Saving Money for the First Time Never Felt so Good!

I've never been all that good with money. I blame it on a family curse, but I know it's mostly my fault. I never really learned how to balance a checkbook or how credit cards work and all that fun financial know-how (read: extremely boring).  In college, I can recall several times when I accidentally overdrafted my account (I partially blame late-night food orders for this), and worse, didn't even notice until days later.  And having a lot of school loans to pay after college didn't help much either. 

But I can honestly say that going to South Korea to teach English for a year was the best financial decision I had made so far in my life. Although I'm not making a ton of money like some of my business major friends, I am saving a ton of money, and I'm able to put a lot of it towards my school loans as well. While I was applying for jobs, I found this great link about how much money I can save while teaching in Korea.  It really gave me hope for how I can get my (financial) life in order while having a great time teaching.

The best part of the deal is that I think I can do a bit of traveling at the end of my contract as well!I just got my passport a year ago, so I'm excited to get it all stamped up around Southeast Asia. I'm thinking of starting in Vietnam and moving westward toward Laos and hopefully ending my travels Thailand. It's  a little far in advance, but I think it's definitely an option!  Funners! 

Seoul So Far--a picture diary

Cool sky-blue phone booths near Seorak Mountain

Cute photos at our Minbak

Majestic Seorak

Warming up for the "Night Marathon"

At the finish line!

I kind of love this guy. I told my students to watch this video, but I don't think they thought it was funny.

My dental adventure

Ok, so I know I'm almost finished with my first year here, but I still hadn't dragged myself to the dentist yet until last weekend because I was apprehensive about the whole English-speaking thing. I had noticed a place across the street from my school a couple months ago and decided the time was more than ripe for me to make the plunge. I wound up in a clean, well-lit establishment called, "DIAdent."  I was a bit non-plussed because it seemed like the receptionists didn't speak English too well, but luckily my hygienist and the head dentist both were very proficient.

Bad news: I did have a couple cavities. I have to go get them filled next week, but I probably deserve it for not going to the dentist for so long. What has it been? Maybe 2 years. Oops.

For all my readers (both of you), if you are looking for a dentist Seoul in your area who speaks English, there seems to be a good list at dentistinseoul.com.