T-Day (Travel Day)

"The great courageous act that we must all do is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams."

-Oprah Winfrey

It has always been my dream to live abroad. The idea of it was always so intoxicating, being a foreigner in a completely new world, surrounded by a language I did not speak, living in an unfamiliar environment with new types of cuisine, hobbies, customs, religions ext.. and now it is finally happening, I leave tomorrow for my new life but it still hasn't hit me. I have shed a few tears saying goodbye to some of my friends and family but that glass shattering I am MOVING to Korea hasn't come yet, right now I feel as if I am taking another one of my world adventure trips. But none the least I am excited to see what Korea has for me. 

Until I settle in my new home,

#CHEERS2THEBEGINNING

Packing...or the lack of it

I leave in 9 days, which means I have 8 days to pack my ENTIRE life away and select what I want to bring with me to Korea in my limited luggage space and what I want to leave here at my parents house for them to keep safe for whenever I decide to make my way back state side. Basically, I do not have much time at all. So what have I done so far? SHOPPED. Today I went "teacher shopping." What is teacher shopping one might ask? Well it is a term I coined for shopping for my new teacher's wardrobe.  $540.00 later, I am the proud owner of a COMPLETE teacher's wardrobe! :) Between Target, Kohls and H&M I was able to purchase 23 blouses, 7 pairs of pants, 1 dress, 1 skirt, 1 leggings and 1 blazer to add on to my obscenely large collection of clothes. But now I am set with a full on professional, yet hip, wardrobe. Nothing stuffy and traditional like the image that pops into most peoples heads when they think of "teachers" but professional, respectable and at the same time I maintain my sex appeal.  And I am sure you all are wondering why I am placing an importance on maintaining my sex appeal when I am teaching young children. FIRST it isn't for the kids it is for myself, I believe that when you look good you feel good. SECOND I am a woman, I have sex appeal, why should I hide it? and THIRD because I can. All of my clothes are appropriate of course but think along the lines of Sex In The City when they are in their business type attire or Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher. Now the only problem I have is getting it all there. -__- Wish me luck packing!

#CHEERS2mynewTEACHERWARDROBEandnowaytogetittoKorea

Moving On

“Well, now

If little by little you stop loving me

I shall stop loving you

Little by little

If suddenly you forget me

Do not look for me

For I shall already have forgotten you

If you think it long and mad the wind of banners that passes through my life

And you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots

Remember

That on that day, at that hour, I shall lift my arms

And my roots will set off to seek another land”  -Pablo Neruda

If you asked me what I would be doing now 6 months ago my answer would have been, in love with ____ ( i'll spare him) teaching in ____ country (obviously with hewhomustnotbenamed) and living happily ever after. Ask me now what I am doing and it is moving alone to South Korea, still to teach but nowhere near where I thought I would be. It is funny how things change so quickly and so fast. How although you can have your mind set on one goal, one person or one thing and in the blink of an eye it can all change. My Mom on multiple occasions has recited the quote "you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince," and because of her I have been extremely cautious of these frogs in my short life. I have witnessed what they (the "frogs") do to people, how they can build one person so high up and then destroy that same base and leave them crumbling to the ground without any regards or care as to what happens to that other person. But I too let my guard down and allowed myself to succumb to these false lies, promises and dreams that were told to me. I too allowed myself to live in a fairytale of happy endings and joy to instead be dropped like a bad habit and through this experience I have learned it is not WHAT happens to you but rather it is HOW you deal with it all, the pain, the hurt, the deceit and even the happiness and good times, how do you take these and apply them to yourself and who you are? Do you learn from it and take these experiences and make yourself a stronger person? Or do you allow yourself to wallow in self pity? For me myself, I have taken my pain, pain that still somewhat resides, and have decided to move on with my life to discover the good that I know the world has, whether it be the love the fairy tales speak of, the success we all dream of achieving, the content that many spiritual leaders have displayed or whatever else our hearts desire, I am on a mission to find.

So with that, it is official, I leave August 30th for my new life/journey.

#CHEERS2MOVINGON

One month away!

I am officially one month away from my departure to Korea!  All of my paper work is in and now I am just waiting for my VISA number :) Departure date is believed to be somewhere between August 29-31. I am sooo excited but the preparation for leaving is extremely tedious and stressful. How in the heck am I supposed to go through and select the most important items from 23 years of crap that I have managed to accumulate and get them to Korea? I have going through all of my athletic t-shits, sweatpants and sweatshirts but that is hardly a dent in all of the stuff I have. I wish I could just teleport everything because right now I can not imagine leaving any of my shoes (I have tons of shoes) behind or clothes (3 closets full) on top of the fact that I need to shop for "professional" clothes to teach in. Packing alone will be an adventure. Any advice on how I should pack? What I MUST bring vs. want to bring but won't really need? Help me out here PLEASEEE :)

#CHEERS2mylastmonth