You Better Work

15 days until Kalan and I jump on a plane and arrive in our next destination, saying goodbye to Seoul and our new wonderful friends that we've made. First, we will engulf ourselves in the beaches of South East Asia. We plan to visit Malaysia, Thailand, and hopefully Vietnam and Cambodia within a month. We're not sure if it's possible monetarily or time-wise but we are just going to just go and see what happens. No reservations hehe.

After our trip there, we will be greeted back home with the love of our friends and family. I'm so excited to see everyone and know that I'm going to be there in their lives again. After the warm welcomes pass, we will be hit hard with the harsh reality of being unemployed and living with our parents. Sounds bad when you type it out but really I don't think it's a big deal at all. We hope to find jobs in the fields that we love and hopefully it wont take over a month. I guess we'll just have to search hard, interview well and dazzle the socks off everyone.

As for me, I'm going to be applying for fashion merchandising jobs and fashion marketing/PR job.s I'm also going to be applying for internships and administrative jobs as well. I really just need to get my foot in the door (I'm beginning to hate this expression). Part-time work may also be inevitable. The important thing is that I stay positive and not stress out too much about life. Kalan and I are in it together and that's all that matters. Cheese but true.

Photo Shoot

Two shots from a recent shoot. I felt like Jane Goodall in the outfit but it was a lot of fun.

Taken by David Kim

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidkimphotography/

By Paul Redmond

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulcredmond

Rock the Boat

On Sunday, we randomly took a boat from Busan, Korea to Fukuoka, Japan. It was an overnight boat so by the time we landed it was already morning. Unfortunately, I ended up throwing up ALL NIGHT due to either sea sickness, food poisoning, or a combination of the two. The next day, my body was completely exhausted but we ended up walking across practically the whole city to find our hotel. I slept that whole next day while Kalan and Jesse looked around the city. The next day I was rejuvenated and was able to really see Fukuoka's beauty. The cherry blossoms were in bloom and the weather was perfect. While basking in the sun, we wondered why Seoul's weather sucks so bad.

That evening we met up with our friend Kento in Kurume which is a town about thirty minutes away. Kento's family and friends threw a BBQ in our honor. His family was really nice and the food they made was so good. There were cherry blossoms everywhere we went.

Since the trip, however, I've had a cold and now I'm trying to recoup so that I can start training again for my 10k at the end of the month. This month, our agenda is to save money, work out, and enjoy Korea in the Spring. People anticipate that the cherry blossoms will bloom here within a week.

I took a lot of pics and I'll post them soon. :)

With love,

Sylvia

Barstow Reunion in Seoul?

Jesse made it to Seoul safely and we met up with another fellow Barstonian, Kandie and her husband Kris. So far this weekend has been a merging of newer friends with our friends from home. It's pretty cool. I have a lot of things planned for us the next couple weeks like a trip to Busan, Soeraksan, and even the DMZ. It's nice to see Seoul as a tourist rather than a resident. I want to leave Seoul believing that it's a charming place and that this part in my life was an awesome chapter.

Although it's still cold it's starting to feel like a vacation again. We only have a month and two weeks left in Seoul and Kalan and I plan to make the most out of it. My friends are already sad but I know that I wont show any emotion until right before I leave. Then the waterworks will come flowing freely. I truly have made some awesome friends so far.

Sylvia

everyone's still a model

Last weekend I sucked up any insecurities or doubts I had and I modeled again. It felt great and I had a lot of fun. I'll have pictures up within the next two weeks. Basically, it's all happening, again. I'm loosing weight, my skin is getting better and I'm feeling more chipper each day. What is the cause of this? I'm 100% sure that it's the weather. It warmed up a bit and the spring is on the horizon. Even though it's been cold these last few days and even snowed last night, many Koreans have been telling me that this is the last cold of the season. Spring is jealous of winter but winter is putting up a fight (or something like that haha).

I thought that I would be nervous while modeling again but, strangely enough, I felt really relaxed. I want to do more shoots and try to get some work before I head back home. There was a time in the last couple months where I would think to myself ... oh you're not a model, you're getting old, you're too fat and ugly to model, modeling is a waste of time, and so on. But I like it and if I like it then I should do it. Right? Now that I'm finished with my language program, I'll have a lot more free time to work at achieving my goals.

I'm still going to continue to look for jobs back home. I heard on the news that more businesses in the states are hiring temps and soon enough they'll be hiring permanent hires. Hopefully, the timing will be perfect for when I get home. Here's hoping.

<3 Sylvia

Pictures!!

I bought a new camera but I can't upload any pics yet. I have buyers remorse :/

Here are some pics my friends took.

At Lotte world waiting in line for Atlantis with friends and classmates.

Bo peep girls.

With Ex coworker Christian and my replacement Eric.

This is my second house party in Korea...I drank too much.

Direct English crew and that's my old student Su Young in the front left.

Hymie and I celebrating the lunar New Year at Jin's.

She cooked for us!

Also take a look at that cake. Cakes in Korea are so pretty and yummy!

<3

Sylvia

The Interview

Two days ago I had an interview for a part-time tutoring job at the Blue House (similar to America's White House) and it was the most interesting interview I've ever been on. First off, the day before my manager calls me and asks me if I could wear blue or green contacts for the interview. That was the first red flag, but I just said "I'm going to have to say noooooo," and went on with my day.
The day of the interview my manager and I show up and is greeted by a nice gentlemen who grew up in the Philippines and speaks English very well. We speak to him for a while about my life and teaching in Korea. He was very personable and was easy to talk to. Then his boss shows up and the interview makes a complete 180.

The questions I was asked:
Do you have a boyfriend?
What do you think about short guys?
How old are you?
Where do you live?
Is your boyfriend Korean or American?

And I'm sure there's more.

Throughout the interview he kept saying I looked just like a Korean and that I was thin and pretty. From this I felt like he liked me and that I probably was going to get the job. Then I overhear him saying something in Korean to my manager about an accent. "Accent?" I asked. He tells me I have a Korean accent and at that moment my mind explodes. I let it go and continue smiling and I try to be as charming as possible because, obviously, he wasn't interested in credentials. Turns out I didn't get the job because I was Korean looking. He wanted to hire an "original" looking American.

Now from this rant you may think that I'm mad but I couldn't stop laughing to myself on the way home. "What on earth just happened?" I kept thinking to myself. This guy just outright asked any question he wanted to ask no matter how personal or inappropriate it was. It was interesting to say the least. It would have been cool to work at the Blue House though.


Sylvia