Good Gracious!

It's been a long time.

October has been a whirl-wind and I'm still working on breaking it all down.  Have traveled three weekends this month and it's been wonderful, but exhausting. 

More updates to come.  Promises, promises...

 

How I Spend My Money: Part 2

This week's spending, in which I...

...pay bills (15,740)

...treat myself to a (teeth) cleaning (60,000)

...get a haircut (20,000)

...and stationary (15,340) 

I ended up dropping more than 150,000 in one day, but they were all planned expenses, so it wasn't too painful.  Overall I've found that I feel better about finances when I plan first and act second.  That's the ideal situation, anyway. 

9/8/08 Work Expense (re-imbursible) Cab 5,000.00

9/9/08 Gas Bill 15,740.00

9/9/08 Groceries 2,500.00

9/9/08 Groceries +Houseware - E*Mart 48,470.00

9/10/08 Groceries - Home Plus 8,280.00

9/10/08 Transportation - cab 10,000.00

9/10/08 Groceries 2,000.00

9/11/08 Work Expense - cab 7,000.00

9/12/08 Health- Dentist 60,000.00

9/12/08 Personal - Haircut 20,000.00

9/12/08 Business- Stationary 15,340.00

9/12/08 Take-out - Kimpop 8,000.00

9/12/08 Work Expense- cab 11,000.00

9/12/08 Groceries- E*mart 21,110.00

9/12/08 Personal - Post office 21,000.00

9/13/08 Restaurant 6,700.00

9/13/08 Housewares- Dollar Store 6,000.00

9/13/08 Housewares- Home Plus 27,490.00

9/14/08 Fast Food- McDonalds 7,000.00

Total = 302,630.00

Chuseok

Great big thanks to Irene and SeungSik Yu, friends of my good lady mother who sent me this package (and thanks to mom for the goodies you sent as well!) The package weighed in at 32 kgs (70.4 lbs!) and contained gift sets of tuna, ham, rice, and grapeseed oil, which I've heard are the staples of Chuseok, the Korean three-day harvest festival, which falls on Sept 13,14, and 15 this year.     

How I Spend My Money: Part 1

It is ridiculously easy to save money over here, but with the recent medical expenses (emergency room and dentist), plus the fact that there are so many fun people around me to hang out with, it makes sense to be a bit more aware of the money I'm spending.  One of my main reasons for being in Korea is to improve my financial situation and while working on this I also hope to teach myself new spending habits and methods of dealing with and thinking about money in general.  

Total spending last week equalled a grand total of 133,860, including groceries for next week.  I managed to buy healthy food, fill up my transit card, pick up some (inexpensive) clothes and accessories, purchase a very small early Christmas present, and even squeeze in two fun "nights out".

  

My Spending Log:

Monday:

2,000 won - chamchi kimpop

Tuesday:

2,700 won - snacks

Wednesday:

Groceries - 8,550

Post Office- 700

Early Christmas Gift- 1,500

Newspaper: 700

Bracelet: 10,000

Entertainment ("bar bill") 2,000

Fast Food: 4,000

Cab: 3,000

Snacks: 1,700

Total= 32,150

Thursday:

Water: 9,000

Groceries: 16,510

Bag of Apples: 5,000

Friday:

Snacks- 3,900

Saturday:

Coffee- 3,700

Movie- 7,000 (Mamma Mia!) 

Snacks- 4,800

Sunday:

Snacks- 3,000

New pair of pants- 4,900

Groceries- 32,200

Transit card- 10,000

Homebody

Me: Would you want Peter Pan for a friend?  Why or why not?

Kid: No.

Me: Why not?

Kid: It would have lots of travel. 

"More detailed updates..."

My favorite Limey in Chilgok has politely requested more info on the current work situation and I'm happy to oblige.  I've only officially been doing the job (floating) for ten days, but so far, it seems to be a lot of fun and a definite improvement on my former situation.  I feel like I will get a bird's eye view of all the different branches (there are over twenty) and can experience teaching at both the "Regular" and "Special" schools.  

Today was my first day teaching at a "Special" branch and there was a marked difference in atmosphere.  The halls were quieter and from the beginning I noticed fewer discipline problems in the classrooms.  The curriculum is simpler and allows more room for discussion, while the students seem more motivated and eager to participate.     

This job comes with the definite drawback of not having a set routine and class every day, but the advantage of being able to teach in and learn from all different work locations and situations.   I imagine it feels similar to being a consultant and I'm hoping to learn how to better adjust to life on the move.  

  

 

Jeju Review

(a bit late, but better than never...) 

The Jeju trip started out (as most good trips do) with McDonalds breakfast at the bracing hour of 5:30am on Saturday morning.  I met Louise, Amanda, and Amanda's friend Christie at Daegu Airport , where I was singled out for an upgrade to Prestige class.  It was definitely the swankiest 55 minute flight of my life so far.  

 

The tour bus (Ye-HA Tours) picked us up at the airport and showed us the sights, some of which included:

O'Sulloc Tea Museum- a green tea plantation and museum.  

(and me, being a teapot)

Cheonjiyeon Pokpo (waterfall).  Said to have healing properties.

Jeongbang Pokpo- "the only waterfall in the Orient that falls directly into the ocean." so our tour sheet informed us. 

(I'm just happy to be off the bus)

At the conclusion of the tour, we were picked up by the Ellen, the proprietress of our guest house .  It was a lovely little cottage with vaulted ceilings and a porch, though a bit far away from the action of downtown (about a seven minute cab ride, which Ellen graciously called for us several times during the weekend.) 

Dinner was at El Paso, a quality Mexican restaurant across from city hall, followed by an early night for the four of us.    

On Sunday morning, Amanda and Christie opted for another bus tour of the east end of the island, while Louise and I decided to explore the sights downtown.  We found some excellent duty free shopping at "The Shilla" duty free shopping center.  Jeju's status as a self-governing province affords it certain benefits in regard to commerce and this isn't mentioned in any guidebook and probably for the best.  Louise walked into a random bookstore and used her mobile phone's dictionary to show an employee the korean word for "Duty Free".  He understood and generously ushered us into a cab and gave the driver directions.  Props to Louise and her moxie.  

Dinner was a home-cooked affair and followed by an excursion to Loveland, a sexual theme park (oh, yeah).  Began in 2002 by 20 artist students from Hongik University, it was originally conceived as an outdoor sculpture garden designed for "sexual education" and "health" instruction.  The park's website describes it as "a place where sexually-oriented art and eroticism meet" and it's definitely worth the 7,000 won admission fee.    

On Monday morning, Louise and I boarded a 9am flight back to Daegu, not before discovering some more quality duty free opportunities at the Jeju airport.  All told, a very satisfying mini-break.  

The rainbow that capped off our trip: