My time home was great… except for the large amount of debt I acquired. Oops. I’ll be spending my first 8 or 9 paychecks getting that all paid off again. However, it was wonderful to see friends and family! I got to spend time with almost everyone I wanted to, though a few I would have liked to see a bit more/longer. On the other hand, I got to spend a good amount of time with many, which was a blessing. I took surprisingly few photos as mostly my friends and I just, well, hung out. We didn’t really do anything unusual so I guess I didn’t think about taking photos as often as I do when living/traveling abroad.
So what did I do? Well, 4 months is hard to sum up quickly. Therefore, I’m going to write a list of things I got to do (not in chronological order)!
Let’s start with the bigger stuff:
1. Flew to Halifax, Canada to attend Allison and Tyler’s wedding (though they had already gotten married in Korea). I saw a few people I knew from Korea and met many more fantastic folks. It was a very fun 4 days!
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| Playing washer-toss... turns out I'm awesome at this game! |
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| Beautiful setting for a wedding! |
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| With Ty and Allie, the "newly"weds. |
2. Took a few trips to Chicago. On the first, my mom, sister, and I hit up several museums and saw the Blueman Group (always great). On the second I hung out with a college friend, Micah, and her boyfriend. And I did some shopping J On the third trip, I met up with my mom and sister to go see the Lion King musical. Also great.
3. Took the Amtrak out to New York City to meet up with one of my good friends from Korea, Rachel. She’s from London and was visiting the States for a couple weeks, so I met up with her for her last couple days. We had fun hanging out - walking around a lot and doing some of the free stuff (walking the Brooklyn Bridge, the Staten Island ferry, Central Park, Times Square, etc).
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| Enjoying the fall foliage in Central Park. |
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| On the Brooklyn Bridge. |
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| On the Staten Island Ferry... it was quite cold! |
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| Happy Hour... bottle number 2... |
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| We made friends with the staff at the sports bar where we stopped for Happy Hour (and 6pm) and went out with them after they closed (around midnight)... it was a long, but fun, night! |
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| Sign on our hostel's door. |
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| Enjoying a sunny, warmer day after our long night out! |
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| Final stop: Times Square. It's better at night. |
4. Went out to Portland, Oregon for a week, with a day-trip to Seattle. I blogged about that previously, so check it out if you’re curious!
Smaller events:
1. Celebrated my aunt’s 50th birthday (we succeeded in surprising her).
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| Surprise! |
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| My sister, Aunt Chris, cousin Shawn, myself, and my cousin K.C. |
2. Went to my church’s campout. It was fun, but cold!
3. Experienced the Taste of Peoria for the first time.
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| Angela and I shared some delicious samples (and enjoyed a few individually, too!). |
4. Went to the Pulse Fest; was very happy to see TobyMac in concert.
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| Yolonda and I played "pass the pigs" while we waited for Toby Mac. |
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| Toby Mac! |
5. Enjoyed a few First Fridays in downtown Goshen.
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| ND's Shakespeare in the Park |
6. Attended a friend’s Halloween/fall party.
Day-to-day things:
1. Spent hours (as in, very many hours) at the Brew, my all-time favorite coffee shop. I also spent many hours at a few different Starbucks. And the Blend, the coffee shop in my parents’ town, know me and my order.
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| The Brew! |
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| Starbucks in Peoria |
2. Read at least a few dozen books.
3. Drove a lot. I was back and forth between Washington, IL and Goshen, IN almost every week. I rented a total of 4 different cars (a big contribution to my debt).
4. Bought a lot of clothes. Pretty much a new wardrobe. It was much needed after living in Korea for so long and not shopping often. (Also a large contribution to my debt.)
5. Ate at my favorite restaurants, some a few times.
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| Olive Garden in St Louis with Amanda and Becca. |
6. Met many babies and toddlers and other youngsters. My friends have a had a lot of babies since I’ve been away!
7. Hit up the Spring a few times (the one cool bar in Goshen; it opened the year I first left for Korea).
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| Playing darts at the Spring. |
8. Went to see many movies in the theater. Not really sure how many - maybe about a dozen (which is actually kind of a low number..).
9. Also watched a good amount of movies with friends at their homes. And on my computer.
10. Got a cavity filled, a broken filling fixed, and a root canal.
11. Enjoyed many lazy Sundays, sitting around with friends and watching football… Go Bears! Go Colts!
12. Before accepting my new job, spent many hours looking for jobs online, applying, and interviewing. Very stressful at times!
A few more photos:
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| Tiger Lily, the only cat I'll tolerate. |
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| I made sure to enjoy some Chief ice cream a few times; looks like Jared is enjoying his dad's ice cream. |
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| Laura and I had a couple girls' nights... on our first we ended up at Steak n Shake (due to a very quiet downtown Goshen!). |
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| I LOVE the fall! |
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| But I do enjoy the first snowfalls of the year, too. |
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| With Laura Jo and April. |
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| Family dinner at Chili's - Matt, Liza, and mom. |
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| Rare photo of my dad! |
It was definitely nice to be home again (especially since I didn’t have to work!), but I am very ready to return to Korea. I’m arriving about 12 days before I actually start teaching again, though I will have training at my new school for a couple days about a week after I get there. I’m moving into my new place the last weekend of November. I’ll be living in Guri, east of Seoul (but still on a subway line), teaching at POLY school there. After 9 months I’m very excited to be getting my own place again - and I’m even looking forward to teaching again! Can’t wait to meet all my new kiddos, though I still miss my old ones! It’s also going to be nice to pay off my new debt and knock off some more of my old debt (my student loans). Not to mention to start saving and dreaming about my next travel adventures ^^
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