Your Monthly Update

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The Headlines:

So yes I know it’s been forever since I’ve written (almost 2 months now), but life has gotten pretty settled in here and my OH MY GOD moments are getting less and less. It’s really funny how quickly you can become adapted to a new environment. Work is work, friends are friends, and I even have my own regular bar. But don’t get me wrong, things havent gotten any less amazing since I wrote last. In fact it’s been as if the gas pedal has been pushed to the max and I am just holding on for the wild ride.

Anyway, here it goes, my update email. First of all, I’ll tell everyone now, I’ve decided to do another year here in Korea. I think I will be moving to Busan, the beach town for the next leg of my stay. I really like that part of the country, it’s very “hip” and beautiful. And well there is just a ton to do. But don’t worry, I will be home for a bit, probably around the end of April. I figure I’ll hang out for a month or two after travelling then pick up a new contract and come back.

As for things that are new it’s hard to figure out where to begin. First of all I didn’t end up making it to China for summer vacation But it’s all good, that week ended up being one of the best I’ve had in Korea so far. I spent a bunch of time with the newbies (there are a lot of them) and made friends with lovely girl from Oklahoma. Honestly it’s been a bit of a revolving door lately, a ton of teachers left and inturn there is a whole new crowd. It’s strange being the one that everyone turns to for guidance, seeing as I still feel new myself.

The Wild World of Sports:

In other news, I’ve taken up extreme sports. The first of which being paragliding. It’s a crazy day all around. The sun scorching and the wind didn’t get the memo that we had planned on jumping off a mountain that day, so after many hours of waiting we finally got some good gusts and I went soaring. As you can imagine the whole situation is pretty surreal. Watching your feet dangle and opening your eyes to the great wide mountain laiden landscape slams your mind into a whole new realm of perspective. Coming up sometime in the near future, I’ll be returning to Busan for both another cliff jump and a swim with the sharks at the aquarium (yah they actually let you swim with sharks here ~ and not small ones either). Anna Vu (the lovely Oklahoma Girl), James (one of the newbies here in Chilgok) and myself are currently brainstorming over what extreme sport to take on next. White water Rafting, Hang Gliding and Bungee Jumping are the three main choices right now, although we are trying hard to find a place in Korea to go Sky Diving.

Oh and here’s another reason I’ve fallen in love with Busan, the food! There are so many resturants there including korean and foreigner based. I CAN EVEN GET TACOS AND FISH AND CHIPS THERE!

Don’t get me wrong though, the Daegu ~ Chilgok area isn’t half bad. I’ve got a ton of friends here and there are bunch of things to get into.

What the ….?!

Now for news of the weird. As you all know, I went to school in Florida at place that can only be described as beautiful. I had a bittersweet relationship with the town, mostly I hated my lifestyle and the overwhelming feeling of laziness I acquired while there. But I did make fantastic friends and had some unbelievable times. Right now you are asking yourself, what the hell does this have to do with anything, well its just my superfluous and absolutely pointless way of introducing the most random news I’ve gotten lately. So back to Flagler, my senior I shared a house with this guy Matt. He was a quiet guy, fairly artistic, with a passion for wine and uncanny luck with women. When I graduated I figured I’d never see this guy again. Well sure enough I get a txt from my friend Greg in Gumi (in case you forgot this is where Kat from Flagler used to live and its about 30 mins north of here) and he’s got a new a roomate from Flagler. I come to find out last night it’s my old housemate Matt, who too randomly decided to come to Korea. What a small f@(King random world.

All’s well that ends well:

So in conclusion, life is great here. This weekend was a little rough, we had both a foreign teacher and Korean teacher leave. The party was pretty insane though, we even had the pleasure of seeing our Director absolutely smashed (she made good friends with the toilet that night) needless to say she’s been very quiet at work today. It seems like every weekend has been a party here lately, between baseball games, birthdays, people leaving and people arriving, it’s been fairly nonstop. And I’ve got one more big week coming up at the end of this month. First off I’ll have the week off and secondly mi amigo, my partner in crime, my best friend on Earth will be arriving to spend the week Korean style. It’s going to be insane, I might need the next six months to recover from that week. So far I know that we will be hitting Seoul, Daegu and Busan atleast, there will be temples, mountains and beaches involved. It’s going to be crazy. Anyway I’ve gotta get back to class, I apologize for any spelling errors, but I don’t really feel motivated to proofread. Hope everyone is doing well! Be in touch!

~ Matt

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