wore eyeliner. I didn't quite know how to. I found it annoying that after applying it on my eye, as soon as I would open my eye it'd disappear. Pencil eyeliner also ALWAYS smudged under and around my eye, so I looked like I had been crying. Annoying! I also didn't want to put on too much that when I closed my eyes it'd be like 5 inch line. So it was better to not wear any! After living in Korea for 2 years, I discovered a certain eyeliner that I liked that was also easy to put on.

This is Laneige's marker eyeliner. When I first bought it, I fell in love. It was like using a mini paintbrush and it never smudged. It cost about 12,000KRW which isn't too bad. I liked it, but I discovered that at the end of the day it would fade and become very dull. 

This is Too Cool for School's Crazy Black Eyeliner. When I tested it on my hand, it was really dark and smooth. It was also a mini paintbrush. This also costs 12,000KRW. After a few days though, I realized it wouldn't go on black. It was like a dark grey and by the end of the day, it was almost all gone. It didn't smudge though. I don't use a primer, but I don't feel like I should if I'm buying a really good eyeliner! 

This is my most recent purchase. It's Banila Co's Oriental Eye. The name alone convinced me. I do have 'oriental eyes'. This is my first liquid eyeliner purchase. The other two were brushes. This isn't. So I was a bit afraid to try it. It's VERY black.  I  feel very comfortable wearing it. It draws on very smoothly and dries RIGHT away. I know I said I have monolids, but if you look really close you'll see that I have tiny double eye lids (쌍꺼풀) so when I open my eyes they kind of disappear. Amazingly, this eyeliner dries up really fast so I don't have to worry about another line appearing. So far I'm satisfied with it. The lady at the store said that it washes off really easily. Maybe too easily since I found that sometimes it would flake off near the end of the day. 

It's Hannah Teacher! || Project 366

{36/366 - it's Hannah teacher!}

The art for this week at JES Island was making clay faces of the teacher. Rather than having the kids guess from memory a teacher they wanted to make, I just suggested they practice looking at my physical features and make my face from the clay. It was hilarious. I will post a collection of my favorite by Friday. 

street jam Seoul || Project 366

{35/366 - street jam}

My friend Gina and I went to the 10th year of Street Jam, which is a big dance show/competition in Seoul, South Korea. My friend Mary was performing so we thought we'd go check it out. 

Sorry it's a bit blurry. Mary is on the far right. Let me just say Korean dance shows are awkward. The dancers are phenomenal actually. Koreans are known for their breakdancers, lockers, poppers and what have you, BUT the crowd was so dead. I'm used to watching America's Best Dance Crew and seeing the audience go wild. Rarely would you hear a clap, let alone a cheer from the crowd. It was a bit uncomfortable, but the dancing was pretty awesome to watch. 

Photo Club Meetings || Project 366

{34/366 - photo club}

Somehow all the Canon cameras ended up together so I took this picture. Being someone who has been using a Nikon DSLR for years, Canons are jokingly my nemesis. In all seriousness though, I always get intimidated and feel like a newbie once I'm holding a Canon. Seems so foreign to me! 

Today we spent about 3 hours working on a short stop motion film which I will post up soon. 6 creative and fun people got together to work on a story of an airplane adventuring in a cute Korean cafe. We took over this private room. Stop motion videos are a lot of hard work, but every time we got a sneak preview of what our shots looked like, we were so excited. So I can't wait to see it finished! 

prepared Jenny || Project 366

{33/366 - prepared Jenny}

It was a COLD day. Jenny was wearing this purple hat, bulky white parka, a green neck warmer that had that soft fuzz on the inside. Today she decided to show off her new elementary school backpack since our kindergarten gave them backpacks they had to use. She looked like she was prepared and ready for whatever was to come after leaving JES Island. 

wooly, red cardigan

 This is one of my favorite sweater cardigans. I bought it in Seoul in 이대 (Ewha Womans University). There's a small vintage store in one of the alleyways. It cost about 10,000krw which is less than $10usd. I love the four gold buttons on it at the bottom. The neck (which I forgot to get a picture of) is a really low V line. I love the intricate weaving going on the sleeve. It's a fun sweater to wear on warm, gloomy days. 

navy girls || Project 366

{Project 366. 32/366 - navy girls}

At JES Island our different classes have color names. I teach Olive Island. I decided to feature kids from the different islands. These girls are from Navy Island. They're probably the brightest and most witty girls at our school. They singing about their teacher. The words were pretty funny "Beryl teacher is happy that we are leaving. We know her heart! We know her heart!" They speak almost perfect English. I teach them gym everyday and for the longest time I couldn't distinguish the three of them. In the top picture we have, from left to right, Cheney, Rachel and Belle. They're all little punks, but also so adorable. They're going to beautiful as they grow up. So cute now. 

loving the camera || Project 366

{Project 366. 31/366 - loving the camera}

I was testing something with my camera on these tables when suddenly Rina and Daniel decided to fool around. Daniel loves when a camera is around him. I love when kids aren't camera shy. It's so refreshing when they shamelessly want to be captured because so many kids in Korea turn their head away.