First day in KoreaIlsan, South Korea

Well, we're here. We arrived last night. After a 12-hour flight (on a side note, I whole-heartedly recommend Singapore Airlines to anyone traveling across the Pacific). After collecting our baggage and clearing customs faster than in any other country, we emerged from the terminal to see tons of Koreans waiting, many with signs containing various names. Our driver, Mr. Li, had no problem spotting us (the only confused foreigners in the lot), and quickly herded us outside, where he and the majority of the Korean men exiting the airport immediately lit a cigarette. Welcome to Asia.

It took us about half an hour to reach our school, where we met our vice-president/director/head teacher/boss, Joe, and some of the foreign and Korean teachers. Joe showed us around the school, which has one floor in a giant building for the older (elementary - high school) students and a separate, new building exclusively for kindergardeners and some 1st graders. After the tour, Joe took us to our temporary hotel room - right across the street from our school - and then took us out to dinner and helped us find breads to buy for breakfast. We returned back to the hotel around 10 PM (which is 6 AM in California). We set our alarms fro 9:30 the next day, since we needed to be at the school by noon, and crashed.

We were both wide awake by 8 this morning, not quite able to internalize the fact that we're here. In Korea. To teach. For a year. Huh.

Having purchased breakfast-y breads the night before, we ate breakfast in our hotel room and learned to operate the shower (there is no curtain or door, but rather the entire restroom is made of plastic, the toilet paper is covered, and the floor itself has a drain to get rid of all the water). After getting dressed and acclimating for a while to Korean music videos, we headed over to the school for our first day of class-observing.

From around noon until about 6:00, we observed 4 classes with 3 different teachers (Joe and the two foreign teachers we are to replace - Elaine and Sean). We also met the rest of the Korean and foreign teachers, got mobbed by very enthusiastic (and not at all shy) kindergardeners, and checked out some of the available course materials.

During a break, we went to the same tiny Korean restaurant that we'd eaten at the night before, and managed to procure a delicious, spicy seafood and noodle soup with my poor Korean reading abilities and some creative signing. The waiter, who was amazingly indulgent of our inability to communicate properly, also brought us some kim chi and water. Korean word of the day: 짭뽕라면. Meaning: Delicious cheap noodle-fish-chili-soup that I can't pronounce properly.

After observing classes, we went and got our photos taken for the alien registration card that the school's owner will apply for on our behalf. Tomorrow, another day of observation - in the kindergarden as well as with some Korean teachers. For now, off to take photos and find food.

Preparing for South KoreaBerkeley, California

Our visas are ready, our tickets are purchased, our bags are (somewhat) packed... Jay and I are leaving in less than a week to spend a year in South Korea - in Ilsan, a suburb to the Northeast of Seoul, in the Gyeonggi province. We don't speak Korean to any usable degree, we have never been to Asia before, and we haven't met the people responsible for sending us there.

We will be teaching English for a year at a private school, which will pay for our airfare and provide us with housing. It would be an absurd lie to say I wasn't nervous, but, at the same time, I am tingling with excitement. Once again, I have the opportunity to travel, to learn a new language, and to experience a new culture... Why wouldn't excitement be the most noticeable emotion?

Right now, Jay and I are both trying to see our friends and families for a bit longer before he comes down to the Bay Area and then... we're off! Updates will be forthcoming, once we're across the Pacific.

Final semester - ready go!Portland, Oregon

I'm excited for this semester - I have a pathetically tiny course load (13 credits), and my classes seem surprisingly doable. My Spanish literature course is focused on Don Quijote this semester (probably a good work to read for, say, a Hispanics Studies major), and my German class is focused on love and death in German literature. Both seem to be interesting topics, with good professors, so yay for foreign languages that I will inevitably mix together when speaking (oops).

Other than that, I still haven't taken a lab science (an unfortunate requirement at this silly liberal arts place - wanting students to have a well-rounded education... disgusting!) So I'm taking environmental chemistry. Not too excited about returning to mathy stuff, and the professor is...not entirely inspiring, but it will be doable. Plus, my last class is yoga. Now, bear in mind that I will destroy any and all good things that the yoga class does to my body by running off to lift weights shortly afterwards, but hey, at least it'll be a fun class.

With such a light course load, I have the opportunity to work on other stuff this semester as well. Namely, art, excercise, sleep, and learning Korean. Maybe working on Finnish and Japanese as well, but those two are rather less likely. And playing ridiculous amounts of board games with Jay, since we have far too many in our apartment. Ah well. On the note of our apartment, though, (and in the words of my linguisticly-creative madre): hallefrickenloolah. What a difference it makes to actually tolerate one's roommate (let alone absolutely adore). This bodes well for the coming semester.

Oh, I forgot to mention: I have no classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Muahahaha! This means sleeping sufficiently, and then fun stuff (ie Korean) before having to hit them books.... Though when I do study, it's interesting material! What a change from last semester! Okay, I'm inspired to work a bit more on my Korean so I'm off!

Finishing finals...Portland, Oregon

*Whew* I am now done with all final exams and therefore officially finished with Spanish Lit (To be continued next semester), Early European History, and Colonial Latin American History. May the histories rest in peace and never never never plague my semester schedule again. Seriously. How is it that 2 400-level foreign language classes were a breeze while 2 100-level history classes gave me so much trouble? History is no good, I say. But it's over. All I have left is a presentation in my German class (gender roles in the Nibelungenlied) and then I'm home free.

Jay and I are moving into a huge on-campus double apartment next semester, so we have to move all our stuff into the storage facility of that hall. We're pretty much done though, so that's not particularly stressful. While I'll miss having an oven, I will absolutely not miss the women I lived with for the first part of this semester. Guh. In one case especially, I had to deal with pretty much the preppy/immature/spoiled type that I spent all of high school avoiding. And then we lived together. Lovely. Personality clash to the extreme.

On that note, next semester will be the first ever that I've actually selected my roommate. Honestly, I had great luck my first two years, and technically lived without a roommate last year, so a few duds were bound to come my way at some point... The residents of my old room were clearly they. Blah. I am, however, eagerly awaiting my return to Berkeley, especially since my family's new cat is probably the size of a small tiger by this time. Oh, and of course seeing family and friends will be wonderful. I'm also looking forward to a potential mini-road trip to Death Valley with Jules, which would be amazing if we can figure out how to do it.

For the most part, aside from looking forward to vacation, I'm just trying to get a grip on my senioritis and uncertainty for the coming year(s). South Korea is looking like a very attractive (and rather likely) possibility, as both Jay and a good friend of his are interested. This of course serves to re-spark my interest in Asian languages, so I'm back to making flashcards to learn Japanese and Korean. I have to say, Korean is a lot less complicated than the languages of its neighbors. I just wish I'd put in the effort to maintain the small amount of Korean literacy I had after my semester in Chile - after a year and a half of concentrating on other languages, I'll have to start all over by re-learning the alphabet.

Additionally, I'm excited to visit the art store this weekend to prepare for creativity bursts next semester. They're bound to happen... I hope. If not, I may as well try to find an off-campus job, since I have two free days during the week and I should keep myself entertained somehow. Maybe I'll just raid the libraries in the area and try to learn Italian, Korean, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Finnish, and Arabic. Oh, and maybe Greek. ^_^.

Honestly though, I don't quite know how I'm going to do justice to what very well may be my last year in Portland. My time here has gone by so fast... And while I regret that my time abroad precluded my ability to keep strong connections here at LC, the time I spent in Latin America and Europe was invaluable to developing the person I'm still in the process of becoming. At the least, I have some pretty photos. At the best, I have an infinite source of inspiration to keep exploring. And all the while, I haven't even thoroughly explored Portland and what it has to offer. Maybe in the coming months (as the sun begins to reappear), I'll have a chance to run amok through the bridges and streets of Portland as I should have by now.

Much love to everyone, and here's to hoping the holidays and the new year are wonderful. May we not get tangled in Christmas lights (though, if our cat does, I promise I'll pass the pictures along).

It's probably that time again...Portland, Oregon

It has recently come to my attention that I am very bad about updating this during the school year. When I'm traveling, great, but when in school... blah.

So, here's your mid-term update: Portland is rainy. Shocking, I know. Early November and it's constantly drizzling, occasionally throwing in that extra "oomph" to make it actually poor. Fabulous.

Other than the weather change, what else has happened since I last wrote... Well, Carrie visited me for a long weekend during Fall Break (during which we ran to all the touristy places we could in the rain), classes started handing out paper assignments and exam dates, swim season started up (competitions), and I rearranged my room.

So I suppose in all honesty, there's not a whole lot to say. For the most part, I'm burned out and just wanting to graduate. I'm lucky in that, were I not to do any reading nor attend the majority of my history classes, I could almost definitely swing a B in both of them regardless. Which, given the ridiculous amount of classes already on my transcript, would not endanger my GPA or my Honors Thesis. That's pretty much where I'm heading now, as my first impulse is to curl up and sleep most the time and the next best thing is to slide through coursework. German and Spanish are easier, as the material is actually interesting for the most part, and reading it doesn't make my head hurt. I wonder if it is worrisome that reading in English has become a slow chore? Hm...

I'm currently wondering what to do with my life after graduation. Given the above paragraph, graduate school is out for at least a year. Additionally, as I want to travel more than anything else, the idea of going to eastern Asia to teach ESL is extremely appealing. That would take care of money, travel, cultural exploration, and work experience all at once. Right now, Jay and I are looking at South Korea and Japan (though the cost of living in Japan is much higher). Without CELTA or Trinity TESOL certification, Latin America and Europe are pretty much closed off. The Middle East generally demands a Masters, plus a whole lot of teaching experience, which neither of us have right now. Oh, and then there's the minor detail that my country wants to destroy/control all of the countries in the Middle East.... That could be a minor barrier. Who knows. Jay seems intrigued by the possibility of traveling and earning money abroad, it's mainly just a question of safety and reliability.

Strangely, I've been having dreams about Chile - not just when I'm asleep, but sometimes daydreams as well - images and memories flashing by and then I'm back to the here and now... I find it odd that I'm not getting flashbacks of Germany or of my travels, or even of particularly interesting things in Chile. Instead, it's a flash of the micro ride down Cerro Esperanza, a memory of eating at a restaurant near Stephanie's house while helping her to smuggle her empty glass coca cola bottle out, watching dancers at Aché Havana. Sitting in Haydée's Spanish literature class. Waking up in my room. Walking through the school. Getting lost trying to find my way out of the mall by Carrie's house. Riding with Carlos to pick up/deliver avocados, praying that his driving didn't kill us.

Maybe my mind's playing tricks on me, but the primary reaction I'm getting from this is a need to go back, to reassure myself that all these things were real. Will this happen with Germany in a year, too? Why Chile? Why now? I'm being pulled in so many directions, academically, physically, and emotionally... but I can't be bothered with classes, with grades, when what I really want is to go back into explorer mode... to witness the unknown.

For now, though, the closest thing I have is to fantasize - consider where I want to go and how to get there... or to remain in the nostalgia of the last few years - re-organizing photos, re-reading logs...

So much that I want to do and so little time and resources, but I suppose those will come eventually.

Staying in the present can, I suppose, be difficult, though living entirely in the past or the future would make the present cease to matter... and then I won't be able to look back at it when it's the past, right? Right. So. Homework. ...My logic may, on second thought, be flawed.