Living Abroad: After Reflections

I have now been back in the states for about two months.  It's amazing to me how fast the time has gone by.  It's also amazing how people have the innate ability to adapt to their surroundings.  I miss many people and experiences in Korea, but I can genuinely say that I feel like it was the right decision to come home.  After living apart from family, you realize just how important family is to you, and how they have helped to make you the person that you are today.  The number of people who have told me, while living aborad, how strong I am on the inside is incredible.  Before living abroad, I never would have really agreed with that statement.  I credit a lot of that strength from the unconditional love and support I have been lucky enough to receive from my family, even support received while being half way across the world. 
Have I changed?  On the outside, maybe not, but inside I feel like a different person in many ways.  I feel stronger, smarter, more creative, more open-minded, more confident, more excited to live and experience all life has to offer.  I'm more open to possibilities and directions my life may take than I ever was.  I recently heard an analogy of life being like a river, we swim down the same current, and sometimes venture off and get tangled in the weeds or take a different route, but somehow continue to run along the same current and end up in the same river along the way, although the scenery may have changed.  I like this analogy and feel like that is where I am at in my life now.  I'm swimming down the current, have ended up back in my hometown, but my perception of things have changed and I'm looking forward to the challenging rapids ahead. 

 

Thanksgiving Reflection

Here it is November, 2012 and I have now celebrated my third Thanksgiving in Korea.  This one by far was the most memorable and the most heartwarming.  Looking back at my experience in Korea, I have so much to be thankful for.  I love how people come into  your life and a friendship unravels and they become a part of you and a part of them.  I'm so grateful for the wonderful people I have met here.  Friends, coworkers, and churchmates opened up their home tonight and invited people over to share in a Thanksgiving (chicken) style meal.  Not only was the food delicious, but we all watched Its a Wonderful Life together afterwards.  My friends projected the movie onto their wall so it had the feeling of being in a theater.  As I was watching the movie, I was reminded of the many times I'd watched the movie in the past around the holidays with my family and how touching it is.  I feel now the connectedness of people and the message that we never know who we will touch and/or the impact that we will have on people.  I feel myself changing and the realizations of what is important in life and how I spend my time is something I am more aware of now than in the past.  My time in Korea is coming to a close, and I am ready to begin a new chapter in my life, but the friendships and memories that I have discovered here will be with me for always.  I have a new sense of truth in life, and a new sense of hope and I am looking foward to having more of the world's truths be revealed to be as I continue searching.  I have a lot to be Thankful for this holiday season and am reminded of it more and more everyday....Life is a precious gift to be treasured and shared with others. 

A Change in Season, A Change in Me

It's fall time. ..the leaves turn and change their hues. My mind, my confidence, my perspectives, I find are changing too. Each day an increasing rat race, the weekends provide my solace, my peace. I look back at teaching and what is involved and it is surely possible to just come into the classroom, and look at the books and teach. The magic comes when you discover how to bring the words in the book to life and make the concepts real for the children. I think of where I was a this point last year. I was in a different apartment, I didn't have close to the class that I have now. My teaching methods were certainly not as solid, and my stress level with my living conditions has gone down immensely. The biggest factor is the friendships I have created. Here, my friends are more like my family. We look after eachother, check in one another, have the heart to heart talks, laugh, and grow together. It's what I need. It fills me with joy. Overall, I am discovering how to relieve my stress and make it subside. I now understand how sick stress can make the body, and I can imagine that I am one of the lucky ones. I'm sipping on Hallabang tea now, typing away mindlessly. It's a beautiful fall day and my roommate and friend will wake up soon and we will go explore the endless colors of Korea together, with that , I give thanks.

Here it is already summer, July 4th to be exact. On July 15th I will have been in Korea for a year. I can't believe this even as I'm typing. To say I love it in Korea would be an understatement. I wish that I was able to capture most of the highs and admittedly some of the lows of my experience here. The word that comes to mind for me is amazement. I am amazed by the close relationships I have formed with others, amazed at how easy those friendships have come, amazed at my progress and understanding, yet still having much to learn about the teaching profession, amazed by the beauty of Korea. Yesterday I was riding back with Sera and her family from Sokcho, where I had the privilege of spending the night with my dear Korean friend and her family in a first class resort and then experience the wonders of a Korean waterpark (waterpia), and experiencing the wonders of the many various smelling and types of spas while feeling the rain cool off my face, amazement at staring at their young boy and seeing the wonder and confusion in his eye of this woman who speaks a foreign language to him and yet still shares in the same wonders and excitements as himself, amazement at him rocking his korean dance moves in the car, amazement at my ability to adapt to new situations, including food, amazed that a food that was once so foreign to me, now I crave their palate. I am amazed with myself and how my heart has grown to love this country and its people. amazed that my homesickness isn't as strong as i had once imagined, and amazed that I still have yet to know what my future holds...each day is a new mystery that fills me with a refreshing awe.

Sharing the wonder...

It's gotten to the point where I have lost track of my time in Korea. My work days are busy with deciding how best to convey new knowledge to ESL learners, often times a struggle. It's so easy as a teacher to keep on talking and forget that there is a disconnect between languages. Even though it appears to you that you are speaking clearly and making sense, when those eyes look back at you, you are reminded that you are teaching students in a language that is foreign to themselves. I am reminded that even with teaching math, some students may not recognize the word "add," even though they are aware of the process and can complete the process with ease. Our trip to the aquarium was a nice break for the students and myself. We could connect with the ahhh's and ooohhh's and "look at that!" and share in the magnificence of these beautiful creatures floating above, below, and all around us.

Mt. Naejangsan Hike and Tea Making Trip

Korea....I cannot believe that I have been in Korea for almost four months. The sights here are just unlike any I have ever experienced. Here I am in a traditional tea making village at the top of an expansive tea field. The countryside seems to go on forever, it was a beautiful fall day and I'm meeting such incredible and interesting people with a similar desire to explore the world. I can still remember the fresh sweet smelling scent of a top notch tea I was able to sample. The aroma filled the air, and the flavor delightful. I was able to hike Naejangsan Mountain during this trip and climb on top of a wall that completely encircled a traditional korean village complete with straw houses (for the poor people) and houses with thatched roofs (for the aristocrats). The view on top of the wall overlooked the countryside that stretched on for miles. I am so thankful for this experience and am loving korea even more with each passing day.

Exploring Korea

Today I was able to experience a fall flower festival and also visit a paleolithic site in Korea. The flower festival was in Youngchun, and I'm not sure where they other place was. I went with a family that I have had the privilege of getting to know. The day was perfect. I met the family around 1 pm and then we drove about an hour to the place. I sat in the back with "Claudia" (English name) and her brother. During the ride, Claudia loved practicing her English on me and I was so excited to hear them play Mama Mia on the ride. We all enjoyed singing "dancing queen" and "honey, honey" while driving through the countryside. It was great! The flowers were absolutely beautiful and made a very sweet and delcious tea. The aroma was like stepping in a personal flower boutique. I tried to capture some of the beautiful colors in my pictures. After the flower festival we drove and visited a paleolithic museum site. There were many sculptures on the lawn mimicking people from that period and the activities that their day would consist of...i.e. hunting, fishing, working with rock tools, etc. I was amazed to discover that many of the stone artifacts were released from the earth in 1994....it makes me wonder what new treasures they will dig up in the future. a beautiful and very historical country, and I am eager to learn more about the history in the days to come.

Chuseok Vacation

I just came back from spending an amazing couple of days in Busan, South Korea. My only complaint was that it wasn't longer. My group departed Friday night around 10:30 PM (We were hoping to defeat the holiday traffic by leaving later at night time). Needless to say, even with the later departure time we didn't arrive in Busan til 6 the next morning. Luckily, I was able to sleep a little bit on the bus. My friend Stef and I roomed with two other girls whom happened to also being teaching in South Korea. They both work for a hagwon around the Seoul area. We stayed in a hotel literally across from the beach. The hotel was interesting to say the least. We found out that a double bed actually meant a circular bed that could maybe hold two people. It looked more like a love motel than anything! Being the gracious people that we are, we took turns on who got to sleep on the bed. The first day in Busan I took a boat ride and wandered around to a world famous fish market. I couldn't believe how many different kinds of seafood there was in the market, and many of the items (i.e. sea slugs) didn't exactly appeal to me. A brave gentleman in our group ate a raw oyster that was literally squirming around seconds before he ate it! The nightlife of Busan certainly is a different environment from the daytime. Stef and I walked along the beach, had a few long islands and then hung out on the beach and watched many Koreans lighting off fireworks. It was a very pretty sight to see, although a few times they looked they were a lil intoxicated and when they were lighting the fireworks, they seemed to have been pointing them right at us!! We survived however, and were able to visit a beautiful temple set in the mountainside the next day. We spent the whole next day in a spa seeing that it was raining but I certainly wasn't complaining. After already experiencing a jimjil spa, I was less timid about walking around in my birthday suit in front of a lot of other Korean woman...my new friends however, well guess we got to know each other kind of fast, haha. The spa was beautiful and my favorite memory is sitting in a spa with a room size glass window. The window overlooked the city and beaches of Busan and was located on the fourth floor, an amazing view and the neat thing about it is that I took it all in with my birthday suit. I could see out, but they couldn't see in ;) Simply breathtaking....and alas back to work on Monday.

Friday before the Chuseok break

I can officially say that I have now been in Korea for two months. Yesterday was my last day of work before the Chuseok Holiday (similar to Korean's Thanksgiving). Needless to say, I was in my weekly meeting with my coworkers on a Friday
afternoon, when the principal started to carry in bags
and bags of presents for all of the teachers. I felt like it was Christmas. Among some of my presents, ah yes, as you can see a huge supply of SPAM, haha I thought that was sooooo funny. I also got a huge supply of seaweed, grapes, and some really nice homemeade soap and pretty bathtowels. To top it off, when I came back to my apartment carrying all of my "presents", I also received a box in the mail from a good friend friend from home, complete with books, candy! (Korean candy isn't as sweet as candy back home I have noticed), and various personal items...It was a great day. To top it off to celebrate the beginning of the holiday, I met my friend for dinner and then we walked around Uijeongbu eating icecream and looking at all the sites. It's a terrific start to my Chuseok Holiday. I know you're all jealous of my huge supply of SPAM!!!

Jirisian Weekend Hiking Trip

I can officially say that I have spent a month in Korea as of this date! I had an eventful weekend as I joined a meetup group and took the initiative to meet some new people while participating in an activity that I love. Jirisian Mountain is located in the Southern part of Korea so ten of us drove down to the park friday night, and slept at the bottom of the mountain. We awoke early Sat, and began our trek up the 1, 915 meter mountain (the second highest in Korea). The trail was difficult from the beginning, but lazy rests by various waterfalls and the sensation of accomplishing such a difficult feat gave me the motivation to keep persevering. The climb consisted of staircase rocks, ropes attached to rops to help pull yourself up the mountain, some patches or rain and dirt to wander through, and finally parts of the mountain that felt more like mountain climbing then hiking I am generally used to. There were times during the hike when I felt like my legs just wouldn't move anymore, but alas I made it to the first shelter! Upon first glance of the shelter, I saw some of my fellow comrades (the expert hikers in the group, haha) who had already changed their clothes and were chilling with the koreans. We made some
Ramen noodles right away using a little burner and I can honestly say that Ramen never tasted so good to me. There was a mist in the air that turned a purplish color as nightfall approached. As I looked around, I noticed that many Koreans were indeed having a "feast" at the top of the mountain complete with grilled pork, kimchi, and also neverending bottles of the ever popular soju. I was surprised at how cold and windy it became at the top as the nighttime started approaching especially as it has been really really humid at my apartmet in Uijeongbu. We finally made our way to our sleeping quarters for the night which my space consisted of just enough room to roll out my sleeping mat and sleeping bag. Directly to my right and left, two other sleeping bags were rolled out similar to my own. The lights went out, and I fell into a deep slumber. I awoke the next morning to a Korean man blasting K-Pop on his ipod and noticed that my group was one of the last ones still sleeping. We got dressed, had some Ramen for breakfast and began our trek down the mountain. I thought that going down would be easier, however we were hit with a downpour of rain and were soaked when we reached the bottom. Not to mention, my knee began giving me trouble 1/3 down the mountain, so it was a challenge to reach the bottom. Alas, when I finally made it, it was such a relief to sit down, have some snacks including the ever popular bibimbop dish. I went to take a cold shower...when upon opening my backpack, I just found a pile of my once clean, dry clothes soaked to the limit! So, I opted out of the shower and just dried off in the sun and joined in on eating some more food and enjoying some dong dong (haha, it's a drink in Korea, special kind of makli). An enjoyable hiking trip, and pleased to have met some really cool people who I hope to see again soon.

Camp Life

It has now been three weeks since I've arrived in South Korea. I started working last Monday and all in all it was a looooong week. It probably didn't help matters that I went to bed at 7:30 am Sunday night (due to the previous subway fiasco) and then I woke up at 12:30 to get ready for my first day of English Camp. Luckily I only had to work from 2:00-6:00 that day. I'm working the camp and then will start working at the elementary school in August when school starts back up again. Camp has been fun, and once again the students are adorable. They're always saying, "teacher look" "teacher same" "teacher help"! We're still working on them to say our names, i.e. Ms. Grace. It will come though. Basically I am teaching reading, spelling, idioms, speaking, grammar, writing, math, and science from 9:00 til 2:00 and then we have games such as roleplaying (bank for me), pronunciation, and then activities for the afternoon. I am soooo happy to be back in the classroom teaching! It has also been great meeting other English speaking teachers whom are in the same boat as me, although one teacher has been working for the school for four years now (He fell in love and married a Korean woman when he came to teach abroad, awww). I'm getting free lunch and dinner while at camp and its been good for the most part. However, last week I went to bite into a side dish that simply looked like a side dish of greens, and to my amazement I saw little whole fishes staring back at me! Umm, looking around, I noticed that other people were eating it no problem, but eating a fish with its head, eyeballs, and body stil attached wasn't for me. I'll look carefully before I get my food next time!

Familiarity in an Unfamiliar World

Here it is Monday evening and I can't help but smile about the amazing weekend and discovery that I found in Seoul. To start off with, I met up with my cousin who happens to be in this "lonely planet" himself although for different reasons. Needless to say, we caught up and had a great time. We understood that we had been mistaken for a couple after some koreans motioned for us to move our table closer to the stage, and then proceeded to pull down a theatre size projection of Mariah Carey singing in concert and having us perform the "hugging chug" with our german beer! Understanding the miscommunication, Ryan and I almost died laughing before turning to the words "sa-ch'on" aka "cousins" in America. Everyone had a good laugh and said "sorry, sorry"
Alas to conclude a wonderful fun-filled weekend, Ryan and I happened upon quite an attraction in Seoul. Thinking we found a cool little hill and tower to explore, we quickly learned that this "little tower" was quite bigger than we expected and actually was SEOUL TOWER!!! all I can say is unbelievable view and dining in style while overlooking the lights of the city is a great recipe for a night to remember. I'll try and leave out some of our subway mishaps but with the delightful guidance of "whoop, whoop!" we made it back to our respective abodes in Korea safely...enjoy the view!

Korean Egg Mishap!

I woke up this morning and got prepared to cook some breakfast. I had gone shopping with my roommate yesterday and was looking forward to having some fried eggs. When I had bought the eggs, I had noticed that they were browner than I was used to back in the states, but didn't think too much about it and went those eggs because they were sold in a six pack. Anyways, I heated up some oil and went to crack the eggs. I immediately noticed that they were harder to crack than eggs I was used to. When I finally got one to crack, expecting the nice yellowy substance of an egg yolk dripping out, all I got was a hardened substance that moved about as fast as a cement block! Hmmm...upon further investigation, I peeled the rest of the egg open and discovered a hard boiled egg sitting inside of the shell! What, now how am I going to tell the difference for future shopping trips? Any suggestions? Interesting discovery to say the least.

Week 1

I can now say that I have lived in South Korea for a little over a week. My first impressions on the country are wonderful. My first challenge was to navigate through an unfamiliar city and meet up with a recruiter (whom I had only had contact with via computer) so my recruiter could then bring me to the apartment I would be living in for the following year. Luckily, and maybe with some help from above, I happened to sit next to a friendly Korean during my flight from Japan(got rerouted from the states) whom spoke English, showed me how to claim baggage, exhange my money, buy the correct bus ticket, and also use his cellphone! wooo...met the recruiter showed me to the apartment, passed out!
The next day I met Ms. Lim whom is an administrator and liasion for Kyungmin College. She was very sweet and showed me around Uijeongbu as well as introduced me to the president. I attended an end of the semester celebration where I met my future students and watched them perform English skits, ballet skits, musical pieces, tae-kwon-do with a humor twist..It was great, and the students are absolutely adorable! They love calling me Teacher! Teacher! with huge grins on their faces.