Even though I love Korea, I have been quite lonely for the past few months. I have some really great friends up the road in Daejeon, along with my sister, and every time I go up there I enjoy myself so much that I don't want to come back to Gwangju because I know I'll be lonely again. I'm even 99% sure that when my contract is up in March, I'll be moving to Daejeon.
But right now I live in Gwangju. I'll be here for the next seven months, and frankly, I'm tired of the foreigners here. They avoid any and all contact with anyone they don't know. They look away if you say hello. Sometimes they even cross the street. And others are polite to your face but want nothing to do with you later. So I've decided to quit the foreigner-friend-making expedition by way of doing things just to meet people. I'm not going to any more events that I have no interest in just because I might meet people there. I'm only doing things that make me happy, and if I meet people in the process, all the better.
So a few weeks ago, I made the decision to really work on learning Korean. The alphabet was pretty easy to learn, and now I can read. I'm going to be here for a while, so working on learning the language is something I need to put some effort into. I decided I wanted to work with a language exchange partner, so I contacted the Gwangju International Center. And that is how I met Hwaseon. She is a very cool Korean woman in her early 20s who speaks almost perfect English but is afraid to actually speak it for fear of making a mistake. This is great because we can speak in English while she is helping me to learn some Korean vocabulary -- while we shop or get something to eat at a local restaurant.
When my school found out about my ambitions of learning Korean through my language exchange partner, they thought it was only a better idea for me to have another language exchange partner, you know, in addition to the one I already had. Ok, sure! And that is how I met Mi Kyeong. And her sister. And their best friend. And now we are all friends who meet twice a week and have lunch or coffee, go visit places together, and just hang out and have a great time.
In two weeks, I'm starting a Korean class at the Gwangju International Center. I've also joined a mainly-foreigner theater group that starts the same weekend as the class, and which I've been told I'll be their most experienced techie. I'm so excited to get back into theater after being out for over five years that I would really do anything just to help, like work the ticket booth or show people to their seats, but being a techie is just happiness tied up in a bow for me.
So my goal in Korea and for my life now is to be more open to my own happiness. I never know where it will take me.
Like to Gwangju Lake at Mt. Mudeungsan.
With some pretty cool people.
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