Last post from Korea

Wow...it's already been a whole year since I came to Korea!  I can't believe how fast time has flown by this year.  These past few weeks I've been busy planning for my upcoming trip around SE Asia and India as well as doing some last minute things in Korea that I've been wanting to do (except I never made it to the DMZ; I wanted to do Panmunjom, but it was closed today and last Saturday for military training days.  I guess that's what I get for waiting until my last week to go there).  My last day of work was last Friday.  I had to first say goodbye to Yule (one of my favorite kindergartners) on Wednesday because he went to go live in Vietnam.  Then I had to say goodbye to the rest of my kids, which was really hard.  I have grown to love them over this year, and I hope they are happy with their new teacher.  It was hard to say goodbye to everyone in the office as well, so after a tearful last couple of days of work, it felt so strange to never be going back there again.

Right now I'm staying with my friend Chris Teacher (which is what I call her) and finishing up some trip preparations (like sending my money home, getting malaria pills, trying to make my pack lighter...) and then I'm off to Malaysia tomorrow!  It's weird that as of tomorrow, I'm going to leave with just a backpack on my back and live out of it for two months.  It is very exciting and kind of scary!  I will be traveling with my friend Christine, and first we're going to Malaysia for two days just because it was cheaper to fly to Cambodia that way.  Then we're off to Cambodia for about a week and a half, then Thailand for about a week, then Myanmar for 12 days, and then off to India for our last three weeks!  I know it will go by super fast, and I definitely don't feel prepared for places like Myanmar, but I know everything will work out or at least be an adventure!

I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to travel and live in a different culture for a whole year.  It's been an amazing experience, and I will miss Korea and my kids very much!