Foreigner not so foreign?

 After leaving my company, it was a semi friendly parting, I've come to reflect on my time abroad and see what lessons I've learned. There are many little lessons like the satisfaction of supporting yourself and the important ones of what I can endure as a person. Here are just a few key ones:

1. If need be I can work in a hostile environment - By the time I had left my company only two of the foreign teachers still talked to me because from what I can tell (and what my Korean co-teacher suspected) was I wasn't a black-out drunk party goer like them. I found the I could handle being ignored by my co-workers and keep going, I just needed an outside social outlet be it texting friends from all over via the most convenient app kakaotalk or picking up outside hobbies like hiking and belly dance. If you have an outlet you can overcome these things, but you should never stay in these situations unless you must.
2. Take joy in the little things - When you take in #1 it makes life easier to take joy in your students success like it really was your own, to enjoy the weather even when it isn't prettier, and just be thankful for what you have. It is something I'm taking with me for what I hope is the rest of my life and just be thankful for what my body can do and sometimes even taking joy in what you can't do. Having this outlook has definitely made my life better.
3. Hard-work isn't always appreciated, but do it anyway - I find that people in my generation (this is a generalization and I know it does not apply to everyone) are used to getting praised for doing what they were supposed to. When I had a student work job my fellow student employees expected to be patted on the back for doing what their basic job was, while when I took on extra responsibility I only expected it when I was doing a lot extra. Working in a school I realized that half the time you aren't going to be appreciated unless you do something unusual on a sometimes what you get appreciated for is disturbing, like offering to go half on a reward for a shared class or turning in your graded tests within two days of having your students take it. So when you can show your appreciation for the little things, especially the little things you want repeated.
4. Always take the early pay discount - This is something you learn more about this if you take accounting (which I currently am) and it always pays to pay and get the discount. Korea is big on pay by this date and you get this amount, pay by this other date and you pay more. If you are paying by the first date and avoiding the inflated rate then....you'll save a lot of money. Over time if this is occurring on all your monthly bills (3-4 on average) you could save at least $500 a year by paying early.

 This is all I can think of for now, maybe I'll convert this blog into more about what I'm doing post Korea.