This place is awesome!

I swear there is a reason that it's been a while since I've posted. I've been getting used to my environment. Finding my way around town, getting the stuff I need to get in and out of Seoul, figuring out how to spend my money so I don't run out before I get paid, and generally getting into the Rhythm of this place has been pretty time and energy consuming.

It seems that this town has become quickly comfortable, even though much of it is alien and difficult. Going it alone has presented both challenges and payoffs in the last week or so. I've had a lot of low moments where I've questioned my decision to come here and do this job wth no training and little if any guidance in terms of how to find a social niche, and those times have been particularly poignant when it's 3am in the States and all of the people I would have talked to about it are asleep. However, those moments have been completely offset by fantastic encounters and experiences that would have been impossible had I not made this leap. From being welcomed to Korea by a smiling Buddhist monk on the street who didn't speak a word of English to meeting up with Internet people who go ridiculously and quite literally out of their way to be helpful (thanks Liz, I had a blast!), to my first drag show experience outside of the station (which I will post as soon as I upload it), to a last minute day trip into Seoul to a beautiful park and a crushingly crowded shopping district full of Waegookin of all races.

I have to give a shout out to the expat community here who have been my lifeline and have been more helpful than I could possibly have hoped as well as the immensely friendly Koreans who have endless patience with my fumbling about. You don't really think about the simple things that you don't know, like how to find a restaurant that will let you eat alone, or where you go to get groceries or how to operate your washing machine which is, of course, completely labeled in Korean until you're starving and have no clean underwear.

I've adopted a new idea for myself: Born Lucky. I have no idea how I managed to stumble into a situation where many of the hardships other teachers have faced have completely passed me by, but I'm taking it as a confirmation from the universe that this is in fact a good road for me to be on, and while I miss my friends and family terribly, I'm very happy here which is a new experience for me.

I'll talk more about some of these things later, but this has gotten long enough and I have to sleep so I can get up at 530 am.

See you on the Dark Side