Anything could happen

A little over a week ago, I spoke with my dad and causally brought up how I re-signed my contract for another year. I started going into the details when he abruptly interrupted me by yelling, "I'LL BE GODDAMNED! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS GIRL IS STAYING FOR ANOTHER YEAR." Now, some may be taken back by this kind of reaction, but not me. I knew he would react this way and to be honest find it kind of funny when I get his blood boiling. I chuckled at his reaction and after calming him down we not only continued to talk about life, but I had the privilege of listening to his "back in my day" stories. Mind you, he will be 49 years old this December. That's pretty young if you ask me!

After our skype conversation I began to think, do people not realize this is my job/career now and I'm staying overseas for a while? I immediately wanted to ask others. The next day or so I asked my mom and brother and both hesitantly replied, "mmm, yeah. Maybe." At that moment I realized a lot of the important people in my life back home may not truly know or even understand what my intentions are here. Although I try not to constantly think about or stress over my future I'm still me; your organized type A person who likes order, so of course I still have some sort of a plan.

This year has gone by so fast and when I actually sit down and think about it, I really can not believe I've lived in Andong for almost 10 months. That gives me a year and 10 months living and working in South Korea. Holy crap! Since I only have ~3 months left in my current contract I (among many others who started around the same time) were asked if we would like to re-sign for another year. I of course said yes! I want to stay in Korea for this next year and for numerous reasons I definitely want to stay at my school. Technically I haven't re-signed my contract yet, but instead a letter stating I wish to re-sign. I'm basically reapplying to keep my position. I should re-sign my actual contract in January or February - fingers crossed I get to keep my job.

Just like I've told some friends and my family I really like teaching ESL and can see myself doing this for some time. I'm currently looking into a few Master's of Education programs. If I get into a program and all goes accordingly I will most likely stay in Korea teaching ESL  until I finish school. This would just be so much easier. I'm making a decent living and now have the extra time to complete my courses. I also can't believe I'm looking into going back to school. I've done the apply to grad school bit and it was extremely stressful and overwhelming. To find myself back in the same position blows my mind. However, at the end of the day I feel this is the right move for me at this time. Furthering your education never hurts and if I choose to stay in South Korea teaching I can move further up the ladder. If I choose to move to another country or even back home my experience and education background will do nothing but help me stand out - so I'm hoping! If you ask me I think I've got myself a lil' plan.

Another question I frequently get, "When will you come home?" This question may irritate and annoy others, but like Joey says, "I like it!" Sometimes living abroad can be lonely and this question lets me know I'm not forgotten.

Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to this. I can't really put an end point on how long I'll be abroad. Living in Korea or abroad in general is something you take year by year. I could wake up tomorrow and be done with Korea, but at the same time be ready to move onto another country and work. I could also wake up and realize it's time to move back home. Basically, what I'm saying is 몰라요. I don't know. I probably wont know until the time actually comes. Until that time does come I'm definitely trying to make the most out of this experience.

In other news:
This past weekend was another one of Andongs' fundraisers, this time benefiting the local animal shelter. Animals aren't really my thing, but I didn't hesitate when asked to possibly help out; helping, now that's my thing! My friend Suzanne was nice enough to let me get in on her little goody bags. She did her thing and I contributed by making mini peanut butter cups and cookies and cream fudge to add into the bags. The event turned out to be very successful and they raised 1,000,000 won (~$1,000). Go Magdel & Raquel!

 Christmas cookies by our local baker, Suzanne

Lesson learned: A few months ago I bought this, (pictured below) thinking it was powdered sugar, to make a caramelized frosting to top my homemade apple cinnamon scones. Instead I RUINED those scones. At the time I was sick and could barely taste anything, but the foul taste of that frosting still found a way through my taste buds and sent a not so pleasant surprise to my gag reflexes. My poor friends either couldn't taste it (I can't see how they couldn't?!) or just wanted to be polite and said nothing while they continued to eat their scones covered in poison. I finally brought the package to school and asked my co-teacher about it. She laughed and said, "that's poor peoples sugar. It has a lot of MSG. No Korean mom uses." I asked if she wanted it and she pushed my hands away, giggled and said "no!"

WARNING. NOT POWDERED SUGAR!

Suzanne and I both needed real powdered sugar for the animal shelter fundraiser. She found an article with a few sites listed at the bottom of the article to buy various baking goods within Korea. http://www.seouleats.com/2008/01/bangsan-market/. The powdered sugar we bought isn't exactly like home, but worked for our baking treats and tasted great!

Thanks to Kim posting this on her blog, I'm obsessed with this song!

Early last week I received the best Christmas gift ever! A few friends from home made this video for my friend Vanessa (who is also teaching in South Korea) and myself. I'm pretty sure I've watched it almost everyday! Thank-you for the video and I miss you all so much :)