I wanted to give all my blog readers out there more of the "nitty-gritty" of how Korea and I are getting along. I will make it easier by putting it in list form. Enjoy!

1. At times, some times more intense or others something just hits me and I feel like I could just break into tears rather at work, in my apartment, on the street, or wherever. I am not sure if it is from everything new or missing home or what, but it never seems to be something(s) that I can concretely say make me want to cry.

2. I am really understanding what the real work world is in a sense and having to adjust. The week is really centered on work and it seems to take up most of the time. At least I like my job and think it will continue to get better with time and learning more. But yeah working full-time. . .

3. Seoul is a big city and I cannot exactly just go and hang out with a friend when I feel like it. And even if I did they have busy lives too. But it isn't like good old Lawrence Kansas where nothing is really over a fifteen minute drive maybe if that. So sometimes I feel pretty lonely and isolated in this city of more than 10 million people.

4. I am trying to find the balance of creating my "own" life here with new friends and new routines while keeping up with my friends in the states or wherever. I realize I can to a point, but it isn't the same and that I can't spend all my time dwellinng on everyone I love back home. I have to create my own circle of friends and support again, which is hard. I didn't expect or want to miss everyone as much as I do.

5. I have read three novels since being in Korea and it hasn't even been a month yet. I am on my fourth but it will take longer because it is in Spanish.

6. I love Korean food a lot and have come to like everything being spicy except for some of the fish and seafood and of course the pig intestines soup!

7. Work is good and I seem to like it, but it wears me out sometimes by the end of the day. Some of my middle school classes I don't seem to have much control over and my boss knows that. He came in tonight and was like next week you change class, better for you. Jennifer will do it - better. I know it isn't an insult or anything, more of a pride issue in how it makes me feel. But I have learned I have just had to shove my pride down countless times to save face and also just so I don't go insane or lose it. Another example of this is eating out with my boss and still trying to perfect my chopstick skills and he looks at me and says, "use spoon Ty, its better for you." I am really trying though and want to use them, but when he says that I have to respect him and use the spoon.

8. I have to focus on the positives and what God has already provided and blessed me with more than anything. I have to rely on Him a lot to keep my positive attitude and get through the rough times. I am so fortunate to have an honest boss, friends in Korea that I knew before I got here, church already, and new friends who geniunly want to be friends.

9. Learning Korean is very difficult. I am trying to teach myself through a book and the internet right now. I think I am improving though and have even asked some co-workers for pronunciation help sometimes. I am starting to pick up the reading a lot easier now, so I can read but don't really understand 99% of the words I read. I can definitely pick up very common usage words in everyday speech but sometimes I still don't know what they mean. AAHH!

10. Being here is a constant journey and process for the mind to grasp everything, which seems overwhelming sometimes by everything that you think and go through moving to another country or putting yourself in a situation like me.