While pushing away the stress of packing my whole life into two fifty pound bags, I am trying to only think positive. I am suppressing the scary thoughts that I will soon be traveling to the other side of the planet and that I am sadly unable to safely pack my cats into my checked baggage. I know I have things to stress about other than Delta's ridiculous weight limits on international flights. In truth, it's not too hard to think positively, I am pretty excited. Living and working in another country will be a first of many firsts for me. The next three months in Seoul will prove to be challenging, and melt downs are inevitable, but I feel prepared. I guess that is really all I can ask for at this point.

I have fairly definite ideas of what to expect in Seoul. I expect to have a terrific time the first week. Orientation week will be filled with tours, museums, cultural meetings…basically we are spending a wonderful Korean vacation on UMSL's dime. Nice, right? It's the next week that poses the most concern. My old nemesis homesickness will set in. As will the fact that I am no spring chicken (or another clichéd metaphor for being old) and will be living in a college dorm room again, which, quite frankly, didn't go so great when I was a spring chicken. I know there will be times where I am completely overwhelmed, cursing myself for traveling so far from my realm of comfort, and wanting to give up and call it a day. I hope these days are few and far between, but to not give these issues serious consideration at this point would be a grave error on my part. I've traveled and lived away from home before and it's been hard, very hard, and I'm trying to remember the pain of the past so I can ease myself into the very near future.



However, with all that reality creeping through my mind, I think the cons will eventually be overcome with the warmness I have been told Koreans have, the good people I have back home anxious to hear how it goes (expecting their usual Crystal-type humor and folly), and the fact that I have a very nice cat-sitter watching my two boys. I believe the Korean students will spoil me greatly. I imagine a classroom of students very eager to do well, who take pride in their accomplishments, and who, most importantly, put their cell phones away before class. I hope to have the opportunity to really get involved with the school and the staff will utilize my weird American ways to teach the students about different cultures. Also, more pragmatically, after the longest summer in the history of the world …I actually cannot wait to get back to work.

While most of my family and friends are excited for me, I have had to defend my decision quite a bit. Here, for your amusement, I have compiled a list of the reasons I have been told to not go to South Korea:

1. It's too far away.

2. It would be a shame if you liked it so much you don't come home.

3. Kim Jong-Il.

4. You're going to be like one of those journalists who goes hiking and winds up in North Korea stuck in a prison somewhere.


My sister told me #1 but in all fairness I believe she was mainly joking. She is pretty excited for me. However, I was told by her recently to not look for a job there after my student teaching was complete. #2 was from Mom and I assured her that this would be unlikely as I would never feel the comfort of home quite like St. Louis. #3…yeah, yeah…I know, I'm going to get blown up. Well, look, if I do, then you can say you told me so…if I don't, just wait until I get back, I have a speech all prepared. And #4 was from a couple different sources but the first person who said it was my former boss. Now let me tell you why this scenario is the least likely thing to happen. I have been hiking, like real hiking, a total of two times in my entire thirty years on Earth. The first time I saw a bear…a live bear… who seemed just as scared of me and my friend as I was of nature in general. The second hike I took about three weeks later by myself. I couldn't get that bear out of my mind. I kept trying to recite the rules, regulations and policies set in place of what you are to do in a full on bear-attack scenario, but, I didn't trust myself to follow through and stay alive. When I saw the bear on the prior hike all I did was freeze…and I'm almost positive my heart stopped. It took me all of ten minutes to hike my butt straight back to my car, throw it in reverse, and get out of there. I haven't been hiking since.


So, yeah, there will be no hiking for me, rest assured…you're much more likely to find me sitting in a Korean BBQ than you are seeing me hike on up to Kim Jong-Il's crib.