Let me sum up

Tomorrow is my last day of teaching! I've finished my 1 year of teaching in Jeju. Already. This week I'm trying to fit all the beach time, acupuncture*, and yoga classes I can before my month trip to the states. (*A note on the Acupuncture: it's really helping my neck. I've been going about 3x a week and I get needles in my hips, neck and spine. The doctor is also trying to fix my spinal alignment and whatever else he finds in there. I think I'll keep going to the doctor after my vacation.) And as a fitting ending, I'm teaching all about America tomorrow in my last day of English camp. I've still got tons to do before I hop on a plane next weekend, but I'm sure it'll fly. 7 short days!

So it seems an appropriate time to evaluate this years goals. From my very first Korea blog:

"-Learn to speak and read Korean (Yikes!)
-Improve my classroom teaching skills
-Teach community Yoga
-Take any adventure that comes my way"

I'd say check, check, check and check! My Korean is ever improving and I'm pretty happy with what I've learned in the past 11 months. I've learned immeasurable amounts of new teaching skills. I've been teaching community yoga for 10 months, and there's hardly an adventure I've passed up! I'm already planning a trip to Japan after I get back in September and trying to finagle my winter break so I can go back to S.E. Asia and do some sort of yoga training in February. This year has been all about trying new things on a tremendous learning curve. Next year will be the first time I've lived in the same place for more than a year since college. I don't really know what to expect, but I'm sure it will be good. I'll set some new goals when I come back to Jeju and settle in again.

See you this summer!
Namaste

The acupuncturist

This morning I had my first acupuncture experience. I went in a few days ago and got an adjustment, but this morning I swallowed my fear and let someone put needles in my neck. And it didn't hurt that bad. The needles don't really hurt, but once they get into the muscles there's this pressure and release that feels really weird. My doctor is extremely nice, really knowledgable, and his English is great. Hopefully this will help my chronic, but worse lately, neck and shoulder problems. Oh, and it cost...$5.40. Today is one of those days that I love Korea.

Almost a year already?

4 weeks and counting! To my vacation in the USA that is. I eventually managed to buy my plane ticket from Seoul to Seattle and I was officially approved for rehire by Jeju EPIK. I sign my new contract on July 16th (yes, everything here is that last minute), the last day of school is July 17th, I'll get a new Visa, and I'll be in Seattle on August 1st. Woohoo! So now every one's asking, "What do you want to do at home?" "What do you miss the most?" There are definitely foods and experiences that I miss from America and especially Seattle, but what I'm really looking forward to is being at my mom's house with my family. This is the longest I've gone with out seeing my family and it's now beginning to creep up on me. I think being home a month will be enough time to see everyone, enjoy American life, and be ready to come back to my little Korean island. Jeju is my home for the moment and I look forward to another year here.

That said, I won't miss the humidity! The rainy season is upon us and thankfully it's brought cooler temperatures and cloudier days. Rain in the summer doesn't bother me a bit, being from the ultimate rainy city, and the heat was starting to creep up there for a few weeks. Once the rain lets up it'll be hot and muggy until October.

A recap of the past few weeks...

The sun comes out here and the foreigners go to the beach! You can tell they're foreigners because you can see their skin. Koreans tend to wear t-shirts and shorts at least, or some people cover every inch of skin on their bodies. Last weekend there was a big festival on Jungmun beach with a surfing contest, live music all night, and hundreds of people. I celebrated the 4th of July with foreigners and Koreans alike dancing to Reggae on the beach, swimming, and lighting roman candles. Good 'nuff for me.

The weekend before was another Open Mic night. A friend of mine has organized these every few months for a couple of years. Now we have a venue right on the water with comfy couches, a really big stage, keyboard, drum kit, and amps. I'm tempted to perform in the fall if I find the time to prepare a few pieces. It's been way too long since I sang in public. The turn-out at this Open Mic was huge as it was also a good-bye party for a few people and turned into an engagement celebration, too! The foreigner community here on Jeju is really fantastic, people are open, friendly, easy-going, and fun loving. I have absolutely nothing to compare it to, but I think Jeju has one of the best ex-pat communities out there.

School is wrapping up...7 days of classes and 5 days of camp left. If you live in Seattle or NYC, I'll see you soon! We finished our end of semester English testing last week, this week I'm teaching an Independence Day lesson and next week will be board games and movies. I'll be celebrating the end of the school year at Gimnyeong Beach with "Jejustock", a benefit festival with live music, booze, and beach activities.

On a not so good note, I hurt my neck a few weeks ago and it doesn't seem to be getting better. I finally went to the Korean traditional doctor across the street and got an adjustment today and he really wants me to do acupuncture. From what I hear, Korean acupuncture - called chim - is very painful. I'm totally a pain wuss when it comes to needles so I'm more than a little hesitant. The needles are much bigger than Chinese or Japanese style and they just go in your hand. We'll see...

Sorry about the lack of writing. I'll try to post again before I head home. Hope everyone had a safe & fun 4th of July, Canada Day or whatever your last national holiday was!