Snow has a rather unique quality of making everything seem more tidy. Any uneven surface it falls on becomes smooth, and any colour distortion is turned to white. This place was interesting and beautiful without it, but the snow just makes it seem... snowed on. It both add's detail and removes it. It encompasses everything, but leaves openings to see what was there.
Anyway I'm done with poetic's for now. Here are some pictures. Temperatures are no longer getting above zero during the day, and as low as -14. Sure there are nasty things about the cold, like the air bites into your faces skin, and the wind can whip up tiny flecks of what feels like glass into your face after a fresh snow, and yes, on the roads it turns a grey colour, and you use words like "watch out for the slosh/ice in front of you", and you have to learn how to walk in it so you dont spend your whole time slipping on your ass, but get over it! Snow is awesome.
As for news, well, I sat my TEFL exam last week and got the results back! I passed! What an effort though. I wouldn't recommend spreading out your study across six months. It's best to just sit down and learn it over a few weeks. The best thing to do is work on your understanding of various rules such as what the tenses are and the more advanced rules about conditionals and modal auxiliary verbs etc. What a pain to re-learn that stuff. BUT in saying that 12-18 hours of hard slog will get you there. Best to go into as much detail as you can etc with your answers as I got back "Excellent exam, very thorough answers to indicate understanding" which I am quite proud of really haha!
Also, I have to tell you about the process to get into the public or "formal" schools here. They have more prestige yeah sure, but the amount of paperwork is high, not to mention difficult to navigate. The funny thing is you tell them on the phone that their website it difficult to navigate and they talk to you like it's all there. Which it is, sometimes not in the same place, sometimes all in the same place, with not a lot to differentiate what you actually need from what you don't, and then some extra stuff that I'm pretty sure I didn't see on there at all. But hey, I want this and I've gotta do what I've gotta do. Though I have to say a private hagwon is looking better and better, only down side is they might also need at least some of that stuff from the sounds of it. Sigh, what a mission. Yes I went to Uni, yes I have TEFL, No I'm not a predator, and no I'm not here to scam anyone.
Anyway, this is what they'll need from you. An 800 word essay about why you think you'll be a good teacher in Korea, a fake lesson plan at least 2 pages long, two signed and sealed references, about 20 pages of forms (not kidding, and with many repeats of information), two declarations - one for my tattoo, one for my TEFL certificate which is in the post, and an original and expensive transcript from Uni - sealed of course (which they will probably lose), copies of your degree, police report (apostiled) and visa, and a passport photo of you.
BUT I'm not gonna complain. As I said, if you want this suck it up and do it. I have to say I wasted a lot of time avoiding the paperwork but once you get into it you'll sort it out relatively quickly. And the girl I'm dealing with at the moment is super helpful so that's good as well.
SPEAKING of girls I have met and befriended some now (two in particular that are keepers). And speaking of friends I've made a couple of male ones as well finally which also seem very cool. I have even been to a party and to a bar with them and their friends! So enjoying these small successes - though I did get uncharacteristically drunk with the Australian and American guy, so I'm not exactly sure how stupid I looked this time... I didn't look cool - of that I am certain. Looking forward to seeing all of them again at least. Anyway partying here is awesome! And if you go to a western style bar you will find westerners everywhere and people that speak English which is great a well! PS. Soju in Beer does make Soju and beer taste better, but remember this one simple rule: it will mess you up if you're not careful.
So that's what I've been up to lately. One of my good mates Elliot is here to visit his family but catching up with him has been epic since we haven't seen each other in years. So cool. Also my little brother Luke is coming up for a white Christmas so that it pretty awesome as well and I'm really looking forward to it!!! So here I am all positive and stuff! Been going to the gym as well which is great! Though I've been a bit slack this week I have lost 5kg so far and I'm pretty sure I've lost even more than that in body fat. ANYWAY, I'll catch up with you guys next time! Have a good week! Can't believe how committed you are to have made it to the end of this rant!!!
