First, let’s discuss the every
present threats of nuclear bombs…I do appreciate all the many frantic messages
I’ve received in the recent days asking about my safety and urging me to come
home. It’s also really nice to know a lot of you have strategic plans of how to
rescue me from the country if it comes down to that. But honestly I have a strong
sense of peace about all of this. Now I may be crazy, but I think we’re all
going to be okay. At least for a little while longer. Seoul keeps trucking
along everyday like nothing is out of the ordinary, because well, nothing is
out of the ordinary. These threats, though a little more intense these days,
are as common as seaweed in my meals. If you want to understand a little better
South Korea’s view to these threats read this article.
Keep praying and keep mapping out those escape routes for
me. And if something does go down, well here’s to hoping heaven has internet…but
enough of all this nuclear bomb mess.
I think if
I chose Seoul as just a place to pass through I would be thoroughly unimpressed.
There are so many things about this city that get on my freaking nerves. But
since this place has been my home for 5 months now I’m starting to feel a
little connection. It’s the little things that I get to experience that I
wouldn’t have if I was just a visitor. Like my little man at the 7 eleven my by
apartment building that gives me free coffee. We can’t have a conversation but
we can smile and wave. Or like the other night when Texas (I’ll get to her, Ohio, and Tab in a moment) and I were waiting for our Chinese take out and this
little boy kept staring at us. He was obviously young enough to not be in
school so his exposure to foreigners is probably minimal. He would walk really
close to us and stare for a few seconds with wide eyes then run away to his
table. This process repeated several times. Texas had fortunately just
purchased a pack of stickers for her students so she pulled them out and told
me to go give him one. I motioned with my hand for him to come over and he reluctantly walked toward us, leaving several feet between us. You know, white girls are scary. So I held up the
stickers and motioned for him to pick one. The biggest smile spread across his
face and he ran to tell his parents about how the foreign girls gave him a
sticker. It’s moments like this that make me love this time in my life. Some
days I have no idea why I’m here and some days I know exactly why I’m here.
Now, let me
tell you about Texas, Ohio and Tab, or as we like to all ourselves, The Seoul
Sisterhood. We even have a magic pair of pants. Cheryl, Katharine and I work
together. We all affectionately refer to each other as the state we are from.
Tab is Cheryl’s friend from high school. She’s been living and teaching in
Seoul since August. And our personalities could not be more different. I spend
the majority of our time together being embarrassed by the things Tab is saying
to our cab driver, being confused by the words Ohio is using or wondering how
it’s possible that Texas is the sorority girl version of my mother. But we
laugh so much when we’re together and even though I feel like I always have to
be in mother mode, I’m so happy we’ve all be put here together and I’m not really sure why God waited so long to do it. I’m sure I’ll have some sisterhood
adventures to update you guys on soon.
Much love to all of you. I miss my home everyday. There's no other place it.
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment