The holidays are fast approaching and how I’ll be spending them came to mind. Although not much will change for me with how I keep in touch with family, I realize most of my friends and family back home might be experiencing their first holiday alone. Perhaps I can offer some insight into how to celebrate the holidays apart from loved ones.
…So, the blog has been MIA for a long ass time. Since the end of April? Anyways what happened was I decided I wasn’t going to renew my service with my old host because the rate had tripled over the last two years and I can’t afford that on my salary going forward. I do the blog for my own enjoyment and to keep friends and family updated on my somewhat off the beaten path (boring) life overseas. What is mundane to me might be exciting to someone else, I suppose.
…Today is Teacher’s day!
I almost forgot that it was teacher’s day until I received a kakao message this morning from a former student of mine. It was one of the best things to start the day too. I translated the message as I wanted to share it with everyone back home and for those who don’t understand enough Korean yet.
Welcome to monsoon season! The rain finally started coming more regularly now and most days it does kill most of the humidity where I live.
I haven’t been updating about what I have been doing and I will give proper posts to the places I visited later during summer vacation. I spend most of my time going to Incheon on the weekend to visit my best friend. It is really nice to have a close friend that I can rely on and to hang out with, eat a nice meal and talk with over coffee. I have met a lot of people through her as well. Those weekends when I see other people, brings some sanity to my life.
…One item I have been requested to do before I leave is to eat all of the food that is mine. There are odds and ends in all of the cupboards for various types of cooking, but my mom wants her space back after I leave. So my job has been to create meals with the remaining ingredients. At times I am lazy that I do not want to cook anything or look for the missing ingredients I need. I used to cook a lot of Korean food, however, as it is just me I am cooking for with maybe the exception of my mom, I do not cook much. I like leftovers occasionally, however, I dislike eating the same thing for five days. With that being said one of the items sitting in my cabinet for a while has been미역( Miyeok / Seaweed). The only thing I know how to make is 미역국 (Miyeok gook/seaweed soup). But I have been unenthusiastic about going out to buy a missing ingredient. So tonight as I was feeling rather sick and did not feel satisfied after eating a can of nasty Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, I ventured out to the store to buy the remaining ingredients.
…Over the course of the last few months and the few weeks to come I have
been thinking of the people to say good-bye to. My mom supports me 100%
in this process and knows this is something I have always wanted to do
and have put on hold for many years. She has become a bit of a ‘sap’ as I
jokingly say. In reality, she is just going to miss her baby, the
oldest, me. So, for Christmas I made her a present made of wire and
buttons and made it into a tiny bouquet. A bouquet that will not die
when I am away. She was a bit touched and it made her happy. Nothing
professional but it seems to have come out rather cute. Sometimes a
little gift of saying “Thank you for believing in me,” helps say I will
miss you while I am away.
