Visits

People have gently reminded me that the regularity of my writing is not up to par with what I've said it would be. Long story short: I suck at keeping up with optional extra-curricular activities....if you can count writing a blog as an extra-curricular. I'm going to because it takes a surprising amount of effort for me to sit down, focus, and make it through a whole post. I was talking with a friend today about my writing process. It's not exactly super effective. I never sit down and type all my thoughts out at once and then go back to edit, add, delete, or make sense of what I've written. I very much so am editing, deleting, and changing everything around in the middle of writing. Which means I read it a million times and it all starts sounding like weird crap for a while, but then somehow I mess around with it enough so it's acceptable by the time I'm done. Healthy, right? (This is where you say, "nuh uh.") However much of a disaster it seems to be, that's how I do it. It eventually turns out alright, and I don't think I'm an awful writer. But goshdangit, it takes so much time. Case and point, it took me forever to even write about the flaws of my own writing...and that's where I'll end that discussion.


What's been going on the last few weeks in the magical faraway land that is Korea? A few exciting things actually. Two weeks ago I was in Namhae, an island just south of the mainland. We had a long weekend with Buddha's birthday, so we went on an organized tour to the island where there was a festival, beaches, ziplining, kayaking, and just quality people. It turned out to be such a nice time to get away from Pohang and work and everything and just relax. There was the most beautiful art village with all kinds of different houses and shops and a German village. We ended up hanging out with a group of people from all over (Korea and the world) just chilling at the beach, eating, playing football and frisbee, and swimming. I could definitely get used to that. I have always said that I could be a professional beach bum, but I wonder if I would get sick of it eventually...or how long it would take for that to happen. Because in all reality, I rather enjoy lying on the beach, swimming, and playing sports. I think I found my retirement plan. Let's hope my body holds up and I'm still able to do all those things by the time I can retire.

What else? Last weekend there was a big international festival for the foreigners in Pohang. It's crazy how many there are in this city alone without even looking at the whole country. Between teachers, university students, international couples, and people working here, it's nuts. Our church took three booths for the event where we made and sold all different kinds of food from the different countries we represent. As a whole, we actually ended up raising a lot of money for an organization in the city that helps women caught in sex-trafficking. Not to mention it was just a good day to be out and see the community together. We even played a little baseball in the park at the end of the day. Believe it or not, as if I don't talk about Cindy enough, I saw her there with her whole family. She came and played baseball along with her dad and her little brother. She ran over and said hello and introduced me to her brother and her dad, and then I helped her bat. I did not hear the end of it the next time I saw her in class. "Teacher I see you. Sunday we meet. My dad hit home run. You see my brother. You help me play." We're still working on the past tense, but I got the point and it was adorable. We started a new semester with new classes today, and I won't be teaching her again for at least the next 3 months. I'm more than a little sad. She's such a sweetheart.

Last thing. My dad is invading Korea. Korea best be ready. I have a week's worth of vacation from school at the end of July/beginning of August, so he's going to come and stay for a week. I can't express how excited I am. I seriously just want everyone from home to be able to come and visit, if only for a few days. There are so many things that I can't explain fully if someone's not here. I can try, but there's really no way to truly understand unless it's experienced firsthand. Also, I've come to realize that I'm so used to life here that things I thought were strange at the beginning are completely normal now and I don't give them a second thought. It's crazy how fast you can get acclimated to a new place. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out what we're going to do while he's here. I'm honestly just more excited that he is coming to visit than about anything we'll do. So this is a shout out to everyone else as well. If you want to come/can come, DO IT! I welcome visitors. (I know, I know. Easy for me to say as I sit here and don't need a plane ticket and free time. I'm already here.)

Seriously though, visitors welcome. :)