It's been a long time since I last posted, has it not? Anyway, in case you weren't aware, I am staying here for at least another year, so why not review some of the reasons why?
Here you are, then, in no particular order and leaving out any mention of how much I'm paid:
1) The ease and cheapness of travel. Back in western Canada, if you don't have a vehicle, you have but three options: begging a ride off of someone, air travel, and the Greyhound. The first is unreliable. The second is expensive (if fast), and will only take you so many places. As for the third... Pricy, smelly, cramped, possessing of an extremely limited schedule, and regretably the only consistent way to get to the rural areas. Here in Korea, we've got trains, we've got buses, and it costs less than twenty bucks to get to Seoul. For a Canadian, this is magical.
2) The landscape. I grew up with very certain idea what a proper landscape possesses, namely, the more trees and the more mountains, the better. Does Korea have these things? Why, yes. Yes, it does.
3) The food. Oh, how I miss western food! I'll probably gorge myself on the stuff when I visit home. But if you tell me jjimdak isn't amazingly delicious, I will pity you, sir.
4) Pantyhose in convenience stores. Getting dressed in a snazzy fashion for work or a night on the town and find yourself faced with a run? 7-Eleven has your back. You can also get socks!
5) The internet. Do you think I ever managed to get 10 Mbs / second download speeds on my home network back in Canada? You're cute. You make me laugh.
6) The students. They're not perfect - heavens know that I wasn't at their age - but generally speaking, they're a good bunch. When they're enthusiastic, it's infectious.
7) Clothes shopping. It doesn't cost a lot to look good here and as a consequence, I have learned how to dress myself accordingly. Some articles are hard or impossible to shop for given my figure, but you win some, you lose some. Starsha, Ashley, you would be proud.
8) The extreme amount of museums. I've got a history degree, guys. This stuff is like catnip to me.
9) Noraebang. The setup is just so much nicer than karaoke generally has back home. Instead of getting to sing on average two songs over the course of several hours in a crowded bar, you get to sing until your lungs give out in a cozy room with your pals. The only problem is that a lot of my foreign friends are less apt to appreciate the beauty of the thing.
10) My coteachers. I lucked out. Big time. Two of them are in stiff competition for the title of "Nicest Lady Ever", two more I count among my friends and I greatly enjoy hanging out with them in and out of school, another one has been very helpful indeed in matters regarding transportation, getting set up, etc., despite his busy schedule, and the last, while I don't know her too well, generally strikes me as a sweetheart. In short, they rock.
That is all for now, but there are other reasons. If I wasn't writing this on a cellphone, I'd tell you about them.
First, mad props for typing that all on a cellphone somehow. Yeesh. Second, I apologize for totally missing all these posts until now, and you're only a Straight away! Third, I am happy to see all the positives there are over there. In conjunction to one of your more recent posts, things make a lot of sense. We miss you, but it's good that you're having fun. Yay! One day I hope to land a job that may need me to go to Korea for a month or two - or allow me to without the fear of losing employment upon my return.
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