May

Ok, well here we are. I'm just settling in to the groove in my new job with a medical supply company. I work 8-4 Monday to Friday, I like what I do, and it keeps me busy. Speaking of busy, Andy and I have a lot of summer things planned! I just had my birthday, then next weekend will be Mother's Day so I'm traveling up to Bemidji to see Lois, then the 19th I'm going to WI to spend some lovely time with my mom's side of the family, for my aunt Jan and uncle Lou's 50th wedding anniversary & family reunion.  The very next weekend is Memorial Day, bringing 4 days of camping at our friend's farm, then Andy and I are going to be made up as zombies for the Run for Your Lives. This will be one epic weekend. On top of a couple others. Wow.

This is all in lead up to a training ride and the 4-day, heart-string-tugging Red Ribbon Ride. This will be July 19-22 this summer, and this year I've got a partner. Andy and I are going to be doing this Ride together. This is a big year for me because of this, and also because it is the first year I've been back in the US for the Ride since 2006. This year is the 10th anniversary ride and I feel it's going to be a very powerful time. Andy and I are on the Crew, hoping for First Aid but willing to do anything, anything to help.

I would like to have you look at my personal page for fundraising, if you're willing to do anything to help. $5? Anything. I'm raising money to support all the amazing volunteer efforts of those who are willing to give their time and manpower all throughout the year, and most of all to support those Minnesotans suffering from HIV and AIDS who need our help.

My Dream US Road Trip

So. As you can guess, I'm feeling some severe wanderlust. I have been settled in Minneapolis now for almost 4 months, have had an apartment for 3, a job for 1, and haven't been on a plane or train in far too long! In Korea, I'd be traveling to a new city at least every month, especially in beautiful spring.

The product of my homesickness for travel is this insane plan for a huge road trip around the Southern US. There are a lot of places I've been in this country, from Boston to Seattle, San Diego to Big Sky... but a vast area south of the Ozarks remains to be discovered. Also, I have friends moving back from Korea in droves to places like Auburn, Lubbock, and Lincoln and I'd love the chance to see them again.

The drive itself, without stops, would take nearly 3 days. Of course I'd need to stop to sleep, eat, sightsee and visit, so I'm looking at... 3 weeks?? Well, yeah, right. Like I could take that kind of time off work. But a girl can dream :)



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Over The Ocean. Again.

A short update is better than no update. This has to be my new mantra, so you can feel like there might be something to see here next time you come by. It's my New Year's Resolution, if you'll stick with me :)

So, in my last post, I summarized 95% of my trip back to the US and I had just returned to Korea, enrolled in an intensive Korean language course, and planned to live in a glorified closet for $200/month. Most of you know how well that went, or didn't.

I was drowning in the classes, and I was only in level 2!! What was I going to do? I had the option of dropping to level 1, but I knew the material from the first few weeks of that level: phonics and the alphabet; simple present, past, and (a little) future tense grammar; basic everyday vocabulary... what a waste of my time and money that would have been. But level 2 had started with conditional past and future tense - might have been/might be/might try to be - and that was all just the first 2 days! (@.@) The instructor could tell I was way behind, so she'd not ask me to give examples or present my work until last, if at all, so I rarely got to practice.

So my second option would be try not to feel completely worthless in the 5 hour/day classes, work twice as hard/long on my homework, seek out a tutor (not free), along with teaching English privately to support myself. There just weren't enough hours in the day for this kind of work. The classes are intensive and fast-paced, even for those who come from level 1, i.e. are in the appropriate level course.

This leads me to my third option. I came to this conclusion while talking with 2 Japanese girls in my class who have Korean boyfriends and so want to make a life in Korea. I had thought that life was what I wanted, and eventually maybe I could open a restaurant and put my language skills to work... but... the more I talked with these girls, the more I realized I did not want to conduct my entire life in a foreign language. I had washed out.

I was told weeks earlier by many people that it was FAR different to study and live in Korea than it was to be an English teacher there, and I had waved them off. I mean, I had been living there for 5 years! I thought I knew what it might be like. But, I didn't. They were right. So, I quickly had a decision to make. The sooner I quit my class, the greater percentage of my tuition fee I could recoup, and I needed that money if I was to follow my third plan. I went to the office, filed my paperwork for withdrawal, and turned that money around into a plane ticket back to Minnesota.

Wow.

So within the first week, I had decided I couldn't make it. (Well, I'd been back for over 3 weeks, but hadn't been in the course long at all!) I was back in Minnesota by Christmas.

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.