The next 5 months..

So I have approximately 5 1/2 months left in this beautiful country, (crazy!) and I've made a few changes

We all recently got back from our summer vacations and are already three weeks into the new semester. Our students have their own versions of senioritis, the humidity is THANKGOD gone! The fall season is coming in full swing.. which means my birthday! And I am ready to take on a new side of Korea, figuratively and literally.

I have been doing less traveling, less partying, less shopping, and because of that, I've bonded with my fellow Andong teachers more and more. My liver, my bank account, and my conscience is thanking me. Andong has finally set up formal Korean classes for its foreign teachers, so we've had one week of that so far. It's every Thursday night for about an hour and it couldn't be more lovely. It's made me realize how much I actually have learned and retained in the past six months, but how much I still need to learn to be happy with where I want to be.

I have made a conscious effort to see more of Korea, in the cultural sense. Today I made a list of festivals I want to attend. I think I've brought this up before, but Korea LOVES their festivals. They usually last for two weeks, and there's always free food, cool gifts, and plenty to do and see. Some of the ones coming up include, an Autum Apple Festival, Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival, Busan International Film Festival, and Namdo Food Festival. (And that's just the next three months.) The great thing about these, is it's a reason to see another part of Korea. Some of these cities would never be on your list of places to go, but the fact that they're hosting festivals is all the more reason to get off your ass and explore.

I hiked a bit in the beginning of my time here, but then it got to be way too humid. I can't really begin to explain the humidity we all went through here. New York gets pretty damn humid, but this was on an entirely new level. It was brutal, to the point where stepping out of your air conditioned apartment was something you dreaded and taking taxis to places you were always able to walk to before, was a necessity just to escape the heat. Getting off my tangent... I'm going to start hiking again before it gets drastically bitter cold.

I want to walk away in February knowing I accomplished as much as I could in twelve months. (Still deciding whether to renew my contract or not.) Korea may be small, but it's still a country, so of course it is far beyond anyone's reach to see everything in one year's time. It's really quite impossible. There's too much to learn, too much too see, and too much to really take in.

Living and working here is completely different than being a tourist. So that's why when my mom and Dennis came, I was able to show them the "real" Korea, the ins and outs (things tourists don't know about because they don't live here), as well as the touristy things that I had never done before. We came across things that I had never noticed in my own city. As someone living in Korea, your mindest is in a different place. So I believe we have to make more of an effort to really explore what this country has to offer. My friend from home is flying in at the end of the month and I plan to go to the DMZ (de-militarized zone at the 38th parallel, North Korean border) as well as a templestay, something my friend Dayna and I have been wanting to do for a while now.

More than six months have gone by and it's really unbelievable. I have no regrets from the first six. I discovered what my conservative, but kind city is all about, I explored parts of Seoul, I swam at the most populated beach in Busan, I traveled across the country to a mud festival, I spent countless weekends in one of my favorite cities- Daegu, I took on Korean fashion, I made Korean friends, I taught myself Hangul, I bonded with co-teachers while out for coffee and lunch, I stayed in beach huts on an island off of Incheon, I hiked the most difficult mountain in Andong, I went on a church group outing to Danyang caves and witnessed beautiful scenery. I've gotten physically and mentally lost, and have found my way back. Classes have made me cry and laugh. I've figured out what this culture is all about, and have found explanations as to why it's so hard for westerners to assimilate. It's been quite a rollercoaster and quite an adjustment, but I've accomplished and am still accomplishing all of the goals I set for myself when I came here.