Happy 2013!

Hello to everyone! Happy Year of the Black Snake! I hope you all were able to ring in the new year with a bang! Me? Oh I just chilled at home. I know it totally sounds boring but I’ve caught a terrible cold that I’ ve been fighting for TWO WEEKS NOW! Aish. Korean medicine just doesn’t work for me. Sigh.

Anywho have you all checked out the new design for the Pink Fashion Ninja?! I so hope you like it! It took me forever to finally like a design I made. After constantly being defeated by Photoshop I decided to just find a template and rework it to fit me. I totally thought my PS skills were better but I guess I’ve gotten a little rusty over the years (or maybe I wasn’t as good as I thought I was.) I also somehow downloaded the DUTCH trial of PS with no way to change it to English. Now THAT freaking sucked. I can at least read Korean, heck even Spanish but DUTCH? Nope totally defeated. But I am happy with my result. I wasn’t able to apply the original design I envisioned for the blog (sword marks and cute ninjas lol ) but the blingy cute look reflects my personality too so I can live with it.

Resolutions bla bla bla
Now I sincerely hate the phrase New Years Resolutions. It just erks the hell out of me. I see every year folks saying they’re going to do this and that but one week later drop everything! I for one know it’s hard to keep promises to ourselves but sticking with them is the only way to further ourselves in life. SO a better word I choose to use is Aspirations. That word evokes courage. When we hear it reminds us of our dreams and that we should keep striving to achieve them. So here are a few of mine for the year. Some already in the works 🙂

Kpop Tour
Soon a “Travel in Korea” tab with be added to the top of this blog. It will include something I call “Kpop Tour Guide” and “Kpop Fashion Tour” Guide. It will be a guide for those who come and visit and want to hit up all the good Kpop or fashion spots. So please look forward to it! In addition to that I will have a section about living in Korea with tips and helpful information.

Topik
I would like to test for the Topik sometime this year. I do self study and a lot of language exchange. I would say I’m somewhere close to Intermediate right now. I just got so frustrated with people not understand me and me not understanding others that I realized my basic Korean just wasn’t hitting it. I learn A LOT at school while teaching because usually the PowerPoints and such are translated into Korean so all day I get to keep hearing and embedding it in my brain. Also when my student ask me questions in Korean I memorize the phrases so I learn SO MUCH just by being in a Korean speaking atmosphere. I really want to be bilingual in an Asian language so here I go!

Martial Arts
I always loved martial arts so it was inevitable that when I actually started to learn it  I would fall in love with it. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get back into Taekwondo because I haven’t been able to find a place near me. But when it warms up I will actually start Kendo or in Korean Kumho. It’s a martial art with swords which is what I love. I hope to get a black belt in it (along with my current Black Belt in Taekwondo) and continue to learn mix martial arts for a long time.

Last Year Teaching
I’ve already made the decision to not renew with my school (which is a good school no doubt) nor teach EVER again. I’ve just got to get back into the creative arts. I mean the teaching part is fine but its EVERYTHING that comes with it. My coteacher, how I’m looked at more as a foreign person than a teacher, and how a lot of the students really don’t want to learn English. It’s mostly the 6th graders (which in Korea 6th grade is in Elementary school.) I feel like as a foreign teacher you’ll never fully be respected by the students. Of course all the drama from my first school last year was crazy. Also the sitting a computer for a long time thing is NOT ME. I feel I will bust into flames if I don’t get away from the computer and move around. I guess I really am just a creative soul. Now I’m not sure if I’ll still be in Korea. Maybe Japan or if I move back to the US I’ll probably move to New York or DC. Still not sure, but all I know is…I just want to be happy.

So being here in Korea has been an experience I’ll never forget. I still have another 7 months until my contract is up so many more adventures await. Through the many things I’ve been through I’m so happy I moved here. It was what I needed in my life. To explore a new land, make decisions for myself, live free and be happy. For those that don’t know, this was my first time moving out the house! My college didn’t have dorms so I was still at home so after I graduated 3 months later I was in Korea! I’m a crazy person. Lol

So I really wish you all good health and prosperity. Please follow your aspirations and never be too afraid to go after them. There are so many things that await.

Have a Happy Year 🙂