New Year, New Place

Happy New Year, everyone!! I hope you've enjoyed January so far~

Also, it's very strange that we've had such a mild winter. I mean, I know it's only January, but we haven't really had any snow. It hasn't been nearly as cold as it was last year, either. But who's complaining? Not this girl!

You know, I was really excited to go to the south this time because Detroit was about the same temperature as Korea last time. But. The weather... It got so bad!! What is happening to the Midwest?! Can't I just go someplace nice and around 50-55 degrees?

Oh well. It will be so lovely to see my parents and best friend again! I'll be in the Carolinas the last two weeks of January. It'll be interesting to see what there is in terms of entertainment and shopping/thrifting. And food! New Years diet resolution doesn't begin until AFTER I get back from the States.

This year is full of new places, it seems! This week I'll go and sign a contract with my new school in Seoul, which means finding an apartment in the city. New school, new home. Moving... I've already started to sort through my things and I've thrown out a mountain (or large desk drawer) of paper. I am a pack rat. I have been saying this to myself out loud in order to curb this behavior.

I am a little nervous about finding a place, though. The rental system here is a little bit different. You pay quite a large sum for deposit ($5,000 - $10,000) and then the usual rental fee of $500 - $800. Of course the type of apartment you have and its size dictate how much rent you pay, too. And the area. I will start looking soon. I feel that it's best to go visit the area I want to live in and see which neighborhoods I prefer. Then I'll go to a realtor and have them show me around. I actually found some helpful articles about renting in Seoul, so here's the first and the second. There's a pitch in both of them for some "helpful" what-have-you, but it costs money so I wouldn't bother. I didn't.

I'll post again after I've gone through the process. I'm curious to see if I can find a nice place with a low deposit. Paying off my student loans feels awesome, but it also means I don't have the cash lying around to pay such a huge sum. And my Macbook went and black-screened on me. Living is so expensive. At least my healthcare here is socialized- efficient and cheap.

I had to go to the hospital last week for a health check, actually. But it's very different from getting one back home. For the hospital I went to, which is seriously quite large, you go to an area and fill out part of a form. You pull a number and walk up to the counter when your number shows on the screen. The you go and get changed in the women's area, leaving your stuff in a locker. It's not a gown, either. Just a wrap-shirt. Then you proceed to go around different stations in the hallway-like area and the people at each station fill in the results on the rest of the form you started earlier. You put the form in a box near each station for the busy ones and they pull the forms when their pile runs out and call you up to that area based on when your form was put into the box. Then you hand in the form and change. Then you're done. Simple, fast, and not unpleasant. I need to call them, though, and make sure I paid.... Haha, I still hate hospitals. Took them three times to check my heart rate and get a result that didn't make them think I needed to be on hypertension medication.

It's been a busy month, this January. I'm currently halfway through teaching English Camp. Just the rest of this week and next Monday left. The first five days were monster-themed. For the last five days I'm going to do a mystery-spy theme. It's been a lot of fun :)


Anyway, I should get back to planning. I have a PowerPoint to make!


Take care, everyone! And I'll see you soon, America~ (Please ease up on the weather. xoxox)