Wow I've been here almost 8 weeks now! I absolutely love living in Seoul, from the moment I got here I just had this feeling that this was the place for me and I've enjoyed every minute since. Despite the fact that I arrived back in early August at the height of the summer which meant 80% humidity and temperatues of 35-40 celcius, I managed to adapt (AC helped).

So first thing first, the apartment. I'm lucky to be living not only 10 minutes walk from my school but also 10 minutes the other direction is Itaewon, Seoul's multi0cultural distract. So I'm close to all sorts of shops, restaurants and bars from around the world meaning everything (or nearly everything: bigger shoes sizes dont exist here!) is at my fingertips. The nearest subway station is 5 minutes away and there are several bus stops within equally short walking distance. Seoul has an amazing public transport system which has enabled me to see so much of this huge city already in my first few weeks here. The area around my apartment is mostly residential with quite a smattering of cute little cafes, restarants, 'mom and pop' corner shops, chicken hofs and korean watering holes! In my first weeks here when I had no internet (without my Alien Registration Card I couldn't get phone or internet), I spent a lot of time at two local cafes (to use their wifi mwah ha ha!) and befriended the owners who became my first Korean friends. My apartment is in an old-ish building which is broken up into 4 apartments with the owner and his family living in a larger upstairs apartment. My place has a nice big kitchen/ dining area, bathroom, bedroom, laundry room and spare room. The only drawback I have found is that the windows are very small so I get very little natural light especially in the kitchen and as a result the ventilation in the kitchen isn't great so the place gets quite smoky when I'm cooking (my tendency to cook stir fries and burn stuff a lot isn't helping!). As my family will attest to, I have a slight aversion to cleaning so I have a cleaner who comes in once a fortnight to clean the floors and leaves the place sparkling! I'm looking forward to slowly acquiring some artsy posters and such to decorate the place now that I've settled in.

My school is a 'Foreign Kindergarten' which caters for children ranging from 2-6 years. Our students are from various countries including the states, Canada, France, Israel, Pakistan, India and even one Irish kid who I am lucky enough to have in my class! I teach pre-school which is the 3 year old age group, who are surprisingly advanced as so much more is expected of children at a young age in Korea (work ethic here is similar to China I believe), so they know their ABCs and can count, recognise shapes etc already! Three other new teachers started along with me in August, but I was the only one who hadn't lived in Korea already which meant I was the only newbie trying to find my way in a country where I didn't know a word of the language! The other three girls are all nice though, two from the States and one from Ireland, and they helped get me involved socially for those first few weeks.

I was very lucky to already know three really great people living here in Seoul, all of whom I met separately on my travels. John from Ireland was the first to take me under his wing, bringing me out to a BBQ with his friends in Itaewon the very first weekend after I arrived. I know John from my first trip to Asia two years ago when we were in the same dorm in a hostel in Vietnam. He saw, on good ol Facebook, that I had moved to Seoul and got in touch. I had a great night chatting to him and his friends who were all great craic and gave me some insider info on life in Korea! Next up was Joanne from Scotland who I alos met that summer in Asia, but in a hostel in Cambodia. She's been living in Seoul for over a year now and I actually emailed her last year when I was first thinking of coming here and she souldn't recommend it enough! Ironically it turned out that we now live less than a 10 minute walk from each other and she teaches the same age group as me at another international koindergarten nearby! We met for coffee and a catch up and hung out a few times since. Last but not least is Justin, from the States, who I hung out with on the Thai island of Koh Tao last summer. He and his boyfriend live a little outside Seoul and he has what sounds like an awesome job as a coordinator for American students who come here on a teaching/culture exchange. He comes into Itaewon every week for quiz night at one of the expat bars so he invited me along and I had the honour of joining his winning team!!

I've a hectic schedule here with CrossFit, yoga, hiking, language exchange group and couchsurfing meetups! I'm constantly going somewhere or meeting someone which is so great, I love being out and about and meeting new people. Couchsurfing is something I became involved in in Chiang Mai and the weekly meet ups are a great way to meet new people who are also interested in traveling. I meet two Korean girls at the first meeting I went to here and we hung out a lot since; they even brought me out for korean food and taught me some korean! I also met a great couple from Utah, Kendra and Kendall, who I love spending time with; going sightseeing and sampling korean food!

I should write more and there is so much to write but time is of the essence, there are not enough hours in the days here! So I'll write another update very soon I hope.

Peace out xxx