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Girl With A Red Backpack
Things I love about life in Seoul:
- There's always something happening: a couple of weeks ago we had an International Food Festival in my neighborhood. A huge event with street vendors selling foods from different countries from all corners of the world, as well as parades and performances by day. There's a Lantern Festival ongoing at the moment, which runs for a couple of weeks with lanterns lighting up the stream in the middle of the city.
- The weather forecast is spot on! When it says it will rain you can be guaranteed that it will; I doubted this a few times and missed out on rain boot wearng opportunities but not any more! And another plus is that it rarely rains so it's not too upsetting when it does, unlike in Ireland.....
- The transport system here is excellent. You can travel to any location in the city with ease via subway and bus, and there are never delays.
- High speed internet, one of the best connections in the world I believe. (I haven't yet felt the need to invest in wifi for my apartment so I'll test this theory when I do)
- You can get by without speaking any Korean! This is a weird one cos I'd be the first one to say learning the language of the country you live in is a must, not only for ease of living but also to know the people and culture better. However, I regrettably haven't gotten around to learning much Korean yet apart from the basics, and this is something I need to work on.
- Korean BBQ is pretty amazing food! And it's far easier to avoid eating rice here than elsewhere in Asia!
- Korea is BEAUTIFUL in the autumn! Leaves are dying all around; gingko, maples etc and the colours are fabulous.
- The subways have AC in the summer and heating in the winter, yay!
- Technology is so advanced here, everyone has a smartphone, most people have ipads. It's so funny to take the subway and see everyone young and old texting on their smartphones, watching tv shows on their ipads, playing games on their phones etc! Having said that, I honestly don't know how I'd survive without my iPhone here!
And now for some reasons why I love my life here:
- Teaching 3 year olds is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I love my little kiddos! Having only 11 kids in my class makes a huge difference too. They are such a cute age group to teach. We had parent teacher conferences a few weeks ago and every parent told me that their kid loves coming to school and constantly talks about Miss Efa, and most of them play teacher at home every day after school!
- I'm finished work at 3:30 every day and with significantly less paperwork than back home this means I'm free to do whatever I like for the rest of the evening.
- The perks of teaching internationally are good; not having to worry about rent and bills is sweet!
- I live in one of the nicest areas in Seoul, ideally located near the expat area, foreigner food marts, small friendly cafes, yoga studios and best of all a CrossFit gym just 7 mins walk from my door!
- There are so many expats living here; between people teaching English, teaching at international schools, working for Samsung, and working at embassies; I've never met such a diverse bunch of people!
- comments
Sharon Sounds awesome! How long are you there?
Aoife Til June at least, I'll tell you all about it when I see you in CM!