Time to catch up...the rest of my time in the ROK! (March2012-March 2014)

So I took a break, a loooooong one, from blogging.  I got caught up in life, I guess.  My last real update was way back in March 2012, almost 2.5 years ago.  Time to fix that and play catch up.   So here's what happened during the rest of my time in the ROK since March 2012.  I'll try to just stick with the highlights...

I accidentally fell in love.  Unfortunately, the relationship only last for 9 months, but I had a great time.  We met the end of March 2012.  After the breakup, I made a couple of besties.  Worked out much better in the long run.

Cheongdo bull fighting festival.  Only the bulls fight each other.  (April 2012)

SantaCon Seoul  (December 2012)

World Baseball Classic in Tokyo with one of my besties, Mel (she LOVES baseball and I LOVE Tokyo).  (March 2013)

My friends and I went paragliding in Boryeong  (March 2013)

Seoul Jazz Festival at Olympic Park.  We saw Damien Rice, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Kings of Convenience...  (May 2013)

Hiked Mt Fuji  (July 2013)

Takahata & Miyazaki Animation Exhibit.  I went on a Miyazaki film craze following this exhibit.  The artwork on display was incredible.  (August 2013)

My Asus laptop decided to die and me.  As a result, I upgraded and invested in a 13" MacBook Air.  Birthday present to myself.  (November 2013)

Seoul Lantern Festival  (November 2013)

SantaCon Seoul  (December 2013)

 Winter Vacation 2013 - Thailand

 Winter Vacation 2013 - Thailand.  My friends and I decided to rent scooters on Koh Phangan where I had two, not one, accidents...  This picture above shows the result of my first accident.  The second accident was MUCH worse.

Winter Vacation 2013 - Hong Kong

Winter Vacation 2013 - Hong Kong

Last ladies' wine night in Seoul at Braii Republic  (January 2014)

Sticker photos with another bestie I made in the ROK, Steph  (February 2014)

Saying goodbye to my bro, Woody, before he leaves the ROK  (March 2014)

A delicious goodbye galbi meal with Steph  (March 2014)

My last weekend in the ROK  (March 2014)

My last meal in the ROK, at Incheon Intl Airport, before going on my grand adventure  (March 2014)

One Year in the ROK

A whole year has passed and I've been living/working in Korea...February 21st was my one year anniversary...kinda hard to believe.  I've now experienced one year of teaching phonics to 5 year old Korean children (that would make them 4 years old since Koreans consider themselves 1 year of age at birth).

So I've decided to renew my contract teaching at my current school for another year.  I will eventually make it back home to Atlanta, but only after I've made a few stops along the way.  AND when I do make it back home, I'm uncertain as to how long I will stay.  My future is unknown and it feels wonderful!  I've sailed away from the safe harbor.  I better get my butt in gear and begin my post-Korea plans.  Currently I plan to be on the road, but not sure for how long.  A SE Asia tour sounds about right (which will include about a month or so stay in the Philippines touring and meeting my mother's family), possibly stops in the lands of OZ and Kiwi, and I better pop on over to Hawaii to say hello to my lola (grandmother)...just thinking out loud.  I miss Hawaii.  While watching the modern day Hawaii Five-0, I find myself constantly reminiscing about my childhood living on the island of Oahu.

For the time being, I better make my Korea to-do list.  Before I know it, I will blink my eyes and it will be 2013 and my time here in the Hermit Kingdom will come to an end.

My one regret is that I wish I had done this years ago...moved to another country, or other countries, to live and work and experience life.  Although I shouldn't complain since I'm doing it now...better late than never.  Plus, I wouldn't have the wonderful people in my life that I have now.


While living abroad, doesn't matter which country, you realize that there are certain "luxuries" from "home" which you can live/do without (I'll leave this to your wild imagination).  I'm constantly learning how strong, and extroverted, I am/can be.  I recently asked one of my very good friends here if I seemed shy.  To my surprise she said no.  I guess I can be shy depending on the situation.

"Who are you?" said the Caterpillar.
Alice replied, rather shyly, "I-I hardly know, Sir, just at the present--at least I know who I was when i got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."

One Month

Which is how long I've been here in South Korea.  I still find it hard to believe that I'm actually here and I'm not sure when, or if, I'll ever get used to it.  It seems as if it was just yesterday when I made the decision to go on this adventure, which was sometime during the summer, and that I blinked my eyes in Atlanta and ended up here.  Sometimes I think I'm in a dream, especially since I have problems remembering the day of the week and time.

I have left some great people back home in Atlanta.  There were a few of them who made my last few months back home extra special and they know who they are.  I'm just happy that the internet exists, which makes it easier to keep in touch with people back home.  The internet makes a huge contribution to my "sanity" while living in this foreign land.  Of course, this thought still runs through my head and probably will for the rest of my stay: "Did I make the right decision?".  A new one seems to have popped up: "What am I doing?".  This is normal.  There are quite a few who also have these thoughts.  Do we ever truly know what we're doing?

Although I've only been here a month...I've met some great people, been on a DMZ trip and Jindo Island trip (stay tuned for these posts), and I get to see my brother in person while I'm here.  This, if any of you know, is something I wasn't able to do for quite a while.  He taught in South Korea for a year, came back home for about a month or so, went on a six month trip through Central America, then left again this past December to teach in South Korea after returning home again for about two months.  However, I did make a ten day trip in July to hang out with him in Nicaragua.  But that's beside the point.  I seem to have gone off on a tangent...

Never mind, it wasn't a tangent.  My former coworkers back in Atlanta were probably shocked, excited and grateful that I finally decided to take a trip to Nicaragua during the summer since I had racked up 100+ PTO (Paid Time Off) hours over three years.  I rarely took any days off from work.  When I think back on that I wonder "Why?!".  I know...I was falling into"Zombie" mode and realized that I had to escape.  Taking that vacation during the summer cleared away the fogginess and made me realize that I needed to do something different.  I no longer wanted to spend most of my time in a slightly padded cell.

And that is how I ended up here in Seoul, South Korea teaching English to Korean Kindergarteners for a year.

I want to thank everyone who is supporting, and believes, in me.  And also for understanding why I'm doing this...I'm still trying to understand it myself.  I love all of you!