My Pursuit of Happyness

I realize there are millions of people all over the world going through terrible struggles and heartache everyday and that most everyone, hopefully, is working towards finding their happy place. I would never want to compare my self-induced drama to other’s true and real devastations that are out of their control or their ability to fix. I can fix mine, it just takes a little bit of out of the box thinking.  It is very uncharacteristic of me to get personal on such a public format, well really on any format, but it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone reading this that the last 12 months in the world of Amy have been very difficult. Somewhere in between belting out Kelly Clarkson’s angry girl lyrics repeatedly and watching the public education system go up in smoke, I realized if anything were to change I was going to have to make it happen. It was time to make a decision.  Either 1. Give up the dream of what you were born to do (at least temporarily) and make a new plan or 2. Find a more creative way to do it. Enter Stage Right - South Korea.

The 3 C’s

Chinese food, a crappy hotel room, and cable.  I’m simply in heaven.

I’d be remiss to not acknowledge that my 7 year tenure in Orlando is ending almost exactly how it began-eating Chinese food somewhere in Georgia with everything I own packed up in my car and fiercely holding my breath until it’s time to make the next big step.  Last time it was only weeks after graduation and I was so anxious and excited to begin my career that I had been planning for so long…  This time it’s anxiety and excitement in unbelievable proportions as I prepare to adjust to life on the opposite side of the planet for a year. 

South Korea

South Korea, huh? I know, you’re baffled. That’s ok. I figured you would be.


I’ve spent the last few months talking with people that are currently teaching  or have taught in South Korea and decided this was something I had to do. I desperately want to be in a classroom again and the reality of it is that I just can’t do it here right now. The last few months I have spent selling everything that I own, getting transcripts, passport, and apostilling things (I didn’t know what that was either.) The hardest part, however, was the application video. Really that was the only hard part. I have to give my friend Matt the sincerest of thanks for helping with that. I don’t think it occurred to him when he offered his assistance that he was going to lose an entire day of his life helping me with this video. (7 hours to make 2 minutes worth of usable material - it was really awful!)

Lessons Learned 2009

This is the same posting from January 2009 on Facebook. I’ll have a new one for 2010…. don’t you worry.  This has nothing to do with Korea, except possibly a window into  why I am going.

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Inarguably 2009 was a pretty awful year all around the globe. Here is what it has taught me. Some from my own personal experience, some from my beautiful and spectacular girlfriends, some from movies, and some from simply observing life. Many of these were inspired by multiple people or events. It’s in no specific order, but fortunately and unfortunately, there’s a lot. It was a very educational year…