Well, I am finally here, in Suwon South Korea, right out side of Seoul, at KyungHee Univ. for my public school teaching orientation!! It is a bit surreal at this point that it is really happening and that I actually moved to Asia! It was sort of weird when I was one of the few people on my Korean Air flight that was white and everyone kind of looks at you funny and then it got even more intense upon landing and the only other white people are other teachers! A very nice and refreshing feeling to be a minority:)

Now I am up at 7 am and it is just dinner time at home as my tummy rumbles for breakfast. It didn't take long to become accustomed to the 16 hour time change since I didn't sleep for about 30 hours as I traveled across the Pacific. I am not going to lie, the 12 hour flight was pretty miserable, minus the 6 movies I watched and the two bizarre meals the beautiful flight attendants brought me (I sort of had a woman crush on all of them because the all looked the same, tall, thin and gorgeous!) and did not sleep at all. But I was invited to stay with my seat neighbor if I ever made my way to a small town out of Beijing, she and her daughter were delightful and spoke very nice English.

Now I am here in a nice dorm room with a roommate who is half Korean and is teaching me very much about the culture and language, including korean curse words:) We are meeting lots of other teachers, learning survival Korean, honing our teaching skills and of course drinking! I went out of campus yesterday for the first time and boy was it an experience. Caught in a down pour on our way to home plus to get soap and umbrellas, we looked even more like tourists than our white skin even screamed. As we walked through the 5 story Walmart-like store, and I couldn't read anything to know where to go, I knew I am in for quite a year. Everything is so different and random! All the bright lights make me think of Vegas, and there are bright lights on every street! Korean food is good, kimchi is growing on me but slowly. The bars have lots of drinks that I have no idea what they even consist of and yummy rice beer! I have so much to learn and I just can't wait!

I am not really homesick yet but I do miss the Northwest, where I got to spend two wonderful weeks going hiking and biking, sitting outside on the deck watching meteor showers, going to the beach, eating, drinking and being very merry! I'm missing Eric very much but know he will be here exploring this land of the morning calm soon:) And my brother, he is tough to handle at times, but I love him to death and know he will be a successful person one day. He is a good hero to have I think...

And mom, I miss you the most I think. I am glad we can at least talk on Skype and I know I will be calling you often because your my favorite person to vent with, maybe it because we are so alike:) Thanks for everything you do mom, I love you very much!

For now, I think I should be done since I have so much to talk about and most is not interesting in the least. If only you could see it, it is amazing here! I think I am going to like Seoul very much. Whew, take a deep breath!


Peace to all from the city of Seoul ♥