This week was gray skies, jackets and scarves, Ugg boots, slippery sidewalks, walking through a snow-covered park, old friends reunited, darts and cocktails, running at the gym, New York City sweatshirts, coffee and music, best friend talks, thoughts of home, and hope for a new year.
I am a kindergarten teacher. But even more surprisingly, I am a kindergarten teacher and I enjoy it. The transition from giving lectures to some of China's top university students during the first half of the year to working with six-year-olds wasn't easy. I have always preferred teaching older students to those that are younger... no whining, no time-out corner, and no pleading with them to learn. However, I can now honestly say that I look forward to seeing my thirteen Korean kids each day. I love their curiosity, the sound of their voices as we sing in the morning, the excitement that fills the room during craft time, the impossible to answer questions they often ask, and watching them learn new things. It also helps that they are brilliant students who speak near perfect English. I must be proof that people change.
A few photos of the kids I have grown to love:
dressed up for halloween.
cute girls.
hannah and the grasshopper she found at sky garden.
playing in the snow!
drinking hot chocolate, listening to christmas music, and making homemade cards!
singing christmas carols.
"Teaching is as sacred as priesthood, as innate a desire, as inescapable as the genius which compels a great artist. If he has not the concern for humanity, the love of living creatures, the vision of the priest and the artist, he must not teach." - Pearl Buck
Travel. Travel. Travel. Will it ever get old? Last week I boarded a plane bound for Hong Kong and set off to explore yet another city in the world. Although I have lived in China for over 1 1/2 years in total, I never made it to Hong Kong while I was on the mainland and have always been eager to check it out. It was so fun to walk down busy streets full of diverse people, roam through crowded shopping districts, eat delicious Cantonese food, spend time with wonderful friends, see the illuminated skyline at night, and just hang out in one of the most international and exciting cities in the world. I think I can now leave Asia without regrets of places left unseen.
A few photos from the trip:
drinking bubble tea with rob and eva. love it!
crowded streets.
cantonese women on a bicycle built for two.
lan kwai fong. the place to party in hong kong!
senada square in macau.
eating dimsum!
so many high end stores.
the skyline from on top of the peak!
"The plane a symbol of worldliness, carrying within itself a trace of all the lands it has crossed. Its eternal mobility offering an imaginative counterweight to feelings of stagnation and confinement." - Alain de Botton (The Art of Travel)
I've been in love with this Imogen Heap song since buying the new album a few weeks ago. It pretty much plays on repeat. It also happens to nicely coincide with my current thoughts about travel, the future, and the idea of home.
"I want to get on with getting on with things. I want to run in fields, paint the kitchen, love someone. and I can't do any of that here, can I?"
A new job and another new apartment. This is where I now eat, sleep, read, watch TV, send emails, etc. My own little 9' x 10' home on the other side of the world.
Views from every angle:
"I long, as every human being does, to be at home wherever I find myself." -Maya Angelou
It was so nice to get away this past weekend and to leave the chaos of the city. As much as I love living in places like Beijing or Seoul where there is constant movement and people, it's good to experience the quieter side of life every once in awhile. So this weekend Eva and I went to her beautiful hometown, Wando. We read and talked and laid in the sun and listened to music and ate tons of delicious food (so much in fact that I've declared a fruit fast for myself during the remainder of the week) and drove all over the islands. I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing or fun two days. I am thankful for these beautiful escapes into paradise with a wonderful friend.
enjoying a sunny afternoon by the ocean.
playing in the sand.
the perfect place to read and write.
another view of the islands.
sunset over the city.
driving with the windows rolled down and sufjan on the ipod. perfection.
Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings, and once you have achieved happiness you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment. It's easy though to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your in crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments.
love: music that inspires. good conversation. photography. seeing the world. living among the asians. family. running to loud music. reading books. writing in my jounal. bike riding in olympic park. long train rides to new cities. coffee shops. eating with chopsticks. mango smoothies. korea. china. london. southeast asia. laying on a hammock in southern thailand. jesus. the united methodist church. good friends. traveling with nothing except a backpack. exploring seoul. the feeling of freedom. dreaming.
hate: poverty. injustice. hunger.
