Korea happened!

Guys, I moved to Korea (South Korea, of course). 

We are on a tiny, tiny island called Jeju. It's considered the Hawaii of Korea, which I would say is accurate. 

For those of you needing a geography refresher, here is South Korea in the world:

For those of you wanting to know where, exactly, in Korea:

Seoul (pronounced "soul") is the capital. Jeju (jay-joo) is that island.

It has been a year and a half since I got back from Botswana, and I just couldn't shake the travel bug. Blake, who also did the Coady Internship with me (in South Africa) decided to be a pal and travel to Asia with me. 

This trip is very, very different than my time in Botswana. It's a job for one, which means actual money. It's 10 months which will be my longest stretch overseas. Korea is also very developed, so the daily grind feels very easy comparatively. I have, for example, both AC and wifi in my room. Another big switch is that the kids I'm working with are from a different demographic than I'm used to. Not the same as the NGO scene.

The gig: I'm a dorm advisor at an American boarding school. My job: live in/run the dorms, do daily programming, and everything else with the kids. I'm basically a surrogate parent to these little dumplings. The school has all grades but I'm working with the middle school girls, grades 6-8. Just to give you an idea, one year at Korea International School is roughly $30,000. 

Traveling here: Was a long, long haul. 

We had to put my childhood dog down, our beloved Fonzie, the day before my flight. He was 15 (my 10th birthday present) and was simply too old. Suffice it to say, it was not the departure I had in mind.

My little baby Fon, I love you so  much.

It was a sad, sad day. But life goes on and I had a flight to catch. Our journey:

Halifax -> Toronto = 2 hours
Toronto -> Vancouver = 4.5 hours
24 hour layover in Vancouver 
Vancouver -> Seoul, Korea = 10 hours
Seoul -> Jeju city = 1 hour 

Total time in air = 17.5 hours

Total travel time = Give or take three whole days?

HEY COADIES! We reunited with our Coady International folks in Vancouver before jetsetting <3

Last Canadian latte at the airport (Blake has a brownie in there)

Long.

Lovely airport in Incheon, Seoul 

Blake + zillions of Korean flags. We finally landed.

It was long. But Blake and I watched a million movies and I ate a million gravol and actively worked on ignoring the fact that I only had an inch between my knees and the seat in front of me. 

Climate: At this current moment, Korea is HELLA warm. +30 with around 90% humidity. Everything is damp all the time. Nothing dries. Wearing my hair down is pretty hilarious. There is a lot of sweat. Blake recently sweat through his khaki pants while sitting in an auditorium. Luckily most places have the AC blasting.

Campus is GORGEOUS.

First impressions: So far I'm very impressed by Korea. It's calm, efficient, and smooth. I feel 100% safe and comfy. It's SO STRANGE being able to read absolutely nothing. No signs, no labels, no anything. To date, I am garbage at even basic Korean. I have blundered through this week with tons of general awkwardness and ineptitude. Luckily campus is an expat bubble with the specific goal of teaching English. 

Like.... where am I?

Korea International  School

While driving

GORGEOUS

Jet lag: I was definitely being a naive 24 year old being all "nah, jet lag doesn't really get to me." It turns out that moving 12 time zones across the world takes a physical toll. I felt like I was drunk on a boat for days and days and struggled to get proper sleep. I'm just feeling settled now. 

Week one: It has been a week of many, many orientation sessions. I was so sleepy! Within 24 hours of arrival we were sent to the hospital to have a long list of things checked out, as per the Korean government's request. The check up included:

- A blood test

- An eye exam

- A hearing exam

- A urine test

- Getting weighed 

- A color blind test (Blake had major struggles on this one because he actually IS color blind, but the woman assumed he was just wildly incompetent)

- A blood pressure test

- A chest X ray

- And, hilariously, they measured around my boobs. Verdict: I have them. 

While in Jeju city to get all checked out 

My kind of place 

Orientation in the performance arts centre. THE VIEW.

Like, they even have multiple golf rooms (mini putt AND golf)

What a dreamy yoga space!!!!!!!!!!!

The convenience store across the road. Ramen is SO POPULAR omg.

Jeju city

From the rooftop 

The rest of the week was all just prep for the kids, who arrive LATER TODAY!!!! Very exciting times.

Food: We get three meals a day in the cafeteria. Blog updates to come on this one, but let's just say that it has been reeeeeeally interesting. Kimchi kimchi kimchi seafood seafood seafood. I'm game for trying all the things at least once.

This was my first meal at the cafeteria.

Groceries: It's a crazy thing trying to get groceries without being able to read anything. I was told to get "Thirsty Hippos", these little containers that dehumidify your room, since there is a constant threat of mildew. It took me a while to find anyone who remotely spoke English, and then I tried to describe "dehumidify" by saying "water... in... air?" In a miraculous turn of events, I found both Thirsty Hippos, AND (most importantly) CHOCOLATE.

A miracle to find this.

At the grocery store, a multi-level place of intensity

Other thoughts: 

- The informal greeting is annyeong. Cue every single Arrested Development joke I ever wanted to make. Hard to keep this one under control. 

- The bugs are big and loud

- By the end of the year I'll be a millionaire (in won)

- Tampons. LOL. I asked a coworker about tampons and she recommended bringing them because "They are around 7,000 a box". 7,000 tampons a box!!!!!! I would be using Korean tampons for the rest of time! So, just like the Africa gig, I had a suitcase filled with them. Only to get here and find out that she meant 7,000 WON a box. Not 7,000 tampons.

Winning. 

Mail: Write me and I'll write you! Who doesn't want mail from Korea?! I did receive some mail while in Botswana, which was amaze, so if you missed that boat, join the Korean boat instead. SNAIL MAIL! Take the time to write out that address full of random letters. I promise I'll write back. 

Shila LeBlanc

Middle school dorms (L214) 34 Global Edu-ro 260beon-gil, 

Daejeong-eup, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, 699-931

Blake and I had ramen and soju (basically diluted vodka). Both are classic Korean staples.

A lovely coworker brought me here! YAS LATTES EXIST AND THEY ARE GOOD

I brought this jade all the way from Canada. I loooooooooove plants.

UPGRADE, to a rainbow pot, for a rainbow child like me

My room, with marvellous aircon

Great

Love wall

Private bath, not bad at all

From my bed

We are cute and decorated the whole dorm. To the left, the lovely Ms. Marcelina, a fellow dorm advisor. To the right, Ms. Maggie, the AMAZING specialist for our floor who knows everything and is magic. EPIC TEAM.

We had a staff party here and I swam and swam and swam and I was sooooooooooo happy 

I miss my pups 

Those tents were for the KIS staff!

I mean, I would be a liar if I pretended that I didn't miss my people. I miss my partner. I miss my besties. But as you can see, things are pretty great here.

More stories to come in time. SENDING YOU LOVE FROM KOREA! 

In closing

Oh hey! It has been AGES since I last wrote something.

Today is a big ol' snow storm, so it's the perfect time to write. I didn't initially plan on having such a gap with my posts, but as you can imagine, my life post-Botswana has been a little crayyyyy. I went through a considerable adjustment period. Botswana -> Canada = CHANGE. It wasn't so much the cultural reintegration, but more so the drastic lifestyle change I experienced. To go from living off the grid where everything was laiddddd back to constant socializing, texting, emails, and phone calls?! PHEW it was a lot to get used to! It does feel amazing to be back in Canada though. Especially to be in Halifax. It's beautiful to see the people I care about in the flesh!

First, let's get some things out of the way (which happen to be things that a lot of people have been asking):

1. No, I do not have a life plan. Yes, this is stressful! But I'm working on it.
2. Yes, I miss Botswana all the time.
3. No, the winter isn't awful, it's AMAZING!
4. Yes, I was wandering around the country for a while, but I'm back in Halifax now I promise.
5. Yes, I'm thankfully still on the yoga train.
6. Yes, I'm still working on the fatherhood research.

Things I'm hoping to do: find legit employment, finish my masters, get yoga certified. Otherwise, it's all up in the air.

I wasn't really sure how to structure this last post, so I've decided to simply give a play by play of what has happened since I got back. A whole bunch of random/possibly interesting things have happened. Read along if you feel inclined!

Our debrief at the Coady was a mere two weeks long, and I have to admit that I was more than a little sad to leave the amazing comfort and love of our group. I miss the other interns! Although I was originally skeptical of how useful debrief would be, I'm now INSANELY thankful that we had that time. It was the perfect buffer period between our six months abroad and our previous Canadian lives. I learned a lot, and got to hear some pretty amazing stories.

Here are some pictures from our last week of debrief.

One of the countless flip charts we put together during various activities. I really like this one, it's funny but also true!

We're cute!

I honestly think that this is the BEST way to describe what it's like to come back to Canadian society. Everything is the same, but we're now seeing our old world through a very new lens. It's all green to me these days!

A lovely visit to the Halifax seaport market. I love it here!

I loved when the interns got to meet my baby brother. He's the best!

YAYYY the Tall and Small in Antigonish. I had a turkey pesto sammie and almost died!

Look at us smiley Coady graduates :)

A stop at my favorite beach, Malignant Cove <3

A fun time with open mic (I luckily redeemed myself from my Botswana open mic nightmare!)

Featuring Adele on guitar :)

The three best pals <3

I seriously love this picture SO much.

Teddy bear stands because why not?

Macbook partyyyyyyy! 

We had a precious pin ceremony where we formally inserted our pins into the already heavily pinned Coady intern map

I went there!

We graduated. I got a Coady X pin!

The aftaa partayyyyy with the special guest Adam, our amazing coordinator

A certificate in Development Leadership- not bad at all

Emily I stole this pic from you- this is us at our super lovely Coady secret santa. All the gifts were from our various countries. SO much fun, SO much intern love!

Waiting to give our brief speeches

If you happen to be interested in hearing the thoughts of all the amazing interns, click here to see a Youtube video of our graduation ceremony (wow, getting more tech savvy errday)!

After debrief was over, it was a crazy week or so, and then it was Christmas. I also randomly did an interview with Global TV Halifax to talk about my experience. It was an EARLYYYYYYY morning, I had to be there at 515am, but luckily I had enough adrenaline to jolt me awake. The staff was super friendly and welcoming and overall I was happy with the whole thing. Fortunately I don't get too phased by public speaking.

To see me talk about things on live television, click here.

Getting ready to go on.

Wooooo!

It was fantastic to be home for the holidays, but I also think it made the adjustment a little more intense. That time of year usually means a lot of craziness and materialism! The plus was that a lot of people were around and feeling festive, so I was definitely soaking up the energy. Here are some Chritmas-related pics:

Maura stayed with us for a little bit after debrief. My wonderful mother made us this tray from heaven. Maura and I tackled that brie wheel like nobody's business. Mmmmm BRIE!

We got to see Kaytlyn, another lovely intern, for a short while in Halifax. Mint chocolate- yummmm!

We made a gingerbread village!

A snowstorm!

Christmas dinner for the winnnnn! SUCH A MASSIVE TURKEY! So so so delish.

The LeBlanc Christmas tree- my momma has great decorating abilities!

A truly beautiful Christmas dinner with 12 of us enjoying the feast <3

 Of course a visit to Lawrencetown beach was in order. I LOVE that beach.

I'd say Christmas was a 10/10.

Then, Neek and I got adventurous. My mom happens to work for Westjet, so my brother and I get really, really amazing flight deals. Because of this, we spontaneously decided that we'd finally see the one province we hadn't visited, and hit the road for a New Years in Newfoundland. WHAT an experience that was! Maura was our amazing host and our five days there were a TOTAL blast. Let me just say that hearing a Newfie accent in real life the most out of control thing on the planet! Sometimes I honestly had NO idea what was being said!!! We learned all kinds of things, like what mummering is (SO creepy), that taking shots of screech is a bad idea, and that asking for directions in Newfoundland can take LOTS of time (true, hilarious story). Here are some pics from our visit:

Reunitedddd!

Gorgeous or what!

Up on Signal Hill

Climbing over SO MUCH SNOW

Cape Speer, the furthest Eastern point in North America. I've never seen such big waves!

Oh hai.

Our before picture for NYE.

Our after shot. We sure know how to clean up when we wanna!

A really memorable accordion concert in Maura's living room.

Quidi Vidi, a PRECIOUS little spot.

Colorzzzz

Saying goodbye to the rock.

So, it was suddenly 2014. Weird!

One thing I've been wanting to do for AGES is the polar dip. Last year was my first Christmas on the East coast in AGES so I was AMPED to jump in the icy waters of the Atlantic, but I got a concussion a few days before NYE and my doctor gave me a firm no on doing the dip. Womp womp. This year, I wanted to do it in Newfoundland, but that place was COLDDDDDD, like hypothermia cold, so I compromised. Although it didn't happen until January 5th, I finallyyyyyyy did it, and even managed to convince Neek to come along. We got ready, ran in, dove under the waves, splashed and screamed, and ran like the wind out of the water. I don't remember the last time I had so much adrenaline. I felt so alive! Another dip may be in order before the winter is over.

Stripped down, read to go

RUN!

Getting ready for the big dive in! 

Retreat! Retreat!

PHEW WE DID IT!

Getting our limbs back.

The polar dip crew.

I then decided that since I had literally no plans, and the freedom to fly for basically nothing, I did a trek out to Saskatchewan and Toronto to see a few people who are very important to me. It felt beyond strange to come back to Canada and NOT see my people, so it was therapeutic to actually hug the folks I'd been missing for months and months. I had a really beautiful welcome, and even got to see two of the Coady interns! The week was a lot of fun, and despite the cold, I was happy to be back for a short visit. Justice, David, Sarah, Kath, Novakowskis, I love you guys! Here are some pics from Sask:

You two!!! Such a great reunion. <3

Karaoke starzzzzz at the gay bar- it was the best karaoke I'd ever seen!

Maybe not the best photo but I love you both so much (and stay away from frozen lemonade plz)!

Oh haiiiiii lads and company! David and Justice, I love you both! The dynamic felt amaaaazinggggggggg.

Coady reunite! YAY!

Volunteering a bit with my soul sister Sarah <3

Here is my time in Oakville and Niagara. Tay, it was a perfect visit!

The falls!

We're cute and rode the ferris wheel. 

Pretty!

Rainbow!

Also, back in Hali,

FREE skating at the Emera Oval in Halifax- everyone should do this!

Figure skates are NOT a thing.

Skate skate skate skate!

Snow storms are so lovely!

I got back almost a week ago, and now here I am. One of the best things has been rejoining the INSANELY TALENTED AND MARVELLOUS Xara Choral Theatre ensemble, which was named the top women's choir in Canada this year! Go us! To feel the Xara love again has healed my soul. I'm serious, this group is the best thing I've ever been a part of.

I love Xaraaaaaa!!! 

We have a show coming up at the end of this month, and you do NOT want to miss it! It's called Constellations, and it's going to be incredible. Although I'm not able to sing in this performance, I'll be doing a movement piece for one of the intense songs of the show. Here's the poster!

See you there!

So.
After a copious amount of gallivanting, it's time to really dig in and get my life sorted. It's scary to not have solid life plans. This is the first time I haven't had a next step laid out for me. But with this uncertainty comes great potential for new and exciting changes!

I think of Botswana and the kids I love there each and every day. I navigate through my life with a much different perspective than I had eight months ago. But this change is definitely for the better! In Botswana I found strength I didn't know I had, and it feels good to come back here equipped with that.

Blogging has been an unexpectedly enjoyable thing. I really appreciated just how many people reached out to write me while I was over there. If I find myself on an international adventure again, perhaps I will resume this trend? But now that the wild adventure come to a pause, I think it will be nice to live my life quietly for a while and figure things out.

If you ever have ANY questions about the Coady International Institute, Stepping Stones International, our research on fatherhood, the village of Mochudi, or even Botswana, please feel free to contact me!

shilaleblanc@gmail.com

Thank you so much for reading along, it has been a true pleasure to share this experience with you.

Lots of peace and extra love,

Shila