Swiss Chard, Skype and other things I'm grateful for.

It’s pouring rain here in SK. I can hear it outside pounding the sidewalk and the sides of the apartment buildings that surround my own. I love the rain. Rainy days were made for staying indoors, sipping tea and listening to jazz. Puttering around the house, maybe catching up on some reading. The sound of the rain can make you feel lonely though, the dark rhythm of water, the sense of isolation compounded with the knowledge that I am indeed alone, more so then I have been in a very long time, and far far away from the place I call home.
I don’t often feel lonely here. Surrounded each day by rooms full of students, lunches in the teachers room, hurried, full of laughter and kimbap. Evenings spent prepping, marking, or making my blessed escape to the gym, shutting out the world for a few hours where all I have to do is listen to The Chemical Brothers and focus on breathing, reps, running, stretching. My weekends here are spent in much the same fashion, with little treats thrown in there, a hiking trip here, an evening in Hongdae there, smoking hookah on a Saturday night, brunch with friends on Sunday morning. Mudfest. Busan. Jeju perhaps. Like I said, it’s hard to feel lonely. There is simply too much to do, too much to see, too many people to connect with and experience. And I do. I see. I connect.
There is much to love about living in Seoul.
But these rainy days…..

BBQ chicken and sangria. 17th Ave. in the sun. Spolumbos. Crave cupcakes and coffee in Kensington. Thai with mom. Beers and wine with Dad and the boys. The Coup. My girls. Brown eyes and bass. Country music in the car, windows down, cruising.

Lonely for what I miss.
Grateful for what I’ve been given.
I guess it’s all about balance.
49 days.