My Trip Home

On the first of April, I started my journey home. It was a long one, that consisted of a lot of emotion, exhaustion, and nervousness. 

Two days before I was set to leave, I had to say goodbye. I had gone to school the previous week and packed up all of my belongings, so the only people I still had to say goodbye to were the other foreign teachers in town. I met with them at a cafe in the afternoon and we talked and said goodbye. That evening, I had my farewell dinner with my host family, and my host siblings made a cute banner on the window that said "Bye, Kristy. We Love You." It was so sweet. We had pizza and cake and watched a movie. It was a wonderful final night. 

The next morning, I finished packing, and my host mom took me to Chuncheon to catch the bus to Incheon. That's right about when I started having more issues than necessary. The bus had been suspended, starting that day. No signs, not notice, just done. Great. Now I have to drag all my suitcases through the train system. I love trains in Korea but when I have a lot of luggage, I much prefer to take the bus. I started with the ITX to Seoul and switched to the Airport line. Then I found out I was on the limited train, which didn't go to Incheon, so I had to get off and get on the next train. The place I was staying at that night was right by the airport, so I got off at the airport station and carted my suitcases all through the airport to get to the shuttle buses. I then got on and had to pull my suitcases up this huge step because there was no storage underneath. One of the men on the bus was nice enough to help me when he saw my struggle. I got off at my hotel and it was really nice. I got checked in, had dinner, and got ready to go home the next morning. 

Because of the virus, I had to go through screening before I could even check into my flight, so I had to get to the airport even earlier. When I finally got to check-in, I found out that my flights had changed. I originally was going to fly to JFK and go to BWI from there. But I guess the flight from New York to Baltimore was canceled, so now I was flying to JFK to ATL to BWI. This made my trip even longer. 

Getting through security was relatively easy. I did accidentally pack a pair of scissors in my carry-on that got thrown away, but oh well. I was packing a lot. The last time I flew home, there were so many shops and restaurants that I could go to and waste time until my flight, but half the place was shut down. 

The long flight to New York wasn't too bad. The middle seat was empty, so I wasn't squished, and the food was decent. Once I got to New York, I just got more frustrated. I was a bit cranky because I didn't sleep on the flight. At the spot where I was supposed to transfer my bags, they told me that I had to drag them through the airport to recheck them at the check-in counter, just in case of flight cancellations. That instilled in me so much confidence that I was getting home. Then I had practically every one of my bags get flagged going through security again. They didn't like my camera, my bag of necklaces, or the food products I bought at the airport in Korea. Every one of them was opened, tested, and then rescanned. Then I got to repack them. Yay! If I thought Incheon had a lot closed, even more, were closed at JFK. I only found one place that sold food that was even open, and I found only one store that had snacks. 

When I got on my flight to Atlanta, I was surprised by how empty the plane was, I was put next to two people and squished into one row. That wasn't going to happen with so many open seats. I moved to another seat and was on the way of my second flight of the day. Atlanta was a lot nicer place for my final layover. There were several places to get food and far fewer people. My final flight had maybe 30 people on it. I got a whole row to myself! Though I did have a slight scare because I missed the announcement about my gate being changed and I thought that it might have gotten canceled. It didn't but I wasn't happy because I had been up for too long by now. I had my final flight home and even arrived early. I got through baggage claim really fast and before I knew it, I was in my mom's car, on my way home. Sleep.

To Travel, or Not To Travel

Being okay with not traveling is probably one of the hardest things to learn when you are living in another country. When you are living in a place where half of the reason you are there is to experience everything you can in the time that you have.

Every time I open up Instagram, I can feel it. The thoughts in my head are telling me that I need to be doing something, experiencing something. Otherwise, I might as well be home with my friends and being a part of their lives back there. I feel guilty when I decide that I want to spend time at home. I wonder if I would be different right now if I had decided to move into an apartment this year instead of another homestay. I wonder if I would be different if I had chosen to move to another city. One that is a lot closer to the other ETAs or just the cities that I haven't yet gotten to see. 

I know I made the right decision to stay for a second year and I know I made the right decision to stay in Hwacheon with my homestay. They are fantastic and I am having a fantastic year. 

But then again. I see other ETAs going on these fantastic trips, doing all these things that I could be doing if I wasn't at home. Right now is winter vacations. Unlike in the US, winter vacation is the break between school years, so it is a bit longer. After school finishes and I have my winter camp, I am free to do whatever I want until school starts in March. This ultimately gives me about a month and a half off. 

Now the total amount of time given to each ETA varies. Some get the minimum, and some get more. I am lucky in that I get a bit more. And in this month and a half long vacation, I only planned two trips. Four days in Busan and Nine in Japan. And while they are fantastic trips and places I have really wanted to go to for a while, its hard to compare to the multi-country, several week-long trips that the others plan. 

I know, I know. I shouldn't compare myself to other people. But it is hard. 

While I am very happy with the trips I made for myself and extremely proud of how brave I  feel to solo-travel both of the trips, I can't help but feel like I need to fill up the rest of the time I have on vacation. 

Last year, I was working towards my black belt test so every day I went to my lesson. I didn't really travel much at all, so I suppose the amount of traveling I've done so far this year is great comparing it to myself. 

But at the same time, I also know that unlike last year, I'm not coming back next year. This is my last chance before Korea is going to be a very expensive plane ride away. 

It will be okay. I know it will. This is just where I am because I've spent the last three days in my house. 

And if I had been away the last few days, I would have missed a spectacular fireworks display and a regular playdate with my host brothers building houses and towers with my Jenga blocks. FOMO (Fear of missing out) is hard but a smart person told me that the best way to fight FOMO is to give yourself something fantastic to do instead. Even if that is just a movie night with the host fam or mental-health veg out session with Netflix and some tea, and that is exactly what I plan to do. Give myself some weekends to go on short trips and some weekends to hangout at home. As for the rest of my vacation? I don't know. I guess I will just have to wait and see. 

Christmas Cookies!

One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is the Christmas baking. Last year, I wasn't able to bake, so I made fudge with the kids instead.

This year, my host mom and I decided that we wanted to try our hand at baking with the toaster oven that she has. I bought some box mix (sadly) and a chocolate project and we and the kids had a blast making a mess of the kitchen and eating a lot of chocolate while with baked.

We made two different types of cookies and tried our best at decorations without cookie cutters or anything other than sprinkles. While those were in the oven, the kids covered everything in chocolate.

I had bought this box kit with little biscuit sticks and melting chocolate. I melted that down and decorated all the sticks. The kids weren't done there. We then decided to make the chocolate that we melted for the cookies and dipped strawberries and marshmallows on them. It was a messy and delicious evening. And the snacks lasted a whole day and a half in our house of chocoholics.

Introducing My New Host Family

As I previously mentioned, I moved to a new homestay this year. My homestay family from last year was great but due to some personal reasons, they chose not to host again this year. Oddly enough, the host family I was placed with was the one that hosted the other ETA last year. And over the past few months, they make me feel at home in their house.

So its time to introduce my new host family!

Let's start with the parents, Lucia and Chan.

Lucia has everyone use her English name which I thought was odd at first but I've gotten used to now.

Lucia is a sweet woman who is constantly worrying about everything, trying to make sure everything is good and everyone is happy. Her English is really good so I can actually speak to my host family this year. She is so interested in foreign culture and she loves to talk to me about what I think about one thing or another. She is also happy to hang out with me whenever.

Chan is an awesome dad. Right now he is on leave from work as a farmer, so he is taking care of the kids full time. He works so hard all the time and he is so sweet with the kids. Sitting down every night with the older two to work on homework or extra studying. He is a quiet man and likes to read especially non-fiction.

The oldest kid is Gaeun. She is about to finish third grade. She is so sweet. She is a really happy kid who loves to read and draw and speak English with me, and shes into fashion. Just like with her brothers, she loves to sing, and sing very loudly. She is just getting into the age where she wants to hand out with her friends after school and on the weekends. She is like a second mom to the boys too. She is a really good older sister.

The middle boy is Jeong-Hyeon. He is the quintessential middle child. Always craving attention. He loves to dance and sing and put on a show to anyone who will watch. He is still young, he will enter first grade next year, but he is not interested in school in the least. I have a theory that he would make a great comedian when he grows up.

The youngest is Gang-Hyeon. He is just barely three years old and still a baby and so cute. He's really young so he doesn't have too much of a personality beyond just being a really happy child. I feel really blessed to be watching him grow up. He's so cute. Gahh.

Four Day Weekend in Seoul

Korea doesn't seem to have many national holidays that close schools, but in October, there are two right back to back. And I took advantage of both of them. The first holiday was on October 3rd. This was Foundation day. Because it fell on a Thursday, Friday became what is called a "sandwich" day. My school is kind enough that we also got this day off. It was fantastic. This meant that I had my only four day weekend of the whole semester. And what just happened to fall on the same weekend? The International Fireworks Festival in Seoul. I decided that I really wanted to go to that. The fireworks were on Saturday, which meant I could spend the other two days exploring Seoul and go home on Sunday.

Thursday
On Thursday, My host mom, host sister and I all went to Seoul. My host mom had to go into the office on Saturday so they could come with me only on Thursday and go home on Friday morning. We took the train from Chuncheon and we had our first adventure; finding the guesthouse we were staying at. My host mom really wanted to stay in Myeongdong, so the first night, we stayed in that area. While we were wandering around trying to find this place, we found this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that served Pork Cutlets and Curry. Exactly what my host sister wanted to eat. I got a cheese pork cutlet and let me tell you, the cheese pull was awesome. It was so delicious.

With a full belly, we decided to take the train to Gangnam area. Here we went to the COEX Mall to see the giant library inside the mall. Afterwards, we went on a search for Cheesecake (really hard to find in Korea apparently) and spent some time shopping.

Then we went down to Ikseon-dong and Insa-dong, some beautiful traditional streets with lots of pretty shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, we actually did it backwards. Ikseon-dong had all the restaurants and we weren't hungry when we walked through there. Insa-dong was mostly shops. By the time we got there, we were hungry. We actually had this really cute moment in Insa-dong. My host sister was complaining that her feet hurt so we stopped to listen to this guitarist, and he actually asked me where I was from and to tell him my favourite song. I don't think he would know any songs I would suggest, so he asked me if I like Elvis Presly and he proceeded to play one of his songs. The couple who was sitting next to us apparently complemented my host mom on her Korean, not realizing she was Korean, I suppose because she was speaking English with me.

After we ate, we went down to Gyeonbukgun where there was a big protest going on. My host mom was curious. By that point, it was late and we were all exhausted. We went back to our guesthouse and went to bed.

Friday
The next morning, we went to a few places my host mom wanted to visit before going to Yongsan Station to get lunch and send them home.

Once they left, I went back to Myeongdong, did a little bit of shopping before grabbing my bag from the guesthouse and making my way to the other side of the city to where I would be staying for the rest of my stay. I didn't have much time, I got my stuff settled and made my way back across the river to go to a show. I love theatre and I usually shy away from going to them because of the language barrier, but this show was actually mostly physical comedy. There was some speaking, but it was mostly in English with a little bit of Korean being understandable for my Korean ability. It was so much fun! And so funny. I'm so glad that I went, even if I barely made it before the show started and had a bruised knee from falling outside the subway station.

The show was only about an hour long and so afterwards, I got dinner and decided to walk along the Cheonggyecheom Stream.

Saturday
Saturday was less exciting. I wandered around the city mostly. I saw Dongdaemun area and went looking for a gift for my friend's birthday. Around four, I headed over to the Han River to get a place to see the fireworks. I actually made friends with another group of foreigners while I was there. I'm so glad I brought a jacket because it got cold quickly that day.

The fireworks were so beautiful. There were daytime fireworks, that seemed to be made of colored powder and then once it got dark there were three different fireworks shows of various lengths. It ended around 9 and I was both freezing and exhausted. I walked back to where I was staying and went right to sleep. The next morning I went home, exhausted and tired of being in the city for too long. I was so happy to see my bed.

It was a great weekend and I'm so thankful that even if it was a city I've been to a bunch of times, I always have a place that's not too far from me that I can go to and experience something new every time.

Chuseok! Again!

Well, its that time of year again. If you missed my post last year, Chuseok is essentially Korean Thanksgiving. It is based on the lunar calendar and is one of the two most important holidays in Korean culture (the other being Seollal- Lunar New Year). My Chuseok began on Wednesday, where my host mom actually asked for me to have the day off so that we could go to Seoul and visit her family and take the kids to this exhibition hall that had been rented out. It was filled to the brim with inflatables and small fun things for the kids to play and jump around on. It was actually a lot of fun, even though there wasn't really anything for adults to do but watch the kids play.

Except for the swings. There were swings. That was fun.

We spent the day there, went to a restaurant to get backbone soup and back to my host mom's sister's apartment. We had so many people in this tiny little Seoul apartment with two families (five kids total) plus grandparents and me. But it was nice and we left after breakfast the next morning.

A few hours after we arrived back home, the other grandparents arrived. My host dad's parents and uncle came for dinner and spent the night. Friday was actually Chuseok. I actually got a few hours to myself because the family went out and I stayed home. It was actually nice. After all, if I was always busy during my vacation from school, its not much of a break. This break did come way too early in the school year, however. I really could use it in October or November when there are no breaks in the schedule. Literally, I don't have any holidays between Hangul day on October 9th and Christmas day.

Saturday, my host mom decided that we should do something with the day, so we went to the "love tree" and then to a really cute cafe where the owner sang for us.

All in all, it was a pretty good holiday. I'm really happy to have been able to celebrate another Chuseok in Korea.

One Day Back, and I'm Moving

A few months back, my old host mom and I talked about the fact that they wouldn't be hosting again due to the space restrictions in the house and that my host sister needed her room back. That was completely understandable. So I sadly said goodbye to my house and my family way back in July, knowing that when I returned I would be living with a new family. They still live close and it would be easy to go over for dinner sometime, and I still teach at the same school the kids go to, so I know I don't have to worry about it.

What I didn't know when I left was who I would be living with when I returned. So about a week before coming back, I was finally told. I'm living with the family that hosted the other ETA last year. This was good news. I knew that I would be in good hands. She had nothing but good things to say about the family last year.

Well, they live up the side of a mountain, which is cool but kind of annoying since I have to ask for rides in and out of town, instead of walking like last year, but the house is beautiful and I have a spectacular view from my room. I even have my own bathroom! Now that's amazing. The family is great (I'll formally introduce them in a future post) and I am getting along with them right away. The baby (3-year-old) is so cute and all three of the kids seem to like me already. Just like last year, my family wanted to do something with me this year on my first day in the house. So we went to the DMZ. I'm sensing a theme. Last year the Peace Bell, this year the DMZ. Despite it being a half-hour from my town, I haven't actually been yet, so I was really excited to go and check it off my list. We just went to an observatory so there wasn't anything too exciting but I saw North Korea. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures but that doesn't mean I didn't take pictures of other things. It was a really nice day out and afterward we went to a restaurant for lunch and picked up the things I left at my old homestay. By the evening I was settled into my new home, and I'm so excited for the year ahead.

Well....It's official. I'm Staying!

So I've been hinting at it in previous posts, but it wasn't official until a few days ago. Way back in February, I decided that I wanted to renew my Fulbright grant here in Korea. The Korean Fulbright ETA grant is renewable up to three years. Applications opened back in March and I quickly filled it out. I don't know if this was more or less nerve wracking then the first time I applied. It was a really tense few months of will I, won't I.

This week, after being told we were going to receive our notifications a month prior, I was finally told that I was accepted for a second year, and my school was very enthusiastic about me continuing in Hwacheon. So there you go anyone who has been interested in knowing.

I AM STAYING IN KOREA!!!

For another year, at least. I don't think, at this point, I will renew for a third year. I miss being home and I want to start my career. But at the same time, I feel like my journey here in Korea isn't over yet.

My host family won't be hosting me next year, but I'll still see them around and I am still so thankful for them for hosting me. Part of my homestay contract requires me to have my own room, and I took the oldest girl's room when I got here. She has been sharing with her two younger brothers and she's getting older. She needs her own room and her own space. I understand.

I don't know yet who will be hosting me, there are apparently three families that applied to host me or the other ETA at my school. So hopefully, I will know and be able to meet my family before I leave in July.

Now that I know I am staying, I finally have my flight information and can tell all my friends exactly when I am home, so I can see everyone. I have missed them so much over the past year. I spent the last four years around these people everyday, so it has been an adjustment. Some friends I have had even longer.

Well that's it. That's all I have. But on the bright side, there is another year of posts coming to all of you. Thank you so much for coming on this journey for the past year, and I look forward to another one.

Easter in Korea

Easter is another one of those holidays that make me miss family more than ever as well as a holiday that most Koreans don't celebrate. Now I have mentioned before that most Koreans aren't religious, therefore there is no purpose to celebrate Easter. But in the US, where the Christian religion is so ingrained in our foundation, I found myself feeling odd walking into school on Easter Monday. Much the same feeling I had walking into school on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

I had mentioned previously that Easter was coming and that I wanted to do something to celebrate it. I originally wanted to make the family my mom's flapjacks (that never happened) but instead we enjoyed the nice weather. In the US, there might be storm after storm, but in Korea the weather has been beautiful. It has been warm and sunny and nice. I really wasn't expecting them to do all they did that day. Just to reiterate, my host family isn't religious. Especially not christian, so they don't celebrate christian holidays. First, we went on a walk back on some property through fields and up a mountainside that I didn't realize we owned. We even walked past the house that my host mom was born in and she pointed out her mountain and the graves of her mother and grandfather.

After the walk, we all piled into the car (My host parents plus their three kids plus the three cousins plus me) and went to 'flower road.' This was just a paved driveway with cherry blossoms on either side. But it was still beautiful. My host mom got out her camera and took lots of pictures. I didn't know there were going to be pictures or I would have dressed better, but it was a nice experience nonetheless. When we got back, my host dad told me there was going to be a BBQ. I don't know if they did all this for my sake because of the holiday, or they just wanted to enjoy the beautiful weather (it was one of the first really nice weekends) but I appreciated them and what they did for me regardless. It was a nice day and a nice evening.

If only we didn't have so much fun. I had to wake up at 4 am to Skype home and then get up for work the next day. But you know what? I wouldn't trade the whole experience for anything.

Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Fishing Festival

During the majority of January, my beautiful town held a fantastic festival. From the name of the festival, many would think that there wasn't much to it. They would ask what there even was to do beyond ice fishing. But this three-week festival was so much more than just ice fishing (though that was a huge part of it).

I first read about this festival way back in July when I first learned I was being placed here. I was so excited. Festivals are a huge part of Korean culture, and to have one that belongs to my placement was such a great thing to me. 

Now, this isn't a small thing in Hwacheon. The county government goes all out. They started putting lights and fish decorations up in the trees and along streets way back in December. And these weren't small decorations. It was almost excessive. But it was so beautiful. As a girl who absolutely loves lights, I was in heaven looking at them. During the festival, they even closed down the main street (which was covered in lights), and you could walk down the street and listen to the entertainment and eat food from vendors. 

The first thing I got to experience was the Indoor Ice Sculpture Plaza. It advertised that it was the largest indoor ice sculpture plaza in the world. And it was pretty grand. I actually got to go early. Afterschool one day, just before the festival started, all the teachers at my school were given tickets to go visit the plaza. It was so cool, not only because it was so beautiful, and it was awesome to see the art, but it was just the teachers from my school (it wasn't open to the public), so I was able to get good pictures of the castles and the sculptures without a bunch of people in the way. The entire place was made of ice. Looking at it, it looked fake but once you are up close you realize it's all real. It's all ice. Amazing. You could actually go up in the buildings and everything. There was even a slide. 

The festival itself took place on the frozen river that goes through my town. Probably about three-quarters of it was used for ice fishing (as that is what the festival was all about) but there was a portion for other activities. What was neat about the ice fishing, is that since the festival was foreigner friendly, there was one section of the river portioned off just for foreigners. It was really nice because the Korean part was really crowded all the time. I actually went fishing on three separate occasions, and I didn't catch a fish a single time. I did, however, get the fish my friends caught off their hooks. A few of them were really squeamish. I felt really bad for the fish. I knew I was hurting it, but it had to be done. 

The other activities were a lot more fun, and a lot less violent. It's near impossible to write everything that I did, but here are a few highlights. There was a giant snow tubing slide that slid onto the frozen river and a 500-meter long zip line over the fishing areas. They had ice skating, traditional ice sleds, ice soccer, and curling courts. Even barehanded ice fishing (where you get into a pool in shorts and a t-shirt and try and grab as many fish as you can with your bare hands, I didn't do that). There was delicious food lined up along either side of the river and even little tent restaurants where you could take your freshly caught fish and cook them up and eat them. There were some activities for kids that I couldn't do. One section beside the river was Ethiopian themed. I didn't know this, but apparently, some Ethiopian soldiers fought in the Korean War actually in Hwacheon, so now they do an exchange scholarship program with the country to this day. They served Ethiopian coffee and had mock buildings that were created to look like they were from the time of the war. You could even dress up in costumes. 

It was such a wonderful experience and I am so lucky to have had this festival in the place that I am living in.

New Year's Eve

If Christmas was a rather lackluster event, then New Year's Eve was even more so. Because of the Korean Educational System, I actually had school on New Year's Eve. In Korea, the holiday's focus is more on January 1st than it is on December 31st, therefore the night before, I stayed up until midnight like I always do, then I went down to the living room just before. All of the kids were there just hanging out. I pulled up the clock on my phone and we counted down the last few seconds of 2018. "Happy New Year!"

Like I said, it is more important to celebrate the first day of the year, so my host mom invited me to hike up to the top of a mountain that overlooks my town and watch the first sunrise of the year. So that is exactly what I did. Only it was a lot more work than I expected it to be. We didn't drive as far up as I thought we would. But the view. Wow. A bunch of other Koreans were there, and they released balloons into the sky.

After the sun rose, we walked back down the mountain to eat 만두 (dumplings). This is traditionally eaten on New Year's Day as it is said that by eating them, you gain a year (because in Korea, you age up on your January 1st, not your birthday). It was really funny because after we ate our dumpling soup, as we were walking back to the car, my host mom looks at me and tells me "In Korea, your age 24." Which I find hilarious because I was just thinking about how when I left the US in July, I was 21 years old, now in January, only 6 months later, I am now 24 years old. I gained 3 years in 6 months. It is actually amazing to me.