Recently my school asked me if I wanted to keep teaching there for another year! I said yes and I’ll be renewing my EPIK contract with my school for another year. I so happy that everything is going well with my plans as I wanted to be here for at least 3 years if not longer. Plus I really like my school, the kids & teachers here, and I feel like I can do a lot of good. That being said, I do plan on visiting family and friends in the US during winter break early next year.

Winter break for Korean students here is about two months longs starting at the very end of December until the beginning of March. There are a couple of important school events in between like my English Winter Camp (I need to finish planning that) and 3rd years’ graduation ceremony. But other than that, there is plenty of time to schedule some traveling. 

So the plan is to visit several places in the US starting with Seattle, before moving on to Portland. Then flying to Hawaii to spend a couple days with my BFF and her family before returning to Korea. I’m most definitely going to bring my largest suitcase and try to pack it with things I don’t need and gifts. I won’t have to worry about clothes because I have tons of clothes still back in the US I can wear and I’ll probably buy some extra things that I can’t find here like underwear from Victoria’s Secret.

Other than clothes, here are a couple of things that I have at home I plan to bring back with me.

1. My Amazon Fire TV box / I brought a cord that was suppose to connect my phone or iPad to my TV via the __________ but it stopped working after two months. I think it has to do with updating the software but I keep trying and it won’t update. It’s quite annoying. So I’m going to either bring my Amazon Fire TV box with me or order myself a Roku to bring. Either way, I’m tired of watching my YouTube videos on my iPad. I’d love to actually watch them on my TV like before.

2. Flaming Hot Cheetos / I know. Weird, but Korea doesn’t have these. Anywhere. Not even the foreign grocery stores. And I love my hot Cheetos. So I’m planning on bringing at least four bags back with me. If you love them like I do, bring them. As many as you can. And have your friend and family send you over them. And me.

3. Coffee // Ground, real coffee. That I can use my drip with. My local grocery store has two different brands of ground coffee around $7 and they are small. So small, one will barely last me a week days. So I’m planning on bringing some back some local coffee from the PNW back to Korea. Pre-ground since I don’t have a grinder. I can order coffee online, but none like what we have back home.

4. New laptop or computer // Yes, I could buy a laptop here and not worry about taking it on the plane but I decided that its a good idea to get one back in the states since the one I currently use is nearly dead. It starts up, but I have a hard enough time doing much on it. I mean even writing blog posts is hard since the computer will stall at any moment. Plus, if I want to become a better video editor, I think having a computer would work out better. 

5. My film camera // Film develop photos are becoming more and more popular these days, so I’m going to bring back with me my old film camera I had since high school. I think all it really needs is a new battery and film. Easy-peasy.

There are a couple of little things I plan on bringing back with me. Some books I like. I think I’ll buy my students/classroom a English-Korean Dictionary. Though I could just order one here. Clothes of course. And shoes. I’m holding back from ordering shoes here since I’m pretty sure I have similar ones back at home.

Until next time,

안녕히 가세요, jane*

Photo by Freshh Connection on Unsplash