It's that time of year again

It's December again.  Having spent the last three in beautiful Deutschland, where the Christmas season seems to start way back in September/beginning of October I wondered how the spirit of this city would unfold. Surprisingly, Seoul is decked out a bit more than I would have expected.  The 'bakeries' have Christmas cakes, the subway stations have trees and lights and there are Salvation Army Santas ringing their bells throughout the city.  Who would have guessed?

Two quite exciting things happening this month:

-Our first overnight Temple Stay (December 8-9)

-And Christmas on Jeju Island (December 24-26)

In additon to a few more celebrations dotted throughout the month, DH has his Visa/Green Card Interview on December 10th at 8am at the US Embassy.  Hoping it goes smoothly and we can celebrate the end of a semester and the holiday season in good spirits.

Wishing you all a happy December!

Time for a change...

I think most people know by now, but I didn't want to update my blog officially about it until all work related things were taken care of.  So--for those of you who don't know--I am leaving Germany. 

I'm excited. I'm happy.  I'm nervous.  I'm all kinds of emotions--but mostly good ones.  Maybe because it's Christmas now, so the feeling is joyful and merry, and feelings of gratitude for the year past are on my mind, but thinking back to a few months ago when all the planning was starting to take place, I really felt sad at the thought of leaving. I still am in some ways of course, but the overwhelming feeling is of gratitude.  Gratitude for all the incredible people I could meet and all the incredible experiences I could have over the last 2+ years here in Germany.

After my visit to the US in January, I'll be returning to Germany for about a week and then be heading off to South Korea. (Yes, David is coming with me.) I was accepted into the EPIK program which places Guest English Teachers in the Korean Public School System. And while there feels like a ton of things that need to be done, most of them I can't get started with until January. So for now, it's finishing up my teaching responsibilities with all my wonderful students over the next two weeks and enjoying the awesome Christmas spirit that has taken over the city. 

Now that it's official I can finally update my blog properly on what's been taking over my life the last few months...  so, this blog will soon be a-changing.  I hope you'll all join me on my journey as I hope to keep updating with progress and things taking place over the next few months.