Mixed Feelings

Here’s some appropriate music to listen to while reading:

I love traveling. It’s what I do, and I will never stop doing it. That being said, I’ll be turning 35 in a few days, and I’m starting to think in terms of actually… not settling down, but more like establishing a permanent base here in the US. While I’m not a huge fan of the Orlando area, I do like Florida in general and there are a lot of TESOL opportunities here due to our high native Spanish speaking population. I also do not relish another couple of plane flights with animals. Flying with pets, while often a necessity in my life, is never a pleasant experience for me, and I suspect it’s far worse for them. I’d love to have my own place with a fenced in yard where Mochi could run, and maybe even play with a dog his size, and a house big enough that I wouldn’t have to have the litter box in my bedroom. Obviously, when I do this (and I will eventually), I will continue to take fun and ridiculous vacations to destinations that hardly anyone else would choose… but am I ready to stop living and working overseas long term? I don’t know. On the one hand, I’ve been browsing real estate listings in central and north Florida while hunting for potential future employers in those areas. (Of course, I don’t graduate until May 2014, and all of the job ads online now are for either immediate or January start dates, so it’s not like I’m applying for anything.) On the other hand, I’m still working on my application to the State Department’s English Language Fellow program and browsing overseas job listings. Some days I’m certain I want to move overseas again, other days I’m certain I want to stay here. I’m thinking it could go either way. Obviously it’s way too early for me to be worrying about this, as I won’t be submitting any job applications until next semester… and yet it seems that nowadays this is all I think about.

job update

As I wrote a month ago, my job situation for September is somewhat up in the air at the moment. I have an interview in two weeks at a large international company located in the most prestigious part of Seoul. At this point, we've negotiated a starting salary (more than I'd expected when I wrote about this last month), airfare, visa logistics, and a good deal more. Essentially, they've done everything but offer me the job. I'm hoping that they will actually do that (or at least let me know one way or the other) on the day of the interview.

I've been feeling incredibly guilty about the fact that I haven't let the school in Ukraine know that I might not be coming... but I don't want to count my Seoul chickens before they hatch for fear of ending up with neither job come September.

I'm trying not to get too excited about the potential job in Seoul, as I don't want to risk getting let down... but still! When I wrote about the potential job before, I wasn't sure if it was something I wanted to do. Now, while I'm not 100% certain (can one ever be?), I'm definitely 95% sure that it's something I want to try. For one thing it would be something different. I've been one of the 30,000+ Americans here with the US Department of Defense (in 2004, as a civilian). I've been one of the 30,000+ native English speakers here teaching English. It would be nice to be among the smaller group of others for once. Additionally, living and working in the heart of Seoul would be a vastly different experience from living and working in staid east Daegu!

Then there's the fact that I mentioned the other day: I'm (finally) starting to feel like an adult. It's a little scary to realize that I'm in my 30s and have less than $800 in my retirement account.

So. Two weeks. I'll keep you posted.

High School reunion, Korean style

The school where I work is owned and operated by an American woman (G) and her Korean husband (YM). I've known G since I was eight or nine years old, and she is one of my best friends. G and I went to elementary, middle, and high school together in a small, southern town in the USA. It's a little odd to think about two people from our hometown living and working in the same place in Korea... but we're hardly the only graduates from our alma mater on the peninsula. One of our friends - a high school buddy of ours (S) - is in the US military, and is currently stationed on the Korean peninsula. S has been here for nearly a year now, although as he isn't stationed in Daegu, before yesterday I'd only seen him three times and G hadn't seen him at all.

Yesterday, however, S came down to Daegu and the three of us - plus YM and their adorable baby - spent the day together. It was a wonderful and totally chill day. We went up into the Palgong mountain area, to a small duck restaurant (that raises their own ducks and grows their own veggies) for an absolutely delicious lunch.

G, YM and their baby... and really delicious 오리 고기 (duck meat)


A good lunch = a happy baby!

This was followed by a trip to the brand new Daegu Art Museum (abbreviated repeatedly as dam - which, while not spelled damn still inspired much mockery). An art museum was a rather absurd destination for the five of us, as the baby is too young to appreciate art, and the rest of us, well, we don't exactly dig modern art. Luckily for you, the museum didn't allow cameras, or else you might have to suffer through photos of blue canvas, black canvas, and white canvas (and other such "works" of modern "art"), accompanied by my snarky commentary. The baby began to cry (his voice echoing quite stunningly throughout the galleries) and we may have used that as an excuse to make a quick exit.

[For those of you who are modern art fans - this place is located near Daegu Stadium. It's a huge complex that just opened on May 26th. There are several galleries currently exhibiting paintings and sculptures, and several more galleries that as yet are still empty.]

dam: Daegu Art Museum

On the museum grounds is a fairly large decorative water feature, complete with quite a few signs warning people to stay out of the water. These signs were, of course, being completely ignored - and there were more people in and around the water feature than there were inside the museum proper. We took the baby for a swim, which was tons of fun to photograph.

My favorite photo of the day: Babyzilla!
(That's S sitting in the background, btw.)


My favorite bit of art at the museum. Granted, this was made by me, so I'm a bit biased.

Afterwards, YM took the baby home while G, S, and I went for coffee. Later we went grocery shopping, then hung out at G and YM's home, watching TV, having excellent conversation, and eating yummy dinner (E-mart curry and nan is excellent). After I returned home, I thought about how domestic our day had been. Additionally, much of our conversation had revolved around things such as acquaintances behaving badly - and immaturely - both here in Korea and back home in the States. Honestly, this was the first day that I have had the thought that yes, finally, I am a grown up. Granted, I'm in my 30s, so in theory I've been a grown up for a while, but somehow it's only just now kicking in.