Halfway Home (Maybe)!!!

It has been about 2 months since my last post and I apologize to those of you back home who have told me you look forward to reading about my time here in South Korea.  I didn’t completely forget about my blog, but had other distractions which I used to justify my procrastination.  One such distraction was the discovery of the ability to catch up with my favorite television shows from back home.  I was able to download and watch the episodes I missed from the time I left the United States to the season finales from a few weeks ago.  Another distraction is my Kindle.  After the “newness” wore off, I didn’t use it much until I recently had a few books suggested to me for reading.  Of course, these suggestions are titles that are highly addictive and lead to me reading for hours on end without realizing how much time had passed.  The third distraction has been my Korean studies.  While I am definitely not fluent and do not even consider myself conversational at this point, I have made significant progress toward my goal of possessing the ability to hold a basic conversation at some point in the future. 

Anyway, excuses aside, today is my 6 month anniversary of my arrival in Changwon.  Time has certainly gone by quickly, but in a good way.  Reflecting back on my time here, I am satisfied with the way things have turned out.  I still have six months left to go, and a lot can change, but I am strongly considering teaching abroad for longer than one year. 

I don’t know exactly when it happened, but I am now over the adjustment period that comes with living in a new country.  For the first several months, living in Korea seemed surreal.  If anything, it felt like an extended vacation rather than actually living and working overseas.  I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I was living in working in a country on the other side of the world from the only home I ever knew.  Now, I often come and go without giving my surroundings a second thought.  I am used to being a minority and seeing the public places filled with 95% Korean people no longer seems unusual to me.  My Korean reading skills have improved greatly and thus getting around is no longer the chore it once used to be (though they took away the maps at the bus stops in an attempt to make my life more difficult).  The cultural differences are not as foreign to me as they once were.  Instead, I feel like I have been around these differences most of my life.  I do not mean to say that I never stop to think about where I am or what I am doing anymore, but these occurrences are less frequent.  Also, please don’t misinterpret this as to mean I do not miss home.  I do.  I miss family and friends (and pets), attending American sporting events, my Subaru Forester (though I do not mind not driving out here), inexpensive beer, American holidays, and last but not least, REAL PIZZA!!! 

Despite all that, I do not regret making the decision to come to Korea.  Life here has been pleasant.  I have settled into a routine and those of you who know me well know that I like routines.  I can never say enough about the very low stress levels of my job.  I no longer dread waking up each morning like I used to the last few year in the United States and I don’t mind Mondays either.  I’m not going to go as far as saying I like Mondays, but I don’t wake up Monday mornings with a tear-soaked pillow anymore!  If I can persuade a few of you back home to come join me out here, I would consider making Korea a permanent home.  (J/K…….or am I?)

Well, I am going to end this before it turns into a novel.  I have much more I can say about my time here and I have even had a few specific requests lately about things I should post so I will work on that in the near future so stay tuned.