The 1 Year List

Double blog post!!!

Ok, so I haven't done a list-type of post since I first got here, so I figured now would be a good time to do another. Here are some notes of interest that I've experienced in the past year:

Food:

Tteokbokki is definitely my favorite food. It's crazy spicy, but oh-so-good.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

1 year ago, I arrived in this beautiful country known as the "Land of the Morning Calm." I was feeling anything but calm that day. Nervous, anxious, excited, and a extremely tired--all of those things I was definitely feeling. I was embarking on a new point in my life; my first step into an actual career (not just a job to pay the bills) and a journey that would take me away from my family and friends who have been my support for years.

One thing you may or may not know about me: I don't like change.

Reinventing the reinvention. Or, Change.

Reinvent:1) to create anew and make over; 2) to bring back into existence

I think this adequately describes a lot of what I've been going through lately. I know that in my last post there was a lot of talk of change, and that did happen. But all too easily, I let myself slip back into my old pattern, and once again I found myself in a place I didn't want to be, even deeper than before.

This is tough, living out the life I feel God wants for me, when surrounded by things which are so easily a distraction to me. It's a lot more difficult than I can handle, more than I expected. And I can't do this on my own.

Grow Where You Are Planted

I've always loved that phrase. It guess it might have different meanings to people, but to me it means that no matter the circumstances, or where you are placed in life, you should make an attempt for growth and progress. Every situation is a learning opportunity. I've always believed that. The teacher side of me tries to instill that lesson in any person I encounter throughout life.

Korea has been full of opportunities for growth. But any situation where you are uprooted and moved 6000+ miles away from all you know is guaranteed to bring about growth. especially in these past few months, I've been learning a lot about myself.

Update!!!!!= Video Blog ftw!

Ok, so I fiiiiinally updated this thing. And look, it's a video post! Woot woot! Hopefully this will be my format from now on, and it'll be a whole lot more frequent.

My apologizes in advance for any rambling, and for mis-pronouncing your name Eva. I was pretty tired. So without further introduction: Video Blog #1!

Three Weeks Already?

Ok, so I apologize for just now getting to another blog post, it's been longer than I expected. I'll try not to ramble on too much.

It's been three weeks since I've been in Korea....that's weird for me to think about. Because really, it doesn't seem like it's been that long at all. I feel that I just arrived in Seoul last week. But then again, I also feel like I've been here for months, in the sense that I'm settled in and feel comfortable here. I've already passed the point of Korea being the longest time I've spent in another country. And I've got a long way to go. :)

Perseverance

And so it begins, another week of school.

This time is different than last, better, because the sounds of laughing and talking children now fill the halls again. I didn't realize how much I would miss not teaching last week, but I really did.Despite the fact that I've only got one day of teaching done since I've been here, it was so different, not having kids around the school last week. I mean, there were some good points, because I got to clean and organize my classroom in peace, but still, it just doesn't feel quite like a school without kids running around everywhere.

1 Week Down, 51 to Go?

Wow, I can't believe I've been here for a week already. I know it doesn't feel that way. I keep thinking I've only been here a few days. I mean, in the long run, 1 week is just a small portion of my year here, but being on my own in another country for 1 week is huge. All of my other foreign travels have been with fX, so I was with a group of people, all the time. And while it's a little unbelievable to know that a week has passed, I take it as a good sign. Time flies when you're having fun right? And yeah, I'm having a lot of fun here. I mean, I haven't done too much, in terms of stuff you would expect a tourist to do, but I've been completely enjoying my time here in Korea. If I haven't mentioned it before, Korea is already feeling like home to me. I can walk to the store and get what I need, without having to think about using a translator, I'm comfortable with going out and exploring the city on my own.

Today has been an interesting day. It's proven to me that I'm going to have to stay busy, so that I won't be preoccupied with thoughts of back home.

Let's start from the beginning. First, I slept though the whole night! I went to bed around 11pm and didn't wake up til my alarm went off at 7am. This is a big step on getting past my jet lag! Today was my scheduled day to go to Suwon and apply for my alien registration card. And since there are no classes this week, we had the whole day to do so.

The List

The title of this post is simple and straightforward. Basically, I was up at 3 am on Saturday (cause I wake up at 3 every morning, while still getting used to the time change) and I wrote up a list of things which I found interesting, or just discoveries over the past few days since I've been here. There is no certain order to it, I just wrote them as I thought of them. Enjoy!

1) All Koreans ask a lot of questions about you and you life when they first meet you.
2)No one gets up from the meal table until everyone is finished.
3)Don't start eating until the eldest person at the table has begun to eat.

The Teachers are Students as Well

Oh, two posts in one day...whoo hoo!

Ok, so while my first day of teaching isn't officially over, I have finished teaching my classes for the day. I had four classes to teach today, all third grade. It wasn't really that difficult at all, but there were still things I had to learn as the day went on. It's been interesting to see how different the classes act, based on their teacher instruction. One class that I taught today was amazingly well behaved. They were quiet when they needed to be, listened intently and followed direction from both me and their regular teacher. It was pretty awesome. The other classes were also good, but there was just a noticeable difference in the behavior of that one particular class.

Peace Like a River

I know that I have been horrible at updating this, but I promise to do  more in the future, especially since I am now in Anseong, S.Korea!!!

So I have a lot to catch up with, but can't really at the moment, because I am prepping for class. But I did want to put in a little tidbit about peace.

Yesterday was my first full day in Korea, and I spent the day at my school, meeting people and learning how the day runs. Shopping and other activites were also done (like a pretty expensive dr's appointment. ugh). All in all, I learned a lot of information over the course of the day.

Stuck

It really sucks being in that place, where you feel like you're not moving forward, yet you're not moving backwards either, you're stuck.

That's how I feel right now. The plan after the summer was to just spend a couple weeks at home, saying goodbyes and all that stuff, and head out for S.Korea. However, I've not been here for a month, and I still have no idea when I'm leaving. I hate this: being at home, not really having a job (cause I don't know when I'll be called out to leave), with no car, with all of my friends miles away, and just generally doing NOTHING.

Be Where They Are

Hello, my name is Pamela, and I'm a nomad.

I feel like this is a great way to introduce myself, not only to you, my internet audience but also to those I will meet in life. Let me explain:

In my 25 years of living, I've moved around, a lot. More than I would have liked to, but that was just the way that life has taken me. During my sophmore year at college, when I was meeting new people, one of my friends jokingly referred to me as a 'nomad.' We all laughed about it and it became this little phrase that I would use whenever someone asked me where I was from. I had no idea how true that description would be, of the life God has for me now, after university.