South Korea: The end.

Wow! I seriously can't believe I'm writing this post...my year in Korea is almost over and that's absolutely insane! To be honest, this ending isn't sad, happy, strange, or bittersweet. It's just simply time to go...and I'm ready. When I came to Korea I honestly didn't put that much thought into it. It wasn't until mid July that I even thought about the idea and applied AND I didn't take the idea seriously until the first weekend in August. I remember that weekend I went to go visit Dan LeClaire down in Florida because he was performing there. And I was talking to all his castmates and we were talking about jobs, life, money, etc. and I thought, uhhhh, I have to move out of my brother's house in 2 weeks and I don't have a firm plan. So that kicked me into gear. I really didn't care about moving to Korea, it's just that Katie was there and it seemed like a good way to dive into the real world without going through the usual transition a college kid does. I don't know why I was so scared of that but the economy, job search, apt hunting, city location, etc. was really stressing me out so I took a quick but GIANT leap of faith. A week later I had my interview (as I was watching the Olympics on TV haha), got my visa the following week, and by the time I had caught my breath I was on the airplane en route to Korea and I thought, "Oh no! Maureen, what did you do?" Seriously, that plane ride was not very fun, I definitely thought I could have possibly made a mistake but I was also comforted by the knowledge that life just usually works out. And it did. So, that is the honest reason I came to Korea. My intentions for going were a mixture of adventure, immaturity, a need for a solid job opportunity, and my friend was there.

So, a year later, knowing everything I know now, I'm honestly not sure I would do it again. But isn't it great that we don't have a fast forward button in life, because then we're never tempted to look ahead and think, oh no, that's not for me. With that said, professionally I have grown so much in Seoul. Working at Jamsil Middle School was a great, slow transition into the classroom but teaching AP US History at Seoul Global High School was the opportunity of a LIFETIME and that would have never been made available to me had I not come to Seoul. Teaching at a very well respected international school was the best thing to happen to me in Korea by far and I'm completely flattered and insanely grateful that the international director had enough faith to hire me. And my students were just simply AMAZING...one girl actually wrote me the most sincere and hysterical three page letter on my last day. However, I will NOT miss my 14 hour work days with a total of three hours commuting (completely falling asleep on subway trains has become quite normal).

As far as the rest of my life in Seoul, I won't miss much about the city itself (beside radish kimchi and the FANTASTIC eye makeup) but my friends I will miss oh so much. The teaching community in Seoul is a little different but my three really good, true friends in Seoul I am so thankful for. They are great. I will miss them so much. See, that's the hard part. We are not people studying abroad. We are people of all ages from many countries living and working abroad. Therefore, we are all at VERY different places in our lives, and I know that not all of these relationships will last, even the ones that I think will might fizzle too. But that's OK. Because for this year these people (no matter how different, frustrating, loving, etc.) were my outlet and my life. NOBODY had family in this country so our entire lives outside the workday were each other....and that can sometimes be great...and a little too much as well. But like I said, the three most important friends I met here will just be blessings in my life forever. Just like all of you reading this :)

So, to sum up my year. I spent probably 6 months out of the year in transit (the city is just SO BIG), laughed, cried, got mad about cultural differences, laughed about cultural differences, skyped everyone I know like all the time, had some amazing trips, got to spend some great quality time with my dad, loved just chatting away with my mom, gchatting with my friends during the time in the day when the time difference was the best, felt trapped in my window-less tiny apartment, loved how dark my window-less apt was when I wanted to sleep in, loved korean food, hated korean food, got stared and glared at more times than I want to know, and heard the same 3 popular korean pop songs for the ENTIRE year in every subway station ughhhh I have no idea why there is no such thing as NEW music here. oh, and I inhaled way too much smog...korea gave me asthma...seriously haha

Obviously living in a foreign country with a COMPLETELY different culture is not easy. There were good times and bad times. And I will always remember both. Because if I don't remember the essence of my time here, I will forget why I grew so much. And I never want to forget those tiny details that made up this special year in my life. But whenever someone asks me what I remember most about Seoul I will simply say two things: laughing...and ALWAYS just being so insanely tired :)

Thanks for reading both this post and all my posts. Your support has been so vital and I appreciate the time it takes for each one of you to read my posts and look through all my pictures. And thank you for the little skype messages, emails, packages, phone calls, and letters. I am so lucky to have such great people in my life. Thank you.

Anddddddddd, as usual, it is late and I am tired. This makes me laugh. See, I'm laughing and I'm tired. That's Seoul...in a nutshell.

Goodnight...& goodbye from South Korea.

Annyong Keseyo (goodbye in Korean)

xoxox

Reen