what am i ever doing?!

who knows what i will be doing after tomorrow, my last say at jung chul school? summer camp? one month with the school where my students are transferring? staying in korea? going back to thailand? everything is up in the air at the moment, but i am hoping things will start falling into place soon. i am going to shanghai for a long weekend with riley on saturday, and i think a little breather from korea is just what i need.

since i know so little about what i am doing at the moment, i thought i would post somethings that have been going right lately. photo time! the past few weeks in a nutshell...crazy life = crazy parties.



the end of a sunday funday at roofers rooftop bar in seoul




the mudfestival in boryeong. only in korea is there a festival where you paint yourself from head to toe in mud and dance around outside with your friends.



never let me join your band. i have no musical talent. a kind old lady gave me her drum to bang on for a bit though.



i ran into my dance instructors out in seoul this weekend. i love them!

back to plan number one

as it turns out, i'll be transferring schools with my students when our school closes at the end of this week. i am going to stay and complete my contract on its original terms! i really liked the plan i had, and now i am happy that it is my plan again. i will get to go home for the holidays and then start something new this spring before graduate school in the fall. i am happy when things work out so well. life is good.

if you want to see a rainbow, you've got to have a little rain

if you want to see a rainbow, you've got to have a little rain. too bad it's monsoon season in korea right now. i hope that means i get to see a really big rainbow.

i had a great plan to stay in korea until november, go home for the holidays, and then start a round-the-world trip in the spring. i found out last week that my school will be closing at the end of the month, and so it's time for me to get a new plan. i am not ready to leave korea so soon. i think i will stay here for august to spend time with my friends and to work a short summer camp. i know i will miss korea, but i cannot sign a contract to stay for another year. i am not a fan of the winter, and so i think i will go back to a place where i always feel beautiful.

i love thailand, and i was very happy there. i need to go back to a place where i feel beautiful everyday. i rather liked being admired on the street. i miss the simple life i had there, both when i was diving and when i was teaching. i miss the adventures. i also miss thai food a lot. korean food just doesn't compare to it at all.

everything seems to happen for a reason, and maybe it's just time for me to move on and do something different. timing could have been a bit better, since now i am trying to find a job on top of applying to grad school and studying for the gre. i made a giant list of things to do while i am still in korea, and so i guess i just have to do one thing at a time. that's the most anyone can do anyways...just live one hour at a time.

mid-summer update

life has been all sorts of topsy-turvy lately, but it's certainly time for an update (at least a photo one).


at the end of may, i went to a pig roast up in the mountains outside of seoul with a group of my friends. even though i don't eat pig, it was a great day with delicious food.


in early june, my friend hidie came to visit. hidie is from hong kong, but we met at summer camp in hawaii. we went out to a cafe in seoul called o'sulloc, which serves desserts made with green tea (yummy cakes, ice cream, tiramisu...).


the hamilton rooftop club pool finally opened. it's a perfect place to spend a sunday afternoon. i'm glad i have a waterproof camera; otherwise, taking a photo of rachel and me drinking on a float in the middle of the pool would not have been a good idea.


two of my very favorite people at school. ariel wrote a note to roja teacher in this capsule on a friday afternoon. the tiny note says, "teacher, do we have a homework today?" she's absolutely the sweetest and cutest child i have ever met. she draws pictures of me to give me as presents and even gave me a couple-ring (she has the other one).



riley and i went to busan, and, among other things, we found a papa john's restaurant! amazing!