Destination Paradise

(A.K.A. the post where I will make heavy use of the past perfect tense) It's been a month already! Sadly, we still don't have internet at home, so this has limited my online posting, but soon (hopefully this week) that will be set up. Here are some of the things that have happened in our first month in Korea: We think we found a church. It was recommended by multiple friends. Not too far from home, but still takes about an hour to get there via subway. Hoping that we'll settle in and get connected there. By the way, churches are truly everywhere here. They almost all have a lit neon cross on top, so at night, when we look out our back window, we see lots of these dotting the streets between our apartment and the main boulevard. flickr photo courtesy of taylorsloan Carlos found a soccer team. He looked online, found a great team, and has been playing with them for a few weeks. It's an expat league, so most of the players are from the US, the UK, Spain, and Latin ...

We've been kinda cryptic about our upcoming plans, but now that everything's official, it's time to announce it clearly. Yes, we are moving to South Korea. I've been hired through the Korean government to teach English at a public middle school in Seongnam , which is a city of about 1 million people (9th largest in the republic), just a 45-minute trip from Seoul, roughly. Carlos will stay home with Lucas and teach him all the important stuff in life. We will be together. The position includes a furnished one-bedroom apartment (for those who have taught in Korea, you know that one bedroom is a big deal!), which is located about 5 minutes' walking distance from the school, and which has a park across the street. My contract starts September 1, but I'm pretty sure we'll be heading there a bit in advance, so we'll straighten out those details soon. I'm very excited about this position because when I interviewed with the school, they were especially...

Our blog finally has a title! Took forever to find a meaningful one. Explanation: It all starts with Laura Pausini and her remake of a song of the same name. It's in Italian, and, like all her songs, is totally moving. Ultimately, the song is about a voyage without boundaries, destination Paradise. We're on a voyage right now. We travel through cities/countries searching for the place where we will finally belong and be happy, our own paradise. And if we never find it on Earth, we know our ultimate Paradise awaits in heaven. So that's our blog title. As far as our current status in our voyage, things have returned to their crazy pace full of lesson plans, 7 a.m. duty extracting arriving students from their cars, and the usual exhaustion. Carlos is currently working from about 10 am - 6 pm downtown (about 20-30 minute commute in the Cheyenne), teaching English. However, in late February he will transfer to the location a few minutes from our house, where he will pi...

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...