Destination Paradise

Today's blog is about a belief that I often hear repeated in US culture, a belief that was recently re-affirmed by Honda CR-V commercials like this one. The premise is this: Once you get married or have a baby, that's it. Your bucket list is basically dead. So make sure to pack it all in before you take the plunge. Also, buy a CR-V to help accomplish it all. A fabulous high school friend who is a mom of two pointed out the absurdity of these commercials on Facebook and it really struck me. Nothing against the CR-V, but what a terrible message, that marriage or parenthood changes your life so much that you no longer get to do the things you dreamed of beforehand! Add to this the recent viral video parody, " We're Not Young ", which mourns the loss of the younger, vibrant days when we had goals and enthusiasm for life. This makes me sad because I believe that marriage, or even having kids, is no death sentence for adventure or accomplishing yo...

I'm finally breaking the several-month silence on blogging. It's been Winter Break in the Korean education world, which is the longest break of the academic year, but for some reason my general productivity during break shot pretty low. I've got a whole bunch of half-written blog posts, most just waiting for the insertion of a few photos and some more-developed ideas. So for this post, I'm not getting ambitious. I'm keeping it simple: This weekend we're celebrating 6 months in Korea. Last fall, one of Carlos' soccer teammates, a chef from Spain who has lived in Korea for a few years, told us that if we could make it 6 months here, we'd be able to settle down and make it home for a few years as well. So far, it seems he was right. We may be foreigners, and our Korean still suffers pretty badly, but I can say pretty confidently that we're now settled. We know where to buy what, we know how to accomplish all our basic activities without needing assi...

Last week when I started drafting a list of ways many of us survive unwanted separation from our spouses, I realized that I was listing each strategy in order of when I discovered it, not necessarily in order of importance. So while the most important stuff will come later, for now, this one's a pretty big one: Coping Strategy #3: You absolutely MUST stay busy I don't think this one can be stated enough. When I find myself spending too much time wallowing in the awfulness of being separated from Carlos, the truth is, I just have too much available time. Although generally Lucas takes care of demanding my every waking moment, sometimes I have to actively look for ways to fill the remaining time so the glaring awfulness doesn't get to stand out. Besides the obvious ( work , daily tasks ), I've had to look for ways to invest myself in other people and other pursuits so that I can divert my energy to something besides mourning over the time my family has lost. Here...

We're a little bit exhausted and frazzled, but doing just fine. We are staying in our hostel/apartment, which is actually the very same room they show on their website, so we got the best deal. Currently, we're in the process of getting settled here - our phones are activated, we're getting closer in our search for an apartment, and then we begin the job search. We left Cancun a few hours ahead of the hurricane, so that was a relief. Nine and a half hours on a German transatlantic airliner was a different story. I find it extremely disconcerting to be spoken to and have NO CLUE what is being said. After this there were 6 hours in the Dusseldorf and then 2 more hours on another German aircraft into Barcelona. The German immigration officials in Dusseldorf made a big deal and tried to give us a scare upon seeing Carlos' Mexican passport - we were aware that lately the EU has been making it harder for Mexicans to enter, so we experienced this firsthand. However, we were ...

For all of you wondering about this whole thing we're doing, here are some of the things we're asked most often: 1. When are you leaving? I'm out of here on August 17th (next Friday!!!). That's when I go to Cancun to meet up with Carlos and then from there to Barcelona on August 20-21st (overnight flight). 2. Are you ready? Not even close. Seriously. Panic hasn't set in yet, but it could. I'm trying to deal with one thing at a time, but there are SO MANY DETAILS! I'm grateful to have friends and family around to help me keep my head together and get everything done. Thanks, guys! 3. So do you have an apartment there? No. We could have secured one through the internet, but I'm old fashioned, and I need to see the place in real life and I can't stomach the concept of sending someone 950 € through the internet. In other words, we'll probably do the hostel or cheap hotel thing until we lock down a place, once we're actually IN Ba...