Life After Korea

Life after Korea...

I was chatting with one of my girlfriends a couple weeks ago and we were talking about what life will be likes once we begin lives back home. She will be getting married soon to a wonderful Korean fellow and after they have kiddos they will head back to Canada. She brought up a lot of points about frustrations and worries about life back home.

It got me thinking... 

What the hell am I going to do?

By the time I head back to the States I will hopefully be at the tender age of 29. In my head it seems old in terms of getting my act together. Going home and technically starting over seems overwhelming and complicated. 

Life in Korea is easy. (relatively) 

Our housing is paid for, we work (a lot), explore far and near, and we don't have much to worry about. 

I love teaching in Korea but it's not like teaching in America. 

I also know I don't want to teach when I go back to America because I'm actually not qualified to be a teacher. I major in psychology. 

My friend said something that really struck a cord with me. 

"We need to have marketable skills that will enable us to have jobs in other fields and still be successful." 

I got to thinking. 

A. What are my skills?

B. What am I passionate about?

My first passion is make up and skin care and I have been doing that for sometime but have really slowed down since work takes up much of my time and honestly I am not going to contour my face and wear bright lip stick to teach. 

Lately I've been researching a lot about nail art. So after spending the week end at SETEC I am happy to announce my journey learning how to do nail art. 

Of course with anything I will need to practice and make sure I can do a mean manicure and gett fancy with colors and variations. Sure there's a lot to learn but that's what makes it so fun and exciting for me. 

To anyone that is abroad and wondering what life will be like after you return it's okay to be confused and a little worried. I think we all have to take it with stride. Plans aren't perfect but I'm going to work hard and try my best. 

To any of the expat who have gone home and started a new life outside of teaching, what did you do? And how did you get there? Was it difficult? 

I give you all massive kudos. 

So to all of my friends living and working abroad what do you think? What will you do? 

Best luck to everyone 

"When you do what you love you never work a day in your life"

xoxo

J. Greene

Edu farm!

EDU FARM!

 This was our first field trip of the school year! Since Dongtan is located outside of Seoul it's easier to do things a little more country. haha 

The inside was actually super pretty and there was a lot of things to see! 

They had all kinds of flowers and an assortment of things planted around and lots of photo ops! Because it's not a field trip without some quality photo's to show to the parents! ^^

After wandering around on the inside and taking LOTS of pictures we were led outside to plant potatoes!!! 

They each got 5 spuds and got to place them into each hole. After the planted them the farmer came around and covered them up with dirt and the kids got to pat it down. 

Time to wash up!

The view was country and it was silent all around!

After we washed it was time to get up close and personal with the farm animals. 

This frisky little bird was wandering around and getting really close to the kiddos. We kept the bird at bay as some of our babies freaked out. 

There was a turkey, two donkeys, and a mysterious looking dog. We didn't go near the dog. 

Overall the kids had fun looking and planting their potatoes! It would definitely be a great place to take your kiddos on the week end or just fun to check out! 

Here's all the info:

Edu FarmWebsite!

Happy exploring y'all~

xoxo

Julie 

Felice Piatto

행복한접시 Felice Piatto - Dongtan

So the first week end we moved here it was pretty hectic and there was a lot to do in a short amount of time.

Sunday we ventured out of our Metapolis bubble and across the major road into a whole new world of delicious looking restaurants and boutiques. I don't know the exact name of the area but the map at the bottom can provide some help!~ 

Here's the intersection.. a blurry version the restaurant is behind the white sign in the background. So we walked around and the restaurant is next to Baby Guiness... if that helps at all haha

We walked in and the restaurant was pretty empty so we got our choice of where to sit! 

There interior is cute and very clean and well organized. We ordered a pasta dish each and a margherita pizza. 

This was my chicken carbonara ! I am very picky when it comes to cream sauces in Korea. It's always very runny and the consistency of soup, but this was perfect! It was thick and velvety and it left me wanting more! 

This is what my boyfriend got. He prefers red sauce and anything spicy enough to set your bowels on fire. His was called Arrabbiata and it was pretty delicious. I only tried a bite but he gave it rave reviews. He practically licked the plate. 

 

The pizza may not look like much but the crust was nice and thin. The sauce didn't over power the pizza and it was delightful! I highly recommend it! 

The presentation was nice and clean and we pretty much left the plates clean. haha I cleaned mine with the pizza crust. 

I thought the meal was over but all of a sudden FREE dessert came out! We got to choose between chocolate cake and cheese cake. The chocolate was pretty delicious! 

Since it was late I opted for the free orange juice and my boyfriend got tea. 

This is the entrance to restaurant, I am a sucker for a lemon painting. haha 

This is what it looks like from outside! Sorry it's so dark, we went spur of the moment Sunday night! 

Overall 

Atmosphere:

4/5

Quality of food:

4/5

Service

3/5

Value

4/5

Overall experience

5/5


Overall I can't wait to eat there again and try out some new dishes! The prices are moderately priced. Definitely not cheap, but it's about 10 bucks a plate, which isn't bad for the portion they give you. If your in the Central Park neighborhood check it out and let me know what you think. 

Here's a map of the location and the address in Korean.