Thanksgiving has once again come and (here in Korea) gone. It's hard to be away from my closest friends and family during the holidays, but I still have a lot to be thankful for. As always, I'm grateful for my wonderful family, who supported me at the beginning of the year when my money ran out and helped me deal with the crushing stress and self-doubt that goes along with having no money. I'm grateful that I'll always have that home to go back to if things get too rough, and to hopefully bring someone special to sometime in the future :)
I'm grateful for having a steady job that I enjoy doing and can see myself doing for at least a couple years. My bosses are good-natured and helpful (if extremely busy), my coworkers are great, (most of) the students and my classes are good and frequently entertaining, and the general atmosphere of the school is overwhelming positive. I still work a pretty busy schedule, but it's fewer hours and considerably less hectic than my schedule at AEON. It's also nice that my bosses are American, mostly because it means I don't have to deal with conflicts between American and Korean work culture or having a boss who sees me as some disposal, English-spewing foreigner. My salary, combined with Korea's surprisingly low cost of living, allows me to live quite comfortably while also saving a large percentage of my earnings. Despite a rocky start, my apartment is also quite comfortable now. I have a great view of the surrounding area from the 10th floor, and I've never had any problems with my neighbors (nor do I have to worry about disturbing them).
I'm grateful for all the friends I've made here and the communities I've become a part of. I'm especially glad I took up my coworker Michelle's offer to check out Hwagyesa Temple in Seoul - I don't expect to ever call myself a Buddhist, but a lot of the Zen philosophy has helped me greatly and has become a part of my daily life and how I look at the world. Plus, I've met a ton of great people there, including some of my best friends over here. I'm also glad that I joined the Global Expats meetup group, which has let me participate in some very interesting activities and meet more great people. Between Hwagyesa and the meetup group, I'm socializing way more than I ever did in Japan, and overall I'm a lot more relaxed and less stressed out.
It's a small thing, but I'm also grateful for being an hour away from Seoul by train, which only costs about $7 round-trip. Compared to the time and expense of taking a train to Tokyo, it's practically nothing! I can easily go into Seoul every weekend (sometimes both Saturday and Sunday) to meet friends, do Korean things or get excellent (though often pricy) food from all over the world in Itaewon or other parts of the city. I don't know about the price of taking the KTX (the cross-country train), but I know I could get to the other side of the country in a few hours if I wanted to travel. I'm also grateful that the awful summer heat is finally over, and that we got our first tiny bit of snow this week! That might not mean much to many of you, but we Bay Area folks don't get to see snow very often. We'll see if I still like snow when spring comes again!
I may not get to celebrate Thanksgiving with everyone back home, but at least I won't be going without turkey and mashed potatoes this year - we're having a Thanksgiving lunch at school tomorrow with the kindergartens and the Korean staff. It won't be as good as Mom's, of course, but I'm still looking forward to it. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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