I did it my way.

I enjoy avoiding the rat race by living here. I guess I will have to face up to it some day. I mean, I still do work Monday through Friday but you get the point. There's a more intense rat race here I think but I feel disconnected from it.

Got to check out a temple or castle or something soon, just because the Korean tourism agency doesn't pump out tons of advertisements in English to the few thousand native English speakers out here doesn't mean the stuff isn't out there...

Happy Teacher's Day!(Korea) Happy Mother's Day!(USA)

I got some rockin flowers and some hand made soap among other stuff from the kids today. Soap smelled like lime. The little girl that gave it to me thought I didn't open the package it came in. She came up to me a little while after she gave it to me, took it from my hand, put it on the ground and opened it, laying the soap and all the little shiny packing stuff all over the ground and running away. Hey! At least they've learned the phrase "When you drop it, please pick it up." pretty quick.

Kids are kids anywhere of course. Every once in a while I catch myself, can't really believe I'm in another country tryin to teach these tiny kids English 5 hours a day 5 days a week when they should be out playin with their legos or shooting squirtguns at each other or something. They sure learn quick though. We have this yoga class, there was one point we were supposed to be "rolling like a ball", one kid takes it to try to roll like a boulder and bumps off everyone around him... He was testin my patience just a bit by this point and I half-kidding said, "June, please stop acting your age." I only said this to him once. Then about a week later he repeats it to me. He doesn't really know his ABCs and he's not one of my more diligent kids, but this is what he remembers... ah well.

On the train of thought.

Usually if I just start writing... 4 more months on my current contract left and I'm no closer to figuring out what I'm doing in general. But at least I'm satisfied. The best parts of this, the whole continuing to live in Korea for my 18th month thing, is I still work less than 30 hours a week and I still live in a foreign country. Neat enough for me.

And it feels as much like home as any other place, in it's own special way. I guess like most things, if you get accustomed to it it just feels like a good fit. Instead of thinking of it as trying to find my place on this planet, I simply try to think that where ever I do wander to, that's where my place is.