This past week was Halloween, one of my favorite holidays. I have learned that people in Korea don’t celebrate Halloween like people in the U.S. do. While a lot of stores here will carry decorations, people don’t dress up in costumes. There was a Halloween party that was hosted by a group called Language Connection that a lot of foreigners in 진주 (Jinju) are a part of, but that was pretty much it. It would probably be different if I were living in 서울 (Seoul), where Halloween is celebrated by more people each year, but Jinju is a smaller city with less foreigners than Seoul.

But regardless, we decorated the hallway at school along with our classrooms, another teacher made Halloween themed sugar cookies, and on Tuesday and Wednesday, we celebrated the holiday with our classes. The other teachers and I dressed up in costumes and we went trick-or-treating with our students to each classroom on our floor. While I was the only person in my classes to dress up, I still enjoyed it, and the students got a kick out of it.

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Work has been getting pretty busy with the end of the semester coming and trying to make lesson plans for next semester, but it has been good to get into the groove of things again. I did catch a cold this week, but it’s to be expected with traveling so much recently and also being surrounded by kids each day. I also am in the process of getting a new SIM card and a phone plan for Korea, but of course, nothing goes right for me the first time. But keeping a cheerful attitude really does wonders for my outlook on life.

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The next step is trying to do things outside of work, which has been pretty successful. I have been to many coffee shops, went to an Indian restaurant and had curry for the first time last week, visited a bengal cat cafe, and am still studying Korean.  All in all, I am adjusting quite nicely to my life here in Korea. Stay tuned for updates! And I know I haven’t posted about my sister’s wedding yet, but I will wait for the professional pictures to be released before sharing.

Stay safe and stay happy (행복해요). I will see you next time. 다음에 봐요!