I started the New Year very quietly. Unsure where the year is going to take me. I’m scared and excited and anxious and not quite ready.
Every other year, I take a photo every day to document my year. I have done this for three years (i.e. 2007, 2009, and 2011). This year, 2013, is my fourth year pursuing this project. Wish me luck!
Please read my tumblr, SteakTeacher, which chronicles my 2010-2011 journey in Busan, South Korea.
It has been almost four years since I regularly updated this site. Since then, I worked as cubicle crusader, my boyfriend and I bought a place together, and I was accepted to grad school.
I am back, because I want to document the next year. I want to go to Korea. Specifically, working abroad as an English teacher. If I don’t go abroad now, life is going to continue to get in the way. This is my journey to achieve that goal.
I want to go to Busan, the largest port city in South Korea. Busan is located on the Southeastern most tip of the Korean Peninsula, and its weather ranges from hot and humid to cold and snow.
Many Koreans learn English, and other subjects, from private for-profit academies called Hagwons. Native English speakers are often hired to teach at Hagwons. The minimum requirements for such teaching positions are citizenship of USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa, and a full university degree obtained in one of those countries [1]. In return for signing a contract, the institute provides an instructor with a monthly salary, round-trip airfare from his or her country of origin, a rent-free apartment or housing stipend for the duration of the instructor’s contract, and an additional one month “severance pay” at the completion of the contract [2].
[1] Hi KOREA. (2007). Foreign Language teaching (E-2). Retrieved November 17, 2009 from http://www.hikorea.go.kr/pt/InfoDetailR_en.pt?categoryId=2&parentId=382&catSeq=385&showMenuId=374&visaId=E2.
[2] Cerralbo, Y. (2005). The good, the bad and the hagwon. Retrieved November 21, 2009 from http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_cerralbo/20050530.html.
I have gone to one wedding so far for my friends. I missed Jolene and Chris’ last year, but I think that number will soon jump. Everyday I learn of more and more people getting engaged. None of them are even beyond the age of 23! What is happening? I didn’t think I was already at the age of marriage!
Also, what is with the trend of engagement websites by people who have little to no previous html experience? So far there are only two websites I found by my friends. “Engagement at the Beach” and “She Said Yes.”
Also, everyone is asking at the beach. If anyone is listening out there, that’s too cheesy for me, and photos of me at the beach are always unattractive. Unless we’re talking Hawaii. 
By the way, I am not jealous. Surprised, mostly. Everyone knows I’m getting married when I am ready to be married. I’m not getting married young, on a whim or because it seems like great idea at the time, and then getting divorced afterward. When I get married, it’s going to be well thought out and stable. There’s no reason to be in a difficult marriage. I learned from my parents a long time ago that a marriage shouldn’t be hard.
And, Stacee is so designing my engagement page, because every girl deserves a nice, classy engagement website.
COMMENTS
Yup – same here about everyone getting married when you’re 23. Spent this entire summer attending (4) various weddings. So, according to national averages, the divorces should start kickin’ in at about 10 years from now with half of my friends. I guess I’ll just enjoy the happiness while it lasts.
Posted by: Ian at September 6, 2005 04:28 PM
seriously. i feel like everyone our age is married, has kids, or is married with kids. kids, not babies. kids meaning they had babies when they were much younger.
and ugly engagement sites because they’re too excited. but mostly because weddings are expensive so they can’t afford a web designer?
i’d probably blog about my engagement, but i can’t see a website for it, other than like having a guestbook and wishlist thing – what’s it called when it’s for a wedding? i’ll do yours though 
!
oh, i just remember that i actually saw a nice one. the bride was a graphic designer. the groom was a programmer. her name started with an E and his with a M i think. they had this really nice logo where the letters intertwined. i wish i remembered what the url was.
Posted by: stacee at September 6, 2005 08:31 PM
Okay, but are you a geek or a dork?
Posted by: J.D. at September 7, 2005 09:19 AM
note to self: keep women+me away from beach
PS you should install the gravatar.com plugin
Posted by: wayne at September 7, 2005 12:05 PM
dictionary.com says a dork is “a dull stupid fatuous person.” harsh!
Posted by: jason at September 7, 2005 05:41 PM
I got your nerdscore beat
Posted by: Paul Scott at September 8, 2005 09:40 AM
Hey Stacy~
I’m getting married in March ’06. I am 27. This is my first (AND ONLY) marriage. Don’t rush into marriage- you’re right- get married when YOU’RE ready!
Steven and I got engaged on March 5, 2005 and are planning our wedding for 53 weeks later. Since our engagement, I know at least 5 couples who have gotten engaged… and all 5 will be married before we are (and most have been dating less time than us).
Anyway, just wanted to throw my three cents out there!
l8r,
stef
Posted by: stef at September 8, 2005 06:11 PM
Wow. I know a lot of unmarried 30pluses. 0_o
Posted by: Esther at September 8, 2005 07:52 PM
OMG, you’ve put into words everything i am feeling. saturday is my friend anne’s wedding. she is 23. she is getting married at the beach. she has a website for her wedding where you can actually type in your “guest number” and rsvp. insane. insane i tell you. honestly, i cant wait to get married… hmph.
Posted by: Rowena at September 9, 2005 12:38 AM
Maybe it will be a trend that every summer around my birthday, I get press about my website.
The Statesman Journal wrote about blogs earlier this week. See: Got Blogs? Web logs are increasingly popular and allow bloggers freedom of expression and whatever else suits their style.
Staying connected
College students also have found a home on blogs, where they can post personal information, as well as write about their interests.
Stacy Austin, 21, is a political science major at Oregon State University. She writes a personal blog, as well as one related to her summer internship with PolitiCorps, a division of the progressive organization Oregon Bus Project. Austin said she has been using computers since she was 7 and sees blogs as a natural extension of the Internet.
“In the future, blogs and Web sites will be synonymous,” she said.
“People always ask me, ‘Why do you blog?’ You can’t really understand unless you blog yourself. They build a community. People who build blogs feel connected. People who read my blog tend to be female and in college. I’ve had fathers e-mail me and say I remind them of their daughter, that reading my blog is like connecting to their kids.”
Hines said those kind of connections is the reason that blogs will continue to proliferate.
| #D4FFF5 | #BBFFF0 | #A6FFEB | #81FFE3 | #4DFFD7 |
| #FFC3CA | #FFA3AE | #FF8896 | #FF6D7E | #FF4D62 |
| #E2DEC0 | #D5CD98 | #D4C97F | #D4C665 | #D5C240 |
| #AFCDD1 | #91CAD1 | #77C8D2 | #61C7D3 | #40C5D5 |
| colors that go together. | ||||
| #3BC8D9 | #FFD24A |
| #1698A7 | #E8B51B |
| #FF754A | #CBF649 |
| #D14E26 | #A7D126 |
| #967BD4 | #6B8BF3 | |||
| #6A4BB0 | #365ACE | |||
| #EE7485 | #F39E6B | |||
| #C43D50 | #C4703D | |||
| pairs that go together. | ||||
