새해 복 많이 받으세요, or Enter the Dragon

Year of the Black Dragon

OMG, 2012 is  the year of the Black Water Dragon, and officially begins today according to the Lunar Calender. You may have heard of it as Chinese New Year, or Tet, but in Korea, it's called  설날 (Seollal) The Korean written in the title translates to lots of luck in the new year. It's been a crazy past few months for me. I began studying Korean in earnest, I moved from Nowon to Haebangchon, almost got ripped off of my deposit money but handled it in Korean (sort of), went a one week trip to Nigeria (after 15 years) for a reunion with my family and became so freaking fit I don't know what to do with myself. And I may also be getting kicked of Korea as my FBI background check is currently missing...

A lot of ups and downs as usual (this is after all, real life and not a fairy tale) and stress... My Korean is improving immensely since I must speak it 20 hours a week. I also have a language exchange partner who helps with the everyday application. What I love about now vs. a few years ago is my Korean is often as good as someone's English, so they no longer have an advantage. My days are super busy, work out at 6am, class from 9 am to 1pm and then work until 10pm. Luckily I only work 3 days a week, so I can recover the other 4... Still I was once working and studying full time, that was insane, but I still passed the class. And I won't really get kicked out. I can get a student visa. But that's still currently my biggest worry.

Bootcamp

Korean class classmates

New Apartment

Language Exchange

My wishes for the new year... prosperity and happiness. I want to stay super fit, and maybe start eating healthy (still my weakness - some days I eat almost nothing at all, some days I pile on the alcohol and calories: it balances out but it can't be healthy). Get better at Korean, because I think there is a career for me on TV if I do... I keep getting interviewed in Korean... Find a new job where I'm happ(ier). Get used to the new area I live in. 

But most of all, I love you guys and miss you so much. May everything you dream of come true in 2012