The Last Post

Current state:

Last week of work, post "Going Away Staff Party". Our goodbye fiesta was quite the time, filled with far too many celebratory shots of soju and mekju, and a very blurry noraebong session (You know it was a good night when you don't recall the last half of the pics on your digital camera. Which didn't happen. Ahem.). Our final graduation is tomorrow. How bittersweet it all is as we countdown our final days in Dongtan, South Korea. Bittersweet, bittersweet indeed.

Sweet for the end of 55-hour work weeks from hell. Sweet for reuniting with my old friend, Energy. Sweet for the potential of new adventures.

Bitter for leaving our adorable students. Bitter for leaving Seoul, one of my favorite cities on Earth. Bitter for leaving the best staff I've ever had, and saying goodbye to the good times. The drunk noraebong nights. The bbq fests. The parties. The memories.

But alas, life on the road comes with hellos as well as goodbyes, and unfortunately one does need to utter some goodbyes so new hellos can present themselves. But not to be forgotten will be the amazing friends we made here, who all deserve a personal shout-out, so here I go: Lizzie, Brent, Robin, and Greg, believe me when I say we'll miss you. And we love you. And leaving sucks. However, we did have a hell of a time. And I'm going to assume that the universe is going to bring us together again. So instead of goodbye, I'll say so long, and say it one more time: we love you.

Mine and Bryan's next adventure is a month of backpacking around Thailand. We'll hook up with his cousin Jenny in Bangkok, tour the northern villages, and partake in some necessary R&R on the beautiful beaches. And to provide you with the biggest understatement of the year, I'm excited.

Next up on the career front is a 2 year contract with KIS, Korea International School. It's currently being built on Jeju, a small volcanic island off the southern tip of Korea. (Google, if you so desire.) We'll head home after Thailand, spend the spring/summer with our much missed families and friends, and head back to the beloved ROK in August. I'm going to switch blog sites and start fresh with overseas adventure blog #2, so this is it, my friends: the last post.

So, 16 Korean months, 3,145 logged working hours, 12 four-year-olds, 5 countries traveled, a handful of good friends, and one boyfriend to share in the madness, and what have I learned? Planet Earth is just awesome.

So long, folks!