Presently, I'm sitting in room 398 at Hotel Nikko Narita outside of Tokyo, Japan. I was originally supposed to fly out of Gimhae International today at about this time but that flight was cancelled. The airline booked me on a flight on Sunday and offered me accommodations for the night. Having arrived at 6:00pm last night and considering that the travel time to central Tokyo from the Narita airport is roughly 2 hours I decided to stay at my hotel and save Tokyo for another day.
So I'm waiting to catch the shuttle to the airport in about an hour. I'll be flying to Chicago where I'll have a 5-hour layover--just enough time to hang out with an old friend who lives there now and whom I haven't seen in about a decade. Then it's off to Minneapolis.
It's very weird to be leaving Korea. I made some amazing friends (you all know who you are). I'm glad to know so many amazing people now from all over the world. Guess I'll just have to do some more travelling to see them all again...darn! I'm also very excited for graduate school and to be back in the Pacific Northwest!
I wish I could write more right now but I have to check out and catch my shuttle!
See all my friends and family in Minnesota soon!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Valentine's Snow Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW5gcyFiQVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6_3GeqAmS8
Hope everyone's doing well!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6_3GeqAmS8
Hope everyone's doing well!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Nearing the End
I'm arriving at the end of the tunnel and I can pretty clearly see the light. For months now I've been feeling really good about work and Korea but the last few weeks have really been rough. I've received some really great news about what I'll be doing after my time in Korea. On the other hand I'm finding it hard to enjoy, or even appreciate, much of Korea and it's culture.
I'll start with the negative stuff first so that I can get it out of the way. Just this week I spent an hour after work talking with one of my Korean coteachers. I don't think it would be appropriate to post what we discussed on my blog as it has to do with her personal life. Let me just say that the cultural tradition in Korea of not questioning anything anyone older than you says (especially your boss) has left one of my coworkers feeling awful about her family life and guilty about wanting to leave here job. She wants the best for her family but cannot provide that solely because it would go against the desires (read: demands) of our boss. I am so frustrated with this situation because she is an amazing, intelligent person but my boss is making her feel like she is being a jerk. She is not. I want bad things to happen to that man.
Anyway, there's more frustrating things I could talk about but I'd rather talk about the great news I received last week. I GOT INTO GRADUATE SCHOOL! I'll be completing a Master's degree at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA. The title of my degree is Master of Arts, Master's International in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. It will consist of one year of course work at Gonzaga then two years in the Peace Corps teaching in a developing country. I don't know where I'll be exactly and won't know for some time but I'm just so excited to know that I'll be spending two full years living and working in another country. Once I'm done with my degree I hope to get a job perhaps in the Middle East or at a University in Asia. This will allow me to pay of my loans quickly while also working towards my life goal of living on every continent. So far I've lived in North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. So I have Africa and Australia (and maybe Antartica) to go.
I'm lucky enough to have an amazing Aunt and Uncle who have offered to let me stay at their place while I'm studying. I'm very excited to get to be closer to them since we've always lived quite far from each other and have only seen each other every few years since I was a child. Thanks Nancy and Dale!
I'm so excited for the next chapters of my life. It is making it hard to focus while I'm here in Korea but luckily I only have 76 days left until my visa expires! (Not that I'm counting) I'm also hoping to write more this year--it's one of my resolutions.
I hope everyone is doing well!
Talk soon! See you soon if you're in Minnesota or Washington/Oregon!
I'll start with the negative stuff first so that I can get it out of the way. Just this week I spent an hour after work talking with one of my Korean coteachers. I don't think it would be appropriate to post what we discussed on my blog as it has to do with her personal life. Let me just say that the cultural tradition in Korea of not questioning anything anyone older than you says (especially your boss) has left one of my coworkers feeling awful about her family life and guilty about wanting to leave here job. She wants the best for her family but cannot provide that solely because it would go against the desires (read: demands) of our boss. I am so frustrated with this situation because she is an amazing, intelligent person but my boss is making her feel like she is being a jerk. She is not. I want bad things to happen to that man.
Anyway, there's more frustrating things I could talk about but I'd rather talk about the great news I received last week. I GOT INTO GRADUATE SCHOOL! I'll be completing a Master's degree at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA. The title of my degree is Master of Arts, Master's International in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. It will consist of one year of course work at Gonzaga then two years in the Peace Corps teaching in a developing country. I don't know where I'll be exactly and won't know for some time but I'm just so excited to know that I'll be spending two full years living and working in another country. Once I'm done with my degree I hope to get a job perhaps in the Middle East or at a University in Asia. This will allow me to pay of my loans quickly while also working towards my life goal of living on every continent. So far I've lived in North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. So I have Africa and Australia (and maybe Antartica) to go.
I'm lucky enough to have an amazing Aunt and Uncle who have offered to let me stay at their place while I'm studying. I'm very excited to get to be closer to them since we've always lived quite far from each other and have only seen each other every few years since I was a child. Thanks Nancy and Dale!
I'm so excited for the next chapters of my life. It is making it hard to focus while I'm here in Korea but luckily I only have 76 days left until my visa expires! (Not that I'm counting) I'm also hoping to write more this year--it's one of my resolutions.
I hope everyone is doing well!
Talk soon! See you soon if you're in Minnesota or Washington/Oregon!
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