Four months looks a little something like this..

"You are exactly who and what and WHERE you are supposed to be. And you are lovely. Anything else would be just plain ridiculous."

In nine days, I will have been living in Korea for four months. The Korean "skirts" have made their debut and the Korean humidity is owning up to its name. It also means I'm one-third of my way done with my contract here. Crazy! I feel like it was yesterday that my mom and Pat said goodbye at JFK. I have accomplished a ton in four months, but still not enough. I have visited eight different cities, including, Seoul, Andong, Daegu, Danyang, Pohang, Gimcheon, Gyeongju and Andong. I've consumed octopus, twigs, squid, and so much more. I actually enjoy kimchi at every meal. I came here open-minded and ready for anything that would be thrown my way. I had three reasons to come here. First was to gain more cross-cultural teaching experience, second of course was the crappy US economy, and third was to travel and gain more cultural awareness, while I'm still young. I have made a great group of friends here in Korea, including South Africans, Irish, British, Canadian, American, Japanese, and Korean. Our personalities are so different and are walks of life differ immensely, but in the end, we are all here for the same thing. We are here to teach these students a universal language, and to gain new experiences that no one can take away from us. Because of that, we all get a long extremely well. Some of the friends I've met quit a career that they've had for years, in order to come here. They weren't happy in whatever situation they were in, and Korea offered a new type of experience that they were looking for.

Everyday, I learn more and more about their different countries and ways of life. That's what this is all about isn't it? To learn, to become more aware, and to break out of that bubble you call your life back home. Downstate New York is full of different cultures and ethnicities, so it wasn't like I was tucked away in some little town that doesn't exist on a map, where I've never met a Black person before. However, the only places I really traveled to were New Zealand and Ireland. After New Zealand I realized that there is SO much to this world. SO many different people living in it. I was craving to meet them and I made it a point at some towards the end of that trip to see as much as the world as my wallet and my time would permit. As I stated before in a previous post, I applied to grad schools and got into three of them. I had interviews for teaching positions down South. But for some reason when it came down to having to make a decision, I ignored the grad school thing, and towards the end of the summer, I secretly hoped that I wouldn't get one of the teaching jobs, because there was something else on my mind. Traveling. I had a hard time with that for a while, because I always played my life by the book (at least the important things.. like education.) I was going to graduate from Oswego, get my Masters, then get a teaching position in North Carolina. But I started to realize, especially when I looked at my own family, that that''s not always the way it goes, and that's okay. You have to make decisions that are right for you, and that will make you satisfied. I was scared and kind of confused at why I threw away three perfectly good masters programs to travel. At that point, I didn't know exactly where I was going yet, but I knew I wanted to teach while doing it. When I came across EPIK and Korea, I knew that this was the choice I needed to make for myself. And despite the hardships it has thrown me, despite the rocky start it gave me (with no bed, no apartment), I do not regret this decision. If I were to get a job, I would have been stuck in North Carolina (probably with a great job that I'd love, but this great big world would be in the back of my mind.) Once you settle somewhere, it's twice as hard to leave it. So four months in.. I can honestly say that I was meant to be here at this time in my life.

However now there's a new mindset that has been creeping up. Now that it has been four months, I am thinking about what lies ahead. Friends have been talking about renewing their contract for another year. Of course we don't need to decide this for months, but you can't help but think. I've stopped comparing myself to what everyone else is thinking, because all of our situations are completely different. I for instance have my Masters to think about, since my major only gives you six years from the time you graduate undergrad. After this year, I'll be down to five and the timer will just keep ticking. There's only a few accredited online schools that offer the Masters I need. That's a big possibility if I spent another year here. The thought of going home to no teaching positions makes me uneasy. The thought of taking a Masters while working a part-time job, knowing that I had a perfectly good job here, kind of makes me sick. The thing is, my family means the world to me, and we are all very close. I miss them terribly, and its killing me that my niece is going to be talking by the time I get back in February. If I stay another year, she's going to be so grown up and I will have missed all those important steps in her life. My mom and I are extremely close and come August, she will be living by herself. Five kids all out of the house. These are things that I can't help but think about. But I change my mind on staying another year every day. So as one of my friends said last night, just worry about it until you have to. When there's all the pressure on you to decide. haha. 

So enough about my worrying personality. There's some awesome stuff coming up in the next two months..

Busan Booze Cruise on June 30th

Boryeong Mud Festival on July 14th

My mom and Dennis' visit on July 25th!!! (Absolutely cannot wait! The anticipation is too much)

And my summer vacation in Japan on August 1st!! 

So thanks to my lovely mac which is slowly creeping to its death. Poor thing. 

Four months looks a little something like this..