I am not a traveler, this is actually home

This week I finally began to feel like I am starting to have a real life and not just the feeling of being a traveler. My first month here has been great, and I feel very fortunate to have the co-workers I have, but I was also anxious to meet other people and see more of what the city is has to offer. On Wednesday night Toriann and I met up with some girls we got connected with through our recruiting agency. I had e-mailed Scot about churches in the area, and he responded with an e-mail of a girl who is a recent graduate of SPU. There is a group of about 10-15 girls who meet weekly for dinner and wine, who are all teaching English here. The girls are mostly in their 20’s, but there are a couple who are here with families and in their late 30’s and 40’s. It took us about an hour and a half during rush hour on the subway to get to the girl’s house, but only 25 minutes on the bus on the way home. Another example of how much faster the buses are once you can figure out where they are going. It was great to meet other girls who are teaching here, who are outside of our school. Their place was amazing and made us extremely envious! It was two stories, with a loft bedroom, a big open living room, nice size bathroom (with a separate shower in the bathroom), a decent sized kitchen area, and huge open windows overlooking a street pedestrian shopping area. Compared to my one room fits all, I was definitely in awe. They do live and work outside of the city, so it explains the size difference. After we left I thought about how lively my neighborhood is and how central it is to everything and realized I am just fine with my small sized apartment. Most the girls have been living in Korea for over a year now and seem to feel so at home here. It made me realize I miss that feeling of having a steady group of friends and being established and having roots. I know these things take time, and seeing that it is possible made me hopeful that someday it may occur for me here.

This week Toriann and I met up with one of the Korean helpers, Angela, who left our school a few weeks ago. Angela brought a friend along whose English skills are a bit stronger, I think because she was worried about being able to communicate the whole time with us. They took us to a Shaba Shabu restaurant in our neighborhood. It was amazing, again I love having food prepared in front of me. If you have never been, you should try and find on and go. There is a pot of boiling water at the table and you can choose what you want to put inside. We chose beef and a variety of vegetables. After most the food has been eaten, you put in noodles and eat it as a soup. By this point the water has all the flavors from the meat and vegetables, so it tastes delicious. I enjoyed being able to finally go out in Korea, with Koreans, it makes it that much easier trying to order food and learn new places to go. I learned a little more about where and how Koreans learn English. I guess many Koreans in high school and college go to either New Zealand of Canada study and live. We asked why not the U.S. and they informed us it is “too expensive and dangerous.” I guess because in the U.S. you can have guns, where as in Canada, New Zealand and South Korea, only police and military have guns. It was an interesting fact to hear from them. We all decided we will get together often for dinner, and make sure Liz, my Korean helper can come next time.