We'll be back

I had all these grandiose plans of posting every day while in Thailand. Well, that turned out well... I leave Thailand tonight. Just so you know, my computer finally died. There's a plan to fix it in the works, but no guarantees. I do plan on updating soon, but please bear with me while I try to get settled in. In not even 72 hours I'll be back in the States! Crazy! I'll be seeing you soon!

Korea: Two Years in Four Minutes

And just in case you wanted to watch this on your phone, too:

The last bite of Korea

So remember how I said I made a quick trip to America? 

Well, I got off the plane and got on a bus.

I got off the bus and got in a taxi.

I got out of the taxi and did this. (So please excuse how tired and unmade I look.)

Goodbye, Korea

It's so hard to believe that two years (and one month) have come to an end.  It's crazy to think that in that short of a time I would have come to identify myself with a culture so distinctly different from the one into which I was born.  However, at the same time, I don't really fit there either.

Ever since I got my passport, I've felt my culture slipping away from me.  But never have I felt more like a cultural island than I do now.  I don't really find this to be a bad thing; I like the culture I've created for myself, gleaning from all of those that I've visited.  But it's going to be interesting when I enter back into America, where people will be expecting me to pick back up the American culture.  See, one of the joys of being waygookin is that there isn't very much that's expected of me.  For the most part, I'm free to be whatever I want.  I'm not sure how I'm going to react to being back in the States when that is gone.

Because here's the thing.

The plan has changed.

This doesn't surprise me, because the plan was based on Korean culture, in which things are likely to change drastically, even in the middle of implementation, but it will probably surprise those of you who are unused to Korean culture.

A couple of weeks ago, I found out that, due to governmental reasons in India, I would be unable to take up my position there.  At the same time, I was offered a missionary position in Australia, working with Aboriginal children.  As my pastor explained it to me, I became more and more disheartened by the prospect.  They're a group of children that have grown up in an environment that puts no emphasis on education, due to government hand-outs.  The stipends are actually large enough that the people don't really need to value education.  The community is also riddled with drug and alcohol abuse.  My pastor asked me to go and join the effort to convince this community of the value of education, a feat that has been attempted by many and successful by none, save the minimal progress our church has made.  In short, it sounded like all the things I like least about teaching.

With a clenched stomach, I asked my pastor for time to pray about it, and he gave me two weeks.

As many of you probably know by now, during that time, I made a quick trip back to the US.  I was overwhelmed by a desire to be there before I had to make the choice.  In the past, I have always felt trapped in the US, to the point that my family and I have assumed for many years that I would be spending all of my adult life living outside of the States.  Nevertheless, in the past months, I have been growing increasingly homesick.  I didn't mention it, chalking it up to this factor or that factor, but it didn't go away.  I wanted to see if it would if I stepped foot in the mother country, and all the opportunities lined up for me to do just that.  I found an incredibly cheap plane ticket.  Appointments got canceled (without my doing so).  Schedules were rearranged.  And I found myself on a flight back to Nashville.

As soon as I saw the city unfurl beneath the plane, I had my answer.  I've never felt like I had a home before, but seeing that city... I knew I finally had one.  I was so giddy I started giggling and bouncing my legs in excitement.  But I was reluctant to admit I had my answer.  I knew what I wanted, but I needed to make sure it lined up with what G-d wanted.  So I waited and prayed.

As much as everything went right in preparation for the trip, everything went wrong while I was there.  And yet, I was still overwhelmed with peace and excitement when I thought about moving back.  In the end, I gave into it, and though I felt frustrated with many things happening around me, I could center myself in knowing that I was on the right path in my decision to return to the States.

Upon my return to Korea, I spent the greater part of my first morning back in bed, mulling over my trip and my decision... and praying.  Oh, how I prayed!  And, suddenly, a plan washed over me... It was like it was being shown to me in its completeness rather than developing as I laid there.

It is now my intention to go to graduate school to pursue a masters in Music Therapy with the ultimate goal of opening the Jim Foglesong Center for Fine Arts, which will be both a fine arts school and therapy center.  I have so many ideas for it that I could write and write about it, but I think I'd overwhelm you all, so I'll save that for another time.

The moral of the story is this: I'm coming back, and I know that I am on G-d's path.  I don't know if that path will end where I think it will right now, but I do know that it's the right one.

Incidentally, this also means that I will have to make severe cuts to my travel plans, as I need to be preparing for an audition on December 7.

Thank you for all of your love and support.

New beginnings...

The End

It's been one week since I finished at my school...and I've gone back there three times anyway for various reasons.  Clearly I'm not good at this not working there anymore thing.  My kids get excited/upset every time they see me.  "Byeee, Teachah!  I miss you!  You miss me?  You sad, Teachah?"  And... the most uncomfortable of the encounters: "Teachah, you know my name?"  I totally missed the mark on that goal.

I've spent the majority of this week finishing up a project that I promise you will hear more about in the coming days.  Stay tuned, because this is a big big deal, but I'll give you a hint:

You're going to want to do this.

I now have two weeks before I head to Thailand, which means it's a month and a half before I hit the States.  Within that time, I still need to pack, sell most of my possessions, sing one more time at churhc, move out of my apartment (and crash at friends' homes for a week), send directions to my school to my boss, attend/tech a friend's wedding, and manage to get a goodbye event in there somewhere.  It is going to be a packed couple of weeks.

To be honest, this all seems a bit anti-climatic.  I think that's mostly because I was just on vacation, doing a lot of the same stuff I'm doing right now.  I'm not sure it's really hit me yet that I'm leaving... I'm not sure it ever will.  Life does that sometimes... smooth transitions, I mean.  I've had two legitimate job offers to keep me in this city, though, which are somewhat tempting, but only in the sense that change is scary.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll come back some day, but, for now, I know that it is definitely time to move forward.  I'm looking forward to the adventures on the horizon, and will, as always, keep you informed.

And we're back!

School is back on... for two weeks.  And then I'm done teaching (at least in Korea... for now).   Crazy.

The child standing on the chair was the sweet baby who
had to spend the rest of the day with plastic in his ear.
We weren't allowed to send the poor kid home, but that's
how it falls sometimes.

Vacation was pretty straight-forward.  I stayed in Cheonan after the unfortunate need to cancel Italy, and taught a week of extra classes at my old Saturday School.  The kids were cute, but - oh man - I'm so glad I normally teach middle school.  I had one first grader (American kindergartner) shove a straw wrapper so far down his ear that I couldn't see it anymore by the time I got to him to try and stop him.  Those little babies cannot and should not sit still for two hours.  Good grief, planning team.  I promptly disregarded my instructions to give them lots of worksheets and planned a lot of games and songs.  We also read some books, which I borrowed from my first school, and made some great projects, like our very own Big, Green Monsters.  (I really like this book for teaching.  It's good with the littles for

The kids bigger than her were allowed to
use scissors to cut out their body parts.

body parts and colors, and it's made even better, because you revive it when they get older to teach other adjectives.  Every page follows this form: He has [adjective], [color] body part.  Each series is stated twice in the book; the reinforcement is really nice.)

Hanging around Cheonan turned out to be a better break than I expected.  It was nice to not have to deal with the stress of planning everything and getting to the airport on time.  I also got to sleep in without worrying about wasting my time in the country... Since this is the country I live in (Wow... I just started typing this is my country) and all.  I do have a couple more places I think I should see before I leave, but I won't be too fussed if I don't.

One of the perks of greatly preferring running with her over running alone.  She makes me wish I had a dog of my own, though I know that's not feasible right now, what will all the moving around I'm getting ready to do.  (Also, I feel really irresponsible saying this, but it's awfully nice being able to sleep in on my non-running mornings, and I couldn't really do that if I had a dog... So I'll just borrow them for now.  Hehe)

Uma

staying home is that I could pet sit for my friend.  I've felt bad having people pet sit for Bunny, but never being able to return the favor for them, but now I've at least been able to pay it forward.  Not to mention, I loved getting to spend time with sweet Uma.  Uma has proved very helpful in my recent endeavor into running.  She only has three legs, but she has managed to keep up with me pretty decently.  I'm not sure if that's more of a testament to her running ability or my lack thereof, but I do know that I

As for the running commitment, I know that many of you are probably checking outside for other signs of the apocalypse, but I promise you I'm serious.  I chased down a bus a couple of weeks ago and liked it so much that I thought I'd give it a serious go, using the 0-5K app my friend showed me for my iPhone.  Another friend recently turned me on to a site that helps people get serious about the goals they set for themselves.  I'm not sure this is actually the site she was meaning, but I ended up making a contract on stickK.com.  Basically, I and a sponsor report my progress each week, and if I miss my goal, I pay money to an anti-charity of my choosing.  Sadly, Westboro Baptist wasn't an option on that list.  I really wish it was, because I'm pretty sure every person I know would get on me to make sure I don't give them any money.  If you want to keep tabs on my progress and offer me encouragement along the way, please join my commitment as a Supporter by clicking here.  I'm already feeling so much better and confident because of this, and it's only been a week.  The program suggests taking break days from working out, but I hate the thought of that... partially because I have a hard time with gray zones and partially because I really like how I feel after the work-outs.  Sooooo I do what I want. Haha.

Finally, the heat wave through Korea has been so bad that my school is started 30 minutes earlier each day and classes are 5 minutes shorter.  People have been using so much air conditioning that the government is warning about impending national blackouts.  Now, personally, I think that turning the AC on at school, where a bunch of people are all in one room would use less electricity than sending everyone home and having them turn it on in their private homes, but perhaps I'm wrong.  Nevertheless, it's a very welcome change for me from the frigid winters here.  I'll take heatwave over ice storm any day of the year.

For now, I think that constitutes an adequate update.  I'll see you (America friends) in 72 days. :)

Goodbye Time Again

These are growing outside of
my school.  It must be a sign
(seeing as how they're my
favorites).

I've been saying goodbye to a lot of my kids today, and it was so hard!  I'm sure I'll see them around after summer break, but I won't teach them anymore, because it's a new semester after the summer.  Today, my last class was full of all of my favorites, who I've taught the whole time I've been at this school (simply by luck of the draw).  I suddenly am realizing how hard it's going to be for me to leave Korea.  I love these kids (and this school) so much.  

Let me show you a snippet of what's been going on today.

I've been teaching a music class during my lunchtime recently.

Today, the schedule switched up a bit, and we got done early, so I popped in next door.

There, I found several of the students I had taught for the last time in the class before lunch.

They also are students I've had for a whole year now.

They played me the song "Payphone" by Maroon 5, mostly because I told them I liked it so much, but a bit because it was a little fitting.

It was at this moment that it became impossible for me to get through my next class without crying.

Luckily, the kids in my next class got a bit crazy, making it easier for me to keep my cool (after I lost it trying to start class).

This is what it looks like when I'm teaching my kids how to order food in English.

But this kid, he put a smile back on my face.

He's crazy, but I love him, and he knows that.

It's hard for me to leave them, but if I can be smiling as I do so, well, then I'll feel I did a good job.  Unless I'm smiling out of relief... that wouldn't be a good feeling.  But I really don't think that's how it's going to be.  I think it's going to be one of those bittersweet smiles, where I'm leaving, but I'm happy, because I know that I somehow managed to make these kids' lives better because I was there.  That's what I hope.