Returning Home

Many folks at Burning Man refer to this one-week social experiment as "home" for various reasons. Many say they've never found acceptance or community like the Burn. This video and the accompanying song have been playing on repeat in my head- it seems that each move is awarded a theme song by my random neurons.

On the plane back to Seattle, it occurred to me that I have never moved back anywhere. Every move that I've made has only been to another home in the same area or to a different area. While we'll be in a slightly different area and living a quite different life (student v military/working life), it's nice to come back to an airport you already know, a community you know, friends you know. Now it's nice to hear "Welcome home!" and have it feel very true.

*On a crazy side note, apparently Kim Jung-Il died in the last day or two (the news was held by the NK press). How wild- we moved to Korea right after the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea aka North Korea) sunk the Cheonan submarine and left as the Dear Leader passed. Might have gotten out just in time to avoid some craziness...


Vocab of the day:
Military: HOR= Home of Record

Email to Detroit airport staff

To the Detroit Metro Airport management,

I wanted to thank the kind officers who helped me tonight- I arrived on
a long flight from Korea after a week of accelerated
out-processing/moving due to my husband's recently announced deployment.
After two years of living away from my home in the US, I became very
emotional going through immigration. Both the officer at the desk and
another assisting officer became concerned and far from judging me for
my wrecked emotional state, these two men offered some very kind words.
One of the officers then proceeded to help me find my baggage and walk
with me through customs so I could catch my connecting flight smoothly.
I was and still am overwhelmed by this kind gesture.

While it would have been easy for these gentlemen to either ignore my
tears or make me feel awkward for my outburst, I cannot express how much
it meant for them to offer empathy and assistance while I was struggling
to process sleep deprivation, the move and deployment. I wish I had had
the presence of mind to catch either of their names so I could thank
them personally but I did not. I commend the Detroit airport for
helping servicemembers and their families feel welcome and supported
during their travels.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart 


----------------------------


*These sweet guys tried really hard to comfort me and finally realized saying "welcome home" was what set me off and stopped saying it... 

Bring it!

Yes, I'm in the midsts of another move and it's time for another ridiculous to do list.

• Quit online part time work left over from Korea- check as of today. A little sad, but must clear the old for the new.
• Get a real phone/plan. New iPhoney???! 
• Find a temporary home near post 
• Figure out where we're living long term and find a home there
• Determine buying/renting?
• Find a job. And more than a job, a career-ful job. Hooray!
• Find a roller derby league. Practice. Join. This should probably be preceded by a lot of practicing and making sure I'm still able to function on 8 wheels.
• Finish editing fun Korean cooking video made with friends in Korea

 I'm sure there are more, but those are the biggies. And of course, get ready to figure out what the hubs deploying means for a lot of things. Agh. Here goes!!


Vocab of the day:
Military: METL= Mission Essential Task List

Beginnings and Ends

Moving phase.... 2.5 complete? We're in DC, hubs is in training. We made it stateside! All fairly easily sans a meltdown in the Detroit airport on my end (thankfully the customs officers eventually realized that saying, "Welcome Home" caused me to turn into a waterfall and stopped saying it. Not to mention how nice they were about the whole sobbing thing).

After a week catching up with friends and getting some Americana in the capitol for a week, off to Seattle to attempt settling in in the few weeks before hubs heads out on deployment.

I think this will be the last "Korean of the day" (let's pretend it was anywhere near daily) since now we're no longer living there. Sad sad. Well, here's to more fun posts about culture shock (Pandora! Hulu! English-speaking taxi drivers! Only carrying one currency!).



Vocab of the day: 
Korean: 마지막 (ma-jee-mag? anyone who speaks Korean won't miss my pathetic pronunciation attempts) = last
Military: CONUS = CONtinental US  (v. OCONUS/outside continental or contiguous US)

M-Day

M-Day is getting increasingly closer... that is, Move Day. First it was March, then last December, now early December. Mostly a good thing, though sad to leave good people and roller derby. Tonight I have John Meyer's "Neon" in my head, I think the "always buzzing like neon, neon" resonates with my mental state lately.

Last week hubs and I visited a friend's trusted Korean fortune-teller (a common practice for couples starting to date) with a translator, which was odd and funny and interesting. She was way off on things like us living in Korea for years, never living apart (deployment) and such, but told me that the shape of my nose and forehead predicted I would run my own business someday. "You're the boss!" she said several times. I have to say I like the idea (I mean, who doesn't) but now have to figure out how/if that works in the next phase of life. Packing, moving, farewell parties, planning next steps. Here goes!

Vocab of the day: 
Korean: 두목 (doo-mog?)= boss
Military: BOSS = Being on Ships Sucks (probably not an official acronym, but the internets told me so...)

Korean captive

I found an article that perfectly encapsulates how I feel right now, "Stockholm Syndrome." Not that Korea has exactly been a terrible captor, but now that we're drawing into the final weeks, everything here seems so fantastic, so easy, so cool and international. How can good 'ol home compete?

I'm trying to cram in every last experience, coffee with friends, restaurant and remote attraction, not to mention the productivity that I may never have time for again once work comes calling.



No Korean or military jargon of the day... too busy! ;)

Hurts so good

Fruits of my hitting labors

Roller derby. YES. I met a woman in Black Rock City wearing a derby shirt and we instantly bonded. One thing she said struck me, "Roller derby has taught me more than anything about femininity. I can be strong AND sexy without apologizing for either." It has been fantastic to get to know a group of strong and sexy women who are amazingly empowered and often quite crazy. Because my crazy has needed some company for a while, and the military folk are a different brand of crazy.

Not only has the exercise and social network been amazing, any time I'm frustrated with foreigner troubles (I know, first world problems) or freaked about not knowing what's next in life I know it's only a matter of time before the next practice where I can hip-check the crap out of someone with no hard feelings.

For anyone else out there who needs an amazing outlet... you'd be surprised where derby leagues are springing up and where they already exist.




Vocab of the day: 
Korean: 더비= derby
Military: CSC = combat stress control

When it rains....

So, Seoul has been great for my life and bad for my blogging. Not a bad tradeoff, but sorry to those few readers who have hung in with me.

We've had a most delightful string of Couchsurfers, most recently a Portugese-turned-Belgian couple Juana and Antonio who are on a honeymoon year (the Belgian government allows a year of unpaid travel with the guarantee you can get your job back- how awesome!). They also had great stories about their previous 5 years working with a computing giant, one in particular about a cultural training they had to attend. The trainers characterized French people's response to anything as, "That's terrible! It will never work!" and Americans' as "the happy dance," where things aren't good, they're AWESOME! That presentation wasn't fair, it was FANTASTIC! I love this idea of the "happy dance" and was amused that Juana and Antonio identified my happy dance so many times- "We're totally lost, what a great ADVENTURE!" and so on.

Juana and Antonio were also greatly amused at the phrase "when it rains, it pours" as there's no equivalent in Portugese. It's turned out to be a very timely phrase these days. No more moping in front of tv-on-my-computer for days, I have to schedule in lazy days now! Between museum docenting, general domesticity I undertake, part time online work, and travel/party planning, I decided to join ROLLER DERBY. Probably more on that later, but it's consumed my life and thighs and I couldn't be happier. The team is still pretty new and hoping to get bout-ready by spring. Which of course means...

Today got word we might be back in Seattle as soon as December. Eeek! After all that time pining for the US, work, friends and family there... of course it's now that I really wish I could stay until spring. But, of course it's not official yet, and can change a dozen times or not happen at all. When it rains, it pours.



Vocab of the day: 
Korean: rain= 비 (bee)
Military: "uncertain environment" = just what you think it might be

Do-it-yourself travel agenting

We're headed off to Cambodia next week, and I'm stoked! After a trip or two that weren't well planned, we now have a system in place that has allowed us to have 3-4 day vacations that are fun, restful and still jam-packed with sites and experiences. I do all my research online and within 2 hours in a pinch (although I admit, I've had fun delving in and spending up to 10 hours planning some trips) I've had a few people ask me lately how I research, so here it is in a nutshell:

1. Figure out basics- flights, cities to visit, etc.
2. Check out the CIA Factbook and Lonely Planet overview of the country, and preferably the region and/or cities you'll visit to get an idea of what the main attractions tend to be. 
3. Search for "48 hours in Seoul/Kuala Lumpur/Manila/etc" (24 and 36 hours in usually work too) and pay particular attention to the New York Times Articles. I've also found some great ones from British papers- I think the Guardian and the Independent? Copy/paste any sites, museums, restaurants  markets etc. that seem interesting into another document (I use google docs so I can share with other travelers easily- separated into sections for background, sights, food/nightlife, travel and hotels).
4. Use your hot spots document to map your desired locations within the city/region you're in. Googlemaps does a remarkable job in Asia, and will let you save and share your travel map along with your notes. 
5. Determine lodging based on proximity to desired locations v. cost (taking transportation options into account). Book as soon as possible.
6. Determine major travel methods and costs. (Are you taking a bus or train from city A to B? What are the cost savings v time savings? Can you book it in English or do you need a travel agent?) Also research local transit options and costs.
7. Research best money management methods (convert currency/take out of ATMs?), weather forecast, basics of local history/culture (language, basic phrases, ways not to tick off the locals) and any local pitfalls (pickpockets? tidal waves? kidnappings? best to be aware).
8. Travel with a printout of both your hot spot list and your map with the locations and you can make plans on the fly, and never have the "I have no idea what to do now" moment of horror when you're savoring every drop of your break! (Also helpful if you pick up a tourist map and reference your map printout to be double sure you know where things are).

Vocab of the day: 
Korean: 여행 (yeo haeng) = travel
Military: SRP = soldier readiness processing

City Life

I've been extremely negligent with blogging, but I'd rather not force bad posts and let things be for a bit until inspirations strikes again.

Seoul.      Credit: here

We've moved to Seoul, a city bigger than New York and life is very different here. Gone are the days of sitting with nothing to do (mostly). There are a group of soldiers and spouses here much more matched to our life situation- no kids, fairly educated, adventurous. I attend gym classes regularly with friends, am signed up for a 7k in a month, am hosting a book club soon and we have friends stay with us nearly every weekend. I'm also hoping to do some intensive Korean this summer, which I'm really looking forward to. In this rush the job hunt has slipped in priority, and the jobs I have been able to find have been nothing special. In fact, I've found three jobs that lit my fire since we moved, all of which were at our old location. Cruel fate. On the other hand, I've started probing some really cool volunteer opportunities with nonprofits and NGOs here and I expect at least one of them will pan out.

But overall life is looking up. Up from a year ago isn't hard, but I'll take what I can get and start climbing.

Vocab of the day: 
Korean: 낙천가 (nag chon ga) = optimist
Military: NFL = New Foreign Launch

Late night rambling odes to Sofia Coppola

I re-watched Lost in Translation with a friend recently, and discovered I hadn't really watched it the first time. Whether it's a superb movie or it just poignantly reflects my current state of affairs, I can't tell. The female lead (Scarlett Johansson) is in a highly enviable rut- directionless, accompanying a partner abroad and nearly going batty in the empty space and time while friends back home cheep, "Have the most amazing time!" She and a washed up actor on a promo tour (Bill Murray) connect when they are overcome with loneliness.

While the movie itself isn't powerful, epic or stirring... it is so right. It's also sweetly ironic and good humored at the ridiculous situations being abroad presents. Great quotes from the film here.

After quietly escaping bed without waking the sleeping husband, I've been sitting in the similarities between me at the moment and LiT as I dawdle online and try to occupy my brain until I finally become sleepy. And because it's 2 am and the neural channels think they're clever at this hour, this popped out.


ScarJo, I feel your pain
though I wish I didn't know
nothing warm and real
just far and steel
watching alone a city passes by
too alone to cry, void inside, no way to smile

overseas, unseen
can't relate to my old scene
language ain't the only barrier
had true ground, life bit and shook me like a terrier
no role, just expat and attached
glamorous skyscraper life, girl just along for the ride
only so many hours a day can be slept away
nightly stealing from sweet's embrace
to stare again at space
laptop games and rhymes lame
hoping to keep me entertained
just numb the pain of the novacaine
hating the lack of feeling
cold and reeling

on the other side of the world
not just the street signs are foreign
lofty dreams fade under the torrent of
days lost inside or wandering
stuck inside my head, never more than pondering
what's become of my life
what's become of me
who's this person who sits gazing blankly?

why am I not fluent?
language, work and life?
what happened, what part dried up
offering only sighs up
but watch out
I'm going to size up
ocean-sized competition
throw down what's left of my ambition
I may not recognize the expression in the window
it may be a chance to reinvent myself though

Year of travel in pictures

Blogger stats just informed me that ironically (and totally unintentionally) my last post, which I worried might keep me from ever getting hired again was post #69. I swear I'm an adult, really.

For something much more universal (and since I wrote about all the delightful travels we've been able to take in the last post) and upbeat I figured I'd do a little sum-up. Go!


England:(St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tate Modern)

 Japan: (fantastic ads for cigarettes and Nijo castle)

 Boryeong, Korea for Mudfest (beach and "Mud Prison)

 Sonyudo Island, Korea (our tent and playing on the beach)

DMZ tour/Panmunjon: the blue buildings are negotiation rooms, far building is N. Korea, then inside the negotiation rooms with a ROK soldier at "ROK ready" posture

Dr Fish in Korean beauty salons: These little guys eat the dead skin off your feet. Horrifying and ticklish.

 Seoul Tower: why is Social Security Number always in his/her heart?

 Malaysia: Golden Palm resort pool flowing into the ocean and KL Bird Park

Philippines: awesome guard at Fort Santiago in Manila who gave us a secret tour of the dungeons and our amazing motor-tricycle driver who saved us from a fate worse than death. Sitting up straight is overrated.

Hong Kong and Macau: Top of Victoria Peak and seahorses for sale at the local grocery store

Upcoming... Guam!



Vocab of the day: 
Korean: 모험 (moh hohm) =  adventure
Military: LICWOT = leave in conjunction with official travel

Job porn (No actors hired for this post)

No, not as in I'm working in the adult industry. Not at all. But I am getting quite addicted to a certain website...

While I hypothetically have 2 working positions at present and just recently lost another last week (in the words of Lil' Wayne, they're down[sizing] like the economy), I'm rarely working these days and I burn for a "real job." It's ironic when I think that during my graduate work, my current life would sound like nirvana.* Hack together some part time work, travel Asia, have lots and lots and lots of free time to... learn Korean? practice guitar? work on my opera training? However, in practice this free time often goes to one of three things: 1) Things online that mostly pertain to jobs and job hunting. Mostly. 2) Catching up on the last 4 years of sleep deprivation- probably about there and 3) Being Betty Crocker-ish, watching tv online or doing both simultaneously.

photo credit

Now my new obsession is LinkedIn. It's horribly addictive. I used to feel accomplished when I could go through my "suggested friends" and find another handful of middle school friends, acquaintances from conferences or the like to "broaden my networking potential" as lots of the job hunting blogs/books/etc I follow have compelled me to do. Nearly a year ago while looking, I was consoled by the number of friends who like me had grad school as the last item listed even though we were several months past graduation. However, LinkedIn has gotten only more addicting as people elsewhere have managed to find fantastic work. "Ooh, she got a job at [prestigious consulting firm]?" "He's working at [high-profile public office]?!" "Seriously, he books logistics for the President?" (I kid you not, we went to high school together). You get the picture. The more I look, the more I find friends who have scored amazing jobs. And I'm truly happy for them. I merely wish I could join the fun.

So for another day, I'll fight the addiction to look at just a few more pages that makes me both feel warm and hopeful and at the same time crushed and voyeristic. I have four resumes to spiff up and send off. Perhaps it's the 78th time that's the charm.




Vocab of the day:
Korean: 일 (il, which is also the word for one... hrm) = job
Military: MOS = military occupational specialty


*And I must say that I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to spend time looking for a job that fits (and doesn't torpedo my resume) instead of needing to flip burgers to keep food on the table. I do realize this is a great luxury and makes my rant quite spoiled and unenlightened.