Monday, January 28, 2013

Longest January Ever.

19 days...19 days...19 days...

I feel like every day is an eternity. This has been the slowest and longest countdown to something in my life, I swear. I don't remember the days leading up to my departure from Japan being this excruciating. Sure, I was anxious to get home and there was a lot to look forward to once I arrived but it seems that this time around it's practically painful watching the days, hours, minutes and seconds tick by while every thought I have is about going home. I have gone through a million different scenarios for each millisecond I'm on American soil in my head. My airplane outfit, getting a carton of milk tea in Narita, will the plane have AVOD?, seeing Corey for the first time, our conversations on the plane, I want to go straight to Target from the airport, how will Eers react to seeing me?, finding Cor some tofu BBQ, I'm glad that Korean restaurant I found has kimbaps, I hope they let me pick my rental car, driving is going to be a nightmare, plugging in my iPod and singing at the top of my lungs for five hours to St. Louis, will I be able to find my hotel alright?, a big king bed just for me!, I need to get some new outfits for STL (new city, new outfits), I'm so stoked for the art museum, I bet the arch is huge, will I be able to find the perfect black mesh cut-out dress I've been looking for?, I have a 10 hour drive home, I'm so gonna cry when I see my grandma, I also might cry when I see she made me corn bread, I'm sitting around Aunt Kathy's orange countertops playing with Taya...

And on and on and and on it goes. I practically think of nothing else. It's probably not the healthiest thing ever to have my mind being consumed by this one thing but I can't help it. I think it still seems a bit unreal that I'm going home. I have everything booked and ready to go. Flight, hotel in STL and my rental car. Everything else is at my whims and that's the greatest feeling, knowing that I have more than a month in the US just to do whatever I want, whenever I want. Now if only these next few weeks would just fly on by...

I've started some lists of things I need to make sure I buy and things I can't forget to pack and that helps, seeing it on the fridge and slowly crossing things off. I think once I actually start packing it'll get a lot more real and time will go by fast because I'll be busy. Now that I have everything booked and planned I've nothing to do but sit around and think about it. It's turning my brain to mush.

Actually, I think right now I'm gonna go drag out my suitcase and start putting in things that I know I won't need over the next 19 days...Yep, that's what I'm gonna do!

xo

Friday, January 11, 2013

AMERICA, I'm coming!

These past few months have been filled with nothing but longing to be in the United States. I miss the interstates, greenspace, strip malls, oversized parking lots, a trashcan when needed, central heating, being literate...and a plethora of other things that you can't even imagine.

I had been waiting and waiting and waiting on answer from a job in Japan (which I still haven't heard from) before coming home. To avoid a very large argument, I figure I should just keep waiting to book a flight home. My window of opportunity of being able to come home at all was closing and closing fast, so I had to bring up the idea of going on home with or without an answer about a job. It went smoother than I could've hoped for as I mentioned that I can wait on an answer or look for other jobs regardless of the country I'm sitting in...so here it is, a few days later and I'm sitting pretty with a beautiful itinerary in my email saying I'll be arriving in the good ol' US of A on Saturday, February 16th. (Thanks to my mom, thanks mother!!!)

My last day at Nammun is Friday the 15th then I leave out at 8:30 the following morning. I'll fly Busan-Tokyo-Chicago-Nashville and arrive in Nashville at just before noon. (Hooray!) I was desperately hoping to leave out of here the 9th, but they couldn't get a replacement teacher that fast. Miss Corey Ellen is flying down from PIT to stay with me in Nashville for the weekend, and since she had to fly through Chicago anyway she's now on MY flight right next to me! (Hooray #2!) We'll spend the weekend together then I'm gonna head the 5 hours north to St. Louis to visit Zack and Jess (Hooray #3!) until that following Monday. Lucky for me, I-64 runs from St. Louis straight into WV so it'll be a breeze getting to the old LC.

Here is an ever-growing list of things that I am looking forward to/plan to see/do in just a few short weeks:

Meet miss baby Taya
The fam
Jess
Target
Taco Bell
Drive
Tokyo airport (Japanese food/drinks yesssss)
Diet Pepsi
Destroy the buffet at Sesame Inn
More Target
Olive Garden
Corn bread
Tour Cor around Music City
Warmer weather
Mountains
Drivers obeying red lights
Reading signs/menus
Wendy's
Sweet tea whenever I want it
Heat
Toaster Strudels
An effing BATHTUB
A proper hairdye job
Zack
Jess (#2)
Arch
Flipping through the television channels at my leisure
Sleep on a real mattress
El Rincon
Did I mention Target?
TJ Maxx
Cheap Sevens at TJ Maxx
Radio stations
MTO Sheetz man, MTO Sheetz
Shoes that fit
Someone bags my groceries for me
I-79
Forever 21

...and many, many, many more


February 16th, you can't come soon enough!!!!!!




Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Goodbye, 2012!

2012 was the longest and shortest year of my life. Since I've been in Korea now for over a year, it seems like it's dragging at a snail's pace, yet I can't believe that an entire year has passed since moving here.

Like I've mentioned before, this life I lead isn't a stressful one. Teaching abroad is simply an escape from real life for a while. My Facebook news feed is full of "real life" and each day I'm glad I'm still not yet a part of it. I'm not scared or running away from anything, I'm just really and truly enjoying my child-free, nomadic lifestyle. This past year, I've seen many of my hometown friends and acquaintances have children and every single time I think, "Thank God that's not me".  Not that I'm not completely elated for each and every one of them (I am), I would just feel so absolutely and utterly trapped if I were to have children anytime soon. I love knowing that I have no one to take care of except for myself (and occassionally Al) and the only life I am responsible for is my own. Call it selfish if you will, I just call it having a really great, care-free time. I'm not going to say that one day I won't want children, I would just rather spend my extra money on going to Bangkok or London than on diapers and onesies and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

2012 had way more ups than downs and I have my friends here in Busan to thank for that. These last few months have been some of the best of my entire life and it's because I've finally let myself fully enjoy what life decided to put in front of me. No more holding back. It's taken me what seems like quite a few years to understand what thoroughly enjoying life really entails, but I feel like I'm definitely getting to that point. I live a pretty unique life and I'll have a lot of amazing stories to be telling at my 10 year reunion thanks to my huge balls to up and move overseas a few years ago. I've seen some incredible places and met some extraordinary people this year and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I'm not sure what 2013 will have in store for me but I'm hoping it will involve a lot of travelling. I think this will be my last year of teaching and there are still many more places I'm dying to see with my own eyes before moving on home. Anything could happen this coming year, but as long as I follow my instincts, which have been pretty good so far, I think I'll be happy. And really, isn't that all anyone asks out of life?

Here's to 2013, let's see what you got.