Finally Feeling at Home

Hey guys, sorry it has been awhile since I posted on here. Life has been a little busy. Cody and I have been exploring more of what this amazing country has to offer. I was having a really low time, missing my family from home and SUPER missing my animals. I was feeling really down and just wanted to go home. But, Cody and I talked and said we needed to just stick with it and it would all turn out okay. So, we went on a little adventure to the Suwon Fortress. Needless to say, it reminded me of why I am here in this amazing place. To see things like that.

So Suwon is an old walled city. During the time when the Japanese occupied Korea they built fortified cities (almost like the great wall.) Well, as they began to develop these walled cities began to be torn down to make way for the new "improved" cities that we have today. However, in Suwon they kept the wall intact and know it is a large tourist area for people to visit. It is so amazing to see something that is so old and has so much history. And to think, I wonder what it was like when these people lived here. Now when you look beyond the walls there are tall buildings, cars, and lots of people. In the distance you can see these amazingly tall mountains. And I said to Cody "can you imagine what this view was like without all the cars, building and people." It must've been incredible breath-taking. It was beautiful. Here are some pictures.

 Along with exploring the Fortress we also were able to experience some traditional Korean food. It was interesting. Some things were REALLY good while other items were slightly scary at times. I teach adult students on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. I have the cutest old Korean man, he is in his lower 50's and he insisted on taking Cody and I to lunch and "hiking." So he took us to a traditional Korean restuarant so we could experience so "good" Korean food. Then he took us into Seoul to the National Park where they have a HUGE zoo! It was super cool and I had so much fun with him. Cody got some good pictures of animals and we just enjoyed ourselves. It was a lot of fun.

I've also met some amazing people. With working until 8:30 and 9:00 on most nights it is difficult to hang out with people during the week. But, I've met a group of people who live about 10-15 minutes by subway from me. I've been hanging out with them every Friday night for the past three weeks. They are so much fun to hang out with and we have SO many things in common with them. One is a Japanese girl who is really nice. She is going to teach Cody Korean which is pretty sweet!!! She loves to do the same things as us, hiking, shopping, exploring. I'm so excited to get to know her better. And then there is Kayla. She is like this light that I needed to find. She is always smiling and has so much energy and just always seems to have such a positive attitude. I needed to find someone like her to show me a different perspective. I've been hanging out with her every weekend and it has turned into the thing I really look forward to. I'm so excited she decided to stay for another year so I can get to know her so much better. She is exactly the type of person that I wanted to meet here.

Tomorrow we are all going to the Coex aquarium here in Seoul. Kayla, Yuki, Cody and I. I'm pretty excited to go and see it. I've met these amazing people and now I want to get to know them so much better!!!! I'm just so happy to be meeting people and coming here and doing exactly what I wanted to do. Making new friends and showing myself that I am strong enough to do this. Cody and I have grown so much as a couple since being here. For awhile I was really scared for the direction our relationship was going. We were both so incredibly unhappy which was reflecting back to how we treated each other. And now, I can't explain it but it is like we are back to how we were when we first started dating. I feel so in love with him more and more everyday. I'm so lucky to have him in my life and that he decided to marry me and that he stuck around with me for so long.

Thank you Korea for already teaching me so many things. Can't believe it's been 3 months and I only have 9 months left it in this amazing place. I still have so much I want to do!!!! That is all for now. Hope that life is treating everyone else amazingly. Hugs and kisses. I miss you all <3

Food for Thought

This blog will in no way be related to my travels or times here in Korea. It is simple an observation that I made while checking out cnn.com that made me think and had some strong thoughts i'd like to share.

 http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/04/opinion/bennett-men-in-trouble/index.html?iref=obnetwork

Check out this link to understand where the material for this blog is coming from:

Just a quick recap . . . This article was on cnn.com and is talking about how men are in serious trouble of losing their " dominant status " in society. Here are some of the key points and then I will discuss some of my feelings.

"Now, society has rightly celebrated the ascension of one sex. We said, "You go girl," and they went. We celebrate the ascension of women but what will we do about what appears to be the very real decline of the other sex?

The data does not bode well for men. In 1970, men earned 60% of all college degrees. In 1980, the figure fell to 50%, by 2006 it was 43%. Women now surpass men in college degrees by almost three to two. Women's earnings grew 44% in real dollars from 1970 to 2007, compared with 6% growth for men."

"There is a maturity deficit among men out there, and men are falling behind."

"Man's response has been pathetic. Today, 18-to- 34-year-old men spend more time playing video games a day than 12-to- 17-year-old boys. While women are graduating college and finding good jobs, too many men are not going to work, not getting married and not raising families."

"We need to respond to this culture that sends confusing signals to young men, a culture that is agnostic about what it wants men to be, with a clear and achievable notion of manhood"

"We may need to say to a number of our twenty-something men, "Get off the video games five hours a day, get yourself together, get a challenging job and get married." It's time for men to man up."

And there you have it. The basic sum of the article. It is comparing women to men, saying how the population of women is surpassing that of men in both education and maturity. Blaming the movies, tv shows, video games and society for sending todays youth a confusing message of what a "man" should be. It says how more women then men are graduating from college to go on and get more intellectual jobs. The very last quote really gets me "Get off the video games five hours a day, get yourself together, get a challenging job and get married. It's time for men to MAN up."

Let's just start with me saying, "Why do we need to continue to compare men and women?" As a society we are expected to fit into these gender stereotypes that have been passed down from generations. Men as the provider, he goes to work, makes the money, comes home, takes care of the "man" duties around the home and then wakes up and does the same thing the next day. And women as the homemaker, taking care of the children, taking care of the cleaning, cooking and child raising. The perfect "soccer mom" image.

Now i'm not saying there is anything wrong with a woman who decides to be a homemaker and a man who is the provider. But. . .why must we continue to put people into these neat little categories with a neat little bow??? Can't we have diversity. Can't a man be a "homemaker" stay home, take care of the children while his wife works in a high status career? Are women going to college more then men, yes. Are women gradually making more per year, yes. But, when you look at the salary of women you need to remember women had much farther to go then men and had much more room to grow from what they were making before. So, a woman earning more over the years is not a surprising statistic.

Along with these statistics, we need to take into account the state of our economy. Men and women are losing jobs at an increasing rate all around America. The job market is not friendly to anyone. You could have gone to school, have a ph.d and STILL not be able to find a job. You could apply to 100's of different employers have TONS of interviews and STILL not be able to get a job. The job market is extremely depressing to even think about. The sentence for a man to "stop playing video games for five hours a day and find a challenging job" is insulting on so many different levels.

It isn't so easy to just go out and "find a challenging job." The context of this article is not putting into account the state of our economy. Before people start judging a part of our society about NOT having jobs, perhaps they should look into the context of their research that they have been getting.

"a culture that is agnostic about what it wants men to be, with a clear and achievable notion of manhood" What would this clear notion of MANHOOD be? What does that mean? What makes a good man? These stereotypes are so frustrating to me. My idea of a "MAN" might be someone who goes out into the woods, cuts down a tree, builds a house from that tree. Then he goes out and kills a deer, cuts it up and cooks it on a fire for dinner. While someone else might think that a "MAN" is someone who has a high status job, works 70 hours a week, never sees his family so that he can "provide" the right amount of money for them. While someone else might think that the middle class man working at Lowe's, walmart or home depot. Who goes to work everyday and makes enough to survive and provide enough money to put food on the table a "MAN."

There are so many different definitions to so many different people. Does the media have something to do with it. Of course, our media and our society forms opionins of people and creates these sterotypes that we always think of. But, that doesn't mean that the "man" who decides to go into the military and not start a family until he is older is less of a man then the one who is a high end lawyer who marries out of college and starts a family. Pushing the men of our society into marriage when they aren't ready isn't going to make matters any better. It will only result in more broken families and children being raised with two seperate families. Is that REALLY better for our society? I don't think so.

So there is my rant. You can agree or disagree. But, those are my feelings that I wanted to share.

Korean Adventure

This weekend was AMAZING!!!! On Saturday we went to the DMZ with Stephanie and her friend Brooke and it was so interesting. We learned about some of the history of the DMZ and the tension between N. and S. Korea. We got to see into N. Korea and see some crazy N. Koreans. We went into the tunnel that N. Korea built to infiltrate S. Korea during the Korean War. It was so cool to see. It is hard to explain the feeling of being somewhere that has so much history. You read about it in books, you learn about it in school, but to actually be here and seeing where these things happened is absolutely amazing!!!! Here are some pics from the trip. 

  

1st picture: Conference row. The other side is North Korea.

2nd picture: Stephanie and I with the Republic of Korea (ROK) Soldier 

After the DMZ trip Cody and I decided to go to the Korean Folk Village on Sunday. It was AMAZING!!! We got to see Traditional Korean houses, traditional masks, pottery and so much more. It was so interesting to see all the traditional culture. There was this awesome performance at the Folk Village by farmers. They had drums and gongs. They did dances and stuff. It was really cool. I had lots of "OMG, i'm in Korea" moments this weekend!!!! I think the most amazing part was the fact that Cody and I were able to find our way there and back without getting lost!!!! I was so proud of us for that. We haven't really ventured too far out of our area because we don't know the transportation system all that well. But we did it. And now that we've done it once we can do it over and over again!!!!

here are some of my favorites from the village: 

I'll say one thing, Korea is one of the best things that Cody and I decided to do. It has made us realize the things that we need to fix with us, as individuals, and as a couple. I think that we are going to become stronger together and apart. I'm realizing who I am again. The things that I always believed in so strongly but kind of slipped away from me. By the time the year is over I'll be ready for so many more adventures. <3 Pretty excited for all that is in store!!!!

I still can't believe i'm here...

I still can't believe I'm here. A little under a month ago I arrived in South Korea. August 27th, 2011. I said good-bye to families and my dogs (:-/ how I miss them) and jumped on a plane with Cody to travel across the world to move to a new place. I went through all the steps, got all of the proper documents needed, applied through a recruiting office for a job, got the background check, found someone who would hire me, and made all the necessary arraignments to come to this country. It wasn't until the first night that I was sitting in my apartment in these new strange surroundings (without my dogs) that I thought, "what the hell have I done?"

So what did I do? I cried for a while, called my best friend (luckily I went through this amazing company "the arrival store" who was able to set me up with a phone upon arrival) who told me to go to bed, get some sleep and wake up in the morning refreshed. So that is what I did. Woke up at 3 am in tears and made Cody put in a movie. We talked and he told me if within the first month I still didn't like it we could go home. Well needless to say that has YET to happen. 

That next day my BEST FRIEND came and visited me. Helped me get around my new city and I felt so much better. I have come to LOVE living here!!! The children at my school are amazing, the city I live in has the most wonderful park, and I just moved into a new apartment that is SOOOOO very nice <3 

                                                       The pavilion in my park <3

                                 Re-united and so happy <3

South Korea has so many amazing things and I have only yet to explore. I honestly can not wait to see what this place has in store for me. But, I can say I think it is going to change me inside and out. It took everything I had to actually follow through on my dreams and I'm so proud of myself for doing so. Now I get to spend an entire year with my amazing husband and my best friend <3