The Slipping Mask

As I have started writing this tonight, this post is unnamed. Looks like this is going to be one of those rambling posts... Apologies in advance, Citizens.

I constantly fluctuate from surprise to disgust to awe to amazement to gratitude to so many other emotions at the different things we humans do. What we do to each other, ourselves, nature, animals, etc etc. the list is eternal.

I have just come back from a 3 day conference held by GEPIK (Gyeonggi English Program In Korea) which is the government body in charge of the English Program in my province. The Gyeonggi-do province in South Korea is the largest province in the country, has the most schools and the most students. And consequently the most native teachers. So they put together this program for the new teachers to attend in order to better equip them for teaching in ROK. Did it work? Not really, I don't think I feel any better prepared than before. Did I enjoy it? Yes, I did actually. But for different reasons.

I am a known people watcher (polite term for stalker maybe?) and I really like to see how people interact. And I always lol at myself after these things, because I notice the change that happens to myself when I am around people I either don't know or am not comfortable with. I am always a slightly different person.
Are all these other people the same? Are they being themselves? How long do you need to know someone before you actually know someone???
An analogy I have used before is my Mask Theory. I think everyone wears a Mask pretty much all the time. Every person we come in contact with sees a slightly different version of ourselves. is this a good thing or a bad thing? Neither, I think. Its just how it is. The thing is, though, is that eventually the mask will slip, and the real 'you' will start poking through. I know for myself, I always pretend to be cooler than I really am. In truth, I am a big nerd who is bad at sports and likes reading, anime and Game of Thrones. But as far as new friends are concerned, I am a super cool person who loves to drink and party and all that. Or maybe thats not how I come across? I have no idea, but thats certainly the image I want them to get. I want to seem fun and exciting... Because fun people make friends, not boring people. Right???

While on the conference I could see certain groups forming. It indadvertedly happens, people gravitate towards certain people. Now, we were all adults who attended this event. Yet, when people get together childish events still occur. There was someone who was picked on (without his knowledge), someone who skipped out on class, a group of boys making noise, a group of girls talking about everyone else... it just goes to show you can never escape high school.
I had made it my goal to try and talk to everyone. I wanted to meet lots of people and hopefully make new friend. I think I did ok, I got a few new FB friends out of it, and was able to build on current work in progress friendships. But I do wonder what other people got out of the even. And I wonder what people thought of me... Will I ever be able to shake my insecurities about making friends? Probably not. And its storage that I feel this way - its not like I had a hard time at school... People may even say I had it easy at high school compared to others, I had a heap of friends and never really got picked on. But I made a huge effort. I picked my friends carefully and stuck by them.

So whats the go here in Korea? How do you make friends and keep friends? How do I know if my mask is slipping? Will people still want to be friends when they see my nerdy loser side???
Yes, i think so. Because most people have a nerdy side, I think. I hope anyway...

You can't hide who you are forever (Maddie - remember when we tried to be cool in New Zealand???) so my new goal for this year is to try and be more myself. Stop trying to be cool, and stop labelling! Just be myself and if people don't like me then thats fine. They wouldn't have been a real friend anyway. So then, i will know I have true friends here on the other side of the world.

I didn't think this post was going to be about me, but there you go.

In other news...

Please, PLEASE get into the K-drama "To the Beautiful You". I am going mental for it, especially now I know what's going on (shout out to Jeong from school for explaining it to me haha). 

In brief - 

The series centers on Goo Jae-hee (Sulli), a Korean girl who lives in the United States. One day, she sees a track and field competition on TV, and becomes inspired by a gold medalist high jump competitor, Kang Tae-joon (Minho). She begins to idolize the young athlete but Tae Joon suffers an accident that could potentially end his career. Therefore, to see Tae-joon jump again, Jae-hee disguises herself as a boy and attends the same school as Tae-joon. 

(Thanks Wikipedia!) 

But of course there is a love triangle - Kang Tae-joon knows she is a chick, and they both like each other but can't admit it because she doesn't know that he knows, and he doesn't want her to get into trouble. 

Then there is Cha Eun-gyeol who thinks she is a guy, but has admitted his feelings for 'him' and is totally confused about his sexuality. 

The whole thing is ridiculous but i'm hooked. It also starts a heap of K-pop stars, so go celebrity spotting :)

MUM IS NEARLY HERE! She is coming to visit for Chuseok (traditional Autumn festival here in Korea) and we are visiting Busan and Seoul. I haven't been to either of those places yet so stay tuned for some pics and some interesting information! I will try and remember everything so I can tell you about it. I am super excited to see some of the country, and also to have such a great travelling partner. my mum is super good to travel with, she is up for anything and loves travel. She is open to other customs and likes to see sights. Except temples... She gets sick of temples pretty quickly. 

I have also recently found out a certain family member is a full on jerk. Just because someone is 'family' doesn't mean they have to be your friend. 

Anyhoo, i will leave you with some pics of the KSA Centre where the GEPIK conference was held. It was a nice area, kinda farmland kinda mountainous. And it wasn't really far from home - still in Pyeongtaek! 

 Our room - I was lucky enough to be roomies with Shanda :D

Till next time!

xoxoxo

Videos and Facebook

My film debut

Ok, guys, the moment you have all been waiting for (or not)! My Self Introduction video! 

Say what???

Let me tell you the story. Its not really an interesting story, but I will tell you anyway. Basically, the recruiter from Korvia (Jean) asked me as part of my application to so a short youtube video saying who I was, what I like to do, and why I want to come to Korea. Another recruiter (Jin from Englishworldkorea) had also asked me to do a video but I had declined, because at the time I thought it was weird. But now that a few have asked I spose I am ok with it...

Then Irene (from JT Consulting) asked if I could do a video of me demonstrating my teaching! Well, at this point I am getting a bit overwhelmed again, because I have enough trouble taking and uploading photos, let alone videos which I have never attempted. 

So I thought I would try and compromise. I did the video, very very basically, using the webcam on the mac and the imovie program. I wrote out the points i wanted to make and then I just kinda made it up as I went along. I gave it a few goes, and then picked the one I looked and sounded least retarded in. And here we are, the final result:

http://youtu.be/eJ3glCIEeuk

I have no idea if this will even work or not... 

I had to make a youtube channel, which I now have with my one video on it. If you are keen, and this link doesn't work, and you need a laugh tonight the channel is bonnie9973. I think you just type it in and I assume the video will appear. When I get to Korea I want to get myself a little video camera, and I will def try and load up some interesting things. 

Wait, this worked even better! Turns out there is an 'imbed video' option while blogging... Technology eh?

But still, I mean to make more videos so lets wait and see what happens. Oh, and as a side note, I watched this video back after posting it and emailing it to the recruiters, and then realised I have a bit of fluff in my hair. FML now I look like I don't brush my hair. I did take out the lip piercing though... No need to advertise my emoness.

Reasons why I love Facebook...

This topic can go on and on forever, because as many people know I really love Facebook (hereby referred to as fb). I know a lot of people whinge about fb taking over lives and causing people to be less social and all that, but I only look at it from a positive point of view. Some quick reasons I love fb are:

- Keeping in contact with old friends

- Its FREE

- Stalking people legally

- Contacting old friends I would never have been able to reach (like numbers have changed or whatever)

- Networking

For me, the current giant plus of fb has been the networking.

Facebook Networking

Since telling people of my Korea plans, I have had a heap of people link me with their friends or family who have been, or are working in South Korea. The info that I have been given by these kind souls has been invaluable. I cannot express how much I appreciate all these strangers giving me information without expecting anything back. it has been truly amazing. And through these initial contacts I have now made more, so there is now a network of reliable people I can speak with to get Korea info. One new friend in particular has answered my odd questions, like will I find a hairdresser and can I get decent bread. And they encourage me to ask anything. I feel really lucky that I am online and can access these people and their knowledge. 

Interestingly enough, a few of the recruiters have even pointed me to fb groups to ask questions and to see what type of things other expats are up to. This has also been great, I randomly saw that one girl was interviewing for the same position as me! So we have been comparing notes. It would be cool to catch up with her once we both arrive in Korea, two little newbies together :) So this is the type of community I am entering into - a bunch of likeminded people who are super friendly and helpful and want to help me with my experiences too. Couldn't really ask for more!

And all of this through the power of fb, and social networks. So don't bag fb to me, because I won't hear it!

Once I get to Korea, fb will be a massive life line to my friends and family too. And I plan on using youtube a bit too, as it seems to be a good way to reach people. But the big thing will be family and friends. I already know I will miss them heaps :)

Interviews update

So, I had an interview the other night with a school in Daejeon, called the International Communication Centre.

http://www.dongguicc.or.kr/

The hours are not really what I am looking for, and it is a bit further out than what I wanted, but the contract is only 6 months so I thought I would see if they liked me. The interview went well, she asked me the usual questions (what I like to do on the weekend, do I like kids, what is my teaching experience, what is sustainability etc) and that was about it. She asked if it was ok if a current teacher called me and also had a chat with me, which I said was fine and that was it. 

So last night, around 9.30pm the teacher called. It was one of their native teachers (by native, I mean native English speaking, not native Korean) and she was from New Jersey and had been teaching at the school for about 9 months. We had a really good chat about conditions, work environment and all that. She also asked me some more questions about my teaching style, why I picked Korea to want to teach at and that toy of thing. Either way, it was a good convo she was easy to talk to. I mean, you never know if there was actually the Korean director sitting behind her making sure she was saying the 'right' thing, but it seemed legit. 

And I actually just had a phone call from Claire (the recruiter for this position) while I was typing, answering a few other questions I had about this position. it seems that the actual working hours are pretty low, she thinks less than 30, and on a Friday you only teach between 6pm and 8pm. But in there lies my dilemma - the kids that i would be teaching are a little older (elementary and up) and the hours are not as awesome as I had hoped... Classes are from 11am to 7.30pm so I would be working evenings. Not too late, but still not during the day. And the area is a bit out of Seoul, takes over an hour by fast train to get there. 

But I will hold judgement until they send me a contract. they might not! They might not have liked me! We shall see... 

Update on this school!!!

Guys, i received a job offer from the ICC School in Daejeon. I have emailed a current teacher to get the low down on the school, so i will let you know what he says. I am still thinking its a no, because of how far out it is but I will wait and see what this guy says. And also the salary is a bit lower that what I was hoping, AND the accommodation is dorm style. Basically, I wouldn't say I was sold on it.

I have another interview this evening, with a school in Hanam. It is a new school apparently, and is part of the SLP chain which has a pretty bad rep online. But as Irene (recruiter) pointed out, they are all run by different people so it really depends on what the director is like. Don't know if that is comforting or not :s

http://www.jobteachconsulting.com/services/joblist/view.php?id=850 

This is what Irene sent me to have a look at, has some of the details about the position. 

So I will see how this interview tonight goes, and hopefully have some more offers soon!

In regards to the kinder in Yongin, they are really putting the pressure on to get me to make up my mind. I sent Claudia an email telling her if they are not comfortable waiting then they can interview someone else, but instead she sent back so other info and asked if I was not comfortable with the contract. I just pointed out to her this was a really big deal for me, having to shift myself to another country and begin a new profession and I need to be 100% about it before I commit. She hasn't emailed me back yet :s but I refuse to feel pressured! Not really very fair. 

The interview with the Wonderland school this morning was cancelled. I have a feeling it was because they may have already found someone, but she said it was because the directors daughter had to go to hospital. i said yeah thats cool, either make another time or just focus on another school and she said she would find me another school. So there you go. That was the one with the bad online reviews anyway so i am not really too upset. 

In other news...

The pony is still due to come back on the weekend. Provided that Beau can go to Chirnside. Provided mums car hasn't completely shit itself by then. 

I have eaten nearly an entire block of chocolate today, so the diet is still failing miserably. Oh well... when the pony comes back I can start riding again and hopefully shed some kg's.

Ummm, can't really think of anything else right now so I guess thats it for today! Unless i think of anything later, in which I will add or make another post.

xx