After spending two and a half years in Seoul – nearly entirely during covid times, I just missed home. Travel quarantine and restrictions had barred any travel I had planned to do as well as friends from coming to visit. I missed my family and friends, and the overall familiarity of what I had back in Minnesota.
Category Archives: Korea Notes
Korea Notes: 1 Year 3 Months
I checked into my second therapy session and my therapist smiled at me through her mask. Whenever I go to a talk therapy meeting I laugh to myself because there’s that small-talk hurdle I sort of tumble over before spilling how my last chunk of time has been since seeing my listener.
Korea Notes: Year 2 – updates!
I vowed to not work a single Saturday as an English teacher this year. It’s pretty common for English hagwons here to have grueling hours that squeeze their teachers for all their worth. I’m pretty serious about leaving work at work and not letting it haunt me when I clock out. So leaving my SaturdaysContinue reading “Korea Notes: Year 2 – updates!”
Korea Notes: Arrival (airplane) Day
Airplane Day is the day my flight from South Korea landed in America from 25 years ago. Some people call it an Arrival Day or a “Gotcha” Day. Quite plainly, it’s the day that your family “gotcha.” Either way, it’s seemed a little comical to me over the years. I always believed that I hadContinue reading “Korea Notes: Arrival (airplane) Day”
Korea Notes: out of control, into growth
I don’t have control issues.do I have control issues? No, no.I mean, I don’t think I have control issues.Do I? The inevitable truth is that, yes my relationship with control in my life causes problems. On my artist palette, there’s some blend between control, anxiety, and isolation that manages to splatter onto my daily canvasContinue reading “Korea Notes: out of control, into growth”
Korea notes: home
The concept of “Home” eludes us. When I think about belonging somewhere, I immediately think about the question “Where is Home for me?” Where is home for me? For a lot of people, “Home is where the heart is” rings true. If that’s the case, then I have a LOT of homes. It’s like homeContinue reading “Korea notes: home”
Jobs I can put my Heart in // I must be Teaching Kindergarten
What do you get when you cross screaming children, rainbow colored everything, stressed out adults, with dinosaurs, pretending to be cats, and snack time? If you said “Kindergarten!” you’re right! If you said “A nightmare.” You’re probably a kindergarten teacher. Just kidding, it’s been a blast working at Maple Bear so far. English kindergarten hereContinue reading “Jobs I can put my Heart in // I must be Teaching Kindergarten”
fwd: update from ESWS
Mother, I have learned enough nowTo know I have learned nearly nothing.On this dayWhen mothers are being honored,Let me thank youThat my selfishness, ignorance, and mockeryDid not bring you toDiscard me like a broken dollWhich had lost its favor.I thank you thatYou still find something in meTo cherish, to admire and to love. I thankContinue reading “fwd: update from ESWS”
Korea Notes : Page Turning
Where do I even start? I’ve always prided myself on agility in times of growth, change, and transitions. Among the ambiguity of change, there’s an urgency to peer through the fog and arrive at a new, beautiful vista. Fog rolls like thunderclouds these days, and boy do I LOVE the storms.
Korea Notes : 8 & 9
Stress has had my keyboard wrapped up. It’s amazing how many thoughts our brain can become obsessed with at the same time, preventing us from focusing on what is really important. I experience this in a couple different ways: in the moment, when I realize that I’ve been worrying about the same things nonstop, andContinue reading “Korea Notes : 8 & 9”
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