Last Updated on November 8, 2017 by Christine Kaaloa

Boo! Happy Halloween week is upon us and October has been a roller coaster of  scares… Many EPIKers are feeling the heave of visa extensions and the pounce of contract renewals.

The fall leaves in Korea are turning a brilliant and golden-yellow, the wind carries a light nip and … where are all these damn mosquitoes in my apartment coming from?

Visa extensions and EPIK contract renewals

After receiving the relief of having our visa extension questions responded to, the next question is contract renewals.

• Renew?
• Take a travel break?
• Search for and re-apply for another job contract that relocates me to Seoul?

A shotgun answer is not easy. I love my students and have invested time in learning Korean (of which I’ve not made huge improvements, still…), but my vegetarian needs dying for more options; I’d like to go, sit on a mountain and meditate on this. Unfortunately, we’ve also just been told our schools need to submit our answer by November 5th. What will I do? I’m taking bets…

What do The Korea Times, F1 and Love Motels tainting Korea have in common?

Me.

Love Motels are a sensitive issue for Korea.

A quote from my article, Finding Love in a Korean Love Motel was mentioned in The Korea Times‘ article “Italian newspaper: ‘Love Motels taint Korea”s image as host to F1“.

The  F1 is a Grand Prix currently touring in Korea. I learned about the F1/Love Motel incident from Brian in Jeollanam-do‘s candid bite, No Morons, a Love motel is not a Brothel ; when a friend posted a link on my Facebook profile with The Korea Times article and my name,… in it.

With the rumors I’ve heard about anti-foreigner groups stalking foreigners for anti-Korean sentiments or foreigners receiving bad press in the Korean media, I was not initially thrilled by this news. Call me paranoid. The last thing I want is Korean cyber-hate.

Sandwiched in a notion of shady love motels tainting Korean reputation, with my article quoted outside of its context, I was nervous.  Brian assesses that Korea Times article nicely in his post F1 accommodation in the news. I’m feeling better now.

My Crazy Kimchi!  hits growing pains of co-teaching.

My Korean classroom has been a great source of learning this year and recently.

I’ve just posted 3 sections (1 , 2, 3 ) on what I’ve learned from co-teaching (something I don’t think I’d be submitting for EPIK/DMOE‘s recent request for co-teaching essays and video contest).

Not everyone has these experiences to take some of my tips, but many also do.

• Finally, a warm GRRR! to my fellow EPIKers & Daegu-ites! Home stretch and I applaud all of you.