Introduction

I figured I'd give a little intro about what this blog is for and whatnot before I get started posting. I am Nini and I will be going to South Korea (SK) to teach English in Daejeon February 10th. I started this blog really because I regretted not doing one while I was in New Zealand for two years. Not to say I have no record of my time there (I have many photos and videos) but I feel, looking back, that I should've kept a day by day if not weekly diary/journal of some sort. Well, those are my reasons for this blog and I guess I'll just say a bit about myself, why I decided to go to SK, and my family's and friends' reactions to me leaving. Later posts will most likely be about issues with getting ready for departure and then obviously I'll talk about the experience of me living there :-)

Quick Bio
I am a 25 year old black female born in September 1986. I have a bachelors in environmental study and a masters in veterinary science, needless to say me going to SK has nothing to do with my degrees lol Anyway, the first time I went out of the country was when I was 17 and my high school let the Italian class got to Italy for the whole month of February, after that I was hooked on seeing the world. Once I graduated I college I immediately applied to do Grad School in New Zealand. I was in New Zealand for about 2 years and it was an awesome experience that I'm so happy to have. I met and became friends with many great people whom I miss  a lot and hopefully I can visit them someday. I currently work as a teacher's aide at a middle school in my hometown in New Jersey.

Why SK?
Well, why not? I will admit that when I originally had this idea to teach English overseas I figured I would go to Japan, however the universe decreed otherwise lol The program I wanted to do had the interviews already and so I decided to give up the idea for awhile. I came upon the idea of going to SK while searching for a job in general. I came back from New Zealand the end of July 2011 and was jobless therefore I joined careerbuilder and applied for a job working in the school system in my hometown. The job with the school system was taking some time to let me know whether or not I was hired, therefore I searched on careerbuilder as well. I kept seeing a company called Aclipse pop up and so I decided to check it out.

I read through all the information on the site and basically knew my need to travel wasn't going away sooo I decided to give it a go. Not that I'm not interested in Korean culture, I love Korean movies and mahwa but I guess the thought never quite occurred to me to try and find work there until now obviously lol Well long story short I applied and did a phone interview and gave the necessary documents and I was hired. Though funny enough I got hired at my current job before I heard back from Aclipse.

Fam & Friends' Thoughts
Well, they're happy for me but not happy about it lol though I can't really blame them I was basically gone in New Zealand for 2 years and I come back only to get ready to leave again. My father keeps saying "It's only for a year right? You better come back! Don't be calling me saying nothing else" while my mother says "Well if you bring a Korean guy home just make sure he's tall and cute" smh my family lol my brothers are proud of me but think I should stay here for a year then go...a little too late for that *shrugs* My friends are excited for me but NOT happy bout me leaving when I've just gotten back...and half of them think I won't come back lol not sure why though.

My Own Thoughts Though...
I can't wait to get on that plane lol I'm so anxious for my new adventure to start that I can hardly sit still...I just want time to hurry up; so I say but it's already going pretty fast my flight takes off the 10th of February and I won't lie I'm nervous. This will be something that is completely and utterly out of my comfort zone and I'm doing it alone, but I still can't wait! Thanks for reading, sorry it's a bit long but stay tuned for more to come! ^_^