Ramblings and a Mini Review

AHHH!!! My dear friend and fellow blogger Yumeko sent me a package and it arrived 2 days ago! I was so freaking excited when I saw an envelope on my desk! I love it! Thank you Yumeko!!!!! I tried the Kose mask yesterday and it was quite refreshing. She even drew a cute picture on the envelope. Thank you again!!

Before you finish browsing through this post, I'd like to let you know that I'll be rambling a bit in the end, hence the title, but of course I also leave you with a mini review instead of totally boring you to death XD

When I purchased the Integrate winter palette, the SA gave me a bunch of samples of Shiseido's Elixir. I've been using the Lifting Night Cream for the past week or so and I've decided that I will not be purchasing the full sized version anytime soon.
As a night cream, I expected it to be more rich because it's supposed to help replenish the nutrients in your skin. I didn't expect this night cream to be so thick, it's like spreading butter on your face. There's no detectable smell and this does no irritate my skin, however, I feel that it's too rich. On some mornings, I wake up with visibly shiny skin, kinda gross. It also felt very oily. I don't think my skin can absorb such a rich lotion. I will be sticking to my Laneige emulsion when I'm done using this sample. It's great for those with dry skin though, especially in the winter, but not for me unfortunately XD

I love Family Guy and this is one of my favourite scenes. Enjoy!!





Do you believe in finding close friends through the internet? Or finding a close friend is more of a physical thing as well? (where you meet up with them for a cup of coffee to catch up kinda thing)
I thought I was never good at making new friends. I find that it's hard to get along with most people, mostly because I get nervous when I talk to someone I just met. Girls are the hardest to get along with because I always feel like they're judging me, the way I look, talk and act.
In a way, I'm hiding behind a computer, I feel like it's much easier to talk to other people (bloggers). I feel like they don't judge me and we can find things we have in common. But then sometimes if I'm looking for an outside party to talk to, what if my e-mail venting bothers them? Sometimes, I'm very insecure about my friends. So many things have happened and I'm always scared I'll be alone.
Since starting this blog, I didn't expect to have some conversations or even be mailing things to other bloggers. It's nice to know that you have someone there who's willing to listen to/read you rant. So would you consider these people to be almost your close friend?
How do you make new friends? There doesn't have to be answers to my questions, but I'm just curious, are friends nowadays people that go in and out of your life quickly and easily?



Anyway, Monaaa!! And to everyone else who's curious, here's a description of what my experience in Korea has been in a nutshell.
I had applied to teach after talking to a friend about it. She was teaching at that time and she sent me the website that was hiring. They hire for a bigger company which is the Seoul Metropolitan of Education. (you don't need to known Korean btw) I do not have a teaching certificate or TESOL, I only have a Bachelor's degree in history. The application was SOOO rushed. I applied at the end of July and they rushed me here for the end of August. It cost me a lot of money, mainly because of the background checks and the VISA.
I am on a one year contract so I won't be back in Toronto until next August. The airfare and housing is paid for you. I just have to pay the utility bills which don't cost me more than $100CAD a month and I split this with Tim.
I've had a bad experience the moment I got here. There were no instructions on where to meet at the airport for pickup so I wandered around with Tim and asking the foreign looking people if they were teaching as well. Luckily, the company had hired a lot of people who took the same flight.
My housing has been a mess. Tim and I had requested a couple apt. The school district office had told my school not to find housing for me because Tim's school will take care of the couple housing. However, the school district failed to inform Tim's school, which is why we ended up in a box till next August. I had 2 choices because of the box housing. The schools could find Tim and I a larger place, or I could take 500 000won (less than $500CAD) a month until my contract ends to compensate for the error and as housing subsidy. Of course I took the 500 000won, it will pay for our vacation to Hong Kong XD
I'm teaching in a middle school, 21 classes a week which consists of all the grade 7 and 9 students and I work from 830am-430pm.
My school is very disorganized. They always give me confusing answers and they never answer my questions directly. I feel like I always have to chase them for answers.
The students are very disrespectful to me and any other young female teachers. It's nothing like schools in Canada.
When I teach, they talk, when I walk in the hallways, they walk into me, when they see another teacher they will bow, but not to me. I have never had to talk so loudly everyday before. The first few weeks, my throat would hurt at the end of the day. They constantly use cellphones and MP3 players in class and I have taken away many.
My students are split into 3 levels, depending on how good their English is. I only have 1 class that will actually respect me and listen to my lesson. (These are the high level English grade 9 students and they don't break eye contact with me, kinda freaky).
I have a co-teacher with me at all times while I teach, but none of them really do much to discipline the students or aid me in preparing and presenting a lesson. My co-teachers have problems amongst themselves to begin with so it doesn't really help at all. One of my co-teachers sometimes decides to challenge me, thinking her English is better than mine just because she's spent 4-5 years in Singapore. I've had countless problems and complaints about her.
I've talked to other English teachers that I've met during orientation. They don't seem to have this problem. Maybe I got the bad end of the deal?
The only thing that's keeping me sane are Tim, my blog and occasional shopping.
If you ask me, I wouldn't recommend anyone to teach in Seoul. Tim hasn't had as many problems as me, mainly because his school is a bit more organized. I was told that Koreans are known to be very last minute and they always change their minds. (I was told by the school district during orientation, they could be wrong and I don't mean to offend anyone in any matter)
It has been very frustrating for me. I also think my school expected a visible foreigner and they were disappointed, there was a rumour that I was black. I blend right in because I'm Chinese.


I also don't like spicy food haha and 99% of Korean food is spicy XD