From SoCal to SoKo

"We're moving to South Korea" is a statement I never could have imagined would proceed from my mouth. 
Srsly, Korea? 
I'd like to say I don't know how we got to this juncture, but of course I do. Marc applied for several jobs in his field and this is the one he got! In Pyeongtaek, South Korea, of all places. Why I'm surprised, I don't know, considering the whirlwind of unexpected moves we've had. It all started in San Diego, then Portland, then L.A., then D.C. and now SoKo. Our new address in Korea will be the seventh we've had in just shy of 8 years. Ridonkulous, yes, but all but two of those moves have been pretty much necessary for our family. I want to be home with my boys, which turns out pays nothing, so we're all relying on Marc's income. Thankfully he supports my desire to be home, so we're supporting him - which means we have to follow him around...the world, as it turns out.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE travel. I've traveled extensively in Europe, (which I guess isn't very extensive compared to the whole world) but still. I am happily willing to visit anywhere for a few weeks, but to live there for three years?? Not to mention that Asia has never been high on my list of places to travel to. Truth be told, I've never had much of an interest in or even thought about the culture or language, except for the food, of course. It just hasn't been on my radar. I've always loved the European languages and would be thrilled to have the opportunity to learn any of them. Why couldn't it be a Spanish-speaking country?? After taking so many years of Spanish, in three years I could definitely be bilingual! Gah! Learning a new language in adulthood is difficult enough, but one that you're really not interested in even attempting is near impossible! Oyyy...

I have so many questions swirling around in my brain. How will I get places if I can't read the signs? What will we eat?! There's obviously no Trader Joe's in Korea, so I don't know what I'm going to do about that. Where will Toby go to school? Will I be extremely homesick for the US and hearing English? Do they have a system like 9-1-1 and if so, will the dispatcher even understand what I'm saying? What kind of electrical outets do they have? Will we make friends? I'm sure there is a very simple, positive answer to all of this, but right now it's all so daunting.

Ughhhh, speaking of friends...we're leaving behind a lot of them. Oh man, I was NOT expecting to meet so many great people here. I have no attachment to Virginia, but we scored big time when we blindly selected this neighborhood on Craigslist while living in L.A. Well, the house turned out to be awful, but the neighborhood is a goldmine of terrific people. Our friends/park require their own blog post one of these days.

If I reflect over the past few years and all the places we've lived it seems pretty obvious that each move, which seemed really difficult at the time, has stretched my comfort zone little by little to get me to the point where moving abroad seems like the next logical step. We can't get any farther east from where we started and still be in the USA. I thought moving to L.A. from Portland was going to be awful. Then I thought L.A. to D.C. was a nightmare. So far I've been proven wrong, I've adapted, and even come to like each of the very different places we've lived. I have a (hopeful) feeling that living in Korea will prove to be much better than I think and that our experiences there will turn my neutrality toward Asian culture into deep admiration and appreciation. If nothing else, at least I know they have really great food!