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Hello! :D I happen to have stumbled upon your blog (an awesome blog btw) while researching about teaching english in Asia and I would like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind ^^:;? I'm 16 years old by the way so I still have a lot of time ahead for me but I was wondering in order to become an English teacher in Korea, what major do i have to receive a degree for? Does it matter? Also since I'm still a little clueless, how should I get started with it all when the time comes? Thank you!!

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:16:55 +0900

Hi!

Thanks for dropping by. :)

It doesn’t matter what you major in, as long as you have a BA you’re good to go. (If you want to go sooner, check out the TaLK program - you only to be in university for two years before you’re qualified).

Because you are so young, the requirements may change by the time you do go to SK.

I have a blog that talks about the process.

I recommend getting (googling) a recruiter because they really helped me out with my documents. I was extremely stressed and couldn’t imagine doing it all by myself.

Also get your TESL/TESOL - you get paid more if you have this. I definitely think it was an investment.

The most difficulty I had was finding two references to write me a Letter of Reference - so make sure you develop great relationships with your employers/managers/etc.

You’re going to have an absolute blast in a few years!

An Unpublished Letter, Published

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 02:59:00 +0900

Dearest Cheongju,

Although our affair was brief, you showed me years of beautiful experiences in the 365 days that we spent together.

When I met you, I was merely a girl. Afraid and lost, I was hoping to find something in you that would help me glue it all together.

With you, I flourished into a passionate, loving individual. Destiny led us to cross paths with the vibrant people that I was lucky enough to be surrounded with. We shared laughs and drinks and happiness and tears and blackouts over those very blurry nights.

You taught me to love completely and to give every part of me to the moment because time is forever fleeting. My darling students and unreadable co-teachers and wonderful strangers showed me that sometimes, we didn’t need spoken language to communicate. Love and curiosity was all around us. All I had to do was open up and feel it.

And yes, we had problems. There were periods when I got completely lost in frustration and anger and stress and at times, you made me feel so terribly alone. You broke every piece of my heart and I spent too long of our time together longing to leave you.

But I regret nothing and thank you for everything that you have shown me.

You helped me realize that I never need to find that glue because I am not broken. Life is a series of moments, floating in our memories. It is up to us to decide which ones we will happily capture and which ones we will allow to infect us.

You were everything that my twenty-three year old self could’ve ever asked for.

Again, I thank you.

Love always,

tiffypoo

Hi guys! So I’ve been pretty inactive but that’s only because my life is boooring....

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 03:01:46 +0900

Hi guys!

So I’ve been pretty inactive but that’s only because my life is boooring. I’ve been juggling a million jobs in hopes of saving enough money to travel.

I realized the other day that I am ready for something new - another adventure.

When I was in Korea, I spent way too much time missing home.

I’ve realized that home is always the same. People here have full time jobs and boyfriends and girlfriends and responsibilities and they can’t hang out anymore.

Maybe it’s because I’m bitter that I am still struggling to find a job but I can’t handle how comfortable people get. I’m not ready for that yet.

I have about a million plans to travel right now - all I have to do is follow through.

Second Interview

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 23:14:31 +0900

with the airline went AMAZING. The people were incredibly nice. I actually felt a connection with them as we shared our stories. I couldn’t help noticing my interviewer writing a big YES (with lots of circles around it) after we were finished.

I have my third interview tomorrow. This is how I feel:

yuukoshop:

hey tiff so how goes your airline job search going and hows summer? but yeah im always asking you about korea lol. i just got toefl certified but when you applied, did you have a bachelors degree? it looks like all the jobs i see require a BA in korea

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 23:32:13 +0900

It’s okay, you can always ask me about SK! :)

The airline job search is hard. I have a second interview this week though!

Yes, I did have a BA to teach in a public school. There is also a program called TaLK (Teach And Learn in Korea). You only need to have complete two years of a BA program to be eligible.

Someone might have an interview with an airline today. :)

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 23:18:48 +0900

Hi guys! Job searching has been incredibly difficult. Since I...

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 11:56:05 +0900

Hi guys!

Job searching has been incredibly difficult. Since I started working in 2003, I killed every interview that I got. But real life is different. Real jobs are different.

I realized that the luxurious lifestyle and status in Korea is not transferable to home.

So I sucked it up and got a restaurant job (where they use Ipads as a menu) and a great promo job (hopefully I get more shifts). I’m going to save up. I think that I might go to Australia in January. I have some other destinations in mind before then but this one is the one that I am 75% sure is going to happen!

(P.S. I can’t stay away from tumblr. I just love blogging way too much.)

If Michelle wasn’t late, maybe we wouldn’t have been at the...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:39:00 +0900

If Michelle wasn’t late, maybe we wouldn’t have been at the mall. But we were waiting around for her when my sister decided to pull us into Aldo. I asked to try a pair of wedges that I had my heart set on. I was parading around the store in them when I heard six loud bangs.

It’s strange because in movies, it’s so obvious that it’s a gunshot. In real life, I think that denial takes over a large part of the registration. Everyone was looking at the direction of where the noise came from – I thought that it was someone running up the escalator while holding a large metal sheet and it was banging against the side of the glass.

Time seemed to freeze. Then everybody started to run. People were trying to run back up from both directions of the escalators, while other people were falling over. A massive crowd started to run out of the mall. Some people ran out of the store towards the crowd while others cowered in the back. I froze beside my sister, entranced by the scene and by fear.

Was this real?

Then an employee ran to the front of the store and quickly closed the gates and locked them. Other stores around us started to follow suit. The girl beside us started to cry. I didn’t know how to feel but my hands were shaking.

The crowd faded and we watched stragglers casually walk past us. There were people who were even laughing. A crowd started to form by the escalators.

After five minutes, the employee came out and told us that we could continue to look around or make purchases until we knew what was happening. People started to relax a little but things still didn’t feel right.

We were on lock down and they wanted us to continue shopping?

Suddenly, two managers from upper management tried to get into the store. They were pulling the locked gates and yelling at the employees to unlock them. They started to argue and there was sense of urgency that clung on to every word.

Something was fucking wrong.

Some people started to lose it. The girl beside us was crying hysterically now.

When the gates finally opened, people were rushing out of the store but the employees insisted that everyone needed to go through a security check. Outside the gates, a woman was crying in fetal position while a man tried to pacify her.

Anita and I decided to stick around and “rubber neck”. We wanted to see why everyone was staring down onto the floor below us. But before we reached the crowds, we saw a fucking stampede of people rush towards us from the other end of the mall.

Holy shit.

I started to run for my life. It was horrifying. Were we going to die?

I never realized how infectious and extremely contagious fear was until this day.

I blacked out at this point but my sister told me that I was running ahead of her but stopped to grab her hand as I continued to head for the nearest exit.

I could feel someone shove me and I prayed that I wouldn’t fall over and get trampled. I didn’t want to go up the escalators; people seemed to be flooding it. So I lead us towards the subways.

Why were we running? Was the killer chasing us?

My sister pulled us to the side and told me to calm down. I felt like she brought me back to reality. I could finally think straight again. But I didn’t know what to do. Where do we go? The stream of people going up the escalators started to dwindle, so I told her that we should go upstairs.

As we walked, we turned back to see five security guards running around. We heard footsteps and looked forward to see a cop sprinting down the escalator.

This was serious.

When we got outside, I felt relieved – like I could breathe for the first time since we got locked in.

The crowd outside was massive. It’s shocking to realize how many people can fit inside the Eaton Center. Cop cars started to show up and block the intersection; a news team and cameras were rushing to the scene.

This is where something fascinating started to happen.

Gossip.

It was overwhelming. Everybody was talking about it. We could hear snippets of people’s stories and conversations. Some people were just crying and rocking and holding each other. Smartphones were recording and documenting everything.

Four people were shot. Gun. Food court. 13 year old. Blood. This was news and it was traveling fast.

This was really happening.

I would like to be your BF. I'll send you my resume. Email address please.

Tue, 08 May 2012 05:32:30 +0900

Sooooo sweet!

Not sure if this is a joke or not but I am a sucker for anything creative. My email is the name of my alternate site with gmail. :)

twentytwoforever: this makes me proud and feel love for my...

Thu, 03 May 2012 23:58:27 +0900

twentytwoforever:

this makes me proud and feel love for my country

My most recent obsession.

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:20:00 +0900

My most recent obsession.

I was always the girl who rolled her eyes when her friends...

Wed, 02 May 2012 00:59:00 +0900

I was always the girl who rolled her eyes when her friends planned out their future weddings. I guess you could say that I’m not a romantic. But I went to my cousin’s wedding this past weekend and it was beautiful. To see two people so deeply in love and having so much FUN together was… refreshing.

I looked around and noticed how many people my age were in meaningful relationships; it made me second guess my current status. I love being single but maybe it’s time for me to … ? Let someone in? I don’t even really know what I’m trying to say.

I just need a best friend.

I am CRAVING a McDouble so badly right now but I must...

Tue, 01 May 2012 01:39:38 +0900

I am CRAVING a McDouble so badly right now but I must resist!

My friend’s mom always quoted, “Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels.” Although I beg to differ, it has to be my motto if I want to reach my goal.

What’s been happening to me this week? A LOT of gyming and...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:56:00 +0900

What’s been happening to me this week?

A LOT of gyming and healthy food eating. I’ve decided to cut out wheat and grains in my diet because my sis got me addicted to leansecrets. I feel lighter and have much more energy. I’m eating 4-5 meals a day and snacking a lot in between. I started to make my own soups from scratch.

My fav this week was a cauliflower and carrot soup. (Picture above is not mine.)

Would you guys be interested in the recipes that I make?

Dear readers and followers: After discussing it with my sister,...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:30:00 +0900

Dear readers and followers:

After discussing it with my sister, I have decided to no longer regularly blog on here. My blog posts will be sporadic, until I find an exciting job or have something interesting to write about (or when I get a camera/smartphone). Even though it makes me extremely sad, I feel like there is not too much to share in my life right now.

If you have any questions though, I will still answer them.

Thank you so much for following me and supporting me. You have been absolutely awesome. I love you guys!

It’s beautiful outside today! I especially love Canadian...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 23:55:00 +0900

It’s beautiful outside today!

I especially love Canadian summers because they lack the humidity of Korea’s. I don’t like the sticky, wet heat that lingers in the air and clings onto everything. That’s one thing that I don’t miss about Korea - the extremities in the weather. Oh, and the awful mosquitoes that buzz about.

I assisted my jogging friend in making Chocolate Chip Oatmeal...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:07:00 +0900

I assisted my jogging friend in making Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies last night. We had to make four batches before things started to work out. (Which meant that we had to eat the tops of our charred-bottomed first batch!)

We followed all of the instructions (although we forgot to flatten the cookies at first).

But my biggest problem was that each tray took a different amount of time to cook.

Why is this?!

I love my new, healthy lifestyle. I feel so green and free and...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:07:00 +0900

I love my new, healthy lifestyle. I feel so green and free and fresh and alive! My friends are amazing; we float together like a bunch of balloons. Nights are filled with jogs, cuddles, silliness and laughter.

I need a job… but my life is pretty perfect.

How is toronto compare to seoul? Is it comparable size and things to do for young adults?

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:04:06 +0900

I think that Seoul and Toronto are around the same size.

And yes! Both are filled with night clubs, cafes and interesting restaurants. Seoul feels a lot more crowded and has a lot more beauty shops.

I think I like the nightlife in Seoul better. :)

It was unbelievably windy today. I’ve been reading so...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:43:00 +0900

It was unbelievably windy today.

I’ve been reading so much lately and felt inspired to write down these curious, lingering feelings that I had from a few weeks ago.

All of my “what-if’s” blew away (on my very resistant jog). I feel free! My feelings and emotions, once again, only belong to me. I am in perfect control.

I wonder if it was the weather or the abundance of exercise or if writing is really my vice.