Don’t worry, be happy!

Jayden, one of my students goes around saying, “don’t worry, be happy” all the time. I have decided to take this motto and put it into practice in reference to North Korea. I know people at home read the newspapers and watch the news and hear about the new turmoil between North and South Korea and worry, but here in Seoul no one is really concerned. At school a few of us foreign teachers were talking after school about this topic. Two of them have been in Seoul for a few years and said what I have heard before, that North Korea threatens Seoul every year. We then asked a few of our Korean teachers what they thought. Again, they reiterated what others have said, this happens all the time and no one is concerned. I could go into all the political reasons as to why North Korea will never actually act on these threats, but in truth the real reason I am not all that concerned has more to do with my personality. I have never been a person not to worry and stress about things that are out of my control, I always trust that I will be alright as long as I make reasonably safe choices. (I put the reasonable part because some may say coming to Korea at all was not that reasonable) I know there is a small chance something could happen while here, but the same is true of living in Seattle. To put some of your minds at ease back home, I did register with the U.S. Embassy, and I know the excavation route, it’s about an hour walk from my apartment. In the end I will take Jayden’s daily advice to me, “don’t’ worry, be happy.”