A Typical Weekend in My Life

The part of teaching abroad that many seem to forget is the actual teaching part. Although I am blogging about so many amazing experiences, I am still at work from 9:00 to 5:00 every day. That leaves not a lot of time after work to go out and do things on the weekdays. Plus, with the sun setting earlier in the day now, my motivation to get up and out of my apartment is low. So, I try to pack in as much fun on the weekends as I can. So, here is a typical jam-packed weekend in my life as a foreigner in Korea.

Friday

(I am including Friday because Friday is basically the weekend, I won’t take arguments!)

6:00 AM – 7:45 AM Get Ready

I wake up at 6:00 AM on weekdays so I have plenty of time to get ready, eat breakfast, and drink my coffee before heading out. I am picked up by a fellow teacher at 7:45 AM.

8:15 AM – 2:20 PM School Time

I plan to get more into the details of a typical day at school but the basic idea is I have 4 classes a day. They are 40 minutes each with breaks and lunch in between. The kids leave at 2:20 PM. On Fridays, I can expect my students to be extra rowdy for the weekend or very drowsy from the long week. This Friday they were particularly rowdy, which isn’t a bad thing!

2:20 PM -4:40 PM Desk Warming

As a foreign teacher in Korea, you will get very used to the idea of “desk warming”. After your students have left for the day, you still have to stay at work for a couple more hours. For many, desk warming just means having extra time at school to lesson plan. My school happens to follow a textbook so I don’t need to lesson plan (which has pros and cons) so, I can fill my time with whatever I wish. I watch k-dramas, read, and of course, write blog posts. 

5:10 PM – 6:00 PM Tidy Up 

After I got back from work, I tidied up my apartment a bit by mopping, wiping down counters, and washing my dishes. 

6:00 PM – 7:30 PM Dinner

After cleaning up, I decided to make pan-fried tofu for dinner which was amazing and I had enough for leftovers. Double win!

7:30 PM – 9:00 PM Cafe Numero Uno

I was craving something sweet and was feeling a tad bored so I met up with a friend at the cafe right by my apartment. I forgot to take pictures (*gasp* not taking pictures at a cafe in Korea? Blasphemy!) but I got a chocolate latte and a tiramisu macaron which was to die for. 

9:00 PM- 10:00 PM Bedtime 

The workweek caught up with me and it was time to end the day early and get a good night’s sleep!

Saturday

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Start the day

Started the day by sleeping in a bit and making a simple breakfast.

10:00 AM -12:00 PM Catching up with the sister

On Saturdays, most of my friends take Korean classes so I have Saturday mornings to do things on my own or catch up with family and friends back home. This Saturday, I chatted with my sister for a couple hours which always goes by too fast. She got to witness my crisis as I tried to pick out an outfit for the day. 

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM Lunch

My friends and I met up at a place called Sabotage downtown which is an American-themed diner. I ordered the American Plate and I’ll say it did feel like an authentic American breakfast minus the mashed potatoes and salad. 

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Daein Market Detour

My friends and I missed the first bus we needed to take for the festival we went to so we decided to pass the time waiting for the next bus by walking around. We stumbled up Daein Market which is the most famous market in Gwangju so it was an unexpected but interesting detour!

3:00-5:30 PM Hwasun Flower Festival 

We finally made it to Hwasun! Hwasun is about 40 minutes outside of Gwangju. It is a pretty small town but they hold an annual chrysanthemum festival which many people travel from all over to see. It was absolutely beautiful and the weather was just right for strolling around while looking at the amazing art made with flowers. One thing that always amazes me about Korea is the festival and most other festivals are completely free! 

5:30 PM – 7:30 PM Another day, another cafe!

We finished walking around and ended up at a cute cafe. We chose this cafe over the many others because the name in Korean literally translated to “Star Bucks” which made us giggle. The barista was super nice and gave us a free dessert called injeolmi toast which is a sweet bread with sticky rice cake spread in between and definitely one of my favorite Korean desserts! It was nice to spend a while at the cafe just chatting about anything and everything.

7:30 PM – 8:30 PM Getting Back to Gwangju

Our missed bus curse ran into the night so it took a while to get back to Gwangju as we waited for the bus but we made it back nevertheless. 

8:30 PM – 11:00 PM Hyu 1727

After getting back to Gwangju my friends and I still weren’t ready to call it a night so we went to one of our favorite bars, Hyu 1727. The owners are always happy to see us so we like the welcoming atmosphere. We all had a beer and some appetizers before heading back home and going to bed.

Sunday

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM Get Ready 

I had to wake up a bit earlier today because I had to go very north in Gwangju to get a Kimchi Making Class that I had signed up for earlier in the week. 

10:00 AM -12:30 PM Kimchi time!

I didn’t know exactly what to expect from the class I signed up for but I was not expecting to be ushered into a fully functioning chef’s kitchen surrounded by cameras. Our class was led by a sweet old lady who has been making kimchi her whole life and is famous for her kimchi throughout Gwangju. My friends and I had a blast fumbling our way through this ancient art. I now have a full bucket of kimchi waiting for me in my fridge!

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM Much needed sustenance 

The weather was amazing this day so we wanted to spend the day outside after class but we were feeling low on energy after not eating breakfast so we stopped to get some lunch. I got beansprout, rice, and kimchi stew which was amazing

2:30 PM – 6:00 PM Impromptu trip to Damyang

We weren’t sure exactly what we wanted to do for the rest of the day so I suggested we go to Damyang where one of my friends lives. Damyang is only a 45-minute bus ride from Gwangju so we didn’t have to plan ahead too much. Once we got to Damyang, we walked around and saw the Metasequoia trees as the leaves changed to beautiful fall colors. We continued our walk down by the river and ended our walk through the farmer’s market. At this point, we had basically down a whole loop around Damyang, so my feet were starting to ache a bit.

I’ve actually written about Damyang more in-depth before, check that out here.

6:00 PM – 7:30 PM Yes, another cafe

We headed to Twosome Place (a coffee chain) for some warm drinks and cake. I was excited to get oat milk in my latte as Twosome Place just started carrying it but the worker seemed confused to my dismay so I settled on a regular latte instead. After chatting for a while, I started to get tired and decided to head back to Gwangju.

8:30 PM – 9:30 PM Face masks for the win

I ended my day by treating myself to a face mask and relaxing with some YouTube videos. After a long day of exploring, I was excited to get to sleep early to prep for another week of fun!

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And there we have it! There is a typical weekend for me. I have never been the type to jam-pack my weekends with plans. I normally like to have a lot of downtime to relax and unwind. But perhaps it’s the new environment of Korea or my growth as a person that I have been so open to these new experiences. My hope is I can continue to grow into an adventurous person and carry this confidence with me outside of Korea in the future.