After a month home.

I had planned my last day in Ulsan a month before it came. I had envisioned a morning of last minute cleaning, packing and mailing home a box. An afternoon of sipping coffee at a quiet coffee shop blogging and preparing my heart for America. Followed by an evening eating Shabu Shabu with a friend before getting on the night bus headed for the Airport.

Sadly, none of that happened! Due to many out of my control "Korean" events I spent the day running around the city (and country side) trying to get things accomplished that I had tried to do earlier in the week but was unable to do because of x, y and z.

I have now been back in America for a full month. I received a phone call from Samantha a week ago asking:
"Do you know what day it is?"
"Ah... November 5th?"
"It's been a month since you left Korea!"

I hadn't even realized how much time had past since I left South Korea. The 4th of the month had become a special day because I took time out of my day to sit down and blog about various experiences and get dinner with Meredith to celebrate another month of our adventure. Somehow the 4th of November passed as any other day of my life. I have decided to take time out of the 11th (one month of being back in America) to finally write the blog I had planned to write on my last day in Ulsan. Instead of sitting in a cute coffee shop sipping a "cafe latte" I am sitting on my bed with Moose next to me, sipping a cold cup of homemade coffee. I think my view has improved. :)

Things I wish I could add to my resume:

* Experienced bus surfer. 

* Skilled in American/Korean infusion sign language. 

* Can read in Korean the two most important words: Samgyeopsal and cafe latte. 

* Chop stick user. 

* Can stand my ground in a rush to be first on the bus. 

*The master of the Zombie (Jumbee) game. 

* Has the ability to use deductive reasoning while guessing what a student asked me in Korean and can shock a whole class by answering correctly in English. 

* Can give and receive directions based on landmarks. 

* Can say Ulsan University in Korean. 

* Programed my brain to bow whenever I see an adult and to use two hands when giving and excepting something. 

Things I will miss about living in South Korea:

* The cosmetics! (Skinfood, Innisfree, ect). 

* Family run coffee shops with the unique decorations  and a cozy atmosphere. 

* Sundays - lazy mornings, church, lunch, coffee and lots of laughter. 

* Nomaskar - Indian food. Yumm. 

* Family style Korean barbecue. 

* "Service" - free samples of meat, cosmetics, hand towels, ect. 

* Knowing what buses get to where I need to be. 

* Wifi everywhere I go. 

* Students bowing to me. 

* Hearing the same catchy Kpop songs in every store. 

* BUBBLE TEA!!

* Cheap and cute things (notebooks, planners, contact cases, ect). 

* My little apartment. 

* Fast and unlimited Internet!!

* Learning about different cultures. 

* The ocean and beaches. 

* Fast buses. 

* Discovering new places to eat or drink coffee. 

* The paycheck. 

* My church. 

* My sweet co-teachers. 

* Endless restaurants and coffee shops. 

* Kakao Talk with my friends. 

* The Cherry Blossoms. 

* Hearing my third graders trying to say my full name. 

* Buttons on each table to call a waiter over. 

* Heated floors. 

* Costco trips with Meredith and Loree. 

Things I will NOT miss about living in South Korea:

* Being looked at like I'm an alien or a piece of meat. 

* The drivers. 

* Short bank (business) hours. 

* Unexplainable logic - like leaving the windows open during winter. 

* Not feeling welcome in a restaurant. 

* Out of date tourist information. 

* Having to wait until 10 am for coffee shops to open. 

* PSY everywhere. (Please, don't ever play his songs when I am around). 

* The pushing.

* No lines (so people would walk right in front of me while I'm waiting to pay). 

* Not blending in.
* Too short and tight clothes.
* Open windows in the winter (yes, I will say it again).
* The humidity!
* Having to travel over an hour for a taco.
* Lack of communication.
* Staying in hostels.
* My bathroom.
* Living next to an arcade.
* Living far away from a (good) grocery store.
* Grammatically incorrect English on products and signs. (However, I will miss laughing at it).
* Unexpected cancelations.
* Korean dubbed children's movies.
* Out of dated times for trains and buses.

My lists haven't changed much since coming back to America. I do miss bubble tea but I love having tacos near by. I already regret not buying another planner. I am overwhelmed by the general politeness of Minnesota. I find myself responding with such a big smile on my face when workers ask how I am. I am also glad I came back in October because I have gotten to enjoy pumpkin lattes, pumpkin cheese cake and pumpkin M&Ms.

As this chapter of my life and blog come to a close I know that I will continue to learn from my adventures and misadventures I had in South Korea. I will continue to look back at my 23rd year of life as a year spent in a country completely different from my own. As a year spent with great people and learning important life lessons like flexibility and perseverance and which Kpop group has the cutest guys.

Bless friends.

finisheee

I have started writing this blog a few times but was never able to finish it due to many (typical) interruptions (like a Volleyball game, bus cancelations and having to leave my apartment a day early). The tense will change from present to past since half of this is looking back at the past. :)

***

I have finished teaching all of my classes at Okseo Elementary School (or as my students still say 'finisheee'). This feeling is like no other because my joy of seeing my family, friends and Moose outweigh the sorrow I feel for saying goodbye to so many people.

The students reacted differently when I told them I was leaving. Some were completely shocked. Some clapped (which I smiled at them and said I was happy to leave also, ha) and others were sad.

For fifth and sixth grade I taught them the song "Brave" by Sara Bareilles. They really enjoyed the lesson and that made my last three days at school easy. There is no grater feeling then watching "too cool for school" kids mouthing the lyrics to a song. Some of my 5th grade classes even started to sing together without me asking them to! Overall everyone enjoyed themselves - including myself. I hope they remember my lesson about being brave when they use English.

The process of leaving South Korea was just as confusing as coming to South Korea. There were many moments when I wondered "what in the world is going on?!" followed by a few frustrating tears and my newfound determination to persevere when life doesn't make sense. I also helped keep the post office and taxis in business my last two days.

Saying goodbye to my friends was the hardest part because I have grown so close them all.

On my last Sunday at church I was prayed over by many of my friends and I cried as their prayers of blessing flowed over me. I was truly blessed to be a part of such a close group of Christians while in South Korea. I always knew I had someone to spend a peaceful Sunday afternoon with and I am thankful for that.

And then there is my dear friend Meredith or known by some as Meri teachuh. Her being on the same flight to South Korea and being placed in Ulsan at the same time as me was a God thing. She was the best kind of friend throughout the year. We went on so many (mis)adventures and food discoveries together. On our last night together in South Korea we went to a restaurant with our friends and then out for Korean karaoke. That was by far one of my most memorable nights of the year. We spent the whole time laughing and singing old songs from the 80s and 90s. Meredith and I finished off the night by singing "A Whole New World" as a perfect start to a new adventure back in America. 

Some of my last views of South Korea were on the KTX train while the sun rose over the mountains. I felt at peace about leaving and in awe of the blessings I received throughout the year. I spent the train ride reading the encouraging notebook from my church family and counting my blessings in my journal. 

Technology has kept me in contact with all of my friends back in South Korea and I have even had some students email me. I know I have made some lasting friendships and I look forward to planning trips to visit friends in Seattle, LA, and South Africa. 

Bless friends. 

The Whale Saga

I found this blog on my iPad and realized I never posted it! Sorry friends :)

*       *       *    

It's no secret that I love whales and dolphins. An obsession is an okay word to use as well. I feel such a peace and awe each time I see them. From Sea World to the Iceland they have proven to display Gods great creativity. 

However I have always had to work for my special moments with them. My first memorable experience was at Sea World when I was in 8th grade. My family and I went to the famous Shamu show and right before the show started a couple of workers were walking through the crowd. They picked a cute little girl to be a part of the show and I was so jealous. Why couldn't I be a cute little girl and be a part of the show? I did get my special moment with Shamu after the show. A worker asked if my brother and I would like a picture with Shamu. Yes, I would! That day I got my picture taken with my favorite animal and I was smiling from ear to ear. 

While on a mission trip in Mexico I woke up at 5am every morning to walk the beach in search of dolphins with a large group. By Thursday no one woke up to go with me, so I had to wake up the youth pastor and beg for him to take me to the beach. Our little group of five headed to the beach and there they were. Jumping and enjoying the early morning sun and low tide. I ran around the beach praising God for dolphins and for teaching me patience. 

In Iceland I went whale watching and we had to wait most of the trip before a group of dolphins started to swim along side the ship. I was so excited I forgot to take any pictures. Again, it was a glorious sight. 

This adventure was no different. We did our little research for the whale watching boat and picked our morning. We woke up extra early so we could get to the coast on time. We got on a bus near city hall and rode it to the end. The bus driver made us get off at the end and we decided to walk the rest of the way because we saw a sign for the whale museum. So we started walking and walking and walking. In the morning heat we walked through a factory filled area, it was not the best scenery in Ulsan. 

After about a half an hour of walking we start to wonder if we would ever make it (along with angry thoughts about why information was never correct in English here). A taxi finally drove by and we jumped in quickly showing him where we wanted to go on Meredith's phone. He drove about us about fifteen minutes in the direction we were walking and dropped us off at the whale museum five minutes before the boat was going to leave. Just our luck. 

Wrong.

We found out that there wasn't a 9:30 boat that left on Saturdays and the 1:00 boat was already full. We both were furious. Meredith even said "I give up. I won't come back again". That broke my heart because I still wanted to try. Instead we went to the whale museum and aquarium for the morning. It was nice and I got to see dolphins, but it wasn't what we wanted.

I decided to post on the foreigners page about our misfortune and that the English information needed to be updated. A lot of people wanted more information so they could go, which I couldn't give since it didn't work out for me. A Korean man saw the post and said he would contact the boat and tell them they need English options. A few weeks ago a special night is planned for foreigners to go on the boat for an evening on October 5th, the day I fly to Norway. Ha I'd like to think that Meredith and I had a little part in bringing that about. At least the company knows the foreigners want to be a part of their adventure. 

Thankfully our saga doesn't end there. 

I told my sad sad story to my friends at church and asked if anyone would like to come with me. I got a surprising amount of "yes" and then I asked my coteacher to help make a reservation for me and my friends. 

On the eve before our adventure I got a few text messages in Korean. My heart dropped because the last time I got multiple text messages in Korean my movie was canceled. After an hour they sent me a translation of their first few texts and I read the horrible news: my trip was canceled. However we could go in the morning instead. They called me before I could finish texting back and I tried to explain I needed to ask my friends first.. They didn't understand so after five minutes I just said "okay. We come. Yes". I then had to call everyone and beg for them to wake up early. 

Thankfully I have great friends and they were all up for the morning trip and I even convinced Meredith to join! We met at a coffee shop and walked to the bus stop we needed only to watch it and Meredith drive by. We quickly ran to a different street and caught a different bus to the whale museum. 

We got there in plenty of time (since we were finally on the right bus). We got a nice spot by the railing to look for whales and right away one of my friends was asked to do an interview about our experience (we had been on for only ten minutes). The camera man loved our group, all day he kept coming back to film us talking with each other. 

I felt such a peace because I was finally on the boat breathing fresh sea air surrounded by my friends. 

We didn't see any whales. The water was very rough which I'm betting kept the whales and dolphins in another location for the day. 

I wasn't sad about not seeing whales, I still had a great time and once again the dolphins taught me about perseverance and patience. That wasn't my day to see the whales but I will continue trying even when I get back to America. (Washington here I come!) 

Bless friends. 

The day I became a video game character.

Back in March I was feeling tired all of the time and I decided to try acupuncture (when in Rome, right?)

That Monday I went to an Oriental Medicine office with my co-teacher not knowing what to expect. He explained he would do a "power up" on me and that I should come in everyday until I felt better.

That day I got five needles in various places in my body and a piece of wood was left on my stomach giving off a relaxing aroma. The next day I went back and again the next day. By Wednesday I had seven needles in my body.

It didn't hurt as bad as you'd think. In fact, most places was painless as long as I was relaxed.

On Friday my doctor said the best thing I have ever heard while in South Korea: "You first come, face dark. Power low. Now face shinny. Power up."

He was right. I did have energy again.

Power up! :)

11.

Here I am again writing a blog post on the 4th of the month. I have been in Ulsan, South Korea for eleven months - crazy! The time has just flew by (with a few moments of snail like slowness). I believe this month will be over before I know it and then I'll be on a plane for Oslo, Norway! I am so excited to spend a week with my mom traveling around Norway. I think it will be a good way to rejuvenate my soul and help ease jet lag.

One of the oddest parts of teaching English in South Korea is the sporadic hiring system. Since people are hired at different times, often it is someone's last month. I experienced that back in November for the first time and it has continued throughout the year. During people's last month they try to see last minute landmarks, eat at their favorite restaurants, and say their final goodbyes to those staying behind.

Now it's my last month. I have every weekend full of fun things to do and I even have a few trips planned. Hopefully I won't have too many mishaps along the way (fingers crossed).

Last weekend started my conqueror-the-to-do-list expedition. Meredith and I FINALLY got brunch at London Tea and it was delicious. I was so happy that they were back from vacation. I will miss that cream cheese filled french toast. After brunch we went to Grand Park, rented bikes and rode around the park. It was a beautiful day and the best part was the cool breeze! After the bikes we sat on a bench and just enjoyed the moment. Then we went to Lotte and rode the ferris wheel. Supposedly it is the highest man-made height in Korea. It was great to see the city from that height. We also got to redeem my free curry stamp card (thanks mostly to Samantha who helped me get four stamps before she went home). Yep, it was a lovely day.

I look forward to more lovely days in Korea. Bless friends.

Souvenir 6.8

Another adventure I likely won't forget happened on our Jeju Island trip in June. Meredith had planned the trip since I didn't have time with Samantha visiting right before we left and one thing on her list was to visit a green tea farm. When we finally reached the other side of the island we had already missed our submarine tour and so we decided we might as well go to the green tea farm first. The hard part was getting there. 

We figured if we got in a taxi and said "greena tea farm" we would be golden. Sadly the taxi driver didn't know so we showed him on the phone where we wanted to go and so he starts driving. Then he calls his friend to ask where it was and the taxi turns around and drives the other way. We silently watch on google maps as we drive farther away from our destination. He calls his friend again and we decide to call the farm ourselves and have the taxi driver speak to whoever answers. We finally were all on the same page and got to the farm. It was a gloomy day but the rain had stopped and we were warmly welcomed into the little tea house were we sat on the floor and drank green tea from traditional mugs. 

We then wandered around the farm and in the green tea maze. I bought far too many souvenirs there but I couldn't help it! I love tea and tea cups. 

We weren't sure how we were going to get back to the main city but we decided to walk to the road and pray a taxi drove by. As we were leaving a car drove up and a man rolled down the window saying he would drive us back to the city. I'm sure most of you are thinking "run away" but this is Korea and we figured this was part of our "service". So we got into his car and told him where we needed to go next. His English was low and our Korean is low so we struggled through a conversation about our jobs and Jeju Island. He drove us along the coast and took us right where we needed to be for the submarine tour. It was lovely. 

Here is Meredith with our driver. He wouldn't accept any money. I'm so thankful for friendly people who are willing to help poor confused waygookins out. 

souvenir 2.21

This event happened over five months ago but I remember it like it was yesterday. 

The winter weather was starting to clear away and I had teacher training with all of the new teachers. Meredith also had to go but for some reason Loree didn't (the lucky duck) but we decided since two of us were already close to my neighborhood that Loree should meet us there after school so we could finally try Hungry Kitchen. 

In January I had a I-need-a-real-burger-now-or-I-will-go-crazy meltdown and started to research the best burgers in Ulsan. There were two burgers that tied for first. One was near the beach an hour away and the other was in my neighborhood. 

When we got to Hungry Kitchen we had to wait a half an hour before the burger would be ready. Since Meredith and I needed cash we decided to quickly run to the ATM while Loree saved our seats. 

I should give a little forward about how awful Meredith's week had been. Nothing seemed to be going her way and even the taxi driver who brought her to training that morning couldn't read the address so he just drove around until he found it. Plus she had a cold. 

I got my cash out with no problem but Meredith's ATM wouldn't spit out her card. It was stuck. We tried calling the help line using the phone there but they hung up as soon as we spoke. 

We tried hitting a few buttons but nothing worked. That was when Meredith started to freak out (rightly so because she was leaving for Hawaii in two days and she needed that card to buy things). 

The only thing I could think of doing was calling my coteacher. So I called her and explained our situation and that we needed help. She then called the bank and told us that someone would come in five minutes to get the card out. Well we waited and waited. Many people came in and took cash out of the same ATM that ate Meredith's card. We were very confused. After about fifteen minutes someone came and saved the day. He went behind the ATMs and pulled out Meredith's card! 

We can back to the restaurant and sat down in time for our hamburgers to be set in front of us. We weren't able to laugh at the situation that night or even after Meredith got back from Hawaii but we can now. That situation could have ended in many terrible ways but it didn't. Instead we got the card and made it back in time to eat one of the best burgers I've had in Korea. 

Bless friends.