Housewarming

Housewarming party a success! I have been in Seoul for less than three weeks, but my apartment is so big it seems like a waste to not having it filled with people.  So, I invited over pretty much everyone I had met who brought friends who etc. etc. Jamie, a Korean teacher at my school, brought over delicious traditional food, from bolgogi (marinated beef) to a warm noodle dish with tons of vegetables.  I prepared by buying strawberries and oranges, chopping them up as thinly as possible, and infusing the juice with a bunch of soju.  It was delicious!

Part of me is still taken aback by what Korea has shown me so far--it's not the crazy, backwards place I had expected but a comfortable, semi-familiar place with friendly people and maybe some strange food. Another part of me can't help but think that this is the universe's way of letting me act my age before it's too late.  I didn't go to college and have your typical college experience.  I was working more than full-time, usually with more than one or two jobs in order to pay rent.  With all that time working and maybe fitting in schoolwork, I found myself with very few friends, unable to even understand that feeling of freedom (let alone enjoy it), and unable to relate to my peers that lived in dorms, joined a sorority, and worked at the school library. 

On top of all that, until very recently, I took myself way to seriously to really, truly enjoy life, nevermind that rare opportunity to maybe just enjoy college for what it should be--a vast and respectable education, but also an opportunity to find out who you are.

Here, I get to act like a twenty-two year old, but with even more freedom (because of the amazing set-up of this job), I have like-minded, travel-hungry people surrounding me that I like to talk to, I have a job that is rewarding in many ways, and at the same time I get to learn about the entirely new culture that is surrounding me.  I guess I'm just thankful--I already regret the old me, unable to laugh at herself, too worried about the future.  For at least my time in Korea, I have a chance to live in the moment.  After, of course, I clean up my place...