*~Soul Connections in Seoul*~

Establishing human connections is perhaps our most valuable ability/gift on Earth. Lately I've been meeting some amazing people and making some real soul connections in Seoul.. In quiet reflection, I began to think about my relationships with others and I have come to understand how those connections have played [and still are playing] a major role in my life.

I realize that in life it's easy to become so distracted and occupied with work, school, things and just life that we may neglect the relationships in our lives. But, when we go home from work or school and we put those things down, the most important thing in life is our connections to others. Human relationships and connections are so beautiful. Yet, often very difficult to establish and maintain. Creating relationships becomes difficult when we are afraid or when we hold back and push others away for fear of being hurt.  Fear is a like a snake that easily slithers into our lives, it can cause us to create these self-imposed prisons that we don't know how to get out of and we don't know how to let others in. Sometimes, we've been so hurt that we build walls without even knowing that we are isolating ourselves from the world and perhaps missing out on creating some beautiful relationships.

I don't want to fall into the trap of fear. I realize that creating relationships and establishing connections is usually a risk. It means that I will have to allow myself be vulnerable, but I'm ok with that. Alicia Keys said it best "I'd risk the fall, just to know how it feels to fly."  The 'seoul' purpose of life is to be happy, but what is happiness if we have no one to share it with?

I'm spreading my wings and flying...not worrying or operating in fear. I'm just living to create meaningful relationships [friendships] where I can give love and let love in :) I'm so thankful for all of the beautiful people I've had an opportunity to meet and cross paths with in Korea. Each of them have played a role in helping me to continuously evolve into a beautiful woman. It has been an amazing experience [and I've only been here for a about 4 months] that I will carry with me for a lifetime. I'm looking forward to the rest of the surprises that will unfold while I'm living my dreams in Korea; if the rest of my time here is anything like the beginning then I'm in for a real treat :)
*Happiness feels so good*

Korean Children say the darnest things...

A special moment with one of my students. Well on the last day of term one of my students told me that she would really miss me and she wrote me this note: (I'm going to type it exactly the way that she wrote it in her Konglish [Korean English] it's so cute)

To Derrika:
Thank you for to safe in many big trouble.
I'm always thankful to you.
I don't meet the good teacher like you.
I'm happy when I'm studying with you in your class.
You are so good teacher.
I am thanks to the God because I met you and have lots of good happy memory.
Goodbye Derrika.
From, Your student Sally.
Have a nice day!! Don't give up!!

*When I read this I was definitely near tears. Sally was one of my best students. She really inspired me and taught me a lot, I'm just glad I was able to share my spirit with her :)

Some funny moments I have had with my students:

1. One of my students randomly told me during a class [in this class I was teaching the children about modern slavery]:

Student: "Teacher you're the Black"[he had the most worried look as he said this]

Me: umm....yes I am.... [laughing on the inside]

Student: But the slaves are the black. I don't want my teacher to be a slave.

Me: Don't worry slavery is over and I'm here to be your teacher :)

Student [sigh of relief. He looked so serious lol] ok I'm happy.

2. If you talk to any ESL Teacher I'm sure they will tell you that students ask WHY for EVERYTHING. But the funny part is that they ask why for the most random things. So one day I was trying to teach my students a little slang, but clearly they did not get it. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Emma stop being such a hater

Emma: "Oh but teacher why?"

Me: Hating is not a good look.

Emma: But why? I didn't know hate has a looks. [she literally said it like this lol]

Me: I don't mean it literally.

Emma: why? Teacher I look cute!

3. Me: How was your visit to Australia? What did you do that was fun?

Student: I ate the Koala meat

Me: ....oh...really?? People eat....Koala? [looking very confused because I was expecting an answer like I went swimming or I went shopping.]

Student: Don't worry teacher I had fun. It was joke. [student laughing]

Me: uhhh ok [i was just confused lol]

As you can see I'm enjoying my experience teaching in Korea! It's not always easy and there are definitely some challenging students. But, I must say this experience is definitely worth it :)

Oppps I almost forgot...I'm an English Teacher!!

So I realize that I have neglected to write a blog post about what I actually do here in Korea. I have been so wrapped up in all of my enjoyment of Korea I forgot that to write about what I actually do here! So, I moved to Korea to become an ESL Teacher. ESL Teacher's are very popular here, because many students want to learn English. Actually, English is required by many Korean schools and many students have to take an English test along with their college admissions applications. So basically learning English is pretty important and I'm kind of a big deal as an English Teacher :)

I plant seeds of knowledge & watch them grow

 In Korea, students usually learn English in two settings: Public School and Hagwons. Hagwons are English academies where students go to learn English after school. It's very similar to a tutoring program, but it's a bit more structured. I work at a Hagwon and I must say I really enjoy it :) I think the best part of this job is that I come in contact with so many different students in one day.I have met some really amazing students that have taught me more than I could ever teach them. It's funny how teaching is such a cyclical process, in the process of teaching my students I learn lessons that cannot be found in a book and I'm forever grateful to my students for that :) My students have given this quote so much value: 

"By learning you will teach, by teaching you will learn." - Latin Proverb

A glimpse of my travels in Korea!

A beautiful Sunset

I saw the most beautiful sunset while visiting the Seoul Tower (in Seoul, South Korea). It was absolutely gorgeous. The sun looked like it was a blazing fire of red and orange hues. My friends Toya, Lisa, Gary and I decided to take a trip to the Seoul Tower. After hiking up a hill and a million endless steps we finally made it to the tower. And It was definitely worth it. The view was breath-taking. 

As I looked out over the city and saw the sun setting I could only smile. Being a writer I find metaphors for life in everything. The sunset seemed to represent a recent ending in my life. [See last blog post] Though endings are hard they give birth to a more beautiful beginning. I'm excited about this new beginning because it has already started off so well. I closed the last chapter and now I'm creating a new one of unlimited love and happiness. As I walked around the tower and saw all of the beautiful scenery I was thinking "Wow I still can't believe I'm actually living in Korea." But I'm definitely living here and loving it! :)

Also at the Seoul tower they have a gate of heart locks where couples go and put hearts on a gate to represent their love. Its such a sweet romantic gesture. I could only smile as I looked at all of the hearts scribbled with promises of love. They also had a wall of tiles where couples wrote their wishes and proclamations of love on tiles. I think its so beautiful the way they celebrate love here. Maybe one day I will be able to put a heart on the lock gate to proclaim my love to the person I plan to share the rest of my life with :)

Picnic Time

This past weekend our company hosted a picnic for all of it's different schools throughout Korea. So after clubbing the night before me and Toya (my friend from the states) struggled to wake up and go. I'm so glad we decided to get up and go, it was well worth it. The sun was shining so beautifully and the weather was amazing. When we got to the park I was so excited, we were finally starting to get a dose of spring in Korea. It had been so cold here all through out the month of April so the warm weather was so exciting.

The picnic turned out to be nice. We had a chance to enjoy some food from back home (hotdogs, hamburgers, BBQ chicken) and we hung out with friends. We also decided to go for a paddle boat ride (my idea) but we clearly almost died in the process lol. It was a little windy so the boat kept swaying. It's funny now but at the time it wasn''t. All I kept thinking is "I cannot fall in this water and mess up my favorite jeans!" Luckily we didn't fall in! And then we had a chance to take some really beautiful pictures, because they park had beautiful scenery :)

 

~*Season's Change*~

As I was walking to work today I saw beautiful Magnolias in full bloom. The leaves on trees were finally turning green and the sun was shining so beautifully. I was so excited to see that we are finally on the verge of spring in Korea. The season's are changing {not just in the weather, but in my life} Leaving behind this bitter winter with a promising spring on the horizon. 

This winter was perhaps one of the coldest winter's in Korea and ironically it was one of the coldest winter's in my life. It seemed like everything was falling apart. And every time I thought I was finally getting it together something else would go wrong. I was at a point in my life where I was questioning everything and trying to make sense of all of the things that were happening. But I started to realize that maybe it's true that somethings fall apart so other things can fall together. And maybe sometimes we think everything is going wrong when in reality we are just being prepared to be elevated to the next level of life.

But thankfully seasons change. 

Season's change and give us the opportunity to enter a new place in life. And I gladly welcome this new season in my life. It has already started out so beautifully with this move to Korea. A new start. New friends (still miss all the old ones). A new job. A new outlook. And a new me. Since being here I've really began to create the kind of happiness I was longing to have. {So glad my family and friends really supported me in my decision to move}

I've been able to reflect on all of the heartbreak, betrayal, frustration, fear and baggage I picked up in the winter of 2009 and I have simply released it. Pain has a special way of putting us in a kind of self-imposed prison, where we begin to wallow in self-pity and get caught up in negativity. I knew I had to make some changes or else I would become a prisoner of the past. So I {with the strength of GOD} dried up my tears and took control. I've been meditating, praying and learning to forgive which has truly given me the ability to let go and move forward. 

Letting go all of that excess baggage makes me feel so free. Now I can smile and really feel it and mean it. I can love without expecting anything in return. I can give kindheartedly. I can live freely. I can be happy without feeling guilty. And I can live in a happiness I never knew  existed. Sometimes we never know how strong we are until we look back and say "Wow I don't know how I made it through that?" (But deep down I know GOD carried me through and put special people in my life to help me through it. Thank you)

GOD really knows how to set up a blessing. I can now look back and put all the pieces together. I know that I went through all of those things so I could learn some valuable lessons, develop strength and test my pretty wings. And now I'm discovering a happiness that I cannot even put into words and flying my pretty wings around...

Seasons change.

And this season has changed for the best. Things may not be perfect, but I'm living my dreams in love, peace and freedom :) 

What is this Black girl doing in Korea?

I chose the topic of race for this blog entry because it is so interesting to see how my students react to me when they first meet me. On the first day I got everything from stares, to students touching my skin, to students wondering where the heck I was from. Korea is such a homogeneous culture that something as simple as hair texture baffles my students. Many of them have asked to touch my hair. Others have asked can they get a machine to make their hair like this. Koreans have a shared history that they can trace. Though they too have been victims of slavery many of them were able to stay in their own land and maintain their culture and traditions. Whereas many of the Afrikan people were forced into a foreign land and stripped of their culture and traditions. So it baffles my students when I tell them I was born in America but I do not know where my ancestors come from.

Unfortunately, in our world today race has played a major role in shaping peoples attitudes towards different groups of people. I'm inclined to argue that race is merely a socially constructed tool that has been used to divide groups of people. Nonetheless, the idea of race tends to dictate peoples attitudes toward other groups/cultures. Which in turn causes stereotypes to be formed. We all know that each culture has stereotypes. {Example Black people are ghetto or Asian people are smart} These are stereotypes that exist about each of these groups. Furthermore, how each group is portrayed in the media also has a large effect of the formation of stereotypes. And in my opinion Blacks are often misrepresented or portrayed negatively in media outlets such as: movies and television.

Well I have said all of this to say that one of my goals is to travel the world and expose different cultures to Black people {for the purposes of this blog entry Black refers to people of color across the African diaspora} and Black culture. I firmly believe that if a group of people have never met or encountered a Black person then they may believe all of the negative portrayals of Black people they have been exposed to via the media {television/movies}.

Thus, one of my goals during my hiatus in Korea, is to expose Korean peoples to Black culture. I realize that Black people are not monolithic and that we have many sub-cultures, but people tend to lump us all in one category and think we are lazy, ignorant or uneducated. Thus, I want to counter all of these negative stereotypes and demonstrate that we {Blacks} are educated, intelligent and hard workers.

Furthermore, it is my hope to travel the world and expose different cultures to the beauty of black people and to educate them about who we are and our contributions to the free world. Many of my students are surprised when I share different aspects of my rich culture. Educating people does not validate who I am and the contributions my ancestors made, but it does provide an opportunity for exploration, understanding and insight.

*~I'm just a Black girl trying to show the world my beauty, history and culture in the process of exploring the world one country as a time. My Black does not define me, but it inspires me*~

Am I really living in Korea?

Sometimes I wake up and I'm like "wow I can't believe I'm actually living in Korea." But, I must say that I have been enjoying my time here. I feel so far removed from everything and it makes me happy because I feel like I can start over. It's not that life was bad in the states, it was actually great. But I needed change. I needed to get away and try something new. I have never been the kind of person that could be happy doing the same old thing for so long. So after I graduated I wanted to go places and see the world. But, I didn't know how I was gonna do that with some dreams and a empty savings account. But, once I found out about teaching here I was excited to try the opportunity. And I'm so glad I made the choice to come here. I feel free here.


Gosh, I honestly never imagined that I would be living in Korea, teaching. But, here I am and I love it! Sometimes, it seems so surreal. There are moments when I'm walking down the street and I see a sea of Korean faces and I'm instantly reminded that I'm not back in FL. There are other times when I go into restaurants only to find that no one speaks English. But it's amazing what a smile will do for you. There is one restaurant I go to at least three days a week and I feel like the owners have become like an extended family. They always get so excited when I come in. We communicate with smiles, hand gestures and broken English and Korean. We cannot speak the same language, but we share a common humanity that speaks so much louder than words.


There are times I get a little homesick. Especially when I wanna pick up the phone and call at random moments, but then I remember that there is a 14-hour time difference. Other times I get homesick when I just wanna go to a place that sells grits and fried chicken for breakfast (lol). Then there are those times when I want to go out for a drink with my girls and I realize that they are thousands of miles away. (sigh I miss my family and friends a lot)


Nonetheless, I wouldn't change this experience for anything. It has been well worth the wait. ~I'm just trying to live my life like it's G O L D E N~