Walk a mile in my stilettos

Summer is over, and I didn’t write one single blog!  I’ve composed the beginnings of new posts about 20 times but just never got around to putting it on paper.  It’s been an amazing few months and undoubtedly the best summer of my life, minus the torturous humidity and torrential rain.  Fall weather has arrived, and I hope it brings with it continued unforgettable experiences!

One of the greatest things about teaching, which all my teacher friends know, is the enormous amount of vacation we’re given!  Korea has year round school, but we still get a pretty big chunk of time off in the summer.  I got a little over a month which is more time than I’ve had off since I myself was in high school.  So, what wonderful, productive, culturally stimulating adventures did I undertake during this month long vacation you ask?  I. Ate. Peanut Butter.  I realize that this sounds like an asinine statement, but that’s how my latest adventure began.

Peanut butter is one of my favorite foods, but it’s $10 a jar here.  For 6 long months, I would wander passed the foreign food section and gaze longingly at my beloved peanut butter, only to scoff at the price tag and walk away.  One Saturday morning during vacation, however, I could resist no longer. In a moment of weakness, I marched, in my pajamas, to the store, paid the $10 and felt no remorse.  Depriving oneself of such a basic need as peanut butter for this long, however, has very negative repercussions as I learned on this fateful Saturday.  I barely had both feet through the door, and the jar was open.  I couldn’t even be bothered with bread, just a spoon.  10 minutes later, half the jar was gone.  Suddenly, every bad after-school special and Lifetime original movie I had ever seen about overweight teens and desperate, lonely women flashed before my eyes.  The peanut butter sat on my table, mocking me with its creamy goodness.  I had to escape its seductive siren song before the entire jar was gone!!!  So, I put on a dress, strapped on my heels, and took a walk…

In my very first blog entry, I made a promise to myself to not take advantage of one single second of my brief time here.  The best way to see any city is to take lots of walks, and up until now, I hadn’t walked any further than the subway station.  On this day, I fulfilled my promise to myself, and fell madly in love with Seoul all over again.  

One of the most amazing things about this city is that ancient meets modern everywhere you look.  Nowhere is this more evident than in Gangnam where I am fortunate enough to live.  I walked for miles and miles in every direction.  I walked down Teheran-ro to take in the massive glossy skyscrapers offset by the natural beauty of the trees that line the streets.  In the distance, I took in the imposing mountains that surround the city.  I walked to Gangnam station where hordes of people in business attire gathered around street food stalls slurping ddeokbokki sauce. I took in the Seoul skyline behind 16^th century burial tombs.  A little ways off the main street, I discovered an entire street of local farmers selling fresh vegetables and fruits.  Turning down this street felt like entering an entirely different world.  This is the Korea that exists outside of Seoul—poor farmers with no teeth selling produce out of the back of a rickety wagon, men with moving racks of dead chickens swinging on hooks,  lots of noise, lots of movement, lots of yelling.  At this point, I had to stop and reconcile in my mind the fact that these two worlds existed in such close proximity to each other and so near my very own apartment. 

Back on the main street, I went a different direction.  For hours, I continued, and was struck by how drastically the scenery and the feel of the city changed with each new neighborhood I passed through.  Hours later, it was dark.  I returned home and it occurred to me that I will most likely never live in a place this dynamic again.  For the remainder of my vacation, I went on incredibly long walks every day.  The nature of this city is such that it’s so easy to feel like you’re a part of something very exciting even if you’re by yourself.  This is a place to see and be seen.  People stare at me.  I stare back unabashedly.  There are coffee shops and markets every few steps, and in the summer, all of these places have outdoor seating, even convenience stores—perfect people watching on the cheap.  The best part is that all of this is literally right outside my door.  No car required, just legs.  After realizing that there was so much left to see here, it started feeling like every second was slipping away too fast.  Now it’s Fall, my favorite time of year, and perfect walking weather.  It’s bittersweet though, because I feel like my best days in Korea are numbered, but I’m so grateful for the many hours I spent taking it all in.  I guess I have the peanut butter to thank J

So what could possibly make my time here any better?  I have it all!  I love my friends, I love my job, I have no stress, I live in the best neighborhood in one of the coolest cities on the planet, and I have my youth that allows me to take it in on foot for hours on end.  Just when I thought my cup runneth over, enter Nate.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect of Nate’s time here.  I knew, of course, that regardless of what we did I’d be overjoyed to be with him, but I wasn’t sure how he’d adapt to life in Korea.  This was Nate’s first ever trip out of the U.S., and Korea, in my opinion, is a pretty big leap.  Nate does not do well with crowds, bustling cities, apartment living, and the general hustle and bustle of city life.  He hates airports, feeling rushed, and all the other obstacles that come with travel.  He prefers the quiet of the woods, the company of woodland creatures and his fishing pole.  To say Nate surprised me would be an understatement, and being surprised by someone you love and have been in a relationship with for a long time is an absolutely amazing experience.  We did everything while he was here.  We went to palaces, ate every traditional Korean dish imaginable, we saw the historic Hanok village, had a late night picnic at the Banpo rainbow bridge, drank copious amounts of Makkoli, ate street food, went to noraebang (karaoke), biked for miles in the park along the Han river etc. etc.  Nate not only liked it here, he completely adapted to life here in an incredibly short amount of time.  He even learned enough Korean to order in a restaurant on his own.  I thought this was amazing.  So, what could have made my life in Korea any better?  Doing all the things I love with the person I love most, who also happens to be my best friend AND fiancé.  Lucky, lucky me! Having the opportunity to share my newly acquired knowledge and my daily routine with someone so receptive is truly an unparalleled experience.  I can say without reservation that his time here was the best 10 days of my life thus far.  Until now, I’ve always kept my love for travel entirely for myself, but now, when I think of the future, I can’t wait to discover new favorite places and see the world with Nate.

When he left, I felt an emptiness like nothing I’ve ever experienced.  At first, I thought I was just sad that he was gone, but I quickly realized that it was more than that.  For a very brief moment in life, I had absolutely everything and more happiness than I had ever experienced, and when he left, the city felt haunted in his absence.  I still love it here, but after sharing everything with Nate, being on my own doesn’t have the same appeal as before.  So now I’m torn, which is a good thing I guess.  I love it here and part of me wants to stay forever, but I’m so excited to start my next adventure back home.  It’s a great feeling, really, to be content in the here and now and excited about the future as well. 

5 months remain in my Asian adventure, and I hope to get as much out of my remaining time as I possibly can.  More to come…