I am currently coming up on a year in Korea and it has been a very good experience. I will be headed back to the United States very shortly and have been making the most of being here. I have seen several sights that I have been longing to see since before I got here.
I have also started to focus on several projects. You can see a list of them the Latest Projects page. There I will post links as I complete different steps of the projects.
These projects include everything from websites, comics, books, and several other things.
Well I’ve been in Korea for 6 months now. It’s still surreal to me that I’ve been outside of North America for so long. It’ll be really interesting when I head home. I have gotten used to the fact that I can’t understand anyone around me (whether they are trying to speak english or not.) When I’m out exploring it’s like I’m in my own little bubble, my brain filters out most of the chatter around me. But don’t worry I have been able to learn some of the language. I can read most things in Korea (I don’t know what they mean, but I can sound them out.) It really helps when I’m wandering around on the subway and on the bus system. I can at least know what stops I’m passing by.
I also have a lot of the food names memorized, or at least the ones that I like. I also have come to crave kimchi. I know it’s weird but what can you do. I’ll have to learn to make it just to keep it in check.
On top of me being here for 6 months I have also started a new school year which has completely changed the atmosphere at school. Instead of teaching the most advanced kindergarten class I now teach a beginner class. It’s still fun though, but it does create new challenges. I could say the same thing 10 times and all the kids understand me but one. And he just gives me the blankest of looks.
The 6th was my birthday and two of my friends also have birthdays this month. We decided to spend it in style at a theme park called Lotte World. It’s a park in Seoul that has two parts, indoor and outdoor. Indoor is pretty much all the kiddy rides with some more exciting ones. Outside has the main attractions. You know all the big rides. It was good.
To top off everything I have been very busy with a variety of different projects. But I’ll talk about those more later.
After flying back to Korea I was feeling pretty good about myself. I had met another teacher on the plane and was pretty confident in my ability to make it back to my apartment. (Note: My boss wanted me to call when I landed so that she could give me instructions on how to get back.) I walked by a whole line of buses until I found one that said Dongtan. I was feeling pretty good about that. I hopped on and off we went. After an hour or so the driver told me to get off. I did so and I looked around and thought to myself, “Crap, I have no idea where I am.”
I had the address for my school so I figured if I go there I could make it back to my place. I hopped in a cab and handed him the business card with the address. After about 5 min of him talking to me and me shrugging my shoulders and saying thank you, we where off. I figured we were pretty close to where I lived. But as time went on and the meter kept ticking, I realised I was way far away. Finally we got to where the GPS said my desitmation was and I paid the driver and hopped out. I didn’t reconize anything.
I decided to walk over to a gas station and call my boss. I got on the phone with her and after handing the phone back and forth to the gas attendant a couple times she was on her way to pick me up. And then I waited. I there for close to an hour and I figured I was still way off.
Finally my boss pulls up and I hop in the car. She explains to me how worried she was that I didn’t call and I explained that I thought I could make it without bothering her. Then I asked how far my apartment was from there. She points to a building two blocks away and says “There is your apartement.”
I stared at her blankly for a couple minutes and then started smacking my head. I was so close. I just didn’t know it because when you are new here everything looks the same.
So she dropped me off at my apartment and I got settled in. I even did some exploring after that, but I made sure to memorize the land marks before doing so. It was quite the adventure.
I have been in Korea for a month now and have yet to write anything about my stay here so far. So I’ll start from the beginning to fill you guys in.
I flew out of Portland on Aug 24th to come to Korea. I left early in the morning and hopped onto a small plane to Los Angles. That flight wasn’t too bad, there just wasn’t a whole lot to do for the two hours. after arriving in LA there was a long walk to the international terminal. Not too much to complain about there except for the five hour layover. I met a lot of other teachers before taking off and learned that there was a huge JW conference occurring in Seoul so the flight was full of them. Then there was the twelve hour flight to Korea. If it weren’t for the personal entrainment center, I would not have survived. I was able to watch a few Korean movies, Castaway on the Moon, very funny and My Girlfriend is an Agent, I met one of the main people in that movie.
When I finally arrived in Seoul, and went through 10 forms of screening, I was met by my recruiter who drove me to my apartment. It was reassuring to meet the person I’d been working with for the last month or so. We drove for a little over an hour before getting to my place and there I met my boss and got moved into my apartment. It’s pretty small but livable for the next year.
I’m living in a place called Dongtan. it’s about an hour south of Seoul near a city called Suwon, if you want to check it out on a map. It’s a really new area and isn’t very populated… yet. There are new businesses opening up everyday. My place is about a 40 minute walk away from my school where I teach. A little far, but it allows me to get some exercise in twice a day.
After two days of arriving here I was off to Guam. My boss dropped me off at a bus stop where I caught a bus to the airport. Buses are great, but are a little slow. I was able to get to the airport with 20 min to spare. Then I hopped on the plane for another 5 hour flight. I slept most of the way, they only had one movie and it was not worth watching. I also had the row to myself so that was another bonus. I arrived in Guam at 3am and got to my hotel. When I woke up I was able to get the things done I needed. I went to the Korean Embassy and started the process of obtaining my Visa. I had to fight for it though, they were a man short and wanted the whole weekend to process it. I told them my situation and then had my recruiter call them. He was able to resolve the situation.
I spent the rest of the day exploring the little city I was in. It was a huge tourist area so there were lots of outlet malls and shop mingled among lots of over priced restaraunts. But of course I had to eat at one of them. So I went to the Hard Rock Cafe. It wasn’t bad, but I’ve had better. I was going to buy a shirt, but not for $40. I went to bed early that night and was woke up by the front desk at 12:30 am to catch my flight back to Korea.
Since it has been so long since I have written I’m going to break it up into small chunks. It will be easier to read that way.
Another project is completed for my design class. I procrastinated this one way too long. It all worked out though, here is the finished product.
Click Here to view.
Since this is my last semester at school I decided to take a fun design course to help me finish. Part of the course is photography, which is something I haven’t known much about. After playing with the settings on my Canon Power Shot, I headed out and starting taking picture. The final product of the project is a slide show which I placed on my class website.
And to end things off here, here are some photos I liked the most:
Last year I orginally build and launched pbenmay.com. It was part of a CIT project, but I knew it could be so much more. I build a design that was simple and more technical savvy rather than being designed visually well.
When I took a look at it again, it just didn’t fit what I wanted it to do, so I scapped it and started over. The goal of the new site is to promote me, and the work that I have created and plan to do. The best way for me to do that is through visually appealing simplicity.
Everything on the new site is technically one page. The tabs are using JQuery which hides any information that isn’t for the tab selected. I was thrilled with this. The section that isn’t part of the home page is the portfolio. I attempted to place all my work under that tab, but could not make it work to a point it looked good. So I took another tact, I made separate pages for each category. On top of that, I have always disliked having to view a full sized pictured on a new screen (really I’m too lazy to hit back) so I utilized something called light box that brings it up right in front of the page. I love it.
Now understand that I’m still in the process of adding content and making design changes. It’s a work in progress.
Since this is my last semester in my bachelors program, I decided to take a fun class, one that will help my creative portfolio.
This first project is one that was created to introduce myself to the class. We needed to create a collage using pictures that I took personally. So I took two pictures, one of me and one of a old brick wall. Then to show things that I like and am interested in, I created signs to put on the wall.
I had a lot of fun with this.
Yesterday I was told about a site called illustration Friday. Every Friday they post a theme and people post what they create according to that theme. I figured I’d give it a shot. So here is my shot:
Everyone knows that the economy isn’t doing so great right now, and that really does not bode well for me since I’m trying to enter the marketing world. I am getting ready to graduate this summer and things still aren’t looking up for me.
I know there are companies that are still hiring. There are always jobs up for grabs out there, but the key is knowing where to find them. When it comes down to it, it’s who you know. I had a friend tell me recently that companies are rarely looking at all the resumés they are being sent since there are so many of them. Instead they are looking for referrals from people inside the company. I know many people out in the world, but not a whole lot of them work in the field that I’m wanting to enter.
This Thursday there is a career fair here at BYU-Idaho. I have been working on perfecting my resumé, getting my siblings to review it and spell check for me. Generally there are lots of companies that come to this event, many of which are looking for perspective interns and new hires. Will it be the same this year with the economy the way it is? Who knows. All I know is that I’m going to be there as much as I can, talking and interacting with all the reps.
At any rate, here’s to hoping.
