A few things I love about Korea ^^

This originally started out as "5 things I love about Korea" but I may add things to it over time lol

Sleeping at school - Only in Korea is it perfectly ok to have a quick snooze at your desk between classes. My school even has two beds in the teachers lounge and one of those massage chairs!

Desk-warming - Now this is supposed to be free time used constructively to plan for the forthcoming lessons. Naaaaaah! We use it to catch up on our soaps and movies, or to do the above lol!

Getting drunk/Hangovers - In Korea it is considered 'social' to drink a lot of alcohol with friends. There is a Maths teacher at my school who is learning English, he loves to learn a phrase and then come say it to me. Whenever I reply to him or try to start as conversation he always replies "Oh! I'm busy! I have to go!" - he's so funny. The very first thing he said to me was "I am hungover!" haha brilliant! Unfortunately I haven't seen many of MY co-workers drunk yet, nor can I tell when they're hungover - they hide it well - but I have heard many a story from my friends of teachers vomiting in sinks after a heavy night out lol.

My students - I love how they all say "Hi Teacher" or "Hi Jennifer Teacher" when they see me - even out of school! They hi-5 me in the corridors, they cheer and clap whenever I say something in Korean, they're forever teaching me to shuffle (I'm rubbish) and it just cracks me up when they say "OK, I love you teacher!". Some of the comments they come out with are just brilliant; for example, was doing a Christmas Quiz one class. One of the questions was "Who is also called Saint Nicholas?" one student piped up "Oh teacher! Nicholas Cageeey!" hahaha love it!

There's always something to do - In Korea, you're never sort of an activity or two, or three, or four! Weekends are our time to run amok. Since I've been here (5 months now), with the exception of weekdays, I don't think I've stayed in or at home at the weekend. There are always nights out, or days visiting places, weekend breaks to go on or events happening nearby. There is literally NEVER a dull moment. What makes it all the better is all your friends are going to the same places, so you're never alone in your adventures!

Korean Couples - I've noticed a few times men carrying what I would consider to be women's handbags. At first I thought it was perhaps just a difference in culture but I've since found out that it is well, I guess you'd call it romance! In Korea it is 'expected' for a man to carry his girlfriend or date's handbag. Call me old fashioned but I think that's lovely! Someone can carry my handbag anytime!! I've also noticed that couples dress either exactly the same or at least similar. There are even shops downtown that sell clothes and even underwear that are exactly the same; one for him, one for her! They even have babies clothes so mum, dad and baby can all wear the same gear. That's so cuteeeeee!

How I'm becoming 'Korean' in my messages - Gone are the days of :) :( and :*( now it's all about ^^ (supposed to be a Korean person smiling) and ㅠㅠ (a Korean crying or sad)

Speaking Korean - Now I've noticed that sometimes (when I attempt at speaking Korean) I don't pronounce the word quite right and so I'm not understood OR I'm not quite sure how to say the word in Korean at all. Try this....putting 'eeeee' or 'a' on the end of the word, for some reason, seems to work!! For example, a friend of mine was trying to say the word 'map' but didn't know the word for it, so she said 'mapa?' and was immediately understood! The same goes for words like Lotte Marta, cute-a (cute), changeee? (if you want change) finisheee? (Are you finished?) etc. It covers a multitude of sins haha! Needless to say I'm understood a lot more often than before!!

The way they dress - Koreans all dress well!! The women ALWAYS look immaculate....and the men, well, they could teach the boys back in England a thing or two!! They're again, always well dressed and smart. None of this jeans-hanging-off-your-butt-my-hairs-long-and-greasy-because-i'm-cool-like-a-rockstar rubbish. I was sat in McD's a few weeks ago, and in walked someone (I couldn't see them at first) but I remember thinking "WOW! I love that leopard print jacket she's wearing!!"....when I got a better look it turned out to be a GUY!!! I seriously considered going up to him to find out where he got it but I thought better of it, he might have been offended by a girl asking. I was gutted though, it really was gorgeous!!

TV adverts - Despite not having a clue what they're on about half the time, I actually quite like some of the adverts on TV. They're very catchy! Not like those horrid, irritating Go Compare adverts from home (I bet you're singing in your head right now aren't you!? mwahaha!). There's one advert where there are two men singing and dancing, no idea what about, but they rhyme things with kam-sam-ni-da (thank you) a lot. My friend Hannah, even though she doesnt know the words, sings it to taxi drivers which always gets a good laugh. Then there's the adverts where they sing the phone number at the end. These have definitely improved my understanding of my numbers in Korean haha! It's like sing-a-long time when the adverts are on lol.

Freebies at school - I love it when all the little sales ladies come around the office giving you free samples of things! I've had some crazy freebies! I've had ear-wax pickers, whitening moisturiser, free vitamin drinks....my fave one was a sachet of what I thought was some kind of shower/face gel, so I motion to said lady "face-uh-washeee!?" *rubs face in washing motion* to which she replied..."aniyo (no)" *points to crotch and mimics a fanny washing rub motion* right in the middle of the office bahahahahaha!!!