Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The month and a Half Long Silence...Did this just get weird?

So here is an update upon yours truly and just where I've been since we've last met.

I left Seoul for the states on Christmas Day (just for a visit, don't get nervous), flying from Seoul to Tokyo, Tokyo to San Francisco, and San Francisco to Chicago. It was nuts. The first leg of the trip was fabulous. The flight wasn't full and I got the whole row of three seats to myself. Score!
Once I got to Japan, things took a different turn. The plane was late arriving from Bangkok and that made me literally 2 minutes too late to catch my flight once I arrived in San Fran. I cried while I was in the security line that helped me to move a little faster to get to my gate. I didn't do it to manipulate anyone, I was just so frustrated. But did it allow people to be a bit nicer to me? Absolutely.
When I got to my gate, the gate agent gave me attitude and asked why I couldn't make it to the gate on time. I burst into tears again. Through tears I explained my situation and she quickly changed her demeanor. I ended up getting on a 1:30 flight and then arrived in Chicago at 8:30, instead of 5:30.

Christmas dinner was awesome. Turkey. Broccoli casserole. Stuffing. Mashed potatoes. Yum. ^^

My time in Illinois was spent mostly with family but I did get some quality time in with my friends. And there was lots and lots of shopping. ^^ Oddly enough, the only time I went downtown was when I was with my friend Holly. We took the blue line in and I showed her the wonderment that is the Harold T. Washington Library. It's one of my favorite places in Chicago. We had dinner at The Walnut Room, which is located in the Macy's on State Street. If you've never been to Chicago, this Macy's (formerly Marshall Fields) is an ENTIRE city block. Now that I am thinking of it, I should have picked up some Frango mints...oh well. I will just have to go home more often. After dinner, we made our way to Navy Pier to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. It was utterly fabulous! I ended up running into one of my English Professors from Roosevelt, Dr. Larry Howe, and I chatted with him for a bit. I wish I would have had the time to go to RU to see the rest of my profs, but again, that will happen on my next trip home.
Aside from seeing Holly, one of my most favorite people in the world, Patsy (it's a fake name, get over it. ^^) came down from Madison to spend the weekend. Pats and I met in Seoul, teaching for the same school. We had a truly ab fab weekend and just shopped, ate, and gabbed.
The next friends I met up with were Steve and Jenn. It's so lovely to see such a lovely couple navigating their way through marriage, life, and all that falls in between. I'm so happy for the two of you.

While spending time with family, I ended up getting my mother hooked on Korean dramas. She is almost finished with Secret Garden now and she is loving every second of it. She even bought the soundtrack to it. It was a nice thing to do since it was so frigid in Chiberia, ahem, excuse me, Chicago. It was brutally cold this winter. I'm just happy that I was able to get a new winter coat while I was home.

On January 9th, I arrived in Florida, rented a car, and drove to my sister's house, which is literally a block and a half away from my Dad's house. It's nice to know that my niece and nephews have access to their papa and grandma just like Melissa and I did to our Yia Yia.
My dad had no idea I was coming in on that Thursday. I wanted to surprise him (I've often done this). He thought I was coming in on Friday, and since I was renting a car, I told him that I didn't need to be picked up. My stepmother told him to take the day off, but he adamantly refused because I didn't need the ride. Then she messaged me on FB to say, "Tell your dad that something happened and you need him to pick you up." So I did. ^^
When he got home from work, I hid in the corner of his office, where he wouldn't normally look and when he said he had a rough day, I piped in saying, "Well, it can always get better." ^^ It did get better, in case you were wondering.

The weather was really fabulous in Florida, but even if it wasn't, it was still better than what the temperatures were in Chiberia. I only went to the beach one day, and yes, I wore jeans. I'm not a beach girl. Whatevs. I just wanted to sit on the sand and look out at the horizon. Unfortunately, they are doing so much construction on the beach due to the erosion that was caused by storms/hurricanes that it took away from some of the ambiance.

While in Florida, I only saw three of my friends as I started to feel ill on the last full day in Florida. I was very thankful to see Joey, Sam, and Nathalie. I wish I could have seen more of my friends but again, I will be back more often so there will be time for that.

I did spend a lot of time with my nephews and niece, which was fantastic. I went to Disney World with the two little ones and we had a family freeze out...er...camp out. I really did enjoy the Florida leg of my trip and I was happy to be amongst my family again. While I was there, my paternal grandmother passed away, which rocked me. I wasn't expecting it at all and I had no idea how badly her health had been declining. There, of course, is no ill will toward my family for not letting me know about this. If any of them are reading this right now, I just want to stress the importance of communication. We only have one family. And if we cannot talk to this one family, what can we hope to accomplish? Families aren't perfect. They aren't meant to be, unless it is on some black and white TV show found on TV Land. My dear readers, talk to your families. Drop your ego and your pain. It doesn't define you. You are so much better than that. (Note: to victims of abuse, I am not saying that you should strike up a relationship with the person who abused you--but I am saying that you are more powerful than you think that you are. Do what you can to move past your pain and seek healing. I know this is not easy, but you will thank yourself, and you never know who you could inspire along the way.)

Anyway...Florida was fun and I was glad to break away from the snow. Once I got back to Chicago, I was ready to begin packing for the Seoul exodus, part II.

I had a nice day and a half spent with my mom before I headed back to Asia (only this time, without so many connections). The greatest thing about it was that my mom was pushing me to go through my old stuff at the storage shed that she and my father had saved for me. The statement, "I'll only be gone for a year!" resonated in the car as we drove down to the storage facility. We pulled bag after bag of clothes and shoes and brought them back to the house. As I opened each one, I was reminded of the fashion sense (if you could call it that--I'd venture to call it armor) that I had just three years ago. There were a plethora of hoodies of bands that I either don't listen to anymore or have broken up since I've been in Korea. There were so many pieces of clothing that just didn't fit me anymore--not physically, but spiritually. They belonged to some other girl. Some other girl that never thought she could be feminine or cared if she was well-dressed. The girl who was fine with being underdressed. I am not her anymore.

Did the Land of the Morning Calm change me that much?

Yeah. It did.

And it made it that much easier to throw those old rags away. I'm not that person anymore. And it felt so great.

I hope you are all able to shed some negative image of yourself this year as eel embark on 2014. It's not too late. Plus, with the lunar new year, you get a second chance! (It was just last week, so don't delay!)

Love and Light!

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