(29) 90 in 90: Thanksgiving x2

Thanksgiving. A holiday that is as synonymous with America as Christmas and the Fourth of July. Its that time of year we think about the past and the future. We appreciate the people we have and the people we have been lucky to have known while eating copious amounts of food and drinking more than our fair share of wine.

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. It was always the time I looked forward to, seeing some family who I rarely ever saw, eating the delicious food that we only saved for once a year and playing games with my family long into the night. Its the one holiday that makes me nostalgic every time I think of it and the one holiday that makes me miss home the most when thinking about it.

Being in a foreign country that does not celebrate the holiday can be difficult times.At one end, you're enjoying your new life and freedom to escape from the confines and restrictions of your own country, its your adventure to the new and exciting and you're living it everyday.

On the other hand, it makes you long for the comfort and familiarity of home. The foods and the people and the places that no mater how hard you try, are impossible to recreate on the other side of the world. It's easy to get caught in this sort of mini depression, missing the things from back home that used to be such a big part of your life.

However, what people do is create their own celebrations, start new traditions. Share the company with people you've met on the other side of the world and enjoy this day together. You're all in this together, away from home and loved ones so its the perfect time to be together. Lonely people becoming un-lonely togehter.

I was lucky enough to participate in two Thanksgiving celebrations. One of them a large church gathering in Daegu and a smaller more intimate on with friends in my town of Gimcheon. Both gave me time to spend with the people I cared about the most in Korea and also gave me an opportunity to have a little taste of home with generous amounts of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes.

I always look forward to gatherings like these. I don't often have as much time as I would like with people due to my schedule and the randomness of other people's schedules. However, its nice to have holidays together, its a time to appreciate the unique situation were in, living across the world and lets us starve off our homesickness for a little bit.

This is post is really short, I wish I had more to say but, my mind is kind of blank today. I had a great Thanksgiving in Korea. I could not have asked for anything better.

Oh, if there was one thing I was thankful for this year, and every year since working overseas, its not having to wake up at the crack of dawn to go work a part time retail job selling cheap electronics to people who are more than willing to kill one another just to get that TV. One thing I do not miss is working Black Friday. It is my sincere wish to never work or never go out on that day ever again. Crazy is what it is. Just crazy

(24) 90 in 90: Friday Night Frights and Days of Future Past

Autumn is here in Korea. The crisp air is a refreshing change from the hot and humid summers.

It's a Friday night in the quiet town of Gimcheon and the first day of November. After spending a week of having plans fall through, job issues, communication issues and a good ole' helping of homesickness, the week and month of October is finally over and are now only two months away until the end of 2013.

Halloween is actually one of my favorite holidays, and the fact that I was unable to properly celebrate it this year left me a little sad. The last time I had a fun celebration with friends was nearly three years ago while I was still attending my university. The following three years were spent studying, working, being sick and being busy through the holiday. I did small celebrations by spending a few hours with friends, and while they were great fun with great people, something has always felt missing.

I tend to get that feeling from time to time. Wanting to celebrate something during a time of importance and always feeling that something is missing. It's not a sense of being disappointing or let down, but rather something tugging at your mind, that nagging sense that while everything seems right, there is something deep down that is off.

Perhaps its my sense of nostalgia, always subconsciously comparing the memories and days of yesterday, creating an expectation of scratching that nostalgic itch that we all yearn to find and hold on to, desperately struggling to hold on to that one time in our past that seemed without worry or regret, the reminder of what our lives once were and perhaps the hopes that the same feelings and memories can be repeated in the future.

Perhaps its homesickness? I do admit that after going home for a week to see friends and family, a small sense homesickness has been creeping up on me from time to time. It's never enough to make me yearn to return to my homeland, but its enough to put memories of good times from the past randomly inserting themselves in my mind. When things go bad or you have a bad week, we tend to think of home and all the good things about it.

Despite being an adult, my sense of security and relief still goes back to home, to my family and friends living their lives without me on the other side and the sometimes wishful feelings that they could be with you, to watch you take the punches life throws at you and be there to wipe away the blood and ice the bruises.

I rarely tend to get like this, I always appreciated the freedom and sense of adventure being away from home brought with it. Sometimes though, home is a comforting thought. Its that blanket of security that comes from knowing that no matter where you are and what you do, you can always go back home to security.

This feeling doesn't come often, but it still manages to creep in from time to time.  It doesn't happen as often as it used to, but the fact that it occasionally does happen proves that no matter where I go and who I'm with, no matter how successful or happy I become, home is always on my mind.

Home will always be on my mind, this is not a bad thing.

                                                 This song always reminds me of home.

The Comeback (Vacation Time and Thanks to Korea)

I like how I look here, despite the beer in hand. 

Tomorrow I fly back to the US to spend a month revisiting family and friends before starting the new semester in March. It’s become a cliché statement for people to casually throw around thoughts and surprise on how fast the year has passed by. It always seems to come crawling to back to people, as they look back fondly at the year that has quickly passed them by, so many happy memories like the chapters from a book read long ago.

I can’t speak for those who had a rough year, for those who endured a year of grueling cultural differences and hardships that didn’t equal the long venture from their country of origin. I know quite a few people like this and for them, I feel sorry. Life has a tendency to be a real bastard sometimes and giving someone a difficult time in a foreign country is a cruel fate to subject a person for a year.

Luckily, my experiences have been incredibly positive in Korea. Sometimes it seems that your attitude is instrumental in determining how you will respond to differences and challenges, and that a positive attitude triumphs over all eventually. If anything, a year working overseas has helped to change my attitude towards many things in life, gaining new perspectives and depth on all aspects of life. A year working overseas has made me realize that in the end, no matter where we come from, we all want the same thing.

We all want to be happy and healthy. We want success for our family and friends. We want to wake up every day with a sense of purpose, asking ourselves “What are going to do today?” rather than “Why am I waking up today?”

We all want fulfilling experiences. People always have a way to fall into the trap of becoming set on a routine, choosing the ordinary and safe route to achieve goals and make their way through life.  Many of us yearn to break out of our daily grind, to do something different and exciting, to prove to themselves that their life is more than a factory assembly line.

I understand that for some, the daily grind can be difficult to stop or alter, especially when others depend on their routine for survival and support. That is why I appreciate the opportunities constantly presented to me. For I have an advantage others do not: I have age and time on my side to branch out and explore. To truly take chances in my life and test just what I can and cannot do.

I’ve meet wonderful people I can’t imagine being without. I’ve traveled to places I previously only read about, never once thinking that I would be able to witness their intricate beauty and majesty, putting even the most high resolution photos to shame. 

There are times to act silly and times to be serious. This was a  hybrid of both. 

Going home and marking my one year anniversary of working abroad stands for much more than a relaxing vacation and reuniting with friends. It stands as a timestamp on my memories for a point in my life that served to create an incredible year. It stands as a place in time where I was able to shrug away the restrictions and routines that we can so quickly become accustomed to.

That’s not to say this isn’t possible anywhere but Korea. Whether you go to a town just outside your own or the deserts of the Mojave, a new location with new faces always helps to invigorate your life again. A cleansing of the soul and chance to start over, to forget the vices and missteps of the past and strive to become a better person. To achieve the person we all dream of being, but some never seem to make. It could have happened anywhere, but Korea just happens to be the country I ended up in, and therefore making it a place that will never be forgotten in my mind.

There are too many people to thank, and not enough gratitude to express in these short paragraphs. I hope a simple thank you will suffice.

Thank you Korea for providing me with the life experiences I will never forget. Thank you to the people who have entered and stuck around in my life. Thank you to my co workers and those willing to help me with my first awkward steps.

I didn’t do things perfectly, and made plenty of mistakes. I didn’t get to say my goodbyes to all the people I wanted to. I didn’t get to travel to all the places I wished to, nor did I always take advantage of situations presented to me. However, that’s the great thing about vacations with old friends and family, time to think and process. Time to improve for the future.

I will enjoy seeing old friends and family, but I am always anxiously looking forward to the future, for even better days than those I have had and preparing for the times where it can possibly get worse.

I dream of tomorrow, an even better year. An even happier year.

Ended the last night of the old year singing and being merry. Bring on 2013!