I still carry around the alien registration card that's due to expire in a few days on March 26th with the would be end of my year contract.  Upon my early departure, I was supposed to hand it over.  Nobody asked for it so I kept it as a souvenir.  Since my December 8th escape from Jeonju on an Incheon airport bound bus at 2:00 am, life has taken some rather unexpected turns.  In the...

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With no regrets for either going to South Korea or subsequently running away in the middle of the night, I admit I ran.   If this wasn't the story of a quitter, it would be a story about getting fired from a Korean hagwon. Shortly after the tensions with North Korea started rising, in my very own classroom I was shot in the lip with a BB gun. Neither of those things actually had anything...

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Here I am at the Pu-Dong airport,maybe I'll have time to go take some photos of the gift shops where they sell everything panda.  I have a four hour layover and I probably should refrain from reporting my minute to minute activities. But China doesn't have Facebook but they do have the "ice feeling' of Tsingtao."    What I had to do to get the China stamp on my passport, wasn't really that much fun...

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Alongside the China and Thailand internships, I've noticed the Poland addition.  The first time I saw it, it noticed that unlike the Thailand and China internships, there doesn't appear to be a program fee.  I thought maybe this was a error? Is this true, the only fees involved are that of the TEFL certificate?  I currently have 120 hours worth of i-to-i online certification, and have been considering a CELTA for the opportunity to build...

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Even at home, a year can be like a mountain full of treachorus terainn alternating with flower filled pastures, breathtaking waterfalls and bubbling brooks; the occasional mountain lion or rattlesnake, surprise thunderstorm.  The most imminent danger here mostly lurks in the form of playing taxi cab roulette,  sometimes the trails aren't so peaceful, too many people and there's garbage everywhere. (Pardon my cliches) a year like a mountain, days like hills up and down, up...

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When I arrived at my hagwon back in March, I had the opportunity to watch a teacher finish his contract and walk away with his bonus and plane ticket.  This in itself, made me feel very confident these things would be waiting for me at the end of it all.  Well, in the past couple of months things have changed.  The school, which had been under consistant ownership/management for years was sold to a new...

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In high school French class, I think my name was Marie-Claire but I don't remember. Whatever it was, it was innocuous.  Of course, one idea behind assigning names in a students target language is done to make students familiar with common names and pronuncation.  None of my French teachers were actually from France and there was little chance they'd have a problem resulting in an embarrassing mispronunciation of my name.  Ironically, at the time I...

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Instead of breakfast, let's start with bedtime.  As much as I try to adjust it, it holds steady at about 3:00-3:30 am.  At midnight, it's time to start calling people back home.  If I want to speak with any of the late risers in my life, I'm going to have to hold out until the end, or do it before work.  Yeah right, before work!   My alarm is set for 8:45...I make sure that...

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  I picked up three copies of the misprinted book at a dollar store and my students have been fighting over them ever since I've added them to the classroom.  They've proven to be a good investment as I've been able to get miles of fun in the instant communication they facilitate and the activities I'm able to use them for.     Depending on the class level, I've started using them at the beginning of...

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My hagwon was established in the same year that I came to being on this planet.  Incidentally, in my case that exact date happens to be September 1st.  For this reason, any work environment and scheduling imperfections aside, I've gotten used to the place and at least know what to expect when I come to work everyday, and that I will be paid the full amount on time.  Perhaps I waited until I was uncertain...

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