So I realize I haven't blogged in a while and there are no
excuses other than...I just haven't. I
am not sure if anyone reads this other than my family HOWEVER my mom got on my
case about not posting so I thought I would start a new one. First of all, the Winter weather is the
highlight of my life!! I love the cool Korean weather! Everyone wears large coats which also helps
me not feel like a giant...haha! However I have begun to go gymming so maybe
now that is a constant life thing I will not be so giant-like in the future!
On another note, the other day when I was walking home with
my coworkers I saw snow!! It was only about 40 flakes HOWEVER it was snow and
landed in my friends black hair which made it look more magical :) I took a
photo of the first snowfall of my coworkers (Note the Dominican-Korean not
enjoying it) haha :P I am super excited about Christmas and the month of
December for a variety of reasons:
1) I get two days off in December (1 for elections and
another for Christmas day)
2) It is Christmas and I LOVEEEE the sparkly lights and festive
spirits
3) I get to go to Japan with some friends for 5 days
4) At the end of the month I will have reached my 6 month
mark! Halfway...wow times flies!
I have bought a little Christmas tree for my house along
with some lights to turn on late into the night, when I bought them I didn't
know they were the blinking ones that sometimes make me feel like I live in a dance
club...oh the joy of not knowing what you are buying/ordering. It helps me to appreciate the little things!
As I am writing this I am sitting outside on a lovely
December day at a cafe sipping on a Vanilla latte! It is truly amazing how much
has happened and how much has changed since the last time I posted. Life in Korea is finally becoming my second
home. I am falling in love with the
people, the lifestyle and my job on a daily basis. I can proudly say that I am now able to make
a few Korean dishes...and by dishes I mean seaweed and rice! haa I am figuring
out how to embrace the culture and make the experience here like home. Too often I have found myself saying things
like "I miss home because of my mom's cooking" or "If I was at
home I would totally be doing ______________ right now." Then I stopped and realized that ALTHOUGH my
life in Korea is different than home, there are still so many things I can do
here that I would do at home. It is
amazing at how overcoming the mind is one of the largest challenges and yet
makes ALL the difference. Since I have
made that decision to make Korea more like home I have become EXPONENTIALLY
happier. Korea is no longer a place that
I work in or a travelling experience, it is becoming my home! :) |
| Only in Korea do these little glitches go unnoticed :P ha |
So, let's see all the things that have happened in the last
little bit...hmmm well one of my friends started dating a lovely man, 2 of my
friends got baptized AND three of my friends got engaged and their weddings are
next month! Crazyyy right!??! Life in Korea is becoming more and more blessed
the longer I stay here and I am just amazed.
I feel like I am living in a wonderful dream, however there are hard
times and the amount of people all the time can sometimes be overwhelming. School is very busy lately as some our kids
will be graduating in February, so there are many things to plan such as a
musical I have to write for the kids as well as speeches to perform (It should be an interesting experience).
I am learning to do more things while being here and feel
that I am gaining many talents that I will be able to take home with me. It is incredible how much I see myself
growing in a variety of ways including independence and yet how needy I can be
at the same time being in a foreign culture and not speaking the language. I have learned sayings and can speak enough
to get by which really enhances my conversations with people. I have also discovered the wonder of
translation phone devices. It is amazing
at how well I now know my fitness trainers because of their glorious cell phone
devices! :) I am starting to build a lot of routines which are becoming joys to
me, running into the same people, having people know what I like or don't like,
challenging me and pushing me to be my best...things are looking up.
One of the sad things though is that I have many foreigner
friends who are also here on contracts and it is getting closer to the time
when they leave. One of my best friends
in Korea is leaving in February and that saddens me, however I know that this
is part of life and I will be heading to South Africa to pay her a visit before
I come back to Canada. Oh Korea, how I
love you. The idea of only having 7
months left is crazy to me, I feel like the time concept in Korea is strange
because I feel like I have been here for years and yet time goes by sooo fast! I am so grateful and blessed to be here, have
met the wonderful people I have, given the opportunities I have and the list
goes on. 