Stephanie in Suwon

See you on the flip side my sister. Congrats. You survived. I love you.

Neon John Mayer I Could Say Lily Allen LoveGame Lady GaGa Crazy Bitch Buck Cherry You Rock my World MJ (RIP) Your Ex-Lover is Dead Stars Womanizer Brit Kissing Bliss Stolen Dashboard Confessional Time in a Bottle Jim Croce Morning Train Sheena Easton I’m Shipping Up to Boston Dropkick Murphys Life in Technicolor Coldplay Striptease Hawksley Workman Broken Strings James Morrison Human The Killers Most of the Time Bob Dylan I am in the midst of compiling a playlist for my last night in Seoul. There is much about bidding adieu to my experiences here that I have come to terms with/have been looking forward to/celebrated. Saying goodbye to this amazing city is not one of them. I feel truly blessed to have been able to spend close to a year and a half of my life living in, loving and exploring this place. On my last Sunday here, I’ll be trekking up to Namsan tower, an observatory situated atop a hill in the center of Seoul, to sit, sip iced coffee and watch the sun go down. The polluted haze...

This time around… I feel more connected. In every way one can be. I feel more connected to those who have become intertwined in the day to day life I am currently leading, than I felt about the people who I, once upon a time, spent close to a full year with. Nowadays I have come to appreciate the simple lunches and thoughtful hellos, no muss, no fuss. Dinner in Gangnam, gossiping and waxing poetic about cultural politics. Acknowledgement of how short our time has been/is/will be together, and sincere bittersweet smiles at the thought of saying goodbye. Weekend hiking trips. Tears, chocolate cookies and milk. Shisha, wine and cigarettes. I feel more connected to myself, relaxing into my skin in a way I’d forgotten existed. Loudmouthed and sassy. Speaking my mind in a way that suits me regardless of how or what people may think. My ironic surprise at the acceptance, understanding and laughter that greets me more often then not when I do so. And I do. So. Often. Laughter. I’d forgotten ho...

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,...

Too many shadows in my room Too many hours in this midnight Too many corners in my mind So much to do to set my heart right Oh it's taking so long I could be wrong, I could be ready Oh but if I take my heart's advice I should assume it's still unsteady I am in repair, I am in repair Stood on the corner for a while To wait for the wind to blow down on me Hoping it takes with it my old ways And brings some brand new luck upon me Oh it's taking so long I could be wrong, I could be ready Oh but if I take my heart's advice I should assume it's still unsteady I am in repair, I am in repair And now I'm walking in the park All of the birds they dance below me Maybe when things turn green again It will be good to say you know me Oh it's taking so long i could be wrong, I could be ready Oh but if I take my heart's advice I should assume it's still unsteady Oh I'm never really ready, yeah, oh, I'm never really ready I'm in repair, I'm not to...

The air has become a thick wet blanket that lays over the city. The heat and humidity wrap around you as soon as you step outside and the smells that normally circulate the streets have become magnified and soupy. Rainy season is here. Went out for Mexican last night with some friends, and found myself sipping beer on the streets at 1am, smoking a cigarette and reminicing about Nirvana, Mos Def, Pearl Jam and MJ. The mosquitoes here are not normal mosquitoes. They are mutants sent from the planet Insect Revenge to wreak havoc on us poor unsuspecting expats, who foolishly did not stock up on OFF! prior to leaving their countries of origin. My students actually laughed at me and my swollen arms and ankles and two of them suggested rubbing kimchi on the bites themselves to help them disappear faster. I told them I was going to rub kimchi on their faces if they actually thought I would fall for that. The next day one of the girls brought me a bottle of lotion to help “not have red and puff...

Alright I’ll make this brief; Pro’s: -I’m getting paid hourly, which means if they make me teach longer hours, I will be compensated appropriately. -I’m teaching with some really excellent people this summer, cream of the crop as far as intellectuals go; Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, I think you get the idea. I was intimidated at first, but have since realized that the combination of public speaking and being forced to interact with teenagers, brings us all down to the same playing field. Personally, I find teenagers more relatable to than a 7 year old, generally speaking. They might be assholes…but I can at least understand where they’re coming from. -Living in the heart of Seoul. D-A-MN. Hells yeah. -When I teach, I feel capable and confident. No longer am I waxing poetic about the fucking harp by the fucking river, or trying to explain what the word “almost” means. I’m speaking to my class about Mark Twain and Maya Angelou and being asked what the word “assiduous” means. (Look i...