Summer 2012: July

Well, we’re now up to July, which seems to have come much, much too soon. The semester wrapped up July 20th, so after my birthday I had a week to work on my travel plans while the kids were testing, then we had a week of Olympics lessons (which was equally as fun for me to research and learn about while making the lesson,) followed by our last week of classes, which was technically my last class teaching them. I said goodbye to my country school and my adopted-this-semester third school students, but luckily I won’t have to say goodbye to my main school until right before I leave. The goodbyes are getting harder and harder, but again, since I want to save that for another time, I’ll just continue on with all my fun this past month.

The first weekend in July I took advantage of a free weekend to make a trip up to Daegu, the third largest city in Korea, to use as a base camp for Haein-sa Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been on my list of places to see ever since I arrived in Korea.

After a three hour trip to the north east, I spent the entire sunny afternoon walking around Daegu, exploring the downtown, the historical city center, stumbling into parks, people watching, and of course, taking some time to chill at a local coffee shop.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early to hit the bus station and catch a bus straight to the temple, about an hour’s ride away from Daegu. When I arrived at the start of the hike, (just a simple walk along a path, more like) I was immediately struck by the beauty of the mountains - the bright morning sun was shining, but there were still some light clouds blowing over the mountaintops. 

After about 15 minutes of walking through the peaceful mountain trails, I reached the front entrance of the temple complex. I headed up a long flight of stone steps and was rewarded with a magnificent display of traditional Korean temples, which had been in existence (though most have been rebuilt due to a series of invasions) since 802 AD, tended to by monks and Buddhist patrons.

Occasionally during my wandering there was some chanting, drumming, and bell ringing during an honor ceremony, which added to the atmosphere nicely. Among the mix of people there were monks, Korean Buddhists, Korean tourists, and there were many international tourists as well. I chatted with a group of American high school social studies teachers, as well as overheard a tour being conducted in Spanish. But, like everyone else, I spent most of my time just wandering around, enjoying the peace and tranquility.

So why was this temple complex so famous? Because it also holds the largest collection of well preserved printed woodblock Buddhist texts. According to Wikipedia (who can explain this better than I, ) "the Tripitaka Koreana is a Korean collection of the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures,) carved onto 81,258 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century. It is the world's most comprehensive and oldest intact version of Buddhist canon in Hanja script, with no known errors." 

You can read more about it here.

The library display was impressive, and so amazing to think how much effort must have been put into making each and every print, with such precision and detail. After viewing the Tripitaka, I spent some time just sitting on the ledge watching the clouds blow over the mountaintops and listening to the chants. What was I thinking about? As always, how lucky I am to be able to experience and see such incredible places like Haeinsa, and how much my two years in Korea has opened my eyes to the world.

Well, it was a good thing I enjoyed the mountains that day, because after a whirlwind week of teaching classes about the Olympics, (can you name all 26 sports in the London Olympics? ) I was off to the second highest peak in South Korea, located in Seoraksan National Park.

So, I wouldn't call myself an astute hiker by any means, or even a hiker, but I love mountains and I love climbing up things. So, when a weekend opportunity came to make the trip up to Seoraksan, I decided it was about time to give the famed mountains a try. Seoraksan, located in the northeast corner of the country, just about an hour from the DMZ border, has been on my list since I arrived in Korea, and though it's a long trip to make in a weekend, it was worth it to me to squeeze in before I left Korea.

Well, the experience was quite different from what I expected, but it was fantastic nonetheless. My friend Dan and I made the two and a half hour trip from Seoul bright and early on Saturday morning, though we were warned of the impending rain. We decided that it was worth it to go in the rain and try the hike, just because I didn't have many more opportunities.

The rain and fog turned out to be a blessing in disguise - it didn't even rain most of the hike, and made the air quite cool and pleasant for hiking. Though it limited our visibility, what we could see was different terrain than anything else I'd seen in Korea, with lots of rocky blocks in between the verdant trees and bushes. We started the hike just after lunch, and decided to take the four hour up, three hour down trek straight to the peak.

The hike was the most difficult one I'd done in Korea, with lots of scrambling up (sometimes quite slippery) rocks and trails. However, our morale was boosted by the herds of brightly clad Korean hikers, most of them over twice our age, who were cheerfully trekking up the trails, rain gear and all, and who happily offered us food to share as we crossed paths.

We made good time, reaching the peak within about three hours, but once we got to the top it was freezing! At the top we couldn't see much due to the rain clouds (most of which we were actually above at that point, see left) but the mist actually created an eerie, even mystical atmosphere from the top, since we couldn't see what was below us.

After a high five and a picture, we headed back down, and had a more difficult time due to the slippery rocks and our tired legs. We made it back just before sundown, and collapsed in the back of the bus. We were wiped out, but satisfied with our hike. You win, Seoraksan. Nicely done.


I had about five days to recover (sore for three of them, I might add) before my next adventure the following weekend, which took me to the opposite side of Korea, for the annual Boryeong Mud Festival. What is a mud festival, you might ask? Well, basically it is hundreds of people running around...throwing mud on each other. No joke. Here is Alyssa demonstrating the use of the 'mud paintbrush,' designed for maximum mudding, on Pat.



One of the best parts of Mudfest was that it was located about 20 meters from the beach, so once you got muddy and dirty enough...you could just run down to the beach, wash yourself off, and start all over again. There was also a stage and some DJ music playing on the beach, so you could get a little dancing in in between the mudding and the washing off if you wanted to. After setting up a tent on the beach a little ways down to sleep in and dump our stuff, we headed back to the mud area to, well, get muddy.

The mud stations were outside the festival gates, but you could pay five bucks to get a wristband and enter the area full of what I like to call 'mud toys.' Among the mud toys were giant blow up slides, an obstacle course, a mud arena, and our personal favorite, the mud prison. The dudes who worked at the mud prison had the best job ever, as all they had to do was stand and throw buckets of mud on the people who stood inside the mud prison. Not too shabby.

After a sufficient few hours of getting muddy (which, we all agreed, made our skin feel great,) we went into the ocean to cool off and clean off before getting ready for a fantastic seafood stew dinner. But our fun wasn't over for the night. The three of us had been able to receive free tickets for yet another festival in the same location, which boasted a big-name concert lineup that evening. We headed back near the Mudfest area to watch the Wonder Girls, an internationally famous Korean girl group, and then for the concert headline performance, Akon.

The concert was a ton of fun, as was waking up to the sound of waves crashing on the beach the next morning. Sunday proved to be just as beach-worthy as the day before, but I had to take off for Seoul in order to meet up with Sokhom and Meghan for concert number 2 of the weekend...MBLAQ!

I don't know if you recall my minor obsession with this Korean boy group, but it's definitely still there. When Sokhom found tickets on the Internet a few weeks ago we had no idea it was being promoted, and were lucky enough to snag tickets before they sold out a day or two later. So, to refresh your memory, MBLAQ was the first K-Pop group I was ever interested in, due to their extremely catchy song 'Stay' that I kept hearing at the gym. The rest is history, and I might even be able to thank MBLAQ and their K-Pop friends for convincing me to stay in Korea for an extra year - my interest in Korea definitely increased once I started getting interested in K-Pop.

So, the day was finally here when I'd be able to see them perform 'Stay' and all of my other favorites, thanks to Sokhom treating me to the concert for my birthday! Before the concert we of course had to take pictures with our boys (pictured: Lee Joon, aka Gina's Boyfriend if you are one of my students.)

Of course, the concert was amazing, and our tickets were so close I could have fought through about five rows of screaming Korean girls to reach out my long arms and touch them. I'm pretty sure I had about a foot on said screaming girls, so I had a great view the whole time also.

And then...it was all over. The entire weekend seemed to blur together, but all I know is that it was fun. Really fun. I spent the whole next week teaching summer camp for four hours in the morning with my trusty co-teacher Miss Yoo, which mostly consisted of games, snacks, and chatting. I had the afternoons free to work on getting things ready for my departure, which made Friday come much sooner than expected...and then I was off again!

This time the destination was Jangheung, Sara's town, and one of my favorite places in Korea for its home-like feel, free of all the hustle and bustle of the city. When I go to Jangheung I feel like I escape to the cabin for a weekend, and this weekend didn't disappoint.

The occasion was the annual Jangheung Water Festival, which took place on the Tamjin River, right smack in the middle of the town. Jangheung's pride and joy is the river, with a stepping stone bridge to cross over, three or four bridges (pictured), and with tons of walking trails, garden paths, and pagodas placed along the riverbanks. I had already spent many a weekend enjoying what Jangheung has to offer by the river, but this festival blew me away with how much fun it was.

The entire event was focused on the riverbank...and in the river itself. There were boat events, water slides, swimming pools, water sprayers, and sectioned off areas of the river to swim around in. The weekend was perfect, boasting sunny skies and temperatures well into the nineties.

So, after my Friday night arrival, the next day we waited for about twenty of our friends to trickle in all day Saturday, while we hung out right by the water, alternating laying out, swimming around in the river, and walking around to enjoy the international food booths and watch the festival events.

After spending the day enjoying the festival in the sun, we went out for a fantastic beef barbecue dinner, as Jangheung beef is well known around the province (hence the cow in the above picture.) It was a great mix of people, some of which I hadn't seen for most of the summer, so it felt like a big family reunion. It was a great way to end the month, and it felt like an end to the summer as well - the next time I'll see most of those people is when I'm about to leave Korea. I spent this weekend with people I've grown so close to over the past two years, and though we're all about to go our own separate ways in just a few weeks, I know that in my heart, we'll still be family.

Okay folks, that's it for now. I've got four more days of teaching camp, then I'm off to Seoul for the weekend so that I can fly out on Sunday to Taiwan! I'll be traveling for a week with my friend Katie, and then when I return I'll have one more week to fit in my goodbyes, tie up loose ends, and take off for my next adventure. I'll update you more on my trip and my plans next month, so until then take care and enjoy the rest of the summer. And for all of you back home in Minnesota...see you in less than four months! Much love.

Summer 2012: June

Hey everyone,

My time in Korea is coming to an end quickly! I can’t believe how fast two years have gone by, and that in a month I’ll be gone, just like that. Last week began the goodbye process for a few people and one of my schools, and from here on out it’s only going to get worse. Luckily I won’t have to say goodbye to my main school and most of my closest friends until right before I leave, so my plan is to just leave that to future Gina to deal with next month.

So for now, as much as I’d like to dig deep, philosophize, and tell you how much my experience in Korea has changed me, as it is definitely necessary for some rumination and reflection, I’m going to save that for another day. Instead, I’ll keep things light and simple by taking you through the summer with me, as I’ve been lucky enough to continue to travel and explore new parts of this wonderful country in the little time I have left. My weekends were filled up at the beginning of summer, in an effort to jam pack as much as possible with the people who matter most to me, and so far the summer has been a whirlwind of fun - so much so that it seems to all blur together in one big wave.

But I’ll sort through that and try to be a bit more comprehensive for you here, as we start with the first of many birthday events this summer: celebrating Johnny’s birthday with a beach camping weekend. We headed to a new beach, not too far away on the east coast. It was quiet, remote, and peaceful....until we came along, of course.

What’s a birthday without a birthday pinata?

Or birthday watermelon?

Or everyone wearing pink shorts in honor of the birthday boy?

Obviously it’s not a birthday without all of the above components. But one of the best parts about this birthday was...that it was smack dab on the beach, in the sand, with tents, a campfire, sunsets, grilling, live music, and fantastic company. Can’t ask for much more than that.

Next up: Yeosu World Expo 2012

This year Korea had the honor of hosting the 2012 World Expo in Yeosu, a cute little city on the southeastern coast, which has been building and preparing for years in anticipation for the millions of expected visitors from May to August. I was lucky enough to get to take not one, but two trips to the Expo with my school. Why did we go twice? Because we had to miss the night time light show the first time, so after exams the school decided to treat the students and take them back for the show - which was definitely worth the hour and a half drive back.

The Expo’s theme this year is “The Living Ocean and Coast,” which aims to “shed light on humankind’s knowledge and advancement of technology concerning the ocean and coast and identify ways to resolve challenges facing the ocean.” (Wikipedia)

I had no idea what to expect from a World Expo, which made it fun to explore and enjoy. You can picture it as a sort of small amusement park, . My favorite area was the International Pavilion venue, which is where each country who chose to participate set up their pavilion. A pavilion was usually a large room, designed as a sort of self-tour, with displays not only about the country and its connection with water but also ideas for preservation, conservation, and innovation in terms of water supply.

So basically, my two favorite things in the world, foreign countries and water motifs, were fused together and put on display, complete with lots of the color blue. I was happy as a clam walking around, reading the exhibits, enjoying the displays, taking pictures and of course, sampling some of the national food at nearly every pavilion. I was incredibly impressed with all of the technology used at the displays, which made the visual appeal stunning. In addition, there were live music performances, street performances, lots of mascots and characters roaming around, and of course, hundreds of people.

One area that deserves an honorable mention was the Expo Digital Gallery (seen in the above left picture, and also in the first picture behind the little cartoony things), which was a huge LED panel display screen that showed different scenes related to the ocean and coast.

Overall it was a really fun day, running into my students here and there, meeting up with the teachers for a meal, and enjoying the world event. The second time around we came in the late afternoon, so I only had time for a few more pavilions before the highly impressive Yeosu Big O Show, which you can find on YouTube if you’re curious. I told my students later that “my mouth became the big O,” because I was so amazed.

The next special event that came up was...my birthday! I had a double celebration this year, as my kids and fellow teachers helped me celebrate on Friday at school, and then my actual birthday was the next day. All those years of being deprived of celebrating my birthday during the school year have now been justified by my past two Korean birthday celebrations at school.

The first class of the day was a wonderful surprise, as some of my third grade girls surprised me with a mini-birthday party, complete with presents, cards, a book they made for me, a cake, and decorations in the English room! Sweethearts.

In the afternoon I was surprised yet again with a little party in the teacher’s office, where the staff and I proceeded to take out an entire watermelon, a pan of brownies, and half a cake within about ten minutes. It was impressive.

Mankato!

Not creepy at all, Jason.

Sara came up for the weekend, along with two of my friends from Mankato, who are now teaching elsewhere in Korea. We showed them around Gwangju for a little bit in the afternoon, then got ready for the evening. The night was so much fun, as many of my Gwangju and orientation friends came to help celebrate - after a great dinner we headed downtown for a night out, complete with karaoke and dancing. 

That's it for June, folks, take care until next time. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

In Retrospect

Hello all!

So sorry I’ve been neglecting – after the GRE I thought I’d have some downtime but things just kept on going. I’ve been enjoying my past four days of ‘vacation,’ which will end when my two friends from Mankato arrive tomorrow – then it will be busy busy busy until school starts again in mid-August.

I’d like to say this is another one of those teach you about Korean culture and/or history kind of posts – but it’s not. It’s mostly just about me. Sorry. Tomorrow night my dear friends Emily and Lauren are arriving in Gwangju – we began planning this visit almost exactly a year ago, and I'm so glad it's actually happening. I’ve got loads of things planned for them to do – they’re even coming to work with me for a couple of days. The first semester ended July 15th, so last week and this week I’ve been teaching summer camp for four hours every morning with a wonderful little group of first graders (seventh graders.) They’re great kids and we’ve been having a lot of fun – we keep running out of time because our activities keep us busy. Last week we also had a three day field trip to English Town – I’ll tell you more about that later – so I was busy chaperoning and…speaking English. My gym and swimming memberships ended last week, so I really feel like I’m on vacation with no obligations – has been a good excuse to get myself out walking around and exploring the city again.

As for what’s coming up next, I’ve got a trip to Busan this weekend planned with Emily and Lauren to show them the sights, and then after three days of deskwarming (sitting at my desk for four hours each morning for absolutely no reason at all other than showing up to fulfill my contract) next week we’ll head up to Seoul for a couple of days. Then, on Friday the 5th we’ll head to the airport together – back to the USA for them ( for Lauren, as Em is leaving a couple of days earlier) and onto Japan for me. I know I said I was going to go to China, but things ended up getting a little sticky with the time restraints for getting a Chinese visa – after my experience of not getting my Korean visa on time last year (which was no one’s fault but my own) I decided to sideline the stress and anxiety and changed my trip to Japan. I’ve been reading and researching as much as I can – I’ve got an East to West trip planned out. I’ve grown up hearing about Japan from my mom and grandparents – I’m so excited to finally go there and see it for myself. I’m also planning on visiting the school and area where Mom taught for two years, and even meet her old boss, who is still apparently the principal there.

So, what have I been up to? Well, I’ve been hot, for starters. It’s hot here. My introduction to a full blown Korean summer began in the end of May, when I started noticing that I would walk out the door and after ten minutes feel the need for another shower. Korean summers are composed of a hot, sticky, muggy couple of weeks, followed by a few more weeks of ‘rainy season’ which is even more hot, sticky, and muggy – but at least the mornings and evening were cool. Now we’ve progressed into what my co-teacher calls “hot summer.” (Perhaps due to the recent girl group K-Pop song entitled “Hot Summer” that has been playing on repeat all over the place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-rftpZ7kCY) Luckily so far it hasn’t been as hot as I remember last summer was – when I arrived in August I thought I was going to melt, even in the evenings, but its definitely still hot. I’m really missing the lake and my various pools right about now. It’s strange to A: not have a tan, B: not run around in a swimsuit all day jumping form swim practice to coaching to teaching lessons to lifeguarding, and C: not spend a day lounging outside on my deck in the heat reading a book. Go figure my first year as a teacher gives me a winter vacation and not a summer vacation.

So, the last time I wrote I believe I was in the midst of studying for the GRE. I’m happy to report that it went well – I knew as soon as I finished that it was much better than last year. I received my scores this past weekend and am pleased to say I bumped all of my scores up – very encouraging for my future graduate school applications. I was a study machine – I don’t think I’ve ever studied so much for anything in my life. My poor kids were so confused when they saw me memorizing vocabulary words: “But teacher, you are from America! You know English!” Luckily two of my good friends were taking it also, so I had a lot of fellow encouragement…and partners to commiserate with. The day we took the GRE we went out for pizza and beer immediately after, then spent the afternoon hanging out with our friends who had come into town for an art show. A nice dinner and a fun night out with our friends was the perfect way to celebrate...even though I don't remember much of it.

I haven’t done much traveling lately because I’ve been busy and have come to appreciate quiet weekends (since my weekdays are jam packed,) but last month I did manage to take a quick trip to Jeonju, a litle city about an hour and a half north of Gwangju. Jeonju used to be the former capitals of one of the three kingdoms (Baekje) during the Three Kingdoms period. (Remember Gyeongju? That was the capital of one of the other kingdoms.) The best and most famous feature of Jeonju is its well preserved hanok village. Hanok village refers to a traditional Korean neighborhood, with traditional style housing and streets. Jeonju’s village was a charming little area just south of the city center – my friend Lisa and I stayed in a cheap little motel room and enjoyed two days of wandering around – exploring the village, walking along the river, checking out the modern downtown (pictured) eating at cute little cafes and coffee shops, and enjoying the change of scenery. It was the perfect little getaway weekend.

After the GRE, the next up on my calendar was my birthday. Though it was the first birthday I’ve spent away from home I couldn’t have asked for a better celebration. Since it was on a Thursday, I couldn’t get together with my friends from out of town until the following evening, so I just had a quiet (and delicious) barbecue dinner with two of my friends in town. After dinner we headed over to Cafe Bene, where our worker friends (pictured) had a special birthday treat prepared, (also pictured) complete with a birthday note written on a Cafe Bene napkin. Because we were the only ones there, they even took song requests and played our favorite K-Pop tunes. A Cafe Bene birthday to remember. The next night I traveled to Mokpo to meet up with my friends, and we joined the already planned Canada Day (I now know that Canada Day takes place every July 1st…) party that evening – it was great to see a lot of my orientation friends again, and we all had a lot of fun.

However, to me, the best birthday presents I received, possibly ever, were at school. Little notes, drawings, and cards appeared on my desk throughout the day, the boa

rds were decorated each time I walked into the room to teach a class, (ah, please note: the very last name on the list of names on the right is my name in Korean, which I always add to the board at the beginning of class, but because it was my birthday my name was already listed AND I got extra stars, which I have to add them myself) and the many birthday greetings that I got throughout the day were so sweet. I got lots of cutesy little gift like hair accessories and even some fresh plums from my kids, and my co-teacher made me a cheesecake. I was so touched, saying that usually my mom makes my birthday cake for me, so I wasn’t expecting a cake, and she said “Well yes, I am your Korean mother so it is my job to make your cake while you are in Korea.” Well done Mrs. Lee. Well done. 

After my birthday I had a couple of down time weeks at school due to finals testing, which I spent reading a history book about China (I just changed my trip about two weeks ago) and planning out my trip, and then the last week of school we played games and watched movies in class. I don’t understand why there is school a week after finals, especially since the majority of classes don’t actually have class – it’s recreation, free time, or movies. (I was chatting to one of my kids in the office and asked him what class he has next. He pointed to the schedule board and said “Math. Movie. Then, history. Movie.” Then he pointed to every class and said “Movie, movie, movie, and movie." Fun.

The good news about movie week, (which I took the liberty of naming,) is that in all the other English classes that I didn’t teach, my co-teachers were showing movies – in English, of course – so I started checking the schedule, asking my co-teachers which movies they were showing in which classes, then popping in on random classes depending on what movie they were watching. Of course, in my extra class I showed a movie too, so I think I counted and ended up seeing clips of about eight different movies thoughout that week. Everyone deserves a movie week here and there, right? I was delighted to discover that now I’m able to read Korean fast enough to catch most of the subtitles.

The last day of the semester was also coupled with my friend Sara heading home for a month long visit (her sister is getting married as well, congrats Emily!) – so we got together and had a nice dinner and went to see the new Harry Potter movie, fulfilling our generational duty. A lot of my other friends are either on or starting their vacations now, and my friend Sokhom leaves tomorrow for Canada – it will be fun to reunite with everyone in August, as well as say goodbye to those who are completing their one year contract.

After finals, I had my two days of summer camp (All About You introduction day and Superhero day) and then me, seven other teachers, and most of the first and third graders (the second graders have to go in the winter vacation) all piled on the bus and headed about 30 minutes away from Changpyeong to the Gwangju English Village. Also termed ‘English Town,’ this ‘summer camp’ is basically supposed to be a simulation of what it is like to live in an English speaking town. All the buildings were labeled in English, and inside each little station (like Post Office, Airport, etc) there were props and scenery to make it look somewhat like the real place. The kids were divided into groups and then all followed a schedule which sent them to different ‘classes’ in each respective building. For example, in Post Office class they learned some vocabulary, learned about writing addresses in English, then wrote letters. In Hair Salon class, they learned accompanying vocabulary, then got to play around with nail polish and face paint. It was basically a mix of vocabulary lessons, hands on activities, worksheets, and games in each class.

I really enjoyed English Town because I was able to hang out with my students without actually teaching. I had a lot of freedom (the teacher’s room was boring because all the other teachers just spoke to each other in Korean…so I slipped out quite often) and had fun just checking out the schedule and making ‘visits’ to each class – I would make sure I hit each group an even amount of times, and made sure I went to each different station just to see what it was all about. Each class was taught by a native English teacher (I believe there were six total) and a Korean co-teacher. Once in the classroom, I would either help with classroom control, help the kids with the activities, sit and listen with the kids, or do the activity with the kids. It was like going to class without having to do any homework. I have some fun pictures – see if you can guess which 'classes' we were at.

We were fed breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which, sadly, were all awful. They tried to make Western food, to suit the ‘English camp’ theme, but personally I think camp food is bad enough in the states – imagine another country trying to replicate it. I told my teachers that now all the kids are going to think American food is awful. To compensate, the Korean teachers frequently ran little ‘errands’ off the campsite and came back bringing fruit and snacks for us and the kids. Aside from class time, I did get to bond with my fellow Korean teachers a bit – the camp was situated out in the countryside, and the ladies took me for walks in the mornings and evenings, pointing out various plants and flowers – so pretty. I saw my first lotus pond too – so very Korean.

I also hung out with the other native teachers in between classes – it turns out one of them

just joined my book club. I think English Town was definitely a good way to start off the summer vacation - I ended the semester on a really good note with my students, and though I'm excited for the break (I definitely feel like I need one) I'm also excited to get back to school and have fun with them again. Picture on the right:

English Camp Teacher to me: "Hey, have you seen two kids running around in costumes? I had them for theater class and then when class ended they ran away still wearing them." She seemed alarmed.

Me: "Yup, they went that way." Unfazed.

After English camp I was finally able to relax and enjoy my summer vacation, which actually doesn’t officially start until next week. As I said, I visited some museums, did some walking around and exploring, cleaned my place, and even got some movie watching time in. I’m eagerly anticipating the arrival of my friends tomorrow night, so tonight I’m going to enjoy my last night off by watching a movie and going to bed early. After that it’s go go go until after Japan. 

As I’m nearing my year-long anniversary of arriving in Korea, I have to do some reminiscing about how much has changed since then. When I arrived, I was dead set on seeing and traveling as much as I could – I was going to take off for teaching in Russia about now, as I recall. I was planning on living frugally and not developing long relationships due to having to leave within a year, and basically living detached from everything so that I could think ahead for the future. Now, I can’t imagine leaving my kids and my friends here for anything so soon – I’ve slowed things down and realized how happy I am here with my job and my life – why would I want to leave so soon in pursuit of traveling a world that will still be there in the years to come? I’ve sort of started my life over here in Korea - this was my first September that I didn’t start swim season since the age of seven - I’ve had to adjust to living ‘normally.’ Luckily I’ve realized that I can’t just sit and do nothing after work – my gym and swimming pool memberships have helped center me, especially after sitting at a desk for most of the day.

However, I think the best things I’ve experienced and realized is how important close friends and relationships are. I’m so lucky to have two really close friends that I would never have thought I could grow so close to in just one year, and of course, I’ve developed a wonderful and trusting relationship with my students, co-teachers, and co-workers. The kindness and compassion of the Korean people is truly touching, and I feel so lucky that I’ve been embraced and accepted by Korean society, from my kids to my co-workers and even to the celebrity moms and coffee shop workers who give me free stuff. The Korean language employs the same word for heart and mind, a beautiful concept which is clearly manifested through most Koreans' everyday actions and behavior. I don’t know what I would do without Mrs. Lee, my Korean mom, or Miss Yoo, my sweet little co-teacher who always helps me with everything. (L -R Mrs. Jo, the Korean teacher, Mrs. Lee, and Miss Yoo at the lotus pond.)

So, after nearly a year of ‘living the dream,’ I’m still doing exactly that: I’ve traveled to countries I’ve always dreamt of going to, I’m reading whatever books I want to for fun, I’m settled in an active and exciting community, I’m learning a new language and culture, and most importantly, I’m learning about myself and shaping the person who I want to become. I’m continually trying to live my life according to Mr. Henry David Thoreau, who boldly dares everyone to: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve always imagined.” So far my dream has taken me further than I could have ever imagined, and I can’t wait to see what life has in store for me next.

Enjoy the rest of your summer everyone! Take care.