Return from the ABYSS!

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted in some time. I've really needed to focus my energies elsewhere over the last three months. Namely on finding work and trying to get better physically and emotionally. And I feel it. I feel so much better. I don't think I've felt so good or so confident in all of my two years in Australia.

I wish I had the courage to tell you all about it but I don't. Maybe I will in a few months or in a few years. Or maybe you'll just have to wait for the book. ;)

But long story short, the difference is that we are indeed leaving. In the time since I last blogged, we got back all my necessary documents to go to Korea, we took a vacation to Bali (Indonesia), we made some inquiries and we made a final decision to go. It wasn't easy and it was honestly mostly me going back and forth about whether to stay or go despite my very unavoidable unhappiness here (Jeremy was pretty certain he wanted to leave). I felt a great deal of obligation to stay, take advantage of this visa I just got and make people happy. But I couldn't make myself happy. I've been trying for two years and it hasn't happened yet. I finally made up my mind a few weeks ago when I realized the only person I'm obligated to make happy is myself and the love of my life, and well, my unhappiness wasn't making either of us happy.

Instead of trying to suffer through another year here, we've decided to go back to Korea. This will give us a chance to make some headway on our finances, our savings, our loans, our everyday fun-factor and more. We hope to get a dog and I've already been making inquiries with shelters (watch this space for cute puppiness!), along with a car so we can take road trips together and camp under the stars. These are all things we can't afford to do here but they are things we want to do and things we should be doing because we are young and without kids!

The details are that we'll be living in Busan and teaching with CDI (the company Jeremy worked with before). It'll be mostly middle school aged kids and it'll be about 4pm -10pm 4-5 days a week (depending on enrollment). Don't ask me how this early bird is going to deal with those late hours--I'll figure it out! We're leaving Sydney on February 17th and will arrive in Seoul on the 18th for one week of training before starting our jobs on the 28th. It's a tight schedule but we're making headway and have sold most things already.

If you ask me, I'm really looking forward to going back. Korea feels more like home than here. It's where my friends, my dentist, my hairdresser and all my favorite coffee shops are. It's where we fell in love. It's where I found my feet as a real expat. It's where I hiked, lost weight, discovered cultures, sang in the street, rode the subway, laughed, cried, made the best of friends, had adventures and inadvertently screamed "Vagina!" in Korean while running through a train station! (It so happens that Jill (the name of the friend I was chasing) means vagina in Korean.) I have so many good memories from the land of kimchi and it's no mistake that when we get together with people, all we do is talk about Korea. (I'm pretty sure we annoy people because of it.) And of course, I'm really looking forward to eating the food. :)

So please feel free to come along with us as the story continues in Korea Part II! I'll be blogging about the culture and all our adventures here and hope that you'll all the funny stories and revelations to come. Until then, I'm going to be busy! You can expect a blog or two more from Australia as we wind down the next three weeks but the real deal won't be until we touch down in Korea.

Thanks again for sticking with me and continuing to read despite the boringness and lack of blogging on my part. I think 2011 is going to be great. :)

Love and hugs,
Kortney