You know when you're driving in a parking lot and everything is going smoothly then all of a sudden that person who is not paying a bit of attention turns right in front of you forcing you to slam on your brakes? I feel like that's how life was for a little while. Everything was going smoothly and then all of a sudden something pops up, out of nowhere, and forces you to stop. It's not always a bad thing, but just one of those things that makes you have to slam on the brakes and decide to either take a minute to chill out, laugh it off, and then continue on your way or completely stop and let it drag you down for the rest of the day or however long you need to get over it. Personally, I prefer option one, but life doesn't always work out that way, especially when life happens to be a series of those cars pulling in front of you.
Living life in another country can be amazing, but no matter where you are it is easy to get in your comfort zone and forget to actually experience every day. For a while, I got in my comfort zone. I thought I knew what was next and the adventures became less frequent. They didn't seem as important. Teaching was getting pretty dull as well. Then, the first 'car pulled out in front of me.' Actually, it was more like a monster truck. Suddenly, I needed to really and truly figure out what I was going to do next. My co-teachers were asking me every week whether or not I wanted to stay another year. At that point I felt I had no other option than to stay, even though, at the time, I felt it wasn't what I wanted. I thought I knew what I wanted, but that wasn't an option anymore. After that, well, you know...when it rains it pours. It took me quite a while to realize that if I really was considering staying in Korea another year, I needed to get out of my comfort zone again, start adventuring, work harder, and do the best I could to chill out, laugh it off, and continue on my way.
Traveling 1: I went to the Philippines with Maggie and was definitely taken out of my comfort zone. It was a bit interesting at times, but an amazing experience overall. It is just really strange going from a country where not even the police have guns to a country where almost every establishment has armed guards (including our hostel). Cebu was very eye opening and definitely something I needed to experience. I may not be as tough as I thought :P The streets were very interesting to walk around and for the most part, the people were very kind. It was just a whole new world I never had seen before. We went to Magellan's Cross and a market, but after being followed around for a bit by some guy one day, Maggie and I chose to scratch the plans for the rest of the day and take a taxi back to our hostel. Then we left Cebu for the remainder of the vacation and went to Bohol. We had had enough of the city and were ready to explore this neighboring island and beach. On Bohol we visited Tarsiers, the Chocolate Hills, adventured through the island, did a lot of snorkeling, and were able to relax some. I had been sick the whole week prior to visiting the Philippines and was not able to scuba dive. We still were able to see sea turtles, amazing coral, an eel, anemone and lots of colorful fish. We were even lucky enough to get stung by hundreds of little jellyfish...haha Unfortunately that meant on the last part of the reef we had to stop snorkeling. I thought it was pretty cool, not sure how much Maggie agreed with that. The place we stayed was a little back from the beach and so cute! We were visited by many geckos and ants and the people that owned it were able to take us around when we went on our day adventure inland. I am very happy I went and would love to go back to explore different areas another time.
School: I actually started getting a lot more busy. I was so bored with being "game girl" and just thinking of activities for every class during school. I started to work more on supplemented material and teaching more myself. Makes it much more exciting. After school was amazing with my beginners, but the intermediate kids decided to check out. The book we were using was crap, which didn't help me or the students be very motivated. I was able to make it more exciting for the beginners and do just enough to keep the intermediate kids working. You win some, you lose some. I've definitely learned that I need to sit down and read an ENTIRE book before teaching it. The book had many misspelled words and taught things that I, as a native English speaker, would NEVER say. haha oh well. Unfortunately, these afterschool classes are cancelled for the next year. I hear that we will have something else coming our way, but no clue as to what that is yet. I am currently working at my school's English Winter Camp for a week. It is very low-key and I'm mostly just playing and talking with the kids as much as possible. The three weeks prior to this camp I worked at the MOE overnight English Camp. It was a lot of work; we taught 10 periods a day and had to stay in the dorms at night. We were at a university so it was very nice, but I am definitely not use to having roommates anymore, let alone 5 girls. I did meet some amazing people both foreign and Korean that I am very excited to keep in touch with. I also absolutely loved the kids I was teaching and had so much fun at this camp. Despite the hours, I am so happy I did this camp! It has made me excited about teaching English for another year.
Traveling 2: I've been working on going around Korea more again. There is still so much I want to see here. It's easy to brush it aside thinking "oh I have an entire year to do that". One year has gone by already! I'm working on compiling my list of places I want to see and things I want to do. Within the last couple months I have been to Yeosu, Daejeon, back to Seoul, and had some lovely solo adventures to places I've wanted to go in Busan and Ulsan. More of that to come!
Oh Korea: Finally after a constant battle for months and changing my mind every day, I decided to stay another year in Korea. It was not easy and still isn't. I'll be missing weddings, my brother being ordained, new babies, babies growing up, and who knows what else! But as soon as I officially made the decision, I knew it was right. I feel very confident in staying another year and excited for what is ahead. I need to focus on paying off my loan, learning more of the language, traveling, and doing more at school. Once the new year starts, I am also looking into working towards getting a teaching certificate online. It will depend on what my schedule looks like and how much it will be. I am meeting up with a friend once a week to work on Korean and studying with my co-teacher once a week as well. I will also be moving in February. My apartment I have right now is fantastic, one of the best I have seen in Korea, but it is too big for just me. The bills are a little too much and the place doesn't hold in any heat. The walls are solid concrete and have no insulation. I really wish I could stay there, but alas, if I wish to actually sleep through a night in my home, I must move. Then there was the roach issue from last year, that I am just not looking to relive. My co-teacher is amazing and going to help me find another place, hopefully in the area. Added bonus to being in Korea: Reese decided to stay another year too : ) Off to a good start : )
Traveling 3: I surprised some of the fam and went home for Christmas. It was really nice to see everyone, especially since I have no idea when I will be going home next! Miss you all <3
Traveling 4: I am off as of Saturday to Taiwan with Hannah until the 5th of February. Then, I will be back to look for a new apartment, move, and watch the SuperBowl (ya, I know what is important in life :P ), and then it is off to Cambodia and Vietnam with Reese for 12 days! (note to reader...this was written and posted Jan. 28th, but something went wrong and I had to repost today...Taiwan already happened haha)
In conclusion: Bring it on year 2!
hello sunset!
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