What has it been like being back in America after living overseas for a year? That is a hard question to answer, but it is one that I have gotten often. Along with, how was it over there? THere are so many things to process. I am still trying to process the fact that it did actually happen. The year happened so quickly. I remember telling people that were a little uncertain whether I should even go or not, that it was only a year contract and if I did not like it then I could come back. It was only a year and that would go by really quickly. And it has, I have been back in America for about 2 weeks now.
Ok, so what was it like living abroad?
Well, it was scary, fun, lonely, different, growing, trusting.
It was scary because I did this move all alone. I didn’t have any friends or family go with me. I was depending on God to provide for it all. When I got to Korea I had a week of intense training. I had to study my tail end off and fight jet lag and a new culture all at the same time. I was very overwhelmed. But the week went by quickly then it was time to move into my town for the year. The bus ride was interesting. There were 5 of us from training all going to the same place but no one knew which stop we were supposed to get off. Luckily our facilities manager was able to come on the bus and ask for us and we knew to get off there.
I was taken to my room and there was no bed. I had to find my own bed. I had only a desk and a closet. My kitchen was about 5 feet away from the bathroom. It was very odd, but I learned to deal with it. At night I didnt have a curtain so I had a night light made up of flashing neon lights for the motel that was behind our building. I also had construction right outside my window for the full year. So it was noisy and light. My first week in America it was hard to adjust to the quiet and the darkness. I now live out in the country and its so dark and quiet, just the sound of the frogs to lul me to sleep.
I was the only one at my school who went to church. Some of the Korean staff are believers but the Koreans are very private people and we only ate or hung out the month before I left. So, I found a new church and it was amazing. The only problem was that we lost our pastor right after I started going there. So we spent from September to February will people filling in, mostly doing translation sermons and it was very hard to concentrate and get anything out of the sermon. I was assigned to lead a small group with a great friend/mentor/mother. Her and her husband mean the world to me. I can’t wait till I get to see them again! THere was also another family Joosik and Hannah. THey are my Korean parents. THe love they have for the Lord and the body of Christ is so evident. I love being around them and sharing in their joy! Not to mention their son now lives in Dallas!! THe hardest part of the church was that everyone had such different schedules that it was hard to meet up and hang out during the week, which is what I had missed most about the church back home.
Because I was so lonely and disconnected it felt like, I went into a state of depression. I was miserable, but I only let a few people know. I am a big people person and for me to live and not have a community of close people that I can see and be around was extremely hard for me. I gained about 30 pounds this past year instead of losing weight. But, I am getting things back under control and will lose everything and then some. I have some great people on my squad who are committed to helping me while we are abroad again and even before we leave the states.
My best friend in Korea….Deni…the likelihood of us being friends in America is probably slim. But since we became such good friends, she is my friend for life and vis versa. So I met Deni in August of 2015. WE were co-workers. We met on a Friday night and then I took her around on Saturday. We had decided to get lunch the next day (Sunday). I told her I wasn’t sure what time I could do lunch since I would be going to church and extended the invitation to her. She replied, “well I am an atheist, but you do you and I’ll do me and we will get along just fine.” I said ok, I will text you when I get out of church. She texted me the next day and wasn’t feeling well, so we never had that initial lunch. You see, I have never met an atheist, that i know of anyways. And I didn’t really know how to interact with her or what to say. It is very evident that I am a Christian. So I decided to do the only thing I knew how. I just loved her. We have a lot of differences in how we do life, but we also have a lot of the same moral beliefs, we just get them from different places.
I thank God for allowing our paths to cross. We were able to teach the other so much about who we are and it was/is a beautiful relationship. We made so many memories with each other and have so many inside jokes. I miss my work Wifey. I helped her and she helped me. Its so beautiful.
In February our branch got 3 new foreign teachers. Jewel, Vince, and Riaan. Riaan is from South Africa, where my last country on the world race is. I loved getting to talk to him about his country and things to expect. He is also a Christian and I was able to show him church and introduce him to some great people! Jewel and Vince are agnostic, but we also just loved one another and its a beautiful relationship. I miss all 4 of these people dearly. THey will always be people that I can call no matter the time of day or night, or place and they would help me as I would them.
I also got to build a great friendship with my head instructor Cami. She is great and wonderful and we had a lot in common that we didn’t realize till right before I left. She is someone that I look forward to growing with no matter the distance between us.
One thing that I really learned this year was how your relationships can grow no matter where you live. I have 3 girls who supported me and prayed for me and just loved me and our friendships matured so much while we lived on opposite sides of the world from each other. It took some hard work and some late night conversations for both parties. But we made time out of our days to connect and talk with each other. It can work. You just have to work at it.
Over all, I really enjoyed working with children to teach them not just English, but also life lessons. I learned from them as well. This year was hard, but I was able to grow so much as a person and in my faith and in life.
I am looking forward to this next season in my life. For the next 7 months I will be strengthening the relationships I already have as well as buiding new ones that I will have for a year of my life and beyond. As I get ready for the WR, there are so many emotions going on, but most importantly I am excited to see how the Lord grows me and my faith in this upcoming year!
