Lost...yet again.

I was placed in a motel when I got here, and I’ll be moving into my new apartment on Thursday. The motel is in a really busy area of town, with people constantly coming and going and cars clogging the streets. On Saturday, I made plans to go visit Johnny at his place. I left the hotel a little early so I could find my way to the subway. However, I got lost. So very lost. My sense of direction isn’t good, as you probably know, but this was bad. I would walk down a street to look for the subway, and if I didn’t find it, I would walk back to the hotel and then try another road. This way, at least I would be able to figure out how to get back home.

After walking around for over an hour, Johnny finally called me and asked where I was. Thanks to him and Google Maps, I was able to successfully make my way to Metapolis where Johnny lived. Three bus rides later, I arrived in a familiar part of town. Woot!

Johnny and I spent the first few hours catching up on each other’s lives, filling each other in on what we had missed the past three weeks while I was in the States. It was really great to see him. We went out for dinner to a chicken and fries place, so that was delicious! I already miss drinking sweet tea…a drink that I purchased at every place possible while I was home. Water will have to do for a whole year, and then it’s HELLO SWEET TEA!!

Tomorrow I am meeting the girl who replaced me at my old school. Her name is Abby. It’s funny how this happened. I left my church calendar on my desk at work, and she saw it. Abby texted me and asked if I went to that church, or if it was just a random calendar. I was excited to inform her that it was for my church, and I would be more than happy for her to join! So, we made plans to meet up tomorrow before church and have some lunch. I’m really interested to meet her and see what she’s like.

Korea: Year Two.

Between my last job in Korea and this new job, I went back to the States for two and a half weeks on vacation. The time absolutely FLEW BY!! It was crazy how quickly July 19, 2012 came up! I spent time in Tampa, visiting my family, and drove to Orlando for the majority of my time to catch up with my friends and other family. I realized pretty quickly that time management is not one of my strong suits. It was difficult for me to balance my time among friends and family, and still see everyone I wanted to see. On a GOOD note, I had an absolutely incredible time!! I had pretty high expectations for this vacation, and even created a “To-Do” list with a group of my friends. This list included some local hotspots where my friends and I used to hang out, the beach, amusement parks, and some of my favorite restaurants with food that I can’t find in Korea. I had a BLAST!!

On my last day in Korea, I hung out with two of my close friends, Aleah and Brandon. Around dinnertime, they asked me what I wanted for my “last supper,” and I decided on pasta. After a few minutes of choosing the perfect place, we all agreed that we would be pulling an all-nighter! We drove out to Cocoa Beach and went to an amazing Italian restaurant called “Italian Courtyard.” I had never been there before, but had heard amazing things about it. The three of us decorated the paper tablecloth on the table, and I packed it in my suitcase to take to Korea with me!

After dinner, we decided to go to Ron Jon, a personal favorite which just happens to be open 24 hours. Woot! We bummed around there a bit and then walked out to the beach. There’s something incredibly special about the beach at nighttime. You can hear the waves and see the stars. It’s like the sky is endless.

After our beach walk was finished, we decided to head back to Orlando and stop for coffee. (I had some light packing to do still, and wanted to get home in time to do that.) I feel asleep in the car – SHOCKER!! – and Brandon and Aleah managed to find a Dunkin’ Donuts open 24 hours. We ordered coffee and donuts and then headed back to Brandon’s house so Aleah and I could pick up our cars. We all drove to my sister’s house, where I had been staying for my last week. It was about 1:30am when we arrived. I headed upstairs to finish packing, trying so carefully not to wake up my sister and brother-in-law, Jena and Kyle. Aleah and Brandon took naps downstairs, and I joined in when I finished packing! It was nice to catch about an hour of sleep before heading to the airport.

At 3:30am, Jena and Kyle came downstairs, ready for the day! We loaded up the car with my suitcases. Kyle goes running every morning really early, so I said goodbye to him. Aleah and Brandon followed my sister and me to the airport. I had to drop my rental car off at the airport, and after circling a few times, we finally figured out where we were supposed to go. It was SO CONFUSING!!

We managed to find short term parking and made our way into the airport. I had two suitcases with me. One of them, I wasn’t worried about. I had packed it well, and I knew it wouldn’t be over the weight limit. My second bag, however, was a different story. I had packed that one well, too. But, at the end of the packing, I was throwing in all the last minute things that I had forgotten about: charging cords, leftover laundry, bathroom stuff, and a few random things that wouldn’t make it through Security at the airport. My bag ended up weighing 50.0 lbs exactly. WHEW!!

I checked my bags and headed to the Security gate. It was only 4:15am at this point, and my flight wasn’t until 6:40am, so I decided to hang out for a bit. The three of us talked until 5:45am, reminiscing about the vacation, talking about our childhoods and sharing funny stories. Finally, it was time to say goodbye. It wasn’t really sloppy and boogery liked my first departure was. It was bittersweet though, and it was definitely hard to leave. I’m excited for my new adventure here, but at the same time, my vacation was so fun that I wanted to stay longer. I said goodbye to Jena, Aleah, and Brandon, and went to the Security line.

I’m so blessed to have such amazing friends and a big sister who are willing to sacrifice sleep to go with me to the airport. (My family was vacationing in the Keys, so they weren’t able to be there to send me off.) I had the best last day and night, and was able to see some familiar faces of people I love before I left for another year. Bittersweet.

My flights were fine. I flew from Orlando to Chicago, and Chicago into Seoul. I had really great seats for both flights, and wasn’t too uncomfortable, so that’s always a good thing! After I arrived in Seoul, I went to Baggage Claim and then bought a bus ticket. I rode the bus for about an hour and a half. When I got off the bus, two of my new Korean co-teachers, Ellie and Stella, were waiting for me. They helped me carry my bags a few blocks to the hotel where I will be staying. I will be here for five days, until I can move into my new apartment on Thursday. I think the teacher who I am replacing hasn’t left yet, but once they do, I will move right in! Ellie and Stella gave me the paperwork I needed for my training, which begins on Monday. They also gave me $250 from my school, which covers me for the first few weeks I’m here until I get paid. That’s a pretty sweet bonus if you ask me!

I went right to sleep when Ellie and Stella left because I was completely exhausted. I'm now awake at 1:45am, updating my blog. I'm doing the best I can to force myself to get back on the right schedule. My body clock is way off, and it's always a struggle for me to get back on track. Hopefully when I finish writing this, I can catch a few more hours of sleep, so at least I'll be waking up at a decent hour! We shall see. Tomorrow, Saturday, I'm going to head to Metapolis where Johnny lives. We don't want to do anything crazy since we're both exhausted. It will be nice to just relax and catch up. It should be good! I'm not sure how good my Internet access will be here, so I will update as much as I can! Also, it is a personal goal for me this year to continue blogging about this journey I am on as much as possible. Here's to my first day/night back in Korea!!

I'm Coming Home!

So...it's official. My school director bought my ticket home ~ FINALLY!! I'll be flying into Tampa International Airport at 10pm on July 1st! I'll be spending time with friends and family for about 3 weeks until I head back to Korea for another year. As the time is getting closer, I'm getting more and more excited. I'm looking forward to the beautiful Florida weather, the beach, family and friends, American food, and Jif Peanut Butter. :)

I have two and a half more weeks left at this academy. It's been kind of bittersweet. The students are starting to realize that I'm leaving soon. They know the foreign teacher contracts only last for one year, so most of them are beginning to ask me when I'm going home.

I'm currently working on cleaning and packing up my apartment. The new teacher, Abby, who will replace me, is coming in two weeks. She's from Canada, like Amanda. She will be moving into my apartment when she gets here, so I'll be moving my belongings to my friend's house while I'm in the U.S.A. It's crazy how much "stuff" I've accumulated over this past year. I'm trying to sort through everything and decide what's worth keeping. Fun fun fun!

Well, I think that's all from here. I'm counting down the days....WOOT!! :)

New job.

It has been exactly one month and three days since I last updated my blog. Ridiculous. I guess I've just been so busy, and life hasn't been very exciting...I do have a few updates to offer.

My one-year contract for teaching in Korea ends June 30, and I'm going back home...as in back to the USA!!! Originally, I was planning on re-signing a second contract with the same academy. However, some significant changes have taken place over the past two months, and the academy has taken a turn for the worse. Therefore, I've decided that I need to look elsewhere for another teaching job. I still feel called to be in Korea, which is awesome, so I know that my Korea experience will be extended at least for another year. As far as what that looks like, I'm not entirely sure.

I've notified my academy that I won't be re-signing with them, so they will begin the process of looking for a new foreign teacher to replace me. I have begun the search for a new job. I would like to teach in a specific area, called Bundang, so I'm looking at my options. I've been talking to a recruiter, and I have a phone interview with him sometime this week for a position in Bundang, beginning at the end of July. I have also contacted two other companies, and submitted applications to them for jobs in Bundang. I don't anticipate running into any problems actually getting a job. Now that I've already worked in Korea for one year, that opens up a lot of doors for me. The problems I'm anticipating are related to my work visa and documents. It was quite a chore to complete that whole process before coming here to first time, and I would rather not have to go through that again. Hopefully, I'll be able to just get my work visa extended for another year and avoid any complications. I'm looking forward to talking to the recruiter this week so I can figure out exactly what my options are.

There are obviously negatives and positives about this big change in my life. The negatives are: I will miss my kids so much. I've grown attached to quite a few of them, and will miss talking to them and teaching them. We have shared many experiences and memories together, and that will be difficult to walk away from. Also, my boss, Darren, is truly one-of-a-kind. I have been extremely blessed to work for someone as kind and generous as him. My friends here would also agree with me. It's rare to have a boss who is so helpful and accommodating to a foreigner. That's one thing I don't anticipate finding elsewhere. However, the positives to this situation far outweigh the negatives: I will be able to be home for longer than a week in July!! I will be home for at least two weeks now, depending on when I'll have to head back to Korea to start my new job. Also, I'll get to experience a new part of Korea, and be closer to my friends. Many of my friends live in Bundang, so that will be wonderful to be able to invest more time in those relationships. Also, working with new students and new age levels will give me even more experience than I have now.

I'm really excited for what God's doing in my life right now. A lot of things are really up in the air right now, but I'm hopeful for what He has in store for me! Everything will work out, and I'll end up exactly where I'm supposed to be. I would appreciate your prayers as I continue to make decisions. I'll do my best to keep this updated and not let another MONTH go by without writing.  :)

NANTA.

Last weekend was packed with fun!! On Saturday morning, I woke up early and headed into Seoul for my Korean class. I missed my first class last week because I was sick, so I was extra excited about going!! The class is not what I was expecting at all. There are five students total, including me, and the teacher is really great! She’s super patient, which is a really good thing because for the entire three-hour class, SHE ONLY SPOKE KOREAN!! Wow! I was surprised and slightly overwhelmed. After a few minutes into the class, I was a little more comfortable when I realized that my classmates understood just about as much as I did. We helped each other out as best as we could and became fast friends. The teacher laughed a lot and was really helpful. The one thing I like about her is that she is EXTREMELY picky about our pronunciation. This is a good thing because I want to be corrected when I’m saying something wrong. I know that I won’t ever have a PERFECT Korean accent when I’m speaking, but I want to learn correctly so I can always be speaking my very best.

The class was split into three parts over the three hours, with two breaks in between. I think it gave our teacher some time to recharge a bit before coming back in to teach us more! Anyway, the class went really well. We’re moving through the textbook quite quickly, so that’s good, too! I learned pretty quickly that it’s going to benefit us a lot that our teacher is only speaking to us in Korean. This is going to force us to pay attention and pick up phrases from her much quicker than we would if we were able to speak English to her in class. I know that our teacher can speak English, because she would acknowledge when we made a connection between a Korean phrase and an English phrase. I think it’s really good that we’re learning in all Korean because it’s kind of fully immersing us in the language from the very beginning.

When my Korean class was over, I met up with Amanda and her best friend from Canada, Anita, for some lunch. We went to a traditional Korean restaurant with a lot of options so Anita could decide what Korean food she wanted to try. After lunch, we wandered over to a coffee shop and sat and talked for a few hours. Around mid-afternoon, we walked a few blocks to an open market on the street. We wandered in and out of some shops and went to a few of the tables where people had hand-made things. I bought a necklace and a ring, so I was really happy about that!

At around 6pm, I got on the subway and met up with Mi-Yeon. I was staying the night at her house, so I wanted to drop my bag off. We hung out at her house for a little while, and then went out in search of some dinner. We ended up meeting up with one of our friends from church, Khong, and had some BBQ. After dinner, we met up with Reuel and Wendy and went to a gelato place. DELICIOUS! At around 9:45pm, we headed to the theater…

There was a St. Patrick’s Day deal for foreigners, for a really popular stage show in Korea, called NANTA. Tickets are usually $50, but the St. Patrick’s Day deal was $30 per ticket, plus a few before-party with food and drinks. We jumped on that deal right away! We went to the before-party and hung out. I ended up running into a bunch of friends that I knew from different places, so that was pretty cool. We got some friends food and free drinks, which is always a plus! Finally, it was almost 11pm…time for the show to start!!

NANTA is a stage-show put on by only 5 people. The show is acting, singing, dancing around, comedy, beating on drums, and flashing lights…just incredible!! There’s a basic story line, and there’s a lot of humor thrown in. It’s really popular for foreigners because there’s barely any talking. They maybe only said three or four Korean phrases the entire show, and the rest was completely non-verbal. It was amazing!! They pull people from the audience, they throw things at you, they have you laughing the second you sit down. I didn’t have any expectations for the show because I didn’t know much about it. I was definitely surprised when it was over by how much I loved it! It was well-worth the $30 for sure!!

The show ended just after 1:00am, so we were all exhausted! It didn’t even seem like I had been to Korean class that same morning, so weird! Anyway, Reuel, Wendy, Mi-Yeon, and I all caught a taxi back to Mi-Yeon’s place. Because we were in Seoul, it would be an insane taxi ride back to Suwon, and all the public transportation (subways and buses) stop running after 11pm. Mi-Yeon was nice enough to open up her home to all three of us! The second we got home, we all crashed.

On Sunday morning, we all woke up pretty early, even before any of the alarms went off.  GO US!! We got ready for church in record timing, considering we were all sharing one bathroom! Something that we haven’t had to do in awhile….We hopped on the subway and headed into Gangnam. We went to Dos Tacos, our usual lunch, where we met Michelle and Arri. It was really great eating together with everyone because we all got to catch up with each other! When we finished eating, we went to the coffee shop and got our caffeine fill before church.

Church was great as usual! The worship was especially good, which is particularly awesome for me. During worship is when I feel most connected with God. After the service, I left the pack and headed home. I had tons of stuff to do, and needed to start clearing my to-do list. When I got home, though, my bed just looked so inviting….so sleeping is just what I did!

Sick, sick, sick...

On Saturday, I woke up feeling very sick. I couldn’t get out of bed, and just felt plain miserable. I’m still not sure what I had or what knocked me off my feet. On Friday afternoon, I wasn’t feeling very good, so I went to bed feeling under the weather. When I woke up, my sick feeling had multiplied. No fun. I’m really disappointed because I missed my first Korean class…bummer. But, by Sunday morning, I was feeling good as new!! I didn’t even take medicine or anything, so it was pretty incredible how quickly my sickness passed. Woohoo!

On Sunday, I planned to meet Mi-yeon for coffee before church. She ended up being a bit late on the subway, so we had to run to church, with no time for our coffee date. After the church service, Johnny met us in Gangnam and the three of us went to The Butcher’s Cut. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s a really yummy hamburger and fries place. It’s seriously the best hamburger I’ve ever had, even from back home. (And because I don’t like to experiment much with food and prefer the plainer hamburgers, you can take Johnny and Mi-yeon’s word for it! The get BBQ Bacon burgers, a little more exciting than my plain cheeseburger, and they said their burgers are incredible, too!) Anyway, after lunch, we wandered over to a gelato place nearby for some dessert. I got a coffee and they got gelato. (Luckily for me, I got to taste-test both of theirs…)

After that, we decided to see a movie, so we went to the theater to check out movies and times. We decided on John Carter, the new Disney movie. (And I say “new” meaning, new to Korea. We’re a bit slow on this end when it comes to getting recent movies…) Anyway, Mi-yeon ordered tickets from her phone for a bit later, so we wandered in and out of some shops to kill some time. At dinnertime, we stumbled upon an Italian-type restaurant. It was delicious! It was the first time I’ve had white cream pasta in Korea-YUMMY! By the time we finished eating, we had just enough time to get to the theater, get CARAMEL popcorn and sodas, and head to our seats. It was a great end to my weekend, and it definitely made up for doing absolutely NOTHING on Saturday!

Yesterday at school dragged by, so I think it’s going to be one of those weeks…Some fly by, while others drag on and on…I have some exciting weekend plans to look forward to though, so that’s good!

Sinsa.

I had an extremely packed and productive weekend!! I woke up early on Saturday morning, 9am, and caught the subway into Seoul. I officially signed up for my Korean class, which will begin next weekend. The class is from 10am-12:50pm every Saturday. I finally got the motivation I needed to sign up for an official Korean class. I want to get better at reading and speaking, and this language institute I'm going to has come very highly recommended. I'm so excited!! Signing up for the class only took about ten minutes, so I got right back on the subway and headed home. I was back by noon, which was awesome. I still had the whole day ahead of me!

When Johnny got off work, (yes, he works on Saturday mornings now, as most academy teachers do...but not this girl!!) we met for pizza at Pizza School. Pizza School is a really yummy pizza chain that's all over Korea. It's not actually a school of any sort, and you don't learn how to make your own pizza either. Very deceiving, I know. Anyway, a pizza is only 5,000 won, which is just under $5. Pretty sweet deal! After pizza, we went back to his place. He played some computer games, and I bummed around on Netflix. I'm so excited that Netflix finally works here!!

Around dinner time, we met up with Tommy and tried a new chicken and beer restaurant in the neighborhood. It was DELICIOUS!! It ended up being way too spicy for me...but we're definitely planning on going back! We're going to try something a little less hot next time... :)

On Sunday morning, I met Arri at a coffee shop close to church. We grabbed some drinks and then headed to church. The usual pastor had the morning off, so the associate pastor did the sermon. It was a completely different feel than normal, but the message was perfect. Just what I needed to hear. After church, Arri, Reuel, Michelle, and I all went to Dos Tacos for lunch. It was yummy as usual. After lunch, we were trying to make a plan for the day. Some ideas were thrown out here and there, and then "Sinsa" was mentioned. Sinsa is a place really close to Gangnam (where the church is), that's really great for food and window shopping and coffee. I mentioned that I had never been there, and that's all it took. Our plan was made. :)

We grabbed a taxi and headed to Sinsa. We walked in and out of a lot of shops they had, looking at clothes and shoes and books. We all bought a few things that we just couldn't resist. :) We ended up at a coffee shop at the end of the road. Because all the tables were taken, we got to go into the private room by ourselves. Lucky us!! We all ordered a drink, and Reuel pulled out Bananagrams! Now...if you don't know that game, you definitely need to play it! It's very similar to Scrabble, but you have your own pieces and your own game space. You're basically competing with everyone else to get rid of all the pieces on the table. We ended up playing for HOURS!! We played individually a few times, and then rotated so we were all partners with each other. Not to brag or anything, but...every partner I was paired up with ended up winning. I would like to officially declare myself MVP of Bananagrams.

By the time our game-playing was finished, it was dinnertime. Again, we had conversations about where to eat. Japanese, Indian, and Thai food were all thrown out as options, but no one could decide. I mentioned that I had never had Thai, and again, the decision was made. We collected our things, and headed for the Thai restaurant. We all ended up getting a different dish, so we could share. All the food was so yummy!! We ended up with seafood fried rice, pad thai, curry, and some kind of crunchy noodle things...very odd. Anyway, it was really good! Great food and great company.

When we finished eating, we decided we needed something sweet. Obviously. We ended up at a coffee and cake place. I got a chocolate smoothie, Reuel got some kind of fruity tea, and Michelle got a slice of chocolate cake. YUM. Arri said there just wasn't any more room for food.

This weekend was perfect. I didn't expect to have a girl's day on Sunday, so that was a pleasant surprise. Now, I feel really well-rested and prepared for another week of school. Today officially starts our new schedule. Kate and Sue, two of the Korean teachers, have left, so it's only Amanda, Jessica, Iris, and me. All my classes are new, so I'm excited about teaching other students. I like that we change schedules every three months because it keeps things interesting. Well, here's to a new week!! :)