Appreciating the little things.

Being in Korea these last few days have really made me aware of things I appreciate the most. My family, boyfriend, friends, and now new friends. My life and all things and people God has took the time to bless me with. I am truly appreciative of it all.

But what I have really come to learn is that is truly is the little things that can make you happy. Being far away from the closest people in my life has been hard this last week however just being able to speak or text with them once a day always makes me smile. It's those little moments that mean so much. You have to appreciate them. Embrace them. Learn to be happy with the little things even when bigger things are happening that might not be so great. Don't let negative things define who you are or what you will become. Smile and make the most of every moment in your life.

Don't take the little things for granted.

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My last 24 hours in the States.

Greetings J I’ve touched base in South Korea and it feels amazingly good. I’m pretty sure it’s because my mind is still in denial and thinks I’m just on one of my normal vacations. But I’m not. I live here now. This is my “home” for the next 365 days. Anyway let’s talk about my the 24 hours leading up to my flight.

I didn’t sleep for 24 hours. My flight from Orlando to New York was set for 7am on Tuesday Feb 17^th.  Then I would be taking a 14.5 hour flight to South Korea. The night before my flight I didn’t sleep. I hadn’t planned too. I wanted to tire myself out so that I would sleep on the plane at least for the first half to try to reduce my jetlag as much as possible!

So the day before, I woke up super stressed and overwhelmed. I felt like I was having mini anxiety attacks. I couldn’t breathe. It seemed like so much had to be done in such a small frame of time. So I set out to run the last of my errands and finished cleaning up my stuff and moving things to storage. 

As the day went on my brain calmed itself down but I still had to keep myself busy to possibly avoid a breakdown. Talk about getting cold feet. It was insane. 

That night I spent my last hours with my boyfriend which was great J.  We went with some friends to see 50 Shades of Grey and had dinner. After that we headed back home and I prepared for my final hours. By the time 4:30am rolled around, life was pretty hectic again. I was still packing my bags and finishing up the BF gift and then before we knew it is was almost 5:30am and that was when I was suppose to get to the airport by. So I was running late and stressing out.

I get to the airport and it’s more crowded than normal. Everyone wanted to go somewhere Tuesday morning apparently -_-. So then I get to the front of the check in counter and of course one of my bags is over 50lbs. 53.4 to be exact. And by some miracle of God I was able to take out my 'if I get homesick' candy and stuff them into my already overpacked carry on. This allowed me to get  my suitcase down to 51.5 and they didn’t charge me overage for that! By the time I finished checking in my bags, it was 5:55am. I ran back outside to say my final see you in a long time from now to my love and then it was off to TSA.

Going thru security took for freaking EVER. My flight was boarding at 6:25 and it was already 6am. The line for TSA was ridiculously long and then because I was having the best luck of my life that day, they of course needed to search my carry on because they lady thought I had things over 3oz. WHICH I DIDN’T…. she just didn’t know how to read the screen apparently. So I get past security and it’s 6:30.  Anywho against all odds, I made my first flight thank you Jesus.

Now onto NYC. Let’s just say as of now I hate JFK airport if you have to do connecting flights in different terminals. I flew into the Jetblue terminal which is terminal 5 and my international flight was in terminal 4 so I had to walk 10+ mins from the terminal with my heavy carry on luggage just to get to the train that would take me to terminal 4. Theeeennnn I had to go back through freaking security in that terminal. It was all so much fun. Luckily I had about 3 hours between flights.

After getting to my gate, I met up with some fellow EPIKers and we chilled out until it was time to board. Boarding was quite interesting to me. They didn't have boarding zones. Apparently people just get in line and board the plane in no specific order. We didn't realize that until the line was super long. #Foreignerproblems .  Anyway boarded the plane and was hoping for a row to myself but of course I would not be THAT lucky however I guess the plane Gods were looking down on me and there was no one in the middle seat. Before I knew it, we were backing out. I text my last see you laters/I love you/ Miss yous and settled in for my 14.5 hour flight...

Next stop, South Korea...

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My EPIK Adventure | All Smiles.

The wait is over. 

Guys, I'm moving to Korea in exactly 3 weeks. I've been meaning to update you all on everything buutt I figured I'd wait until everything was in order. As in Visa received and Flight booked.

Where do I begin. This EPIK process has been long. And I've had to understand and learn the importance of being patient. On my last update, I was waiting. Waiting to here back whether or not I had received a placement. I sent my documents to Korea in November and was told not to expect to hear anything back before mid December. December rolled around and I was so anxious. Checking my email every day. Then finally it came. EPIK: Placement Results. Congratulations and Welcome to the EPIK program...  I screamed. I danced. I cried. It was setting in. I was moving. Leaving behind family, friends, and my boo thang [boyfriend whom which is so very supportive and that's why I love him so]. Leaving behind all that I know. And believe it or not, as much as I want to get out of Florida, out of my job.... I am not that big of a friend to change. And this is a big change happening.

I will be working as a teacher. I've never been a teacher. What if I like suck? I'm moving to a country I've never been to where I can only speak a teeny bit of the language. What if I get severely homesick. All this change that I must embrace. But I'm going to embrace it and I'm claiming that it will be the best decision I've ever made and an experience that I will grow a lot from.

Anyway, I was placed in the 2nd location I wanted. Gwangju!! If you read my first post you know I originally stated Daegu. However I received notice that Daegu was no longer planning on having intake for new teachers in February so I was able to pick another location I wanted and I went with Gwangju. I hear it's a great city and has a great foreign community. It's 4 hours from the 2 largest cities Seoul and Busan .

I am still studying Korean with my tutor and by myself. I have two now. One helps more with grammar and the other with helping me to get comfortable with speaking the language. I know a good amount. My tutor even said I'm pre-intermediate but I am not comfortable actually speaking it and I also struggle with listening. Koreans talk so fassssttttt! But I'm confident that I will be able to get by and ask for help and food as needed.

As the time is winding down, I still have so much to do. Luckily my last day at my job is on Friday so I can spend my days studying Korean and packing, selling stuff, and relaxing with my love ones until the big moving day is here.



Timeline.

August 6 | Submitted application

Oct 1 | Received email that I passed the first phase and would be schedule for an Interview

Oct 7 | Had interview

Oct 9 | Received email that I had passed the interview!

Oct 16 | Application for CRC received by channeler [nationalbackgroundcheck]

Oct 28 | Received CRC back from channeler

Oct 28 | Sent CRC to get apostilled through US Legalization
Oct 30 | US Legalization emailed that CRC had been received and would be return on Nov 5th.

Nov 7 | Received Apostilled CRC

Nov 12 | Sent documents off to EPIK office.
Nov 14 | Email that documents had been received {quicker than expected!)

Dec 16 | Placement results [Gwangju!]

Jan 1 | Contract packet sent from S. Korea

Jan 5 | Received contract packet

Jan 20 | Sent off for Visa

Jan 27 | Received Visa & Booked flight

**Feb 17 | Goodbye USA

**Feb 18 | Hello Asia

Okay time for me to get my day started!
안녕히 계세요 [that's bye in Korean :)]



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