First week home

Sorry the last post (first 24 hours) was kind of a bummer. I don't mean to make any of my family or friends here feel bad. It's just that I really felt like I belonged there. I fit in a way that I don't fit here. I had multiple social circles and my boss thought I was a genius for being me (which, of course he's right, but it's still nice to hear it).

I am already feeling less lonely. It could be because I am getting used to sleeping in a double instead of a twin bed, because I've had a case of Diet Coke, because I've seen some friends and my dog and my mom, because I've talked and/or texted cousins and friends or because it's been a week already.

It still doesn't feel like a week though. I haven't "accomplished" anything or done anything super exciting yet. At this point, I'm sort of deciding that I need a break and that this counts as my vacation. The possibility of going back to Korea is on the table for sure, but I'm just taking it slow and seeing where life takes me.

I will still try to update this blog, at least for awhile, because there are still some older posts I need to write and some pictures that will hopefully come soon to share. Plus, I like writing. Sometimes it lets me focus and pinpoint things that I can't do by talking or just thinking. And of course I know how much you all would miss me!

Last weekend in Jinju

This post is late because, as usual, I am waiting for some people to post pictures. I decided to go ahead without some of the them, and I will just add the pictures to another photo round-up (hopefully in the near future, although since I've repeatedly asked for the pictures and I still don't have them, who knows when you will actually see them).

Saturday morning I got up early because I couldn't sleep. I didn't sleep well all week because I was nervous about packing/leaving plus stressing about things that I have no control over right now like the future and jobs/insurance/bills/money and all that crap. So I did some more cleaning, then met Dallas for breakfast at Paris Baguette where I ate a chicken salad.

After breakfast we went to Angel in Us and had coffee then went for massages. A friend of mine told me about a Thai massage place near my school. On Thursday I went to see if I could make appointments for us because I knew Dallas wanted one too. I walked in and they asked if I wanted a massage right then, I said no, we sort of worked out some details for a 10am appointment but as I was leaving I heard rapid fire Asian (still not sure if it was Korean or Thai) and thought I should pop my head back in. That's when they figured out they don't open until 12 on Saturdays. So I said 12 was fine. They didn't write anything down, so I was a bit skeptical. But when we showed up, they recognized me, said hi. Then they looked at us and decided we wanted a couples massage, so they put us in the room together. We had talked about it before and were wondering if that would happen. Luckily neither of us cared that much. They gave us shorts and t-shirts to wear instead of being under blankets, and honestly I think I would have rather just been in underwear. Especially since half way through they take off your shirt anyway, which they put back on again before you flip over to your back. They did different stuff to me and Dallas. He has more knots than I do and his lady punched him a couple of times. She also did some weird twists and spine cracking things, but I think my lady realized I do not bend that way. They were really nice massages, but I bruise like a peach apparently because I have clear thumb print marks above my butt and a couple of small ones on my arms. Still worth it.

After massages we met up with Josh at emart and Dallas got some food. Then we met up with Anna and the four of us went to Jinju castle. I had never been charged to go to the castle before, but this time they made us pay. Apparently if you show your resident card, you don't have to pay, but we didn't know. It was only like $1 so I just paid it. We got to watch a reenactment of something (changing of the guard or capture of Japanese people or getting a new general - we had no idea and it was all in Korean). Then they did some weapons demonstrations which were pretty cool.

Me and one of the musicians who played a shell - look at his hands!

Josh and the guy we dubbed "black ninja"

Anna, me and some dressed up dudes. They were excited about taking pictures with us.

After taking pictures with some of the people dressed up, we walked around part of the castle and took more pictures, including some on Nongae's rock. Then we walked to the fat buddha and took more pictures. Then we walked to the other side of the river and tried to find a convenience store that sold aloe water for Josh. We found a random temple apartment building and got stared at by lots of Koreans. Anna got cranky at that point and her feet were hurting, so she took a cab home.

Dallas "climbing" the castle wall

Our reenactment of Nongae and the Japanese general

Anna, me and Buddha (I can't believe it took over a year before I got a picture of him)

Anna and a Jinju memorial statue for peace or equality or something

Anna bought me that Power Rangers balloon/pinwheel. Then we made Dallas run after some kid with a broken arm and give it to him.

Dallas walking and dancing

View of the Nam River from the bridge closest to the castle

Josh and the random temple gate. Complete with guards with "chocolate stomachs"

The boys and I went to the bamboo forest, which was on my bucket list of Jinju. the only time I'd gone there was during lantern festival, so I wanted to see it not lanterned. We took lots of random pictures, ate some lollipops with unusual flavors and met up with Caleb. It was a great afternoon. I love hanging out with Josh and Dallas and Caleb fit in with them pretty well. Then we went for dinner at a noodle/soup/dumpling place. Only Dallas and I ate though. Then we walked downtown to a theater because friends of ours were performing in and/or directing "The Vagina Monologues". I was kind of gross at this point because I didn't have time to change my clothes or shower again, but whatever. Now I know to pack an extra shirt in Dallas's backpack.

Path through the "forest"

Me and the Nam river from the bridge close to the musical fountain

Caleb left at that point because he didn't want to watch the play or go to the after party bar because he doesn't like it. Josh was helping out, so he had to run inside. Dallas and I waited outside for a bit and chatted with people. I noticed that I had somehow lost an earring. He was tired and not really looking forward to hearing about vaginas for 2 hours, but luckily the play was really really good and he ended up in a decent mood.

Anna doing her monologue which was sad

Caroline doing her monologue which was funny and kind of uplifting

Bows at the end

Then the vast majority of performers and audience went to Beast Bar for a few hours. We played darts, danced, drank, laughed a lot and had a lot of awful pictures taken (don't people know they need to edit - it's called cropping and it's not that hard!!??). Then we moved on to singing. About 30 people (possibly more) went to a norebang, but we slipped out, had some people go inside and pull out some others and went to a different place. During this time, we ate some toast from the street lady and Anna and Dallas performed a street dance to a Lady Gaga song. Our group ended up being about 12 people which is a great size.

One of the awful pictures except that I love it of me and Josh because it captures how we are

Anna and Dallas "dancing"

We sang a bunch (for 2 hours). John and I got some of duets in, which made me happy. Dallas and I got in a bit of a fight because I was being a jerk (which I don't remember, but I can believe because I sometimes do that to him) and then he wouldn't talk to me so I got mad at him. Then everyone left (it was a little after 4 at this point) and went home. I was sad because of our fight and because it was my last night with most of those people etc. so I cried for a little while then ended up getting about 3 hours of sleep.

John singing

I'm not really sure what's happening here

I woke up and cleaned/packed some more, did some other email type things and went to Dallas's house and woke him up at 11 to talk about it. We figured out we were both being annoying, then took a nap and watched cheesy videos. He cleaned up his apartment and we went to Daiso for some last minute shopping. Then we went back to my apartment and Anna met us there. I cleaned out my fridge and cabinets and gave them most of my food. Dallas took a nap and Anna and I talked for awhile. Then we met up with Mike and had dinner at the new bbq place. We were all really full, but decided the best thing to do would be to go bowling! Jon and Lindi met us there and it was a great time. Anna, Mike and Jon were a team and Dallas, Lindi and I were the other. Our team won twice and theirs won the last game. It was a perfect ending.

Mikey got a turkey!

We all said goodbye then I walked back to Dallas's with him and Mike and said bye to Mike. Then Dallas came back to my apartment. It took me about an hour to totally finish packing and cleaning. I showered and he wrote some letters home to his family. Then he held my hand and we went to sleep. I will seriously miss a huge group of people. I wish them nothing but the best and I hope our paths cross again.

Trip home and the first 24 hours

I'm home. The trip was long. Dallas helped me carry stuff to a cab, I dropped him off at his apartment and got on an 8:30 bus to Seoul. I stupidly took the express bus and when I got to Seoul semi-figured out that there wasn't a bus to the airport, or at least I couldn't find it. I dropped all my bags and wandered for a little bit trying to find a ticket counter. Then I just gave up and spend $60 on a cab directly to the airport. I think it was a good decision.

Then I wandered around the airport trying to find the Delta counter. Turns out that Delta and Air France share the same space, but it didn't become Delta until 2:30. It was kind of annoying. I had checked in on-line the night before, but I wanted to make sure everything with my bags would be ok so I waited in line. It moved pretty quick and everything worked out fine. Then I had to take a weird shuttle bus to another terminal and got to my gate with about 2 hours to spare. The airport is nice and has free wifi so I was able to skype with Dallas for about 5 minutes before my laptop battery died and then talk to him and Cindy on facebook for a bit.

The plane ride wasn't too bad. I was in a middle seat on the right side of the plane (B), next to a Korean guy who didn't speak English and another Korean guy who has lived in Canada for the last 40 years or something. Turns out he went to UGA for his masters in microbiology and then worked in the Canadian version of the CDC or something. He was very nice and kept ordering large red wines which made me laugh. The flight was 13 hours and I slept for maybe 30 minutes of it. I ended up watching about 6 or 7 movies. I had already seen all of them (except Dolphin Tale, which don't ask) but couldn't really concentrate on anything so I wanted things I already knew. The flight ended up getting delayed because of wind and we got in 45 minutes late.

This doesn't sound like a big deal except that I only had 2 hours to get to my connecting flight and this moved it down to just over an hour. We landed in Detroit and since this was the first stop in the US, this is where we went through immigration and customs. This took over an hour as well and when I finally got my bags and cleared everything, I had 10 minutes to get to my flight. They sent me to talk to another lady because my gate was on the other side of the airport. I had been awake for 24 hours at this point and just wanted to be home. She told me there was no way for me to get on that flight, that there were no more flights to Atlanta that evening, so that basically I would be stuck in Detroit for the night. This is when I started to tear up. She gave me a hotel voucher, showed me where to go and was very nice about everything. But still, it was frustrating.

So I took a shuttle to the hotel, checked in, called my mom and told her the situation, took a shower and went to sleep. I got up at 4 to catch a shuttle back to the airport for my 6 am flight. My bags had been checked the night before so thankfully I didn't have to lug them with me. I also had an entire row to myself which was awesome and I slept for maybe 30 minutes on the ride down.

Sunrise on the plane from Detroit to Atlanta

My mom met me at the airport and after the 45 minute or so car ride, I was home. Layla recognized me and has been following me around since I got home. My jet lag isn't too bad but I'm still a little off. The hardest part is that I just feel lost.

First 24 hours home:
My mom told me about her new crush on Zac Effron
I super glued my finger to a mug
My mom told me my purse made me look like a tramp (as in hobo not whore) and to throw it out
I opened Christmas presents (thanks guys!)
My mom told me my boobs looked smaller and that I needed to get pregnant so they'd be big again
I drove to the library in my pajamas
I ate steak and salad and watched Jeopardy

First dinner home

It's Thursday morning here now. I've been out of Korea for 3 days and already I feel the separation. I know I can't expect people to feel like me and have that need to be connected all the time. They have jobs and the regular activities that I was part of while I was there. I don't really know what I expected, all I know is that I feel an incredible sense of loneliness right now. It will get better, I know. I will see more of my family and my friends and I'll soon be surrounded by people again, but right now, I'm sad.

Unpacking - within 5 minutes the cat was already in the suitcase

I that's not even counting all the other crazy things going through my head, like jobs and the future and life etc.! Ok, time to get out of my head...

Last week in SK (Monday-Friday)

This week has been so strange. I didn't know what to expect for my last week, but it's just been anti-climatic in some areas and then odd in others. Basically I am the queen of awkward goodbyes.

Sunday was my last day at church and I posted about that already. So I said goodbye to a brig group of people, not really expecting to see them again.

On Monday - crap, I can't even remember what I did and it's only been a week.

Tuesday was my last bible study at IEC. The lesson was good, but I will have lots of homework to do to keep up with the class from here. The ladies there are super nice and 3 of them bought me going away presents. I often feel awkward when people buy me stuff and this was no exception. All the gifts were really sweet though and I will miss that group.

After bible study I had coffee with one of my co-workers. She and I have been having coffee maybe once of month or so. We talk about TV shows and culture differences etc. and she asks me questions about pronunciation and grammar. It's really nice. We went to a place called Zoo coffee and it's in the same place O'Taco used to be. The funniest thing is that it's on a corner and 2 other corners of the same intersection also have coffee shops. They have redecorated with lots of jungle print and stuffed animals. Then I had school as usual. In my lowest class we made Valentines cards. I wish I had had my camera because they wrote cards to each other and they were so cute. John and David wrote each other cards saying they loved each other and Sally and Emma wrote each other cards saying Be mine. I made Dallas and Anna cards, but my kids stole them.

I am pretty sure that I did something on Tuesday night (most likely with Dallas), but I have no idea what it was. I do remember that we didn't have very many kids at the night classes though. We possibly watched "Hercules", but that could have been on another day.


Wednesday I had lunch with Keung He and Reagan at the chicken place downtown. We had a little different lunch than we usually have there, but it was still good. Then we had coffee and chatted for awhile. It was sad saying goodbye to Keung He because she has been probably my best Korean friend. Luckily she has skype and we've already messaged once. I hope she still asks me English questions because it's interesting to get her perspective on some of our weird grammar or idioms.

School on Wednesday was very weird. Morning classes were about the same as usual, but at night we have 15-18 students on average, but there were only 2 there! And of course one of them had to be in my last class so I had to stay. He was bored as crap too. The other kids weren't there because they are studying for their school mid-term exams.

Goodbye letter from Emily

After school I went with a huge group of people (11 in all I think, which was funny because it started out as 3) to see "The Avengers". I ended up sitting next to Josh, which was awesome because he is my twin and the 2 of us laughed throughout the movie at places where nobody else did. Sometimes it was because we just have strange senses of humor, sometimes it was because we were the only 2 people old enough in the theater to understand the references! The movie was great though and I will probably buy it.

On Thursday Jamie came over and helped me clean/organize my room a little bit. She says she likes to clean and because she knows Corrine (who took over for me) she wanted her to have a clean room. I did get a bunch of stuff done while Jamie (and Olivia) was there, but I'm afraid the house wasn't totally clean for Corrine (sorry!!). After cleaning, we had lunch at one of the Vietnamese places. I got pad thai and Jamie has pho. It was another awkward goodbye because neither of us wanted to cry, so she hopped in a cab and I walked to school! I will really miss the Current family alot. They have had a huge influence on my life, both spiritually and emotionally.

This was my last day for T-Th kids, so it was nice being able to say goodbye, but also strange. One my classes asked for a test (on the last day) and then we talked for awhile. We made Halloween masks in my next afternoon class and my last one we finished up their book and played a game. Night classes were a bit stranger because some kids were missing and nobody was very talkative.

99B (minus Sophia) - Alice, Tony, Mary, Julie - one of my favorite classes

97 - David and John making Halloween masks

97 - Emma tracing Sally's face to make a mask. I actually laughed out loud when I looked up and saw them doing this.

Thursday night is of course bowling night. My last class was canceled and I went to Dallas's, then we went to the kimbap place and met up with Anna and Mikey. Jon, Lindi and Madia came and brought me presents even though I told people not to! Then a few other people showed up and we ended up with about 12 -13 people. It was fun, but sad at the same time. Everyone had an awful night of scores though and we put it down to depression about my leaving. Dallas and I were really tired, but we stuck it out and left around 1ish (I think). Emma walked home with us and got confused because Dallas lives in the other direction - it was kind of funny.

We couldn't fit all the balls on the thing

The black team. When the first 8 of us got there and took off jackets, we discovered that 4 people were in black. That made team division really easy.

Then Dallas took off his shirt and had a purple one under it, so we ended  up being team purple. We took a picture of just me and Dallas but we both look awful in it.

What typically ends up happening at bowling night - Dirty Dancing reenactments

And mock fights

Jon and Nono just celebrated their 1 year anniversary. I took a sneaky picture and then they turned so I couldn't get a better one. They are super cute together!

Friday was a hard day. I was supposed to meet my coworker for lunch, then go to one of Dallas's classes that got switched so that I could see one of my kids. His class ended up not being switched, so I didn't get to see her and on the way to meet my co-worker, she called to tell me her dad was in the hospital so she couldn't come. Luckily Anna had the day off, so I was able to meet up with her.

While I was waiting for her, I went to a coffee shop and 3 random guys came over and talked to me. They asked all kinds of questions, sort of hit on me, took my picture and offered me a job in Seoul. Thankfully Anna showed up at that point and we could leave! We had lunch at Pasta Buono and got chicken salads (with blueberry dressing) and split a pizza which wasn't very good. Then we went shopping for random crap and got coffees. I had to leave then to go meet Dallas. We just hung out in his classroom and watched part of a movie. Then I went to the bank, ran some other last minute errands, got munchkins for my co-workers and headed to work.

Yum

The last day of work was really sad. The kids were nice, but they are used to having new teachers and were kind of just like "bye", except for my first class where everyone wanted my email and skype stuff and drew me pictures. My boss was super sweet and hugged me and gave me all his contact info in case I want to go back (which I kind of do). As I was leaving, one of the students who missed the final exam came in. I was kind of annoyed because I didn't want to wait around for an hour for him to take the test and then to grade it. Luckily I only had to give him the listening and speaking parts and my boss graded the rest. I made it to Dallas's house before I started crying. That's when it hit me that I was actually leaving. I took everything from my desk, I wasn't coming back, I was never going to climb the steps to that building again. He just hugged me and let me cry for awhile.

Then we went down town and had soup for dinner (which I wanted to eat before I left), went shopping for a bit, then went shopping at another area for his niece's birthday present. I met up with a bunch of IEC people to say a final farewell (which I think was my 4th good bye to some of them) at Holly's coffee. We closed down the coffee shop, then 3 of them (Heejin, Eugene and Seth) walked me home. It was very sweet of them and a great way to say bye. I will miss everyone there very very much. I got home, did a little bit more packing and went to bed.

The weekend will be another post coming soon.