life without target

so today was osom because my college roommate/teammate/post-college roommate was in thailand for the past week and on her way back did the 12 hour layover in seoul thing like i did so i got to see her today! i know that i’m not a genius when it comes to geography and that i thought korea was near the mediterranean, but i do know that going through korea from thailand is not the right way. some airplane pilot who created this route also thought asia was near the mediterranean and no one ever caught it. but i’m glad they didn’t because then i would never have gotten to see meghan. it was one of those things where i was totally convinced that aside from her having planned it this way, the lord definitely had something to do with it because the past week since i got here has been so busy and a bit overwhelming, so being able to spend a few hours with a friend from home right before school starts was such perfect timing. i’m so so thankful for that. plus she got to see my school, where i live, and get a little bit of korea which is way cool! so good to see you meg:)

but today i went back up to seoul with meghan so that she could go back to the airport and catch her flight, and i thought since i was going up anyways i would try to get a bunch of stuff done there. one thing that i definitely take for granted every time im in the states is how accessible everything is to us. my friends in my teaching group talked about that a lot last year, and it was definitely something that i loved having again once i got back, but i got so used to it since i was home for so long. so ive had this running list of things that i’ve needed to get for my classes, office or house and i’ve accomplished finding about half of those things when normally a trip to target would get me everything i need. after how awesome today was with meg here though, the day soon turned into a disastrophe. riding back on the train now it all seems pretty humorous, but it wasnt at the time. i don’t think i’ve ever had more things go wrong in such a short amount of time, and most of it’s my fault because i just forget that things don’t work the same way here which is totally ok and i need to get used to it:) so here’s a timeline of the past few hours and hopefully it will entertain you a bit!

4:00 leave the train station and say goodbye to meg. jump in a cab to go to spa day. story behind this is that the day before i left korea i went to this spa with friends to get our nails done and facials. i have this necklace that was given to me by some pretty special people right before i left for korea, and the entire year i maybe took it off twice. but they made me take it off there and what did i do? left it there, of course, because my name is ashleigh lynne houlton. a friend had called to make sure they would keep it there until i got back so i went in and the manager tells me after making many calls that the owner keeps left items at her house and she isnt in the country. made me kind of wonder/worry and so i left there feeling pretty defeated because its a pretty important thing to me and i would hate for it to be lost. that was the sad part of my day.

4:30 i leave there and accidentally jump into a black cab. i forgot that in seoul they cost like twice as much. not a huge deal but it certainly didn’t help. i decide to go to myeongdong, the enormous shopping area, and look for a chair for my office since i had been looking all week and found nothing. i have no clue where they sell chairs in korea. i find a great chair just like my friend’s that i really like! i tell them i want to buy it, they tell me they can deliver it in two weeks. i tell them i will take it home right then. they say it’s impossible...even though they had brought it out and it was right in front of me in a box. they insist on delivering it and wont let me buy it unless i let them deliver that exact box to me. so i left. because i was grumpy.

5:00 i think “ok, so ive failed on the necklace and the chair but i NEED a whistle because ive searched far and wide and they must have it in seoul.” it’s a tiny little whistle right? there has to be a whistle in one of the biggest shopping districts in asia. once i find this whistle im gonna feel semi-successful about this day.

5:03 i walk into the adidas store where they have cleats, shorts, shoes, EVERYTHING. i ask for a whistle. they laugh at me.

5:07 i go into nike. they have to have a whistle. wait, they don’t have a whistle either.

5:11 i go into redmango and get the biggest size of frozen yogurt possible to calm myself so i don’t start using my brass knuckles.

5:20 i go into FOOTLOCKER. yes! i ask for a whistle. they look at me like i just tried to order a kitten at mcdonalds.

5:28 i give up on the dang whistle and go to lotte department store to see if they have chairs.

5:29 trip down the stairs since this crosswalk is an underground one. luckily there was only one stair left before i embarrassed myself.

5:37 found a cute chair in lotte. it’s 730,00 won which is about $730. thats reasonable. if its opposite day. why cant the swedish bring an ikea to korea? they would make bank.

5:39 check on the “sports floor” since i’m there to see if they have a whistle. silly me.

5:45 go to krispy kreme. fyi: extremely fatty snacks don’t help with a bad day, they only leave you feeling worse.

5:50 get on the subway to go back to the train station

5:53 realize im going the wrong way on the subway

5:59 going the right way but have such a bad attitude at this point that i would ride the thing right into the ocean.

6:05 get into the station. i’m not exaggerating even though i tend to sometimes. theres lines as long as disneyland to get train tickets because the entire internet system is down. so they have to do everything manually and i find out after standing in line for 30 minutes that a train doesn’t leave for 2 more hours.

6:35 try to find a starbucks around the station so i can get internet. i get into a cab and ask him to take me to one. we sit at a standstill in traffic for 10 minutes and all he does is turn the corner and theres one right there. i just paid 5 bucks for someone to drive me around the corner.

6:50 get to starbucks, get coffee, sit down and realize that it wont let me on the internet because i don’t have a new foreigner # yet. i take my computer downstairs and the baristas fiddle with my computer and eventually get it working. (this by the way is just one example of how amazingly generous korean people are). however, all of the settings on my computer except for my keyboard are now in hangul (korean) and i don’t know how to change it.

7:50 walk the 100 steps back to the train station and on my way chuck my empty coffee cup in a trashcan. i think i was thinking that if i could make that shot it would make my day better, which it did, but when it went in the straw flew through the hole in the dome lid and it hit a woman. she yelled at me. i don’t blame her.

8:05 on the train. praise the lord!

10:04 still trying to figure out how to get my computer to switch from hangul to english.

i’m not telling you this to complain. although, most of the day that’s exactly what i was doing. it’s just days like this that make me realize how impatient and how big of a ninny i can be. i have so much to be thankful for and i need to constantly appreciate what korea has to offer even if it’s different from what i’m used to. at the end of a day like today it’s all just pretty funny stuff. well most of it...

(by the way, i'm sorry if it drives you nuts that i sometimes type in all lower cases. the shift key is too far!...also i'm sorry this is so long)

woops.

hey guys! two people just told me that my last post wouldn't let them comment when they tried. if that keeps happening to you then please let me know and maybe i can figure it out.

i've realized since i've been back here that my korean is even worse than i thought, haha. not only can i not remember the tiny bit i learned last year but no one can even understand me when i try. my goal is to learn as much as i can this year so i dont sound like such a dingle to koreans and to you guys when i come home and you ask me to say something cool in korean and all i can say is hi.

also, im attaching the link to the blog that posts updates to the building of our new school. TCIS has been around for a while and they started building a beautiful new campus about 20 minutes away in techno valley i think in the winter of '09 and it was supposed to be completed for this school year. but, because of a few obstacles we're going to be back at our old campus until probably atleast christmas. here's a pic though of what our new school is supposed to look like!


if you wanna follow the blog then just go to the following site http://webuildtogether.blogspot.com/.

last thing: foosball is a combination of soccer and shishkabobs. think about it.

new job. same korea!

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

humility, beth hanna, and the sometimes not so cool me.

So I know this blog is supposed to be about Korea and stuff, but since I'm not there I have nothing to really write about...however, this post will eventually get to something Korean-ish so hang with me:)

One of my best friend's names is Beth Hanna. Chances are you know her but maybe not. If you don't you should. But I'm getting off topic. Beth played volleyball at PLU for the past 4 years and I was her coach for three of those years, not that I can take credit for any of her success but I still had to put that in there. Haha. ANYWAYS. She is pretty much one of the most talented volleyball players I have ever seen play the game. Even if you don't know anything about volleyball you would have to agree after seeing her play. She was recruited by some big time universities in high school but chose PLU because of the uniqueness of our program and the smaller size of the school. And she dominated D3 volleyball for four years. Her freshman year she was freshman of the year for the entire country in D3 and a first team all-american. Every year since she's pretty much won about every award there is to win. You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this because she's obviously successful and everyone knows about it. The thing though is that she's way different. She's so atypical compared to athletes today (watching the Lakers the other night made me want to barf...they are such unsportsmanlike dingles. sorry Bri) and not only is she sort of humble, she's hands down the most humble person I've ever met in my life. For reals. And even though I'm not an "athlete" anymore, her humility is such an example that it continues to totally level me when I need it.

Like yesterday.

Im at this conference right now for the International Baccalaureate which is the type of school that I'll be teaching at in Korea next year. Sidenote: if you don't know anything about IB schools and their curriculum look it up. It's amazing. I definitely think the US should let IB take over all schools and curriculums because they actually have the right idea about what education should look like. But anyways, I came out here assuming that there would be a ton of other people from schools outside of the US. But then I forgot that everyone else is in school still and that most people who teach at an international school outside of the US aren't going to fly back here for a conference when they could go to one in their own country. Doi. So everyone here is from Colorado, Michigan, Florida, Nebraska, etc. and when asked to share where I teach the entire conference did one of those cool "no way" gasps when I said I taught in Korea. So the first two days I literally had almost every person come talk to me during breaks and I actually got sick of telling the story of how I taught in a public school last year and then coached volleyball at TCIS and eventually got hired on and that's why I have a 5 month vacation. But I did start to feel really cool. Even being home the last month has been a lot of the same with people wanting to know everything and me feeling kind of neato because I feel cool. Then last night I had a moment where I kind of came to and realized that I'm really not all that cool. At all. And even though I'm sure people don't detect the "I'm cool because I live in Korea" attitude that has crept up, it still doesn't make it ok. Sure, picking up and moving to a foreign country, especially one in Asia is kind of nuts. Really nuts. But nothing to be proud of by any means. If anything, it in itself is such a humbling experience. I started to remember last night some of the times during my first two months there when I was so totally defeated at times. So I guess I just have to keep that in mind and remember what the last year-ish was like...and why I really am staying in Korea, which is to teach at an amazing school and minister to amazing kids.

So I'm thankful for that. And I'm also so thankful for humble friends.

just a little blurb about some pretty amazing people...

So, about a year ago I was walking around in Daecheon beach in Korea which is about an hour from Daejeon when my friend Laura and I ran into a group of foreigners. They started talking to us (which in itself is amazing because a lot of westerners in Korea think they're too cool to say hi to other westerners in Korea) and after talking to a girl in their group for a couple of minutes we realized that we basically knew each other because I went to college with her brother, had met two of her sisters in Puyallup through Younglife, and that we pretty much knew all of the same people. Even a year later, the craziness of how small the world is and how God connects people even when it's on the very opposite side of the world still blows my mind. Bethany was visiting Daecheon as well and it turned out that she only lived about 30 minutes outside of my city, so to have her and her boyfriend Jake just 30 minutes away this last year was so stinking amazing. We would take the bus to see each other every month or so and every time we got together we would talk about how nuts it was to meet in Korea of all places. Her sister, Lacey, who I had met in Puyallup before leaving for Korea came out to surprise Bethany for Christmas so the four of us had our first Christmas away from home together.

Well, Jake is still in Korea until September but Bethany's contract ended around the same time that I came back from Thailand so the other day her, Lacey, and I got to hang out in America together for the first time! It's pretty wild when you've only been in a place like Korea together because to be at home all of a sudden is such a surreal thing. The bummer news though is that I wont be seeing either of them for a year (unless I visit them which I'm gonna make happen) because 2 days after hanging out with them they MOVED TO ISTANBUL! So awesome. They'll both be working as an Au Pair, which is pretty much a nanny although I thought it was some sort of fancy pants pastry, for different families in Turkey. Bethany was only in the states for about a month before taking off again so I've just been thinking about them a lot as they head off on this new journey. As I've learned in the past year, leaving everything behind and moving to a random place like Korea or Turkey requires a lot of faith and trust, but to be able to see how God works during those times is a pretty amazing thing. So for Bethany to be able to do that in Korea one year and Turkey the next really blows my mind and makes me so proud of her faith that the Lord is really in control and has some awesome plans for us. If you want to read about their travels you can go to Bethany's blog http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/bethany-grace/ or find it on the side of my blog!

Reverse Culture Shock? Oh Yeah.

Hey all! So I realize that I kind of killed my blog for a while...sorry about that. This is my attempt to try and resuscitate it though so we will see if I can actually do this. I've had several people inform me in a very nice way since I've been back that I pretty much stink at blogging. Don't worry, I take no offense because it's true!

Well my first excuse for not updating this diddy is that I was packing and preparing to leave Korea...but most people in Korea know this is bunk because while my wonderful friends at the international school got up and went to work every day, I lounged around at home watching Biggest Loser pretty much all of January and February. After my summer camps ended, I was required to continue to go into school every day and desk warm but my co-teacher and principal required me to come in an hour to not at all for pretty much two months and I am so thankful for that! But there goes excuse #1. Excuse #2 is that I left Korea at the end of February and spent 3 weeks traveling around Thailand with my friend Anella before going back to the states. I think this is a pretty legit excuse because who really wants to blog when you're in the most amazing place on earth? Not Smashleigh. Here are a few pics so you believe me...





Excuse #3 is that since I've been back I've been busy...but that is just a flat out lie. I have been to Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona in the three weeks since I've been back but I've been doing things like going to Disneyland, sitting on my butt, going to baseball games, sitting on my butt, other various things, and sitting on my butt. Really though, it's been great to be back and be able to spend time going on bike rides with my youngest sibs, to Starbucks with my rents, my brother's track meets, hanging out with my sister-in-law, and just being with fam and friends.

I will say though, there definitely is an element of culture shock, or the reversal of, when coming back after having lived in a place like Korea for a year straight. I think a lot of that has to do with teaching in a Korean public school and being totally thrown into a culture that is so drastically different. Especially for my first few months, I was living in my little tuna can and was a deer in headlights for most of the time even when I didn't think I was. I was thinking tonight as I was driving home about how every day during the week, I would get up, walk 20 or so minutes to school, spend all day in an environment where I could barely communicate with anyone, would walk 20 minutes home, go for a run and dodge a million people, go meet some friends for dinner which took about an hour and a half round trip to get there using subways and buses, and then would go back to my tiny tuna can. Starting in August things changed a lot when I got involved with the international school and ended up pretty much living the remainder of my time there with my friend Kirsten in her enormous apartment. But still, things are so much different here. It's almost frustrating that I can't even begin to explain to you how different it really is. Just the daily routines, how you do things or get places, the way people interact, the way things look, EVERYTHING is so different. So I kind of anticipated having some sort of culture shock when coming back but it really didn't happen the way I expected.

First, it was kind of like my brain was working in two different directions when I got back to Seattle. Since I had been in Thailand for 3ish weeks I already missed Korea a lot. I miss my friends there and I miss the things I've gotten so used to without even realizing. At the same time though I was so so so happy to see people and be back in this familiar and amazing place. While I was in Korea I thought of Seattle all of the time and certain things that I missed. But driving back from the airport was amazing just being reminded of how crazy gorgeous that place is. It seriously is incredible. The day after I got back I went for a run and it was so incredible with the blue sky and totally fresh air going through neighborhoods and parks. That had become so foreign to me and I think it's little things like that, that I forgot and it was overwhelming to have everything be so different all of a sudden. I'm not going to be dramatic and say I had a total meltdown because of all of this, but it was kind of overwhelming. I think a lot of that had to do with coming back and seeing so many people that you've missed for an entire year and getting to see and do things that you've been waiting so long for while at the same time missing my friends and the familiarity of Korea. So I think I became kind of numb and for the first week I was back I pretty much just smiled and nodded. Haha.

Anyways, I'm sure that coming back after having been away is different for everyone. I just love that I can appreciate so many things that I didn't before. And I love that 14 months ago I was convinced I was going to die on the streets of Korea purely from culture shock and now I appreciate it enough that I've actually felt homesick. Kerzy.

I'm comin home!

Hey all! Well I have been absolutely horrible at updating this lately, which I knew would happen eventually, but I promise to do better for the last couple months I'm here. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas wherever you were! I was here in Korea which was very different, but was able to spend it with some awesome friends so I will save that for a little bliggity blog here in the next couple of days.

Anywho! For this one I'm just gonna do an update on what's going on and all that other schtuff. My contract here ends on February 25th, which is really kind of weird because our last day of classes for the schoolyear was December 30th. Since then, I've been doing English Camps for the past two-ish weeks. Last week I had camp for my girls school which consisted of 20 of my favorite kids so it was a lot of fun to be able to hang out with them. We had a cooking competition, a clothes designing competition, an extreme home makeover day, and played a ton of games which is super fun when you have a group of girls who all want to be there and engage in everything you have them do! This week I have my boys who are about 600 times more difficult to control but they're still pretty fun when I'm not tempted to throw one of them out of the window:) Really though, they're great and I love watching how animated they get when we play games. I'll have to take a video of them when we play charades because it's sure to make you pee in your pants regardless of your age.

After I finish camps on Thursday I will start two weeks of deskwarming on Monday...and if you're wondering what desk warming is, it's exactly what it sounds like. Most all of the teachers are on vacation and aside from some morning classes going on at the school there aren't any students there either. So I have to go into school and be there just to be there since for some reason they will only allow the foreign teachers 2 weeks of vacation even though the rest of the teachers take most of the vacation off. Luckily, my school has always been so great and hasn't made me do some of the ridiculous things that a lot of teachers get stuck doing so I'll go in for a bit each day and hang out with my vice principal while I balance my bank account, dink around on facebook, and bug anyone on skype that will talk to me:)

After that though, we have a week off for the lunar new year, and the following week I have to go into school for three days where the students are there (I have zero clue why we have a random three days of school but I just go and don't ask questions, haha) and on the third day we have graduation for the 8th graders that are moving on to high school. And then after that...I'm done! Crazy. I decided to take my 2 weeks of vacation at the end of my contract since I'm not going anywhere so that I would be able to pack and just spend time with people. Then on the 23rd of February, my friend Anella flies into Seoul, and a week later we're off to Thailand for 3 weeks! Woo! Then on the 23rd of March we land in Seattle which I am so stinking excited for. I'll be there for only 5 days though because I NEEEEED to see my family asap so I'll fly down to Tucson and spend some good quality time with my fam bam.

So there's the plan. Although I'm super excited to be going home it's a weird feeling because I'm going to miss a lot about Korea...especially the people that I'll be leaving behind! So I'm stoked to come back but also dreading it at the same time. And the thought of trying to figure out my life after March 23rd is a bit...a lot...overwhelming. But, this is definitely a great opportunity for me to trust the Lord's plan for my life so I'm excited to see what He has in store because He has definitely blessed me with some amazing experiences so far:)

Welp, that's it for now! I will keep you all posted and hopefully won't be such a goon when it comes to this blog. Hope all is well!!

Smash