I have about three separate entries I need to do here. It's been a busy couple of days.
I'm back in Korea. I said I was coming back for money and to live in a first-world country again. This is partly true, though I could probably have saved more in Vietnam. The third reason is purely emotional and I think was partially motivated by Simon and his habit of making me feel like a failure, and this third reason is that Korea is about the closest place I have to a home. It was the first place I really made a life for myself and was able to be financially independent. I mean, in Canada, I always had my parents supporting me and I rarely had good jobs. In Korea I had enough to do everything I wanted, within reason, and I didn't have to worry about how much I was spending. Meanwhile I did well enough at my jobs, I had friends, I had my first long-term boyfriend, I acclimatized and learned the language. Not that the whole process was one steady climb upward and in fact my third year here was probably my worst and felt a lot like I was being dragged along the floor of rock bottom. I didn't fully pick myself up until I left the country. Nonetheless, on the whole, I think I was successful in Korea and that, my friends, is really why I'm back here. Cultural differences and all, I feel like I belong in this place.
I have mostly moved into my apartment. I considered asking them for a different one because this one is tiny, much too tiny, but it's all new and it has fast Internet and a big TV and it's not like I'm ever really looking at anything else except my computer or TV or books when I'm home. My washing machine plays a little song when it's finished washing my clothes (and I was far too delighted by this). I can't hear my neighbours. My house is very near one of the big foreigner areas, near the US base, but my neighbourhood is completely Korean and eerily quiet. I have rice paddies on one side of me, but if I walk for ten minutes I'll be right in the centre of more action than I can handle. There are at least six supas (small Korean supermarkets) within a couple of streets of me and so I can easily get whatever I need and will always have another source when one of the supas runs out of Diet Coke. The Koreans I've met so far have been extremely polite and while my Korean listening skills suck as much as ever, I am eager to interact with Koreans in Korean and hopefully be able to have a conversation or two by the end of the year.
Personal goals this year:
Korean fluency: ability to have conversations and watch movies without any subtitles
Finish learning the kanji cards in Japanese
Stop living like a poor person; make my apartment comfortable (and keep it clean), buy some nice Body Shop stuff and such that I like, buy a couple of nice well-made outfits for official stuff, set up a kitchen I like and cook sometimes
Practice going up to people and starting conversations
Make more of an effort to keep in touch/interact with friends here
Make something out of the website
Buy a nice new computer and a good phone
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