Tag: advice for living abroad

Making mistakes in teaching is all part of the learning curve. Teachers aren’t just pumped out of a TEFL course with all of the skills and knowledge base of a teacher that has been doing ESL for 20 years has. This is a skills based industry and we all know that skills aren’t just learnt from a textbook, they need to be planted in a classroom and watered with time. With enough nurturing you watch your teaching skills blossom and flourish. And even then, mistakes can still be made.

Several years back, I joined the gym with the purpose of putting on muscle mass. I was eating a lot of calories and going through a disciplined routine. And it was working. Until the summertime came. My job took me out of town for weeks at a time where I was at the mercy of other people’s cooking and other people’s schedules. I lost what I gained and learned an important truth: Staying fit isn’t something you do once and done. It’s a lifestyle and a daily choice.

Ladies, it’s about that time when you’ll start worrying about what to pack for the big move to South Korea. I decided to write down a list to help you better organize your suitcases! This one is for the ladies! Boys, check back here next week to see what’s on your list!

The second part of my tips is here to shed more insight on Korean spas just in time for the stifling warm weather that’s approaching! I’ve got another 5 awesome bits of information to share so that you can navigate a Korean spa with confidence and grace – as much confidence and grace as you can muster while walking around buck naked anyway. Let’s get started so we can get your behind to a spa as quickly as possible!

As I wrote in my article Korean Apartments: Back To Basics , there are unfortunately no tubs in Korean bathrooms. However, if you’re a brave enough expat you can get your scrub-a-dub-dub on at a Korean spa for that extra squeaky clean. There are too many differences between Korean and Western spas to name in one article, so I’ve taken the 10 most crucial bits of info on Korean spas and broken them down into two easily digestible articles for you. Enjoy today’s top 5 tips, and check back here for another 5 next week!

Today’s interview is with Reach To Teach alumni Sarah Vied, who has been Teaching with us in Taipei, Taiwan.
Hi Sarah! Let’s start off by having you introduce yourself.
Hey! My name is Sarah, I’m 26, and I’m a proud southerner from the USA—originally from a small town called Princeton in western Kentucky. This is only my second year teaching and living abroad, but my first year in Taiwan and in Taipei.

I scoured blogs, watched k-dramas, and listened to an unhealthy amount of k-pop before moving to South Korea in an effort to prepare myself for all the cultural changes I was bound to experience. Although that research wasn’t wasted, there are certain things I wouldn’t have ever learned had I not moved across the globe to call the land of morning calm home for a year.

We all know what it can be like as teachers, you are as excited as a firework when you go away to another country and begin your journey as an overseas ESL teacher. In the beginning you are busy getting to know your students, getting to grips with the curriculum and school system and getting to know your work colleagues, so everything is new and amazing. Fast forward a year and you find that the ‘honeymoon period’ has set sail, the excitement of your new position has lost its charms and work has become a daily grind instead of a fun cool job.