Crossing the Pacific

When was the last time I wrote? What did I even have to say?? I guess I wrote back in August about my plans to study Korean and work as a real person here in Busan instead of a teaching robot-monkey. Well, I have finally made it back to the ROK and I have to say two things: It is so nice to be back! But, it was much harder to leave the US this time around.

I boarded a plane in Busan bound for Bemidji on October 4th and had one h@l! of a trip. I couldn't have been happier to be on my way to several great things: My best friend's wedding, my aunt's house and a big family get together, visiting my childhood friends, my sister & finally meeting her fiancee, Halloween in the US, and a trip to NYC. Getting to drive my car, eating amazing food, and the possibility of snow were just minor perks.

But this flight... oh, wow. I can NOT sleep on a plane like I used to. The token screaming baby and parents were seated right next to me, and this was no normal screaming baby. She had some kind of problem but the parents lied about it to the flight attendants. Great. It was all I could do not to just take the kid for a run up and down the aisle myself in an effort to tire her out. Finally she cried herself out and slept/cried only in intervals after that. Needless to say, I saw most of all 4 movies played on that plane (which did not have personal screens, might I add).

After the worst flight of my life, I had to curl up on two chairs pushed together in the MSP airport and try to get some sleep during my 8 hour layover. Gross. I felt pretty terrible when I finally reached Bemidji, and my ride from the airport had hit a deer and arrived 30 minutes late - had me so SO worried! Finally, I was safe in a warm basement bed and slept for 11 hours. Straight through.

On to better and far less screamy things. I spent a hot minute in Bemidji to start the sorting in the storage space and then drove to Minneapolis for a week of prep with Katy B. Her wedding was an amazing, beautiful, inspiring day filled with seriously pure true love.

All photos by Sonja Jean unless otherwise noted

Sarah Dos Photography

Sarah Dos Photography

Sarah Dos Photography

Sarah Dos Photography

Sarah Dos Photography

Sarah Dos Photography

Sarah Dos Photography, with edits by me

 After the wedding I spent afternoons visiting my friends from high school and college and a very valuable Saturday with my extended family. I could have then driven the mind-numbing 8-hour highway trip to Chicago and do an overnighter to get my visa... but I don't know anyone there and I priced out the gas vs. airplane ticket vs. doing something that sucks less and decided to hit the Korean Consulate in New York instead. I booked a round-trip for $215 and headed to the big apple. I have several friends in the city including one who offered me a place to sleep.

Central Park

Central Park ponies

Hot bubble tea in Williamsburg, photo by Krzysztof Matejkowski

Brooklyn Bridge (right) and Manhattan Bridge from East River Drive

Alice's Tea Cup Cafe, Upper West Side Manhattan

Warm pear & endive salad, "wedding tea"

I've never imagined scones this soft and scrumptious

After NY, I spent a final week in Minneapolis seeing what I missed the first time around and eating what I missed the past year, I headed up to Bemidji for one last weekend of work. I stayed longer than I had planned in Mpls and left myself too little time to do the work I needed to and I started to panic.  In the end, my aunt came up to help me sort through all the stuff I and my family left in storage. It was a big job but between the two of us, the Kia, and her minivan, it all got done with time to spare. Amazingly, I was able to be there for a super-early Thanksgiving dinner the day before I flew back.

Photo by Eleanor Freeman

Photo by Eleanor Freeman

Halloween

Prettiest downtown skyline I know

My other family, at Thanksgiving pt. 1

The Future Freaks Me Out

Hello there everyone. I just wanted to drop in and let you know what's been developing in my life here in Korea. I have a mere 3 weeks left at my kindergarten and this will be the last contracted teaching position I ever have if I can help it. I've probably said it before, but I really can't imagine what situation would cause me to sign another contract teaching kids. I don't see myself teaching much at all anymore, in fact. I'll have to do some part-time teaching of course, because it's really the best way to earn good money in this country.

Let me go back. Something recently changed about the immigration policy for foreigners who want to stay here. Well, I think it was the beginning of last year, but I just found out about it. The whole idea was to not teach anymore - this prompted the plan to move to Australia for school, because I knew I couldn't do something I loved here on an E2 visa. But, now, there's a new points system through which I can earn an F2-S (aka F2-7) visa! (The F2 is usually reserved for foreigners who marry Korean citizens.)

Based on a few criteria, like my age, income, academic credentials, work history, and most importantly: Korean language skills. This is why I've chosen to stay in Korea. That's right. Indefinitely. Tell me you didn't see this coming... Ha ha, well anyway, that's the plan. So in order for me to make this visa happen, I must first study Korean much more seriously and intensely. So I'm applying to Pusan National University's Korean Language Program which will begin my instruction in December. I'll likely have to start at level 2 but at least I know my alphabet and can communicate on a basic level.

 I think I'll need a t-shirt like this, so I can practice Korean more. Everyone wants to practice their English with me, can't imagine why!

 

University streets in the daylight

...and after dark!

Unfortunately, I'll probably need to live in a teensy little closet and share at least a kitchen, maybe a bathroom. eek.




The final point is that with an F2 visa I can get all sorts of jobs in Korea that don't entail teaching children for 30+ hours a week. I'll do a bunch of voice recording, part-time editing, maybe teach adults for a few classes a week to afford a proper apartment, while pursuing anything I want. Sell my photography, work as a cook somewhere I love, maybe even work in the exchange bank here (what with all my experience at Wells Fargo) if I get fluent enough. It's a big dream but what makes me happy is staying here in Korea. I think it may seem like the easy way out, to just stay here, but it's certainly not going to be. I'll need to be really serious about studying so I don't cost myself too much in tuition fees. That's the only catch, is that I'll be passing certain levels every 10 weeks, but I need to be self-motivated to study as hard as I can in order to get the score on the TOPIK that I need for the visa.
Here's hopin.

The Arctic Light : Time-Lapse Video

<br/><a href="http://www.msn.com/?videoId=3f0b7052-dbc7-454d-9dcd-89b0ce6ec246&src=v5:embed::&fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="The Arctic Light">Video: The Arctic Light</a>

Months Are Disappearing, Luckily Not Undocumented.

So, here it is, the end of May. I've been busy working, living, a bit of traveling. So, I spent some time sorting out the photos from my trip to Thai & Cambodia, then posting them in small-ish batches so that you could enjoy the pieces of my memories. Now somehow June has snuck up on us!

I basically spent March moving in, learning my new job, loving my new house, hating my new job but starting to like the kids a little bit, seeing friends and partying since I now lived in the city. Not taking many pictures, except of my students. My Flickr page landed on the back burner, as did my blog.

Cooking class

My class: Ten 5 & 6-yr olds (Korean age 7)

March birthday party: My class with Young Jin

Then around the end of the month I met someone pretty awesome and we've been driving around the southern part of Korea, exploring, taking pictures, and spending time getting to know each other. This is probably why months are ripping themselves right off the calendar. But now I'm finding myself in a tough spot. With plans to end my time teaching in Korea, visit MN in lovely October, and move to Australia for graduate school... well, I'm just sad. I knew leaving Korea would be hard~ I mean, I will have had almost 5 stellar years here. The best years of my life, I'd say. Met amazing people from all over, grew, learned, taught. Culture, love, food, music, nature, new traditions, kids, families, friends. All of it making me a better and brighter person, if older.^^ Like I said, I knew it would be hard. On to bigger and better things? Here's hoping. 

Bull-fighting stadium in Cheong-do

Wine cave in Cheong-do

The reason I've chosen Australia is multi-faceted. It's a bit cheaper to live and attend grad school there, plus the schools offer the DPT degree I seek. It's a new and different place, so I won't feel like I'm going backwards, with respect to the life I've chosen to lead. Many Koreans move there, especially around Brisbane & the Gold Coast (the area I'm aiming for), so I won't experience such reeling reverse-culture shock. You know, there will be Korean culture, food, not as many people will think I'm strange for playing  KPOP or observing Chuseok or eating seaweed soup on my birthday.

So many friends of mine miss Korea, some of them come back, I think for me it would be too much. I would have a very tough time focusing on graduate school, and would just long to be back here. I hope OZ will be a nice middle ground: A place which contains a lot of Korea but at the same time allows me to study and do the work I so long to do. I can't teach any longer. My dreams are bigger than even this, but we'll just see how the next year plays out.

This has been a bit of a rambling post and definitely strayed from my purpose in writing. But, then again, that's how my spring has been. Unexpected and meandering. I will be posting more pictures on Flickr from this spring, bit by bit.

April was cold, rainy. May was cool, rainy. Today is sunny. But every day has in some way been great. Even though I basically want to quit my job all the time, I wish weeks and weekends wouldn't fly by like moments. As much as I hope my contract to be over right now, I really really don't want summer to come any sooner. But it will. Soon enough. Before I knew it, my cousins were married, pregnant, mothers and fathers; my aunts and uncles grandparents several times over; I am nearing 30. Before I know it, I will be. And I'll be a student again, instead of a teacher. And I'll be in another hemisphere yet again. Or at least I plan to be.

Tongyeong from the cable car

Geoje Island and others from Tongyeong cable car