10 Months...

If by chance you happen to look at my previous posts, you'll notice that there seems to be one missing...that would be my nine month post.  You might be asking "what happened?"...  Well, it just so happens that I got a little sidetracked since my birthday was 11-11-11...EPIC! Plus I'm here in Korea, so I just had to go all out.  That's right!  I celebrated all month long and I'm not lying...every weekend and some of them started a bit early!  

Now I'm kinda partied out, but there's always some party going on since it's the holiday season...oh boy!  As far as this year's Thanksgiving is concerned...I had two dinners.  Oh, one of them actually had collard greens!  I was soooo excited, you have no idea!  Both dinners were delicious!

So 10 months have now passed and I'm still going strong...don't really know what to say except that I'm loving life.  Sure I hit a few rough patches here and there, but that's gonna happen...especially during the holiday season.  Christmas here is a few minutes away and I'm all the way on the other side of the world.  So how am I gonna deal with it?  I'm going snowboarding for the first time and I'm excited!  Oh, I do expect to bust it many times and end up with a ton of bruises all over, but that's okay!  Before coming here, I had already planned to go snowboarding...and as many times as I can before the season is over with.  Plus, I'll be getting snow for Christmas!  Haven't had a White Christmas since I was a toddler...

"Don't be afraid of what could go wrong. Instead, focus on what could go right." ~Unknown

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination."  ~Oscar Wilde

Brown Eyed Girl...?

Sometimes...  My whole life I grew up thinking I had plain and boring brown eyes.  That I was "full of shit".  However, sometimes my eyes are just brown, brown with specks of green, or green with specks of brown.  Does it depend on my mood, what I'm wearing, the weather, the lighting/setting?  Who knows...  All I know is that I like it.  Definitely keeps me guessing.

8 Months

Last week flew by, which explains why I'm late with my 8 month post.  Plus, I'm recovering from being sick yet again, it's what happens when you work with children.  Last week all started with recovering from a crazy Saturday night out, with Jen and a few new friends, in Suwon after watching a few Gaelic Football matches at the FEXCO 2011 Asian Gaelic Games.  Jen and I had no plans of staying in Suwon that night, but we ended up crashing there anyway...fun times!  I never heard, or seen, Gaelic Football until my Irish coworker, Ciara, started working with me.  It's a very interesting sport.  Pretty easy to follow once you learn the rules.  I like it!  The Irish are CRAZY!  But I, and I'm pretty sure you, already knew that.  (Just had another crazy/fun Saturday night hanging with the Irish folk!  BTW, it's taken me a few days to complete this post.  Sad but true.)

Soooooo I don't think I'm finished with Korea just yet...  I'm having a great time and always meeting great people.  It's gonna be a sad time whenever I do decide to leave, but I will have to move on eventually.  Free as a bird and able to do whatever I want, which makes it difficult and great at the same time.  One step at a time.


"It is far better for a man to go wrong in freedom than to go right in chains." 
~Thomas H. Huxley

"Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase...The question you should be asking isn't "What do I want?" or "What are my goals?" but "What would excite me?"
~Timothy Ferris  
(Thank you Jamie for introducing me to The 4-Hour Workweek!)

It's time for Fall...

...and these are just a few things I will be missing from the States...

Plus some good old southern comfort food!!!

7 Months

So I'm beginning to think a lot about my plans after Korea.  Such a heavy mind...it's expected when you're contemplating your life and what it is that you want to get out of it.  I feel as if I'm walking a double-edged sword and that I'm having to make big sacrifices to live the lifestyle that I want.

Lately I was beginning to think that I might just stay here for another year, but I believe that notion may have passed.  Especially with the cooler weather making it's way.  When the weather changes in Korea, it changes fast.  Not that I don't mind the cold weather, it's just that I wasn't really able to enjoy the summer since it rained most of the time...and when I arrived here, it was cold.  I'm currently thinking that I'll head down to the Philippines for a few weeks to sight-see and visit family I haven't seen since I was in elementary school.  Then possibly make my way down to Bali and maybe travel to a few other countries in SE Asia.  Then head back stateside.  Everything's still up in the air, but at least I'm beginning to come up with ideas.  It's a start and I'm not at a standstill...


"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
~ George Bernard Shaw

Where did the summer go...?

Ooh, I know...it rained for most of it here in South Korea.  Now it's time for the fall season.  The weather is cooler now in the mornings and evenings.  This is my favorite time of year.  Unfortunately, the fall and spring seasons don't last very long here.  Before I know it, it will be time to put on my winter coat.

With the cooler weather making its way, I'm hoping to sneak in one last trip to the beach for a couple of days this weekend since it will be a four day weekend...Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving).  Yay!

...and maybe, just maybe, I'll actually catch up on my posts..

...and now I have a friend/coworker trying to convince me to stay another year since I don't exactly know what I'm going to do once my contract is up...

I just have to reuse this...

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where…” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.       

~Lewis Carroll , Alice In Wonderland

6 Months

Midway into my contract.  I think I've reached my "mid-contract crisis".  Yeah, that's what I'm calling it.  Which means I need to figure out what I'm going to do once my contract is complete...or at least have a few plans in place since I'm constantly changing my mind.  It will all boil down to how I feel when my time here comes to an end.  I'm fairly certain that I will not stay another year (I know I keep saying that).

Since my arrival here I think I have finally overcome my homesickness, realized that I should never say "never", come to terms with the fact that I don't know when I will return to Atlanta and if I will stay there...the list could go on.  One thing I have realized during my vacation in Tokyo is that I really do have a great life.  What a wonderful feeling!  It seems as if I am in a dream world.  There's nothing holding me back...I can do whatever I want.  Never in a million years would I have imagined myself working/living on the other side of the world, or even in a different country.  I'm meeting great people and forming friendships which I know will last beyond Korea.  The proximity to the places I would like to visit is ideal and unbelievable.  Since I'm on this side of the world, it just wouldn't be right if I didn't visit my motherland.

So the time has come for me to start my list making of what I would like to do in Korea before I leave and what I would like to do when I leave Korea.



"Don't ask yourself what the world needs.  Ask yourself what makes you come alive.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."  ~Howard Thurman


"People say that what we are seeking is a meaning for life.  I don't think this is what we're really seeking.  I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive."  ~Joseph Campbell

Lost in transit...

Imagine going from this rinky dinky railway system...

Atlanta, GA (USA)

to this...

Seoul, South Korea

(I'm still trying to figure out the bus situation in Seoul.)


Okay, now imagine having to use this...

Tokyo, Japan

(I'm not even going to try to figure out the bus system in Tokyo.)

It's quite overwhelming for someone who has had to rely on having her own car in order to get around town...

Five Months

...and so the saga continues, not really.  FIVE MONTHS!  Time seems to be a flyin'!  Before you know it my contract will be up and I better have a plan.  It's probably time to start considering what I might be doing when the day comes for me to leave my humble abode here in Seoul.  Oh decisions decisions.  This won't be easy.

I'm just being me...having fun while making friends.  Sometimes I do find it a bit difficult with the part where I make new friends.  My problem is that I haven't figured out how to balance the groups, especially since I continue making new ones.  I can't hang out with them all at once, so it forces me to choose.  If any of you know me, you know that can be a difficult decision since I am indecisive and pretty much would like to do everything.  I just have to learn how to prioritize, but then I feel bad when I am forced to decline the other peeps I decide not to hang out with.  Oh first world problems.

A few things are changing at school...a South African coworker is marrying his Korean girlfriend this weekend, after five months a Canadian coworker is moving to Scotland where his girlfriend just started grad school, another Canadian coworker is leaving to go back home (sad)...that's not all of them, but I'll spare you the rest.  Of course, all of this will bring in new faces and possibly new friendships.

On a different note, I have a couple of exciting trips coming up...yay!  There's the Boryeong Mud Festival this weekend, which will be a blast...there will be a whole lotta craziness going on!  =)  Then off to TOKYO for summer vacation, July 30th to August 7th...can't wait!  I'm going with Steph, my friend/co-worker.  We were originally planning on either going to Thailand or Vietnam, but we decided at the last minute (sitting in front of the travel agent, which is the best way to book airplane tix here in Korea) on TOKYO.  I've always wanted to go to Japan, well everywhere for that matter.  So now I'm getting my chance.  There may be a couple of other small trips next month...we'll see where the chips fall.  You have one life, so make the most of it.  That I plan on doing...yessiree!  Marking things off of my bucket list while adding a few more at the same time.

Looking over the Han River at Yeouido Park during my bike ride earlier this evening.  Riding along the river is very relaxing...such beautiful scenery.

"We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again-to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more." 
~Pico Iyer, "Why We Travel"

Nothing Lasts Forever...

Which is very unfortunate for certain things.   (Warning, this is a very personal post…read at your own discretion)  IF, for some miraculous reason, someone would ever want to marry me, I would want it to last forever…till death do us part.  Call me naïve.  My life has turned into a catch-22.  I would love to get married and have children, with the right person who would be silly enough to stay with me.  Let’s face it, I’ve made it rather difficult for that to possibly happen, especially with my current lifestyle.  I only want it to happen once, but I can’t control how the other person feels and wouldn’t want to.  My parents are divorced and it still has an affect on me.  Once upon a time, it almost happened for me.  The fact that I called off a wedding with a month to spare may be a deal breaker for anyone remotely interested in me, and I can understand.  To this day, I don’t regret my decision of not going through with it.  Somehow I could see into the future and see the relationship not lasting.  My friends knew we weren’t right for each other and were happy about my decision.  I had not ruled children out of the question and I couldn’t see him as the kind of father that I wanted.  Plus, I fell out of love and I wanted more out of life.  I want to travel the world and would love to have someone to experience those moments with me, but I just don’t see it happening.  One time I became a caged bird and gave up many things, changed who I was, for a guy.  The life was sucked out of me.  (That relationship has made me appreciate, and only go for, the truly/genuinely nice guys.)  Since then, I have made a vow to myself that I would never let that happen again.  Tired of experiencing heartbreaks...

You have one life, make the most of it.  You're never too young, or old, to have a "bucket list"...it only counts if you actually work on your list.  

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." ~Henry David Thoreau

Long Weekend Part 2: Samcheok Beach

Our 3-day weekend consisted of a stop at Samcheok Beach located on the east coast, which is where we stayed for our trip to Haesingdang Park (aka Penis Park).  It was quiet, practically deserted, and relaxing at the same time.  It was nice to get away from the bustling city of Seoul along with having our toes in the sand.

(taken by Cath Witten)
Having some fun!  Took us a few tries to get this shot...had a lot of fun in the process =)

 

While we were watching the sun rise, I just happened to look over to the sight of these soldiers marching silently across the sand.  It caught me off guard and startled me a bit.  

Most of the time a picture can not capture the true beauty of nature.  

Our next stop, Busan (or as some pronounce it "Pusan")...

Four Months

Oh goodness...four months have passed.  I don't really have much to say at this moment...except for the fact that I know, I have decided, that I will definitely not extend my stay here in Korea once my contract is up.  I will be moving on.  To where?  I haven't the slightest idea...

I was going to provide you with a different quote, but I can't keep going without providing you with what may possibly be my favorite.  This quote, along with others, was posted in my slightly padded cell (cubicle) at my previous job back home.  It was there to keep me motivated, to remind me that I would move on to something else, perhaps better (?)...and that I would experience, discover for myself, more of what the world has to offer.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed

 by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  

So throw off the bowlines. 

Sail away from the safe harbor.  

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover." 
~Mark Twain

The Black Hole

That's what I'm calling Seoul.  Whenever I meet another expat who's been here for 3-4+ years, I always ask them how long they initially planned on living and working here in Seoul...the answer is always one year.  After one year they would return home and after a few months back home they would return to Seoul.  I can see how that could happen.  It's easy to get used to, or sucked into, the lifestyle here.  You go out every night for a few drinks with your coworkers and friends (especially when you don't want to go back to your lonely one room apartment), you can easily get away with never cooking for yourself, public transportation here is wonderful, your apartment is paid for (minus the utilities), and it's easy to save some money for whatever you may have planned in the future.  Oh yeah, Seoul also serves as a great "home base" for traveling to other parts of Asia.  But then it's also easy to get stuck in a routine, or rut, if that's what you would want to call it.  Some of the expats I meet make a life out of teaching English here.  I don't see myself staying here another year.  Life here can be very convenient.  

But then again it's also difficult to not get out of, over, the depression after a few weeks or months of living here.  One of my coworkers who arrived here on the same night as me turned in his six weeks' notice earlier this week.  I heard the news from my other coworkers, but I definitely understand what he's going through.  However, I promised myself that no matter how bad things got for me, except for an emergency of some sort, I would stick through my one year contract.  Living and working here is no vacation and it's absolutely nothing like home.  South Korea is quite the experience for a waygook, foreigner. Of course, you also meet some great people here.

"have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer." ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Long Weekend Part 1: Samcheok Haesindang Park...

Get ready for this one...aka Penis Park.  Yep, it's not a typo.  Kinda ironic considering the Koreans are very conservative.  The park, with over 50 phallic sculptures, is located in a fishing village on the east coast.  It's about a 45 minute bus ride from the Samcheok intercity bus terminal and it was well worth the trip.  There's another penis park in Jeju-do, which is an island located off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula.

Legend has it that a "virgin whose restless spirit was affecting the village's catch.  A fisherman discovered that she could be appeased if he answered the call of nature while facing the ocean, so the village put up phalluses to placate her."

Enjoy!

Yep, that's a bench...

How romantic...

Comparing sizes?  According to statistics, only in their wildest dreams..

What really startled me is that the mother even took pictures of her children standing in front of one of these statues while they were "holding on"...

They even have statues representing each of the 12 animals from the Chinese zodiac.

Three Months

Today is the three month mark of my twelve month duration here In south korea.  I still find myself in a daze quite often, but I think that might have a little something to do with lack of sleep.  Of course, I am in a foreign land.  Which is something I’m gonna have to get used to not just for my stay here, but once my contract is up.

So the replacement for one of my co-teacher’s arrived in Korea Thursday.  Met her yesterday.  An Australian being replaced by an Irish.  I knew she was Irish as soon as she said her name was Ciara.  (As a friend before once put it, who has the same name and an Irish mother, it’s pronounced Shakira without the Sha.)  She seems really nice.  I will definitely miss working with Cath.  She has one week left in Seoul, then she’s off to Australia for a couple of months and then to Oregon.  I will definitely be visiting her when I make it back to the States.  =)

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where…” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.             

…..I believe you don’t always need to know your destination.  Just do your best to enjoy the journey.

Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival & Geoje-do - April 9-10, 2011

Went on another fun trip with the Seoul Hiking Group.  On a side note, I always get sooo excited when I meet someone from Atlanta, which is very rare.  Most foreigners, mainly the teachers, are from Canada.

Here we are at the Upo Wetlands, our first stop.  We didn't stay here very long.

We were so excited about seeing cows.

Walking to the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival.  The streets were lined with cherry blossoms.  Beautiful!

This was a giant tug of war!

Festival food...

There always seems to be a bonfire when the Seoul Hiking Group is around.  We stayed the night on Geoje-do the second largest island in South Korea and did some exploring the next day.

 

Enjoying the scenery before departing for our next stop...

The water was really cold.

Goats!

Hiking up Azalea Mountain.  Out last stop of the trip.

 

We weren't exactly sure what these were for...

I think those are supposed to be rocks?  I just had to take a picture. 

It was a fun trip hanging out with some great people...as always =)  I always look forward to these trips.  It definitely gives me a chance to meet some interesting people while exploring Korea.