Seoul Time Lapse || video

I miss Seoul a lot. This video is amazing. A lot of people still don't know where Seoul is or what kind of city it is, but check it out. I still can't believe I lived here, with 10 million others, all on my own without any family. It still boggles my mind that I did this. This was my home. All the lights, cars, peoples, subways, food and history. It was mine. I've been to NYC, Chicago, LA, Mexico City and Toronto... but nothing is like Seoul. I love it and can't wait to go back.

missing JES island || my life

It's been about two months since I finished working at JES Island. I miss my kids a lot. I found all these pictures and videos that I never shared or even bothered to look through while I was in Korea. I was thinking, "Maybe I should go back and teach" but I don't know if any other group of kids would measure up to the kids I had. My kids were the best group of kids a teacher could ask for.

I found a lot more on my smart phone so look out.... there's going to be a lot of pictures and videos of them in the future :)

the most comfortable outfit || i wear

//sweater - random boutique in Seoul//

//jeans - Mavi Jeans//

//black suede desert boots - Toms//

I really don't like standing in front of the camera since I'd rather be behind the camera so that's why I look really awkward. 

This is one of my favorite sweaters that I bought in Korea. It's so random and different. I love that the sleeves are two different colours. It's comfy as well.  I like to own pieces knowing that I won't run into someone who'll wear the same thing that I am. I have yet to see this on someone else! 

I've had these jeans since October 2009. Amazingly they've lasted for more than 2 years. Although there is a small tear in them, they're still wearable. I knew that spending a lot on them was worth it. I refuse to pay for cheap jeans anymore because I'd rather have a good pair that I can wear for more than 2 years instead of buying a new jeans every few months. 

The shoes... oh my. I feel like I'm walking on clouds when I wear them. I have abnormally small feet so it was a miracle that Toms' size 5 fit me! So comfortable and they go with almost any outfit. I think they'll be my go-to shoes. 

I guess this is all my favorite pieces put together. I think that's the most important when it comes to fashion. Wear what you makes you feel the most comfortable!

My Phone is Cute || my things

Korea is known for having the most random but cute THINGS.  REALLY random things. You can walk around the bustling areas of 이대 (Idae) or 홍대 (Hongdae) and you'll see a ton of accessory stores for almost anything, including your cell phone.

While shopping for gifts I discovered these cute cell phone accessories. A few years ago everyone had big and fuzzy cell phone trinkets that would dangle from your phone. Now it's these little accessories that you put into the ear jack.

It seemed a bit silly at first, but I'm so glad I bought these. I actually regret not buying more. You can find them anywhere on e-bay/amazon/gmarket I'm sure. They can range from $1.00 to $10.00. I bought mine for 1,000 KRW each.

Even though they're starting to become really trendy in Korea I wonder if people here would actually buy them.

Would you buy one for your phone? Is it unnecessary? Cute? What do you think....

Incredibly Loved || My Last Week in Seoul Part 2

This is an overdue post on my last week in Seoul. The second part of it. I've been home for a week. I've been really busy but I've also had a lot of downtime where I do absolutely nothing. I'll be doing a major renovation of this blog. I've got tons of ideas on what I want to write and do on top of my 366 photo project. Sometimes I really wonder what I'm doing, why did I even start a blog and where is this all going to go? It can be discouraging when looking at stats or when I browse through other blogs, but now isn't the time to give up. It's always hard to start and maintain something.

Wednesday March 7, 2012

I spent the day with Liz and Peter. We went to Fell + Cole which is an amazing ice cream shop in Seoul. They had flavours like burnt salted caramel and perilla (green leaves that we usually eat with Korean BBQ). 

{62/366 - too cool for school}

After ice cream Liz and I just wandered around Hongdae, a really fun area in Seoul. I ended up buying new glasses. Here we are in Too Cool for School looking around at their make up. 

After we made our way to Gangnam to meet our other friends for dinner. The rest of the night ended up being one of the most craziest and unreal nights of my life. I was incredibly blessed and shocked and overwhelmed. 

Read more to see what happened!

Go Go Busan || around the world

My friend and I went down to Busan to visit a few of our friends who moved down there earlier this year. The train ride there was so peaceful. It was just what I needed to finish a good book and relax. Busan is Korea's second largest city, but only has a third of Seoul's population. It's amazing because it's right by the ocean so they have many little beaches. The people there are a lot more friendlier and it doesn't feel as busy as it does in Seoul.

We didn't do any sight seeing. I'm not the biggest fan of doing touristy things. I simply love being in the presence of good people and doing normal day things like eating, drinking, laughing and more eating.

{57/366 - Korean countryside}

{58/366 - Gwangali Beach}

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. 

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. 

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.