a korean adventure

In honor of the great changes that are happening in my life, I have decided it's time to clean up the old blog and start blogging again. I have also changed the look of my blog to reflect the next year (possibly more) of my life.

The background picture you are looking at, my friends, is the beautiful city of Daejeon, South Korea.

Right there. Can you see me yet?

In just over a month I will be making my way to Seoul, and two weeks after that I will officially be an English teacher in Daejeon!! Crazy, right?!

Right.

I won't get into all of the details of how I got to this point, just know it was quite long and stressful. (In case you were wondering, having your future dependent upon the speed of an office of the U.S. government is NOT fun. Background checks take FOREVER. And it costs A LOT to send documents to Korea when you want them to get there fast.) But, in the end, it's all worth it. I'm going to be having the adventure of a lifetime!

I'm excited to live in a big city - Daejeon has a population of approximately 1.5 million, St. George has a population of approximately 75,000.

I'm excited to get lost in a new culture and language - you can bet I'm going to do my best to learn Korean.

I'm excited to try new food - bring on the kimchi!

I'm excited to share my love of English with Korean students - too bad my dictionary collection will probably have to stay home.

I'm excited for an adventure.

Yes, I'm also slightly terrified, but mostly I'm excited and confident that teaching English in Korea is where I want to be and (more importantly) where I'm supposed to be. So let the countdown begin!

T-minus 35 days and counting...

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a family legacy

I recently went on a teacher's trip with my school. (Basically, all the teachers get on a bus after the students leave, and we drive to a town two hours away to eat dinner, sing karaoke, stay the night, and maybe visit a museum. It's mostly an excuse for the teachers to get drunk together, but more about that in another post.) I was especially excited because we were going to a place that has been on my list of places to visit in Korea. Gunsan. Now, some might wonder why I would want to visit such a place. It's not very big or prominent. Chances are, if you don't live in Korea, you've probably never heard of it. But, to me, Gunsan is a special place. It's the place where I like to think the relationship between Korea and my family began. Gunsan is the place my grandpa was stationed during the Korean War. My Grandpa Willis was a cook in the army during the last 6 months of the Korean War. I also have two uncles and an aunt who lived in Korea as missio...

adventuring seoul

This last weekend, some friends and I decided that we needed a trip to Seoul. So, we packed our bags and hopped on a train Friday night to begin our adventure! We stayed at a hostel near Namsan Tower (which we unfortunately only saw from a distance during this trip), and ventured out from there. Saturday we spent at Lotte World, which is a giant indoor amusement park (our second choice of amusement parks, but Seoulland was out of the question when we woke up to rain). Our day was complete with rides, amusement park food, and animal ears. We stopped by the Seoul lantern festival before turning in at the end of our extremely fun, but extremely exhausting, day. Sunday we spent exploring. Gwanghwamun and Gyeongbok Palace were first on our list. And, I must say, I could spend forever exploring historical sites in Korea and never be bored. They are just so beautiful and so different from what we are used to in the States. I love the mix of traditional and modern that you find in Seoul....

before I die...

Today, while browsing various sources for a topic for my teacher's workshop class, I came across the following TED Talk. I used to have a small notebook I carried around with me that had a list of the things that I wanted to do in life. A "bucket list" of sorts. It somehow got lost in the shuffle of moving across the Pacific, and I hadn't thought much of it. But, after watching this video, I thought maybe it was time to re-evaluate the things I want to do before I die. Before I die, I want to... - Learn another language. - Stand at the top of the world's tallest building. - Fall in love. - Travel the world. - Buy something at Tiffany's. - Be a wife and mother. - Make a difference in someone's life. (There are many, many things I could add to this list. Meet a Korean celebrity, own a yellow mustang convertible, have my own personal library, learn to use the floor heating in my apartment...But I won't bore you with all of the wish...

Growing old is required. Growing up is optional.

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