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Like most every single person out in this magnificent, beautiful world, I feel incredibly lucky to have come across the individuals that have become such a presence in my life that can be only be summed up as inspiration.

I'm not even going into blood here, because that is a whole wonder of it's own. I'm talking about those people who I really have no idea where I would be had we not crossed paths. I'm sure I'd be somewhere completely different, being a different person, with different passions and morals and outlooks on life, but possibly wondering the exact same thing. It really is a mind trip to get to thinking about all the different ways your life could have gone had you just done something slightly different: like skipped school the day you met Brit or letting the nerves win the day you approached 'the group' all the way back in high school.

So I'm just going to drop some links here - take a look if you'd like.

•  here is the one that pretty much started it all. Had it not been for her I would have probably never gone to Georgia. She's amazing and her photos show everything and anything she finds awe inspiring. 
• This one here is just a itty bitty ray of sunshine. She's beautiful, funny, an incredible artist and she has a wonderful dog. She's basically amazeballs. 
• Here's a blog from one of the most honest and genuine people I know. She is also a pretty good writer and every post is enjoyable and endearing and honest. 
• This one is not updating as much as I would like her to be, but she's still pretty fantastic for revisiting and for a good laugh. She's one of the wittiest people I know and she's always making me smile while keeping me on my toes. 
• Another instagram account full of pictures that represent so beautifully how this person sees the world and what she finds meaningful. This one has a deep mind and soul. 

So there - if you've got nothing else to do, check them out. These girls are amazing. And they're all gorgeous! 

The sneaky bit about teaching abroad

Teaching abroad. There is a reason people do it, a reason I do it, and I am going to be bold and say that without a doubt that reason is traveling. Every teacher that I have met from that first year in Georgia until now would say "I do it because I want to travel". Sometimes they would add on the "Plus I love teaching" bit to it, but not always. For a lot of people, teaching abroad would be their very first job teaching, so it would be fair to assume that they didn't even consider this career choice back home. I know I never did. 

I am feeling pretty bold and say that the teaching part of being an English teacher in foreign countries is considered the bargain for easy traveling. For most countries that hire English teachers all you need is to speak the language and to have a bachelors degree (not necessarily in education). I hate to admit it, but really, if anybody I knew from back home would want to pack up and move for a year or two to teach abroad, they could do it. I do believe that a lot of people have what it takes to land a job. I am not saying that this is an easy lifestyle, or an easy job for that matter, but the requirements to fulfill this position is quite broad. 

So for me, teaching has given me the opportunity to travel, and that is how I have always seen it. Not to say that I don't enjoy teaching, but again, it was never something that I considered for a full time career. In fact, there was a point in my life during and shortly after the college that I really dreaded the idea of working with children and the words "I hate children" came out of my mouth fully meaning it. 

But honestly speaking I have found a huge personal reward from working as a teacher, particularly in a foreign country. For starters, I am not afraid of children anymore, so that's great. 

I've gotten to really love my students and love going into the classroom each day and see what new things they can do or say, or what crazy thing they're going to pull out with their broken English. It takes time though. I haven't really gotten used to my Korean students and they haven't gotten used to me - not that I feel any sort of tension or discomfort between us, but I had such a good report and relationship with my Georgian kids and Chinese kids that I'm just not at with my Koreans. And that takes time. And I realize that and I know it's something to work towards. 

Again, I have to try really hard to take myself back to those first weeks of teaching in Georgia when everything felt incredibly chaotic and I felt so extremely out of place because I had zero idea of what I was doing or how to act in the classroom. And I have to recall that I didn't always really love little Giorgi and I dreaded the idea of teaching 3rd grade. But also, my Georgian kids were just extremely grateful to have a foreign teacher that their love was absolutely unconditional from day one. I will never forget how my students got so excited for me when it first snowed because they knew it was the very first time for me to see snow that we cancelled classes and went outside to have a snow fight and make snow angels and spell our names in English and Georgian in the snow. I really don't think I have or will ever have something that will come close to comparison with how much I loved those kids because of how genuine and how welcomed they were to have me as their teacher. 

Of course you had to have your chacha in every school activity, because... Georgia. 

Now, I had to work harder with my Chinese kids. Not to say that they weren't inviting or loving, but it was a completely different situation in China. Most of my students were used to having foreign teachers, and a lot of them were incredibly overworked with tons of extra tutoring and lessons outside of their school hours. I remember having classes where children would come to class with huge bags under their eyes, or sometimes they would just flat out pass out in the middle of the class. I also had to learn a lot about teaching in general in China because it was the first time ever I was going to in complete charge of the classroom. It was really hard, specially coming in with certain expectations because I already had one year experience teaching. 

But again, at the end of the year I found that I loved my classes, I loved my students. They knew me, I knew them, and I could clearly see the progress I had made with them when it came to their English education. I felt like an actual teacher going into those classes, and even though I had my fair share of terrible lessons, I felt like I had finally fully stepped into those teacher shoes that loosely fit in Georgia. 

Probably one of my most rewarding classes of all time; Writer's Guild during Summer Academy in EF

So, the bit that can get overlooked when teaching and traveling, the teaching bit, can be incredibly rewarding. It makes the experience all that more wholesome. It's a lot of work, and not necessarily easy and it takes time. I'm still in the very beginning stages with my school in Korea, and I'm sure by the time the year is over I'll have it. I'll several of those "Yes, this is why I teach" moments and I'll add on more names to that list of students that I will never forget in my life. It's already kinda starting. 

These are two of my Korean students who are best of friends. They're about five years old, and they do everything together, and I'm finding them adorable and endearing. One of them, who doesn't have an English name but just goes with his initials, TH, is really smart and gets everything very easily and is really good at expressing himself with what he knows. His best friend (another one who goes by his Korean initials: PDJ) has a little bit more difficulty, but he tries hard. They're in one of my smallest classes, and one of the ones in which I tend to reward every single student because they deserve it and because I can. I have the habit of still acknowledging those who try a bit harder or do a bit better, so I tend to go to them first when picking out stickers or candy. TH is usually the first one to pick, and every single time he tells me "Let PJD go first" which just melts my heart every single time. I have this notion that young children tend to be really selfish, and that's normal and that's ok. Most of them are doted on by their parents and they are the little princes and princesses of their families (as they totally should be) that sharing the attention of a teacher with 6 or 10 other children can sometimes be difficult to process or understand, and they end up acting out. And that's ok. That's children. So seeing how these two boys act with each other is completely and absolutely heartwarming. 

Getting a big-fat-punch-in-the-ovaries life lesson about humility

I have never really considered myself a vain person. 
To this day, I would even dare to say that I'm not. But this last week has taught me a lot about learning to disregard certain dispositions and conceptions about a new place, a new adventure and my overall attitude when it comes to living abroad. 

I'm going to backtrack for a bit now.

After coming back home from Georgia two years ago, I remember clearly feeling like I had accomplished something major that was absolutely without compare. Not only had I survived a year of living in another country, away from home and all the western goodies and comforts, but it had been in one of the most curious and (in my opinion) harsh places to do so. I loved it - fell in love with the country and with the people, and if I ever find myself in the position to talk about that year with anybody, I get giddy and excited and nostalgic. But I have to remember myself that by month 8-9 I was totally ready to get the hell out. 

The direct view from my room's window. Being able to experience the change of the seasons for the first time in my life was one of the many gifts this beautiful country gave me. 

So after Georgia, I have to admit that I had the very vain thought that I could conquer anything after having lived through that. 

Six months later came Beijing, and that should have taught me that every new place comes with it's own unique set of quirks and challenge. Maybe I didn't have to worry about going 6 months without running water in Beijing, or having a whole week of classes cancelled because we needed to cut lumber to keep warm during winter. But I did have to deal with a much more demanding job and being photographed in the subway for being a foreigner. 

And even after learning that I can't think to myself YEAH I'M A BADASS I'VE DONE STUFF I came to South Korea thinking to myself... "can't be any more difficult or shocking than China was... it's still Asia" 

"Yeah, because just as Colombia is the same as Mexico, Seoul must be the same as Beijing" thought no one ever, get your shit together Sandra

 Now don't get me wrong. I value my experiences in both China and Georgia dearly, and I would never go back in time and tell myself 'don't do it'. Ever. And that's a fact.

But now... back to the present moment and to why I'm writing about this right now.

I have been a total of 10 days in South Korea, and with each day that passes I find myself breathing a lot easier. It was a shock to be thrown into a completely new routine less than 48 hours after landing, and I had a really hard time dealing with taking everything I could in. 
And that is when I heard life being the tough mother that she is saying "Told you. Don't be too damn cocky" . I can't put myself in this position where because of my experiences I'm above it all, basically is what these last 10 days have taught me. 

Not everything has been a stress though. I found a pretty fantastic view from the roof of my school and I am really excited by the prospect of making this little apartment my own. 

Plus I can see mountains. Enough said. 

I am really excited for this year. I am. There is a lot to see and a lot to explore, and there are so many opportunities to make this year great. And really take this for what it is - it's a completely new country, a completely new city, a new tiny world of it's own which I know very little about and I'm lucky enough to live in for now. So make the most out it.