HI GUYS!! Long time no see!!! OH MY GOD I can't believe my computer is connected to the internet right now!! *sobs tears of joy and relief*

I spent the first three weeks of August on JEJU ISLAND!! We pretty much took over this campus called NLCS in the middle of nowhere (like the only thing nearby was a CU convenience store and a BBQ!), and while I could connect to wi-fi with my phone and tablet, the password settings for the wi-fi were so complicated I could not get my computer to connect!! It's been sooooooo annoying not being able to use my laptop! I had to make power points by looking things up on my phone and downloading/screen shotting, then plugging my phone into my laptop to transfer it over... so much unnecessary work ㅠㅠ

I wish I could say that's the only reason I haven't updated in forever! I did write a bit but we've been busy this entire time having lectures, workshops, even practicums teaching in an actual classroom with 5th graders... We also had a field trip to some amazing natural landmarks and a couple friends and I walked the coast of Yongmeori and visited a Buddhist temple. It was amazing. We also survived the typhoon!

[ By the way, for those who don't know, I was accepted to teach English through the TaLK program! We teach to elementary school kids in rural schools. I was placed in Chuncheon, and it's so awesome and only about an hour away from Seoul! ]

After our national orientation in Jeju, we split up for our provincial orientation! Luckily I had already made friends with one girl who is also in my city, because she happened to be my friend's roommate! I'm glad we get along since we'll be living close to each other! There are four new girls total in Chuncheon, and there are 3 guys and 1 girl already in Chuncheon who've already worked a year and renewed their contracts for another year! It's cool having people to show us around and tell us about the best spots in the city. 

Anyway, the Gangwon-do orientation was chill as hell! We stayed in dorms at the DMZ Peace-Life Valley and ate fresh organic food for our meals. It was really great. We had one lecture and it was actually an a capella class which turned out to be really fun! We went on a lot of field trips, such as Tunnel 4 at the DMZ where North Korea tried tunnelling through into South Korea. Unfortunately due to the rain that day we weren't able to go to the place where you can see into North Korea, but we ended up going to a local distillery instead and the owner gave us all free soju! The next day the weather was beautiful and we visited another temple and the beach and wandered around the city of Sokcho for a few hours! I think that's when it finally hit us that we were actually in South Korea!

Yesterday out mentor teachers picked us up and took us to our new places! Mine is really nice and she took me to lunch (samgyetang, yum!) and we toured my school! They have chickens and bunnies and a farm where the students plant food they can take home to their parents! I love it! After that we went to my apartment and she helped me drag my heavy- luggage up to my room! It's on the 4th floor above a restaurant and I have my own porch, which is pretty cool! I have a sliding door that separates the kitchen from my living area, which has a bed (a double, yay!) a wardrobe, desk, and tv/tv stand. There's also a bathroom with my own washing mashine! I think it's the perfect size for one person. There are definitely some furniture items I want to purchase, like a night stand, bookshelf, new desk chair, and a small table to eat with probably another chair for that as well. I'm going to ask my sister's boyfriend Jongmin to help me out with that stuff! He's so nice and eager to help! I'm really grateful.

After dropping off my stuff, my mentor teacher took me shopping at Lotte Mart for some essentials like laundry detergent, hand soap, etc. She/the school paid for it, which I was a surprise! She even bought me a drink from Dunkin Donuts! Then she brought me back home and she told me to be at the school at 9 on Monday! Aaaaah, can't believe we're starting so soon!! One of the girls doesn't start until September 1st, so lucky! I want more time to settle in and perfect my lesson plans, aaahhhh.

I started really looking around my apartment and discovered the previous tenant/scholar (who I am also replacing at the school) left behind a lot of crap and the place is actually pretty dirty! Since I can't unpack/put away my things unless I have clean places to put them, I cleaned the entire wardrobe and under it, as well as started cleaning under the bed... I don't even know what to do with all his stuff since Korea is strict about sorting trash so I just have it in duffle bags (which were also under the bed) on my porch for now. 

The older generation "Chuncheonites" made plans for all of us to have dinner at 8 so I started getting ready then headed out and took a taxi to the place where we agreed to meet up. We met two girls who weren't at the Gangwon orientation and we all went to dinner, Chuncheon famous dak galbi of course! After dinner we went to their favorite bar and had a few drinks. We had an early night because we wanted to get settled and the others were pretty much broke til payday next week, lol. I took cab back and got kind of lost but the driver was really nice and we ended up finding it and he charged me less than the meter read. 

Today I finished scrubbing the floor in the main living area! I washed the sheets and pillow cases and all the towels. I decided I'm cleaning the walls tomorrow, then it's bathroom then kitchen. It's not unliveable but it's not up to my standards of clean.... like it's obvious a slobby guy lived here before me, agh. 

Oh! Next Saturday there's a free k-pop concert here! It'll have SHINee, MBLAQ, Girl's Day BTS, and others... pretty much all the Gangwon scholars want to go! So we'll have people crashing with us so we can go early and wait for tickets, haha! And Jongmin is coming too, he's so excited! Haha.

Well that's pretty much all for now! I'm gonna go out to Daiso and pick up a few things I need then finish touching up my power point for tomorrow!