Reverse Culture Shock-Take 1

Ok, so I know the title of this blog is Bundang Song and the address is melisafindsASIA and Stockholm and Helsinki are neither of those, but I'm writing my blogs here for a while anyway, because they'll all probably be reflecting back on being in Korea.
This morning, before my plane had even lifted off the ground, my time in Korea seemed surreal...like a dream. Now, being on the other side of the world, though it is still dream like, it's funny to see the cultural (and otherwise) differences.
For instance, my plane landed in Stockholm, I looked out the window....and I could see!! It was amazing! And beautiful, as there was lots of snow around tall thin trees, crowded around one another. There were no cookie cuter white buildings towering above me, crowding my vision.
Then, on the train ride into the center of the city, the sun nearly blinded me! Was it always this big? Is it bigger up North? It was massive and bright and I couldn't remember seeing it that way for a long long time. Or even being able to see it at all when it was that near the horizon!
Also noted on the train...houses!!! People live in houses! With yards! Not tall (again cookie cutter) apartment buildings all piled on top of one another, but houses of all colors and styles. Ah....so lovely.
Then, as I wandered around Stockholm a bit, I saw a couple making out on the street corner. Yesterday, I saw a Korean couple give each other a peck and that was only the second time I'd seen Koreans kiss in public...and both were done in haste. This couple in Stockholm had no qualms about slathering each others tongues right where I needed to cross the street.
Oh, cultures. How I love to compare them.
More to come, when it hasn't been 24 hours since I slept.

Anyangkaysayo (Goodbye)

Why isn't there Duty Free Starbucks? With all this duty free stuff at a huge international airport, I demand duty free coffee. :)
Well, anyway...I'm currently enjoying my non-duty free coffee and a bagel while awaiting my flight. Yes, I'm actually getting on a plane this time. 2 planes actually. And a boat....but that will be tomorrow. My airline tickets are in hand. I've cleared security and immigration. I think I'm good this time.
So now...I'm really done. It's really over. I'm leaving behind the Land of the Morning Calm. (Though it's anything but)
I leave behind dear friends. Friends who have blessed me and encouraged me and strengthened me in ways they'll never know. Maybe even in ways I don't know of yet.
I cannot thank them enough for the love and support they have been and given.
Honestly, I've been pretty checked out for a while. Especially this last week when emotionally I was already gone. I'd said goodbye to everyone 12 days ago. And my heart hadn't been here for quite some time. Then, here I sat, for over a week and a half...and that's all I had to do...just sit.
I was bored at times. Really bored.
But it was good for me. Good for me to have to just sit and be. I was supposed to miss that plane 12 days ago. Through the course of those days, I was able to think, write, pray, and talk with those people mentioned above. Through it, I've postulated a plan for the next 6 months or so....we'll see how it turns out.
The plan is as follows:
In 90 minutes, I'll get on a plane bound for Beijing, where I'll board another plane bound for Stockholm. I'll spend the night in Stockholm, check out the city this evening and tomorrow morning/early afternoon, and then I'll board an overnight ferry bound for Helsinki. I'll stay in Helsinki until March 30th, when I'll fly back to the US (uh..actually, I'll go back to Stockholm and then fly out from there) and spend time with my family and friends who I've missed terribly. Conviently, there was an opening at my old job at the group home in Sioux Falls, which I've accepted, at least through the summer.
During my time in Helsinki, I'll again spend time reading, writing, praying, spending time with friends and making new ones. I hope to get a good feel as to whether or not this really is the place I want to and/or am called to be during this time. If so, I hope to return to Helsinki in the fall either as a student or with a job...and potentially build and or work for a church there. My dream is to have a ministry involving a coffeeshop, art, music, maybe even a hostel, where people can come in just as they are and feel welcome and learn about God in a non threatening environment. As of now, it seems I'd like this to happen in Helsinki, but I think I'll know more in the coming weeks and months. Please continue to pray for me and the direction God leads me...and that I can follow him wholeheartedly, no matter where he takes me. He's really good.
So...that's that for now. I'm sure as the days pass after my departure from Korea I'll have much more to process and write on here, but for now, thanks for reading.
Love to all,
Melisa

So long, Sogang

Well, I'm done.
In case you haven't heard, my school, SLP (Sogang Language Program) cut my contract a few weeks back. I was supposed to finish my contract in June. Instead, I finished about 4 hours ago. (It's currently Friday, February 26 at 10:21pm Seoul Time)
I'll miss the kids. I'll miss my co-workers and friends at church.
But I have to be honest, I'm not too terribly heartbroken about this. I've had dreams and visions that seem like they may actually get to come to fruition. The day they told me that they cut my contract, an hour and a half or so before they told me, I was standing in the hallway. My kids were getting a drink of water and using the restroom. This pretty intense pulling within my chest (that I've come to know quite well--don't worry, it's not biological, I promise) was pulling pretty hard. I looked at my students. They were cute. But, inside I was praying, "Lord...I need to be doing what I'm meant to be doing....and this isn't it." My Korean co-worker walked past me. I could tell I had a grimace on my face. "Melisa! You look sad!" she said as she passed. I think I just nodded.
An hour and a half later I was told my job would be over a few weeks later.
Needless to say it's been weeks full of praying, searching, talking, and writing, writing, writing. There's really only one place I've ever wanted to be, and that is Finland. I can't explain it. It's ridiculous. A big part of the reason I came to Korea was to get rid of this incesant longing to be there. Instead, it only grew. And suddenly, the idea of being there didn't seem so crazy. I don't know. Maybe it's because everyone here is an expat and therefore the idea of continuing to be an expat somewhere else, the idea of living abroad, isn't absurd. Don't get my wrong. South Dakota will ALWAYS be my home. I miss it. I love it. I feel bad for having a tugging to leave it. I'm SO excited to come home for a visit this summer. I miss my friends. I miss my family. And I've wondered, for a long time, why isn't it enough to be there? What's wrong with me? I worry so much as I leave for this next chapter of my life that my friends and family members back home think I'm not coming back because I don't care. This is not true. Not in the slightest. But this I know...this insane, intense desire to be in Finland has never ceased. I've tried putting it out of my mind. I've tried cleansing myself from it. I've tried surrendering it to God...a lot. I've tried ignoring it. I even tried to replace it by coming to Korea and being able to visit other countries in Asia...hoping one of them would spark in my heart so I would know it's just international traveling I love, rather that something else...something bigger. But none of those have worked. And so it is, I will leave Korea, and after a few days of "buffer time" (for the purposes of debriefing myself from this chaos known as Korea) I will set foot once again in Finland. For how long? Good question. I guess I'm going tentatively to see if this really is the place for me. I'm at a place where I can go and see. And if I didn't at least try, I'd always regret it.
And maybe I'll get there, and I'll realize all this pining has been of my own selfish desire, and I can finally go home. But at least I'll know. I need to know.

So, today was it. No more Korean children. I'll spend the next 5 days packing and more importantly, spending time with the people here who have been such a significant part of my life. They have kept me sane. They have encouraged me. They have laughed with me. They have cried with me. They have prayed with me. They have traveled with me. They have shared thier lives with me and I with them. I am SO SO SO thankful for all of them. I will miss them greatly. But they all know my heart. They are cheering for me, and again I am grateful. No words can express how thankful I am for them, and for all my family and friends back home who love me and encourage me and pray for me and put up with my crazy wanderlust.

Wow...this blog got a little more dramatic that I had anticipated. But there it is. I pretty much wear my heart on my sleeve most of the time anyway. Thanks for reading. I love you.

Seoul Traffic

You know, when I was getting ready to come to Korea, friends and family were quite worried about the possibility of an attack by North Korea. No one here is worried about that at all. Well, maybe those boys holding guns at the DMZ. Anyway, if I die in South Korea, it will not be because of North Korea, I 100% assure you. If I die in South Korea, it will be because I am either riding in a car, a bus, crossing the street, or walking down the sidewalk. Driving in Seoul=Insanity.

Names

I learned an interesting fact yesterday from my Korean friend Sunny. Korean children are named by thier grandfathers. To name their grandchildren is "their honor." The first child is typically named by the father's father and the second by the mother's father. So...I would have been named.....?

Life As A Waygook--In Hip Hop Media Form

Glossary of Terms:
Waygook=Foriegner
Gamsahamnida=Thank You
Anyonghaseyo=Hello
(Hello and Thank You being pretty much the only words people know upon arrival)
T-Money Card=Scan this to get on buses and subway. Charge with money when empty.
Guemchon=The town these guys live in, in the South somewhere
Yok=Station (though I'm pretty sure he says that)
Cass=Bad Korean Beer
Hite=Bad Korean Beer
(Uh, this would insinuate that there is good Korean beer. There is not.)


They are also wearing large visors at one point in the video. Most Korean women wear these outside in the summers to avoid sun. (Vampires? Maybe.) If they don't wear visors like this, they wear facemasks and generally look like ninjas.

A Taste of Home

I'm kind of failing at this whole "every day blogging" thing.

Anyway, I've been spending Tuesday afternoons at my good friend Kim's house. Drinking coffee and talking about life and God. She's so encouraging and it's really good for me to be there. Well, this week we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. I found these hot dogs and just had to buy them. Check out where they're made!! (Uh, you probably want to over look the close up of the ingredients list)