Settling In

A cool door in the Ville.

Hello and Happy New Year! I can still get away with saying that because the Chinese New Year, which is celebrated in Korea as well, is on January 31st. On Saturday we will have been residents of South Korea for one whole month. In some ways it feels like I’ve always lived here, and in other ways I’m hopelessly new to things. I’m still getting used to the random weird looks and giggles from young children when I walk by, but it would be very strange to walk around inside of a house with my shoes on.

I apologize for the lack of blog posts lately. I finally feel like my schedule has calmed down enough to think about anything but teaching and just surviving, praise the Lord. Teaching is exhausting! My level of respect for teachers in general is now through the roof. I’ll write more about my job so far in a future post, but I love the hagwon that I teach at and my coworkers are great. The schedule is crazy but it’s a challenge that I think I’m up to. We’ll see, right?

Daily life is getting easier and easier. It’s funny how simple things like taking out the trash or going grocery shopping become miles harder in a new culture and different language. I’m getting used to walking everywhere, which has been good for my health but bad for my often-frozen fingers! It takes me about 10 minutes to walk to work, so I don’t have it too bad. We’ve learned where the closest grocery stores and coffee shops are as well as the quickest routes to and from the subway station. Slowly but surely we are settling into our new life in Dongducheon.

When we first arrived I thought our town was pretty large, especially compared to small towns back in Indiana. A few trips down the subway line soon corrected my misconception. There are a few much larger towns with more to do in between Dongducheon and Seoul, not to mention Seoul itself is just huge and incredible. We’ve traveled to Uijeongbu to go to the mall and movies, Duckjeong to visit friends, and up north toward Camp Casey (the picture at the top was taken on that trip). We’ve also taken several trips into Seoul that have been really fun. Pictures from those coming soon!

In other news, Uriah has been making awesome videos about life in Korea; check them out here!

Lately I’ve been inspired by this Margaret Drabble quote: “When nothing is sure, everything is possible.” Although everything still feels new and strange here, it’s this time of uncertainty that produces amazing opportunities for growth and change. Have a wonderful day!