The Wiener Dog and the Case of the Missing Cupcakes

I should know better by now. Really I should. After 7 years together we are pretty well versed in each other’s weaknesses.

So after walking Charlie this morning I made a quick run to the store for things to make breakfast and we tried our first “trust (leave him out of the kennel) exercise”.  I came back to an almost empty box of cupcakes on the floor.  From the looks of it tiramisu was his favorite.  Funny, that was probably going to be my favorite too.

At the store this morning I was able to practice my new word, “hello” in Korean.  That went over well.  The clerk smiled and said I did “good!” I’m finding my way slowly. They definitely appreciate you more here when they can tell you are making an attempt at learning their way of life.

Oh, and the chocolate chip cookie the man gave me at the cupcake shop? It may have been the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever had. wow.

Day 2

Ok, I have to admit, I’m a bit stressed out that I’ve been here 36 hours and the only person I’ve seen since arrival is my director yesterday. And that was only for 30 minutes. My first day at work is tomorrow so that will definitely help but I guess this is the truest test of whether or not I can make it here on my own. This is definitely not for everyone.  If I hadn’t brought Charles I would have lost my mind by now. The blogging is definitely going to slow down once I get my internet set up and start work but right now I haven’t got much else to do.

Fearless

I guess it was the six months of planning that went into this whole Korea thing but I’ve never been nervous. I’ve had my moments of apprehension but literally they were moments never lasting more than a few minutes. I realize there are many of you out there whose initial reaction was less than trusting about this idea. I had my doubts too. Not about the stability of Korea, but about the stability of Amy. I mean really, I’m the girl that can’t be on-time to save her life, I lose my cell phone at least four times everyday, and my socks never match. Moving to South Korea, really?  and taking Charles?!?!  hahahaha

However, I’m also the girl that’s always been fearless.  Always.

The Trip Over, Part 2

The Asiana flight, all 13 hours of it, was pretty fantastic.  United needs to take some notes.  I was constantly fed, given slippers within the first 5 minutes in the air, and had an impressive selection of movies/music to entertain me.  Needless to say, I was pleased.

I was seated next to this woman likely to be in the  65-80 range, more towards the latter if I was guessing, and this woman is all Korean.  No westernization here. She obviously doesn’t know a word of English which is fine because I don’t know a word of Korean. Her clothes were 14 different kinds of mismatched and by the time I found my seat she already had her bright pink tennis shoes kicked off revealing her knee highs firmly planted at the ankles.  Language barrier or not, I knew right away that we were going to have a lovely flight together.

The Trip Over, Part 1

Several people have asked me to write about 30 hour trip over here.  About half way through, I knew I had too.  It was just too funny not share. This is probably going to be pretty long so I am breaking it up for ease of reading.  Nobody wants a novel/blog. 

Flash back to two weeks ago when I received my itinerary.  3 flights.  ugh.  St Louis to Denver, Denver to L.A., L.A. to Seoul.  Leave St Louis at 6am October 14, arrive in Seoul 6pm on October 15 and then a 3 hour bus trip to Daejeon.  Not awesome.  I am flying to the other side of the globe and someone else is buying my ticket so of course I say “It’s perfect!” Now that I knew the airlines I was finally able to start researching how in the world I was going to get my animal here with me.  Long story short, airline websites are great!  Tons of information about traveling with your pet.  Just for clarification you should call the airline because they are going to tell you that everything you just read online was WRONG.  They will give you much more really helpful information.  Fun part is, when you arrive at the airport at 4am they will tell you that both sources were shockingly, very wrong.  Thankfully I had done so much research on  my own and I have a wonderful vet that helped with Charlie’s paperwork so I had everything perfectly in order.  Originally L.A.X. was supposed to be a food/potty/sedative break. The airlines had a different plan at check-in. Poor kid.  He just went from plane to plane with my luggage.  I left him 4am (Oct 14) in St Louis and didn’t see him again until 7:15 pm (October 15) in Seoul.  In real time, that’s about 25 hours in a kennel with only one 8-hour sedative.  He made it though, safe and sound. :)

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.