2 Months.

I cannot believe it's been 2 months as of this past Sunday.  It still feels surreal.  Although, I am somewhat settling into a routine life here in Seoul, it's crazy to think that I have been away from home, living in South Korea for 2 months.  I feel "at home" now for the most part.  For example:  I'm not scared to go places for fear of getting lost.  I'm learning my way around the bus system.  I'm less scared to go into stores and order food.  I'm completely comfortable with my surroundings and walking around my neighborhood.  I have been mistaken for a "true" Korean on more than one occasion.  I am starting to actually like the men in skinny jeans.  I am making new friends and spending time with "old" ones from orientation.  I feel more comfortable with my lesson planning and teaching.  I am starting to recognize students from each class and which ones are the smart and/or troubled kids.  I like to eat kimchi.  The weather has finally cooled down to perfect fall temperatures and hardly any rain recently.  These are just a few of the reasons I'm thankful to be here right now.  Of course, I still miss everyone back in the states.  I wish I could be there for gatherings, birthdays, holidays, babies, etc.




On a weird note, a girl at my school passed away last week.  My co-teacher decided to tell me as I was getting ready to leave on Thursday afternoon that a girl from 5-1 class had died that morning.  No explanation was given except that she just didn't wake up.  It's very odd and discomforting that the school didn't make any announcements or anything.  I'm not even really sure which girl it was, but I am going to try to check what seat is empty in that class to see if it rings a bell.


Other than that, I haven't really done many interesting things lately.  I've just been going to school, going to the gym, spending time with friends, and going out on the weekends.  It's a pretty normal life aside from the fact I live in Seoul for the time being.

Korea University is about a 5-10min walk from where I live.  It's gorgeous.

Korea University

 

Just a silly store-front near my house around the Sungshin area.  "made by Jesus" in 2003 no less.  Things like this make me chuckle.

It was also recently brought to my attention that some of you may not have a mailing address for me.  Of course, this isn't how they write it in Korean, but I'm not sure anyone would really know how anyway.  In case you want to send me something through the post, here it is in American style:

Susan Livingtel #802

Anam-dong 2-ga

Seongbuk-gu

Seoul, South Korea 136-072

I also have a Korean cell phone number which is 010-8359-2576 
**(NEW Sept. 2011) 010-8509-0627 if anyone is willing to call me via Skype (sonya.a.green) or some other means.  You have to dial 011 + 82 + 010-8359-2576 in order to get through on a normal phone.

xoxo