I’m back in Korea now to start my second year out here and my goal is to update this thing as often as possible with whatever so hopefully that will actually happen:) It’s super kind of weird to be back but really good at the same time. Five months was kind of a long time to be away so coming back wasn’t really an adjustment but more of a “oh ya, I remember all of this now” kind of feeling. It’s not a bad thing at all, it’s just so easy to forget how crazy different Korea is while being back in the States, and I got really used to how things were before I had even come to the land of SoKo.
Being home was amazing. I’m not gonna lie. Being able to spend day in and day out with either my close friends or family was so unbelievably awesome, especially after having gone a year without seeing most of those people. I realized on one of my last nights in Tucson, that except for the 3 nights I was in Florida for a training, I didn’t spend a single night while back where I wasn’t hanging out with my friends or family. THAT IS AWESOME! I feel like I was really able to spend tons of time with people and that was such a huge blessing and totally made me feel refueled coming into this next school year. I got to spend 6 weeks in Arizona with my amazing fam bam, a few days in New Mexico for Easter, a couple of weeks in California (went to Disneyland TWICE on two different occasions with my lifelong D-land buddy!), Oregon a few times to hang out with my second set of parents, and was in Washington for almost 2 months where I was able to work PLU vball camps, be around my PLU vball girls all the time, and see friends that I’ve missed so much. But Im back now and getting ready for my new job at TCIS!
So if you read my blog from the beginning, you probably understood that it was a pretty difficult adjustment for me when I first moved to Korea. The first 2 months were the toughest, but even though I didn’t realize it, I was still going through a lot of that even into my 5th or 6th month here. Took a while to say the least. The program I came through last year was a great program and I am so so thankful that I did it, not only because I wouldn’t have my job now but also because it really was a humbling experience that has definitely allowed me to be 100x more thankful in the position I’m in now. The program I did last year, EPIK, was super accommodating and I had zero problems. I would totally recommend it to anyone especially since you only have to have your bachelors to do it. But after my orientation I met my co-teacher when I arrived in my city and an hour later was sitting at a table with my entire school staff where I realized my co was the only one who spoke english. I also realized later that evening that I had eaten dog. Woof. Literally. Ha! But after that evening I spent the next many days adjusting to living in my little box amongst Korean university students while at the same time trying to figure out how to get around, go to the bank, wire money home, get my cell phone, register for my alien card, get to and from school and a billion other things. And the few months after that were still much of an adjustment. This international school business though is incredible, and thats an understatement. First, for the past 3 days I’ve not even realized at times that I’m even in Korea because I’m surrounded by tons of foreigners all day long on our campus and the school is run just like a school in the states. Even though I’ve been here before I’m going through new faculty orientation and they are unbelievable. We have sessions everyday with the administrators where they tell us everything we need to know, even stuff I had no idea I even had to know! They help us with EVERYTHING. From getting our alien cards and cell phones all the way to coming to fix anything in our apartments anytime, ordering our bus tickets to travel on weekends, or ordering us water for our houses. I’m not kidding it’s amazing! Anything you can think of really. So it is so much easier to come back, and although it would have been nice to have been taken care of in this environment last year from the get go, I’m thankful that I had that experience because I am that much more grateful. Not to mention how amazing the Christian community is here and how stoked I am to be working at a school where the mission is to serve the Lord and minister to the students. Woo!
Love to you all,
Smash
