Connections

Steve has been in Seoul all week - AGAIN. Basically I think his job is to analyze used equipment that comes from military bases before it is thrown out, recycled or sold. And a good thing too because the other day he found some encrypted piece of equipment that if were in the hands of an enemy would not be good. Apparently the DRMO up there is behind in their work. It's not the end of the world and travel has always been a regular part of his job even when we were back home, and it looks like he'll be making several more trips up there in the next few months. Like my mother-in-law always says, "this too shall pass".

Which leads me into something many members of my family were very concerned about before we packed up and flew all the way to Korea. "Aren't you going to be lonely?" And still today, they ask me, "aren't you lonely?, what do you do all day, are you bored?

The ironic thing is, this could be the first time in my life I've felt the least lonely. A major reason for this I believe is because I'm put in a situation where I have to reach out to people, and also, other people are reaching out because we're in the same situation. Also, I checked many of my past insecurities with my luggage and left them packed up and stowed away hopefully for good. I came out here with a new attitude, and an attitude I wish I had adopted earlier in life, but I'm always learning and growing. I'm making new friends and meeting new and interesting people all of the time. It's amazing what will happen when you put your judgements aside and greet everyone with a smile, when you stop worrying so much over how someone will perceive you, and you just take chances, try something new and put 100% into that giant leap forward.

I guess I'm also in sort of this dorky phase of my life where everything just amazes me. For example my online (distance education) American Authors class I'm taking right now. It's soooo amazing how much more I know about the 20 students and professor of my class: who lives where, how many children they have, their hobbies and interests than any face 2 face/lecture style class I've ever taken. Or learning about another culture, asking questions, becoming friends with my neighbors, learning about military life, seeing these mini US cities on military bases, observing cultural diffences. The list goes on and on.

Today was another Daegu International Women's Association luncheon. I just plopped myself down at a table where I knew not one person and had the most fabulous time talking to the women at my table, making friends with the nicest Korean woman next to me, and hearing about how the "matchmaker" set her up with her husband. Apparently this is very common to have a matchmaker here. Who knew they had Korean Yentas?

Now this is not to say that every day is just a frolic in the park. Like, when I got lost in the city of Daegu for an hour and a half last week and Steve had to leave work early to meet Benjamin at the bus stop while I was still going around in circles trying to find Rt.1. There will always be days like that. But, I'm not lonely, I don't feel that sense of void in my life like I used to. And it's not because of all my new Facebook friends either. I'm just making connections. True and honest attempts to connect with people, connect with myself and connect with my new surroundings.