Travel on the Brain

During spring break 2009 I met my mom, aunt Duty and cousins Kim and Bri in Paris for the most incredible week of sightseeing, eating, shopping, and hanging out.  With my next European adventures rapidly approaching I thought it was finally time to finish up my photo book.  As I turn each page and look at the photos I can vividly remember the sights and sounds of each setting.  I imagine sitting at an outdoor table at the fun little creperie I discovered on my first trip to Paris, watching kids playing and passersby near the Stravinsky Fountain and modern art museum, I can hear the street performer up on Montmartre singing American pop songs, and I remember the feelings of safety and comfort I experienced as I spent time with my family members each evening hanging out at our adorable apartment.  I am reminded of the reasons I travel...to experience differences, to get out of my comfort zone, to make connections and feel linked to the people and places that surround me.  Though my body doesn't always agree, I love the life of a traveler but I want to spend more than a day or two in a new place.  This is why I decided to move abroad--to immerse myself in an environment that is different, challenging, and sometimes uncomfortable.  


At the moment mom and I are making plans for our trip to Venice this spring break.  We are hoping to spend five days of our stay creating mosaic art in a glass studio--we are willing to sacrifice loads of sightseeing time for a more authentic experience in the city.  And I have decided that I'm going to eat it up...I mean that literally and figuratively.  I've been to Italy twice, and I'm ready for some real Italian food!  Yes, this might mean I will pay dearly every day for my choices, but I'm tired of playing it safe all the time.  Plus, I've made myself a goal to try as many types of gelato as there are days in our trip!


After spring break I am looking forward to the possibility of attending a workshop in Vietnam.  The two day class takes place in Ho-Chi-Minh City and it's timing couldn't be better.  The class falls on the Monday and Tuesday after Easter, which gives us some time prior to the class to sightsee.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the course gets confirmed soon!


This summer I will be heading out on my first ever solo travel excursion to England.  Prior to my Oxford course on Jane Austen I will be spending four or five days in London entirely on my own.  I don't know if I'll feel lonely or if the entire experience will be freeing since I don't have to answer to anyone's agenda but mine.  More to come as these plans take shape in the coming months.  


Can you tell I've got travel on the brain?!  Living in an environment where you are surrounded by veteran globetrotters, I think it's almost impossible not to have your senses flooded with the possibilities this amazing planet holds.  With midnight approaching it is time to quiet my frenetic brain activities and leave you with my finished photo book from Paris and the inspiration for tonight's recollections.  Bonne nuit!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Enjoying the Old and Embracing the New

I've been back in Seoul for a little over a week and I still feel like Christmas vacation just FLEW right on by!  I am so thankful that I was able to make a trip back to the States to spend time with my family and be a part of Erin and John's New Year's Eve wedding.  So, here's a quick recap of my trip home...and a few thoughts about what I'd like to accomplish in 2011.

Luckily, the flight back to the States went off without a hitch.  It was such a blessing to have travel companions--Hillary and the Zimmer family trekked all the way back to Portland on the same flights and we were all thankful to make our super tight connection in Vancouver, BC.  Although I was in Oregon for two and a half weeks, my body never did adjust to Pacific time again, so I had a lot of late nights and late mornings (not such a problem when you're on vacation I suppose!).  The first week home was spent catching up with friends and shopping for clothes and shoes (a definite necessity when you live in a country where the average shoe size for women is 6 and Western clothing sizes are a tough find).  Christmas came and went, and although our Christmas day celebration was simplified at the last minute, it turned out to be a very low key sort of day spent hanging out with my family--just the kind of thing I like.  The day after Christmas saw us hitting the road for Grandpa's house in Eugene, Oregon.  It was a super fast trip--just one night, but it was great to get a chance to visit with gramps, my aunt and uncle, and our family friend Patti, who we refer to as an auntie too!  I should have scanned snapshots from the visit to post soon!


The week after Christmas, preparations for Erin's wedding were in full swing.  We kicked off the festivities with a bridal tea at the Lavender Tea House in Sherwood, Oregon.  It was a lovely afternoon spent with friends and celebrating Erin and her upcoming nuptuals.  

Erin, the bride to be!

Me, mom, and Alice (the MOB)

Me and Diana (a friend from high school)

Delicious tea treats 

The group of us at the Lavender Tea House--mom, Diana, me, Kim, Alice, Peri, Elissa, Brynn, Erin, and Betsy

The next day all of the bridesmaids gathered for pre-wedding pampering (mani's and pedi's) and the families of the bride and groom came together for the wedding rehearsal and dinner.  

The bridesmaids and bride getting pampered.

Me at the rehearsal dinner.

Before we knew it, New Year's Eve was upon us and we had so much to do to get ready for the evening wedding.  All of us girls had our hair and makeup professionally done (who doesn't love a little beauty enhancement?!), put on our dresses (it was a bit of an adventure getting Erin into hers), and were ready to walk down the aisle.  

Erin with hair and makeup wedding ready!

Carefully helping Erin into her dress.

Kim and I in our tag team effort to get Erin laced into her dress!

The bride, bridesmaids, and flower girls all ready for the wedding to begin!

Waiting for the bride to make her entrance.

Sealing the deal!

Mr. and Mrs. Canova

Formal photos taken after the ceremony...

I love this one!

Having a little fun with the professional photos--gotta hold that smile for a long time!

I had so much fun at the wedding--it was a fantastic way to ring in the new year (and Erin and John will never forget their anniversary!).  We ate, celebrated, danced the night away, and counted down the minutes until 2011 together.  The reception also gave me the opportunity to reconnect with friends I hadn't seen in years!

Chihiro (Erin's friend from college) and Takuto

Dad and Mom looking snazzy.

Mom and me

Erin, me, and Diana at the reception

Getting ready to ring in the new year with our super cool hats

Oh wait, there are more of us!

Kentaro and Chihiro who came all the way from Tokyo!

Me and my bestie, the beautiful bride!

Although the wedding was over, I still had several things to cram into my last few days in town.  On the day after New Year's, mom and I headed to the In Good Taste cooking school in Lake Oswego for a hands on class that taught us to make Italian gnocchi.  This was the first experience taking a cooking class for both of us and we had a blast!  I learned so many new techniques and we took part in creating a delicious meal that was shared with the 12 other participants.  I will definitely be looking into taking several more cooking classes in the near future!

The chefs putting the finishing touches on our gnocchi dishes

Ricotta gnocchi waiting to be cooked

Lots and lots of delicious gnocchi

The spinach gnocchi that mom and I worked on.

Four types of gnocchi--heaven on a plate!

My time in Oregon came to a close far too quickly and on January 5th I got back on a plane bound for Seoul.  The journey back to Korea took something like 30 hours and I arrived back in Yonhi Dong exhausted with a splitting headache and ready for bed.  Life in Seoul picked up right where it left off with a trip to Costco, laundry, planning for school, and hanging out with the girls.  

Before the weekend ended I thought it was important to sit down and think about what I'd like to accomplish in 2011.  While I usually make my goals for the new year at the start of each new school year, I recognized that there were some big areas in my life screaming for attention!  Rather than make a laundry list of goals, I decided to focus my resolutions on four key areas and work on implementing changes in each area over a three month period.  In January, February, and March I'm going to work on my physical health.  Since the move to Korea I haven't been paying enough attention to what my body is telling me, so these changes are long overdue.  My plan is to eat better (back to meal planning and weekly shopping), exercising at least three times a week, and getting more sleep (bedtime at 10 rather than midnight).  I know it is going to take some time for my body to respond, but I'm hoping to start feeling better soon!

April, May, and June I'll be focusing on spiritual health.  While I definitely feel much more connected to God here because of the nature of the environment, I haven't been actively searching for a church or devoting time regularly to connecting with God.  I'm hoping to begin my search for a church sooner, but I want to be sure I explore several different options and choose the place that will meet my spiritual needs and provide opportunities for small group study, etc.

In July, August, and September I'll be working on my finances and world travel plans.  Before I leave Korea I am determined to pay off my student loans and save enough money to pursue teaching in Europe (if I choose to remain abroad) or purchasing a place to live (if I return to the States).  I also want to continue exploring the world, so it is important to me to make sure I have the resources set aside for lots of new adventures!!

The last three months of this year I'll be working on growing my social circle in Seoul.  I absolutely LOVE the people I work and live with at Seoul Foreign School, but I also believe it is important to meet other people, foreigners or not, who live in this fabulous city too!  I guess I could also mention my hope that I'll find a lovely man to share my life's adventures with...but I'm not rushing into anything here:).

So far 2011 is off to a good start and we're about to say good-bye to the first semester of the school year.  Time flies, doesn't it?!  With the second semester comes new curriculum to teach (chemistry, yay!), more opportunities to bond with my colleagues and students, and more time to explore my fabulous new home.  Although I desperately miss my family and friends, I am starting to find myself a part of a new family here at SFS.  Last night we celebrated homecoming in the high school and I joined some of my favorite single ladies in supporting our students at the basketball games.  Afterward, we headed down the hill for a quick trip to the grocery store, which turned into an adventure of its own.  We ended the evening at Pizza School where we chatted and scarfed down the most delicious pizza ever (sweet potato pizza and cheese pizza with corn, YUM!).  Oh pizza, how I have missed you!  As the things I once thought were novel become more mundane, I am always surprised that there seems to be another adventure waiting for me just around the corner.  With this in mind, I welcome another new year and the hope and promise it brings!  Merry New Year everyone--I pray 2011 is filled with much joy and many blessings! 

Losing It...

It is one of those days where I feel the need to put off doing what I need to accomplish before tomorrow so I can process my feelings about the happenings of the day.  Winter break is officially over and we've been back to school for four days.  As you can imagine, it is always difficult getting back into the swing of things after such a long break so this week seems to be going by a bit slower than most.  Anyway, Thursday afternoon arrived which meant it was time for discipleship.  Stephanie and I gathered our girls together to catch up and talk about what we'd like to study for the rest of the year.  It was also time for me to share my life map with the group.  We gave this assignment to the girls much earlier in the year and by now EVERYONE else had presented their life maps except me.  I worked really hard on mine, thoughtfully mapping out the highs and lows of my personal and spiritual life.  As I put the pieces together I was forced to reflect on and process through some difficult times in my life--I knew it was going to be tough to share these with a group of teenagers but I also felt it was important for them to see the real "Miss James" including all of the challenges, doubts, regrets, celebrations, highlights, etc., etc., etc.  

My Life Map...oh what a tangled web

Low points in life

I made it through the early years easily, but as I started to tell the girls about the period of time around college I started to choke up.  Oh no, here it comes.  Enter uncontrollable sobbing here.  I totally and completely LOST IT in front of a group of teenage girls--talk about awkward and uncomfortable.  There is a very obvious decline in both my personal and spiritual life in 2001, just after my first year of college.  During this period of time my beloved grandma was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and six weeks later I held her hand when she passed away.  I spent a great deal of time with grandma during that six week time period and although we talked a lot, there was one major topic we never discussed.  I never had the courage to ask my grandma where she stood spiritually.  Was she a believer?  Had she accepted Christ into her heart?  Did she think she was heaven bound?  To this day I live with the incredible burden of regret when I think about my grandma's salvation.  I want to believe that sometime in her life she had the opportunity to know Jesus...but I'm just not sure and it kills me.  Replaying these thoughts over and over brings back the terrible pain of losing grandma and reminds me of the hole in my heart that will never quite heal.  How does one allow the past to be passed and move on?  What do we do in these low points of life?  I suppose the answer is that we live on, learning with each missed opportunity to trust God and to ask Him to help us live boldly.  So, this is what I pray for in 2011...boldness, trust, rest, peace, passion, comfort, and healing.  I pray for a year without regret.