South Korea: A Brief Rundown

  Hey all! Hope you're coming upon this post in good spirits~

  As I've begun drafting material to document my time in South Korea, I realized that I should probably take a step back and properly introduce the country to you. Despite the nation's more recent global importance due to geopolitical circumstances and popular culture sensationalization, there is of course much more to the country than just music groups and military cold stand-offs.

So we'll start with the basics~:

-Official name: Republic of Korea
-Capital: Seoul
-Language: Korean
-Population: 51 million
-Government: Constitutional republic
-Currency: South Korean Won (KRW)

  As a peninsula, Korea's only land neighbor is North Korea (Democratic Republic of Korea--don't mix up the official names!). Globally it is well though for some of its massive conglomerate companies like Samsung, Hyundai, Kia and LG. Despite its global reach due to the products made by these companies, South Korea is a tremendously homogeneous place--anecdotal estimates put the society at about 97% Korean (with a good portion of the non-Korean 3% being other East Asians).

Cultural Factors:
-In Korea, you bow to greet others. There are roughly three different types of bows one can perform when encountering others, and the appropriate one to do depends on the age/status of the person, as well as the setting.
-The Korean language has different levels of formality built into it--having different verb conjugations for casual, polite and formal speech, as well as different words and terms that get used to specifically indicate formal speech.
-Food is a very central aspect of Korean culture and living.
-Korea very much operates as a communal society. When it comes to outings, you will find many people in the company of at least one person. Doing things alone like eating and drinking are thought of as unusual, and almost grounds for concern (particularly solo drinking).
-Speaking of drinking: alcohol consumption is very widespread in Korea. On any given night you can find people enjoying soju, beer, or the combination of the two (맥주, 'maek-ju') over a meal (perhaps fried chicken!)
-Dating is also a pretty big deal, particularly amongst youths.
-Questions that many Westerners may find invasive are common to be asked when you first meet someone, such as age, work occupation, relationship status, etc.

Some fun facts:
-The most popular coffee beverage here is an Americano!
-All male citizens have to serve a compulsory military conscription period.
-Literacy rate in Korea is extremely high, estimated at over 97%.
-Fried chicken in Korea takes on a different form than what it does in the US, and it is quite the delicacy! (Gives KFC a whole new meaning~)
-Almost half of the population (44.6% as of 2017) answers to one of three surnames: 김 (Kim), 이 (Lee/Yi), & 박 (Park).
-The most well-known and widespread favorite American sitcom in Korea is 'Friends'.


I hope you were able to learn at least some things about South Korea that you previously didn't know~!

Reporting Live From South Korea

  안녕하세요~!

  Hope you all have been doing well! I am excited to relay to you all that I have recently experienced a pretty significant change in my life: I have (temporarily) moved to South Korea! If you all remember, this is my second time in this country--the first time being in the spring of 2017 through a study abroad program I did while in college. This time around, I am here on a grant called the Fulbright Program, which is funded out of the U.S. State Department. I am here on a one-year contract to work as an English teacher!

  We unfortunately did not get to choose our desired destination within Korea. So I was placed in a northern province called (Gangwon-do), in a mountainous rural area. I say unfortunately because I'm more of a city-dweller (not by nature, as I grew up in the suburbs; but I have found that life in a sprawling metropolitan absolutely lights up my soul!), so being surrounded by mountains honestly is not quite my taste. On top of that, I'm extremely sensitive to cold temperatures (like...I can't even handle too much ice in my beverages), and this area is apparently known for its frigid winters, so that's another that doesn't thrill me about my placement. The upside is that I am a 2-hour bus ride away from Seoul, so when the desire to be in the midst of crowds and buildings does overcome me, it doesn't take terribly long to get there.

  I am looking forward to sharing more of my thoughts and experiences here with you all. While I do also keep up a YouTube channel that will sporadically document my excursions, the written prose is my first love, and I think that I'll be able to be more forward and vulnerable and with you all through this platform~. So let me know if there's anything specific you'd like to hear from me on!

Thanks for reading!

Taking on A New Year--Reflect and Goal-Map

  Happy New Year!

  I'm all about being intentional--that is, being clear and specific on what it is I want to spend my time doing and achieving in the future!

  That being said, I think it's highly valuable to write down the specific things you have in mind to do in the future! It seems that setting goals at the start of a new year often gets a bad rep these days, but don't let that deter you from doing so!

  The most important thing, actually, is not that you set goals for the future, but that you take some time to reflect on the past as well. You want to consider questions like:

• What did I accomplish in the past 12 months?
• What things did I want to do that didn't get done?
• What things about the past did I not like?

  Doing this will help provide some perspective. It will force you to take a moment to account for the past, and make you own up to the fact that maybe you didn't spend your time how you would have liked to in the past year.

  With that groundwork set, you can now build upon it by setting up your goals for the year. Ideally, having taken the time to reflect on how things have played out in the past, you'll be able to set ambitious yet realistic goals for you to achieve in the coming months!

  It's also not enough to simply write a one-sentence goal; you'll need to associate a concrete plan of action with it if you really are serious about getting it done. It's helpful to spell out exactly how you intend on achieving your goal, as well as setting milestones to keep yourself accountable. I call this goal-mapping. I have personally found this to be a much better approach than just speaking a goal out then hoping the stars align properly for it to get accomplished. 

  Here's and example of a goal map that I've made for myself in the past:

• Maximizing hair health
• HOW?
• minimize styling (no more than once per week)
• weekly deep conditioners
• monthly protein treatments
• biweekly green tea rinse
• try max hydration method (winter break)

  This particular goal map was nice because I was able to set very concrete time increments for the activities associated with achieving my goal. I utilized my planner to help keep myself organized; so I filled in ahead of time the days that I needed to do different things. This was especially helpful for keeping me accountable; since it was noted in advance, I knew to prepare and plan my other errands around it in advance, leaving me with little room for excuses on why I didn't do it.

  Remember, setting goals is more than just saying what you want to do. It takes both consideration of the past that led you to your current position, as well as spelling out the actions that you will take in order to take you from where you are now to where you'd like to be. If you keep that in mind, then you can set yourself up to achieve whatever it is you have in mind!