Wait! You mean I'm actually living in Korea?!

For a year?! 
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Yes, today it finally hit me.  I am living in Korea, for a year, alone, unable to speak the dominate language, teaching high school girls English. 
After some amazing closing ceremonies by an orchestra that only plays traditional Korean music (videos to come later), everyone packed up, went out one last night together, and boarded their respective bus the following morning.  About 1 hour later, we all climbed off our bus nervous and excited.  With my luck of course, I was the third one picked up after only having to wait about maybe 10 minutes.  Lee Mija, the head of the English department at my school, helped me with my luggage and whisked me away with barely a few moments to yell bye back.  We ate pizza and then visited our school.  I meet one of my three co-teachers, Chau-Eun, who thankfully speaks English very well before her, Lee Mija, the two vice principals and principal all sat down together.  The next 10 minutes consisted of me feeling so nervous I was smiling uncontrollably while they all speak about me in Korean.  It was fascinating and frightening.  My co-teach Chau-Eun, walked me through everything I needed to know about the school and teaching there.  Luckily I have tomorrow off to prepare and get myself together still, so I don't have to teach until Monday (whew!).  After this, I was off to my apartment- with a room on the top floor, 10 before then heading off to the supermarket!  There we went grocery shopping, I ran into another student from the EPIK program (YAY!) who said he lives really close to me.  I gave him my email, so I'm anxiously waiting to hear from him.  We brought my food back, unpacked that, and my co-teacher took me out for tea before then leaving herself.  Oh!  And somewhere in here I also exchanged my money for Korean won too.  After I was finally alone, I spent the next 3 1/2 hours unpacking.  I also cooked on a hot plate, tried my hand at the washing machine (sadly no dryer) and started my lesson plan for Monday.  I was stressing out about the fact that it's real, so me being the smart alick that I am, put in the movie "Be Cool"- to remind myself to, well, be cool.  xD  I think I'm mostly moved in. 
Goals/To Do for this weekend:
~Pick up a few more shirts for teaching (somehow don't have enough)
~Buy a pair of sandals for the school (you can't wear outside shoes inside the school)
~Explore my area a little bit, get to know it
~Find a swing scene for dancing!!!
I'll keep you guys posted and updated about what's going on.  I hope you guys are doing well and can't wait to hear about where life takes you! 
Love,
Rita

How to: Get Back Up Again

I have officially spent 3 days in Seoul now, and never before have I felt such homesickness.  It's scarey to be honest, especially since I've never felt such a feeling before.  Never at a sleep away camp during elementary or middle school, never while visiting family or friends, never while at college even.  So before this I was blessed, and now I think God has decided it is time for me to learn the value of family and friends.  I have this deep fear inside me that all my friends will forget about me, I won't make any over here, and I will be left to fall into this void where I am alone.  Today, I acknowledged that fear within myself, writing out and forcing myself to visually face every fear I was feeling on the inside.  A little later, I replied to an old friend on skype, admitting my fears.  He has been in my life for almost 7 years now, and knows me better then almost anyone.  I know he will understand once he reads my messages.  Knowing this fact alone, as odd as it sounds, comforted me.  I then messaged another friend asking him for help and strength during this time.  I admitted my weakness to another.  Once I did these things, it was amazing the weight that was lifted off my shoulders.  I turned on some music, allowed myself to get carried away by TobyMac, and began to feel a pulse come back into my step.  It felt amazingly good honestly!  I was even able to be happy, enjoy the idea of being in Korea for a year (I had been struggling with this since I missed my friends so much), and knew that now I could suck up the fear that was remaining inside and push myself to just move on.  (Of course it helps to have friends I can talk to about my fears, worries, etc. with as well!)  Well, I'm off to bed.  For pictures and the like see my facebook page.
Love, hugs, & kisses,
리타
^
Rita

Last Night Home

It's my last night at home.  I'm in bed, with my computer, cat and phone by my side like any other normal night.  Only thing that is different about this night is that it will be my last night at home in MY bed for a year.  Everyone keeps asking if I'm nervous, apprehensive, scared, etc.  To be honest, I don't feel any of those things.  It's not that I'm cold, I'm just so focused on what I NEED to do, and it's barely sunk in what I'm ABOUT to do.  I'm about to embark on a huge journey- one filled with wonder, excitement, fear, and adventure.  Where I will be living in a foreign country for a year, learning about numerous other cultures, trying tons of different foods, and exploring at least one foreign country to my heart's content!  The only thing I sort of feel right now is a small blip of excitement when considering this a future thing that I will be doing, not realizing it's something that's about to happen.  My brain is weird I guess, lol.
On a slightly tangential yet related note- how I managed to pack 2 suitcases with only 100 lbs of things in it to last me (mostly) for a year, I'll never know!  If the scales at Publix are correct (let's hope to God they are), my suitcases weigh in at 49 lbs, and 49.5 lbs.  The limit is 50- talk about cutting it close!  I really hope that the flights won't be too bad.  I should be exhausted, but for some reason tonight I'm not.  And the fact that my room is not a disaster area like it was only 6 hours ago is amazing to me.  I'm still going to put away one or two last minute things, but other then that, I think I'm going to paint my toenails (the one girly thing I love to do for myself every 2-3 weeks), watch a little tv, speak with one or two friends, and then go to bed.  I have to wake up at 6, be out the door by 7, and on the plane by 9 so that we can take off by 9:30.  I'll be landing at 4:40 pm KST on the 17th if all goes well (that's 3:40 am EST on the 17thfor everyone back home).  Should be everything from wonderful to horrid all at once.  Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I journey across the world, I think my sadness at not seeing my family and friends as regularly as I do will be a huge battle for me to overcome.  I will need all of your support during the next few weeks, so I thank you in advance. 
Love love love,
Rita