Waving Goodbye to 2014!

This year is coming to a close, and I can't believe it!

Fun times in Busan!

 For me, 2014 has been full of ups and downs, but I'm still going strong.

So, what's going on with Little Lady? A lot of things in a short period of time! Here are some of the most exciting things that have occurred this year:

Touring Bogotá, Colombia's Capital for a Day

Bogotá, as seen from the top of Monserrate Mountain

 
While teaching a group of Korean ten year-olds recently, I noticed a misspelling of Colombia in the textbook. When I pointed out the mistake, the kids insisted that it was spelled correctly, showing me a  Korean-English dictionary entry on a smartphone for places like British Columbia and the District of Columbia. I asked the students to spell Colombia again, with the second "o". They finally saw Colombia, the country.

"Oh teacher! You are a genius!!" Well, I try.

I taught English in Bogotá, Colombia for about seven months. It was my passport to the beautiful country. If you're interested in teaching in Colombia, you can learn more here. But this entry isn't about teaching there.

From Bogotá Resident to Tourist

My mom made plans to visit me in July, 2012. As a result, I purposefully avoided the majority of Bogota's tourist attractions until she came. I wanted to see them for the first time with my mom to keep it interesting.

Bogotá is the capital city of Colombia. Left is El Norte and Right is Bolívar Plaza

For her visit, I allocated only one day for Bogotá. Why? Because even though Bogotá is an enormous city, there really aren't that many interesting touristy things to see. For the average tourist, I think one to two days in the capital are enough.  In the end, we did about a day and a half in Bogotá, with the half day being the same day she flew out.

And Another Holiday Season Spent in Korea!

Celebrating Christmas!

While some of my friends have been lucky enough to go to their home countries for the holidays, I'll be spending mine here for the third time in a row! I may not have any family here, but I do have a good group of amigos I can count on to make things happen!

Thanksgiving Dinner on Yongsan's US Army Base

The first was my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. Well ahead of time, I think in late September, a Thanksgiving dinner event was posted on Facebook. It was a bit early, but when I saw the good food options and the price, I had to sign up for it!

The dinner was held on the Yongsan Army Base, in a dinner hall. It was advertised by a couple of ladies as a genuine authentic Thanksgiving dinner. They were at least American, so I was expecting good food to be cooked in a way familiar to me! The best detail of all was the price: It was only 20,000 won. I just had to wire money into the organizer's account.

This was the first time they had the event, so there were some hiccups with the organization. We had to sign up and give up some personal information. However, when we got there, they just let us all in, probably because there were so many of us. Also, there was supposed to be a shuttle bus, but we ended up being forced to walk to the hall where the event was taking place. After arriving, we had to wait quite awhile for the food to be ready, so people got a little bit antsy.

For My Birthday: What Advice Would I Have Given Myself 10 Years Ago?

I came across a question on the internet recently:

Knowing what I know now, what advice would I have given myself ten years ago?

It's an interesting question to answer for my birthday.

Aside from realizing that I'm getting older and there's nothing I can do about it, I thought it was interesting to think about since my life was so different ten years ago. I stopped to think about where I was and what I was doing. It was a turning point in my life.

Posing with family members about 10 years ago

Where was I ten years ago?

Let me see. I was just starting out my senior year in high school. I went to a medium-sized public school in the home state, where I spent my time with a close-knit group of friends and otherwise kept to myself in most aspects. At the same time, I was gaining a new confidence in myself I hadn't had before. I tried my best to stay away from the drama in my high school and was more focused on my future.

It's Chuseok Time!

 The kids at school in traditional Korean clothing, called the Hanbok, and making rice cakes

 
Chuseok or 추석 is the biggest and most important holiday in Korea. It celebrates the year's harvest and it's a time for Korean families to come together, be thankful and recognize the contributions of their ancestors.

It's a family holiday known for its food and gift giving. They come together and eat traditional food, and its staple is called Songpyeon (송편), which is a type of rice cake that is rolled into a ball and contains a sweet filling. There's also quite a bit of gift giving, where practical presents are given to friends and neighbors. Ideally, Korean families will visit the hometowns of their ancestors to pay respects to their spirits. It's technically one day, but it's celebrated as a three day holiday.

This year's gift box!

There are some similarities to Thanksgiving, so Chuseok is often described to foreign people as "the Korean Thanksgiving." 

You can read more about the Chuseok holiday here and here.

Since I'm not Korean, I don't have family that's from here, leaving me with little to celebrate. While I've heard of it happening before, it's not really common for the locals to invite foreigners to celebrate with them. It's strictly a family thing, so we are normally outside of the bubble of celebration.

Enjoying Colombia's Coffee Region

Going to the coffee region in Colombia was one of the most memorable parts of my travels in that country. I went there when my mother came to visit me in July 2012. I can't believe it has almost been a year!

We traveled to this part of Colombia after exploring Bogota, the capital city. This was the most challenging leg of our trip, hands down. That's because we ran into a major problem not long after arriving. I'll talk about that later.

 



My mom posing by the shuttle to Salento

In the morning, we got our things ready and took a taxi to the bus terminal in Bogota. We had booked a place to stay in the tiny town of Salento. However, there were no direct buses, so we had to take a bus to Armenia, the closest big city.

The trip took about 9 hours and the ride had impressive views of the mountains in Colombia. It was windy/loopy, however. Headache medicine if useful for those who get dizzy!

From the bus terminal in Armenia, we had to go to the back of the terminal and go outside where we could take a smaller shuttle to Salento. For a few bucks, we could take the shuttle and arrive to Salento in about 40 minutes.





Salento, Quindio, Colombia

The shuttle took us to the main square of the small town. It looked very simple and had a beautiful backdrop of the mountains surrounding it.

Exploring the main square

When we got there, we went to find the hostel since we arrived in the evening. We eventually snapped some photos of the main square and in front of a statue of Simon Bolivar. Looking around, it was very touristy and there were a bunch of shops, restaurants and bars around the main square and along the side streets. You could see plenty of tourists among the locals.

We did just a tad bit of shopping. I knew I would need a pair of sneakers, so I bought one pair of those along with a pair of sunglasses. They sold all of the typical stuff that you'd find in touristy shops in South America, including the clothes, souvenirs, etc.

We didn't interact with many locals, but they were certainly warmer than the people in Bogota.

Time to Go!

So, tomorrow I finally fly to Seoul! So, how will the process go? Let me explain:

Still trying to sort out my luggage

1. Pack all my bags -- One suitcase, one mountain backpack, a small carry-on bag and a large purse
2. Book a shared van to the airport ($47! )
3. Get my paperwork in order -- my recent medical treatments, papers for dad to mail/turn in, bring extra documents for the school in Korea, etc.
4. Say my goodbyes
5. Head for the airport early in the morning (leaving around 5:00am!)
6. Board two flights and arrive in Seoul
7. Find a guy holding a sign with my name on it
8. Get a nice ride to a hotel in the city I'm working in
9. Hope I don't get sick again, fail the medical, then get sent home :-)

I hope it's a smooth ride, with no airport hang ups and that I'm able to find the guy at the airport! Fun fact, last time my school also sent a guy holding a sign with my name on it, but I couldn't find him. Instead, the guy stopped the one other black girl who happened to be on the plane. We looked nothing alike, of course. As I was frustrated with the new currency and trying to use the phone, that girl approached me and asked me if I was [my name]. "Mmm.... yeah there's a guy over there looking for you." Funny, but I was relieved.

Connecting with the Family

So, I am due in Korea for phase II in about a week. It's hard to tell how I feel about it. I'm not especially excited this time. Perhaps you can say that I'm a little indifferent. I'm not looking forward to the flights since I despise flying. It will take about 20 hours of total traveling time.

To wrap up my home experience I've been visiting some relatives. First, my mom invited my step-brother to her house. I came over and my mom cooked dinner for us. I was delighted to see fish, crabcakes, mac & cheese, deviled eggs and chicken. It was great getting a chance to talk to him again after all this time. It was like catching up with an old friend. And he is a friend. It's a shame that we can't get together more often.

Mom, me, my step-brother and his dad

Next, I visited my maternal grandparents. I had already seen them a couple of times before, but this time I had a gift that I wanted to hand them in person. They know what I had been up to for the past few years but in reality they hadn't seen any pictures. As a result, I created a photo book for them telling them my story. Inside, there were the pictures they hadn't seen along with information about each place and I included a world map to show them where I have been. I loved getting the chance to finally show them and explain everything I had seen and done. It gave them a visual to something they'd only been hearing about. I mailed the same book to my other grandparents as well. I'm happy to report that they all loved their gifts.

Winding down to departure

So here I am, with a few weeks left until I go back to Korea again.

You see, I've been in the USA since the end of October, which means that I'll have been in the states for a little less than four months. I just counted now, and I'm personally shocked that I've been here for less than three months. It has felt much longer than that.

I'm currently staying at my father's house, along with his wife and a toddler who is my half-sister. I'm from a small city with very limited public transport and I also haven't had a car here, so that has had its challenges. I generally like to stay active by going to places and doing things and that has been difficult. Having a small child around also has its stresses, and the wife is a stay at home mom. So they are around all the time, kind of like having a room mate that is always there. I don't quite fit nicely into this second family that my dad has, and I have definitely been in their way as well.

Despite all of the time we spend together in close proximity, we haven't really done much together overall. Dad's wife told me once that she wanted to try Korean food, so I thought it was a good idea for all of us to go to a local Korean BBQ place.

The restaurant, also called "Kahl-Bee". I had to explain to dad why the different spellings existed.

It was like a nice version of what you would typically find in Korea -- with MUCH larger portion sizes. We ordered some dishes such as samgyupsal (삼겹살), bulgogi (불고기) and dumpling soup with rice cakes (떡만두국).