Sunday, November 25, 2012

Farewells

I'm not even sure how to start this post other than to say that I'm très, très depressed while writing it. This past weekend was a lot of our extremely close friends' last weekend in Busan. As far as a group of friends go, I have to say that I believe ours is the best there could be. Of course, I may be biased, but regardless, we have a good one.

Throughout the past year, the group has grown and shrunk slightly but over the summer we got a pretty solid troop of people that have really stuck together to form what I consider pretty much the sexiest, most fun crew of people in town. There are about 15-20 of us who do anything and everything together as a whole and when someone isn't there everyone is like WTF.

If you read my last post you'll remember that just recently have I really come out to really and truly enjoy what this amazing group of friends I have has to offer. Not that I didn't know before, I just only appreciated it until 2:00am every other weekend or so. Now that I do know, it makes it that much harder to see people go.

What we do, this job, this teaching abroad thing...it's not real life. It's a fun life, of course, but for most of us it's temporary. Above all else, it's pretty much just a constant vacation. Yes, we work ("work") but it's just not real life. The friends you meet here aren't your best friends from home that you've known for 15 years but once you get here and meet these people that will be your family for a year...they will become those new best friends. The nature of this job and what we do is that it's generally for a year, some of us stay longer but mostly it's for that one short year. So because of that, there is always going to be someone you know leaving. Whether they are going back to their home countries or going travelling for a while, they will be leaving. This is what this last weekend was about. Saying goodbye to Zack, Jess, Sarah, Will and Eric. I love them all, each one for a million different reasons, and right now they are on a plane to Cambodia. Zack and Jess will be back in three weeks to pick up their things to go back home so I'll see them then (and then hopefully go visit them when I'm in the US) but as far as Sarah, Will and Eric...will I ever see them again? I don't know. It's just the nature of this job. And it's hands down the worst part of it. Leaving. Goodbyes. There will always be some happening. Those five were really the first of our friends to go...after now it's just a slow trickle of people going back home. I believe Brittany is next, then John and Ryan, then me and then Al.

We still have some amazing friends left in town, so I'm going to enjoy my last few months here (dying for them to be over and done with!) and then it'll be my turn to get on outta dodge. Until then, some of my favorite pictures from this weekend and recent ones past...











Friday, November 2, 2012

Weekends.

Tomorrow is a new semester at school and technically should be my last (but I'm gonna work through February, remember?). Getting ready to start our 11th month here. That's insane! It seems like just yesterday we were arriving, but to be truthful, our year in Japan was the fastest of my life and it seems that this year is right up there with it. Perhaps it's the nature of the job that makes time fly? Whatever the culprit for making the months zoom on by, I'm thankful. I'm getting kinda over Korea and I'm in need of a change, though I'm really going to miss a lot of people here.

I like to think I make friends easily and that I'm likable enough for people to want to be friends with me, but a lot of the time it takes me a bit to feel comfortable with a new group of people. Just in the last few months have I really started to feel as if I could hold my own with the group of friends we have. To be honest, I didn't even have anyone to call a good friend until at least summertime and once I started getting more at ease with everyone did I realize WHAT A GOOD TIME THERE IS TO BE HAD ON THE WEEKENDS. Call me a homebody or any other silly thing but sometimes I just like to lie around on the weekends and do nothing. If I go out, I like to be back at home by 2:30 and that's pushing it. But for some reason in these past few...well just past few weeks actually...I've realized that staying out until 5 really isn't so bad afterall.

I'm a Friday kinda girl. If I was going to stay out all hours of the night, I'd rather it be on Friday because then I have all day Saturday AND Sunday to rest up and do as I please. If I went out on Saturdays, that was when I wanted to be home at 2:30. Even if I was having the time of my life I'd have this internal struggle with myself because it was just SO late but I was also having SO much fun but-it's-Saturday-and-I-only-have-tomorrow-to-rest kept creeping into my mind. Within the last month, there has been something amazing and fun going on every single weekend.  And every single weekend I've stayed out past 2:30 (gasp!) and well on until I see the sun rise from the taxi windows on more than one occassion...and I've realized that it's quite fun to finally just let loose and forget about the time and just focus on what's going on and who I'm with. Maybe you think I'm a stick-in-the-mud but I'm just glad I realized this now and not when I'm 35 or something.

I hope the feeling stays, but with the cold weather comes me wanting to just stay bundled up in my house and not leave until March. It's not too cold yet but here in a few weeks it'll be getting freezing at night. Hopefully I won't have a change of heart when like 10 of our close friends are all leaving at the same time. Boo.

A few weekends ago there were a bunch of people with birthdays around the same time and thus the Pimps and Hoes party was born:



 

 
Then our friends Zack and Jason played at Sharky's which always guarantees a good time:
 





This past weekend was Halloween AND the Busan Fireworks Festival and I could easily say that it has been one of the best weekends I've had here. They were both supposed to be on the same night but it stormed like crazy all Saturday evening so they postponed the fireworks until Sunday night. (Thank God) But Halloween went on as planned Saturday night and the rain stopped just in time for us to go out and have a blast. It was also one of the warmest nights we've had in a while. How about just a picture tour of the weekend?



Al (PSY) and Urkel




The girls at Sarah's
Moi as Taylor Swift





And on to the most amazing fireworks I've ever seen in my life! I've never seen anything like it. I've also never seen a crowd like that either. 2 million people pack themselves on the beach to watch. I went at 2 and plopped on the sand and got myself a spot while everyone packed in later.










 
 
This weekend is our friend Brett's birthday (and then I think that's all for the birthdays...) at, where else, Sharky's, and I'm sure it'll be another long night...but instead of wondering where my night will take me and what time I'll get home I'm extremely looking forward to it. And if I get home as the sun is coming up, so be it.