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| Prost! |
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted the opportunity to live in Europe, specifically Germany and I've always really liked the German language. I'm not sure why but its a true story. I took Spanish in high school only because German wasn't offered so I took it in college and it turns out Marc did, too. That was one of the random things we had in common when we met. How many kids from southern California have taken German?? And we used to be pretty decent, but that was twelve or more years ago. So when the offer was official I pulled out my old German textbooks and we started reading and its all coming back to us! We remember a lot which is a good head start, but still, reading German in a textbook is way different from understanding native speakers talking at their normal speedy speed. We'll be lucky if we can pick out one word in each sentence (at the beginning anyway). Our hope is to try to speak it as much as we can even though most of the locals can speak English.
Let me try to explain how much this means to us. I'm not exaggerating...ever since Marc and I met we've shared a common dream to live in Europe and nine out of ten weekends for the past several years we talk about how to actually do it. Its just our normal weekend routine. Over coffee and blueberry pannycakes...How can we get a job there? Wouldn't it be great? Let's watch Rick "MyCrush" Steves and day-dream! What out-of-the-box thing can we do to get there? Who do we know that might have a connection? And then we hit a wall and realize how difficult it is and admit that the only realistic way is if he got a job with the government but that's almost impossible so let's just stop talking about it because it makes us feel defeated and our dream will never be a reality. Let's accept that its probably never going to happen. More coffee? EVERY WEEKEND.
Even government jobs are hard to come by in Europe because the US presence there is getting smaller and bases are consolidating and closing down. The other thing is that many Americans who have jobs in Germany don't want to leave. Once they get a job there they figure out a way to keep staying making it very difficult for anyone new to come in. By law, a job opening has to be posted for everyone to see, but it usually gets filled by someone already there. So its next to impossible to even get an interview, let alone an offer. Thanks to Marc's credentials, perseverance and a little (maybe a lot?? of) luck, he beat the odds and got one of the few jobs available to him. We still can't believe it!! Just thinking about it makes my heart beat faster.
Every Army spouse I know who has lived in Germany has only good things to say about it and they all want to go back. And when a spouse posts a question on a Facebook page asking for advice on whether they should take the post in, for example, Hawaii or Germany all the other spouses emphatically type-yell, "GERMANY!!! TAKE GERMANY!" I will say, though, that those who have lived in Germany and are now here admit that there are a lot of great things about Korea that Germany doesn't have. But still! I'll learn to live with it! Its Europe for crying out loud!
Believe it or not, through this process from the interview to getting the job, we haven't been jumping-up-and-down-excited. I don't quite know how to explain it other than its kind of scary when you actually get what you want. Is this really going to happen? What's the catch? Its sort of a "waiting for the other shoe to drop" feeling. Its ironic to me that just as I've gotten used to (and am totally okay) with the idea of staying in Korea another year or more, this pops up and changes everything! I just assumed we'd be here for at least another year. I already know how to live here and moving again means I have to start from zero. Its kind of nice being a "veteran" of living in this community. I know what's up and now I'm going to be the rookie again! Despite having done it several times, its still really hard moving to a new place.
We have it pretty good here. This crummy little town - seriously, ZERO curb-appeal - has really grown on us. It's the people we've met here, American and Korean, and the Korean people and culture in general. And I love, love, love our apartment. Except for not having a yard, everything about it from the layout to the amount of storage is just ideal for our situation. And I have two sets of neighbors that I simply adore just steps from my front door and plenty of other neighbor friends in other buildings. Even though we've been here over two years it feels too soon. We have so many great things going on - Toby's school, all the fun things to do for kids, our amazing neighbors and friends. But the reality is we're going to have to say goodbye to it all at some point anyway. One friend left this month, another leaves in July, and more in August and December, not to mention all the friends who have already left. A few more are staying until next year, but it's still just a matter of time. I thought I would be sending them off, not the other way around. Yes, I've moved a lot but its only been the last few times that I'm really heartbroken about the people I'm saying goodbye to because I know its unlikely I will ever see them again in person. And it means our little era of fun is over. At Toby's school it seems like every other week one kid moves away and a new one moves in and life goes on. I don't really like that part but I'm grateful for these experiences and relationships. Moving around is one way to meet a LOT of people from all kinds of backgrounds. Its hard to believe we have to say goodbye already. This apartment is not going to be our home for much longer. We're going to miss the food, the jumpy house, the kid cafes, and the cinnamon pancakes from heaven just to name a few. And my heated toilet seat?!?! Oh, the humanity! But even with all of the great things we have going on here, the opportunity to live in Europe is not something we could even consider passing up. We can't not do this.
There is a lot that I really like about living here (and I need to write a whole blog just about how sad I am to leave Korea) BUT there are some things that make me want to pull my hair out and scream, so I've always thought that I would like to leave Korea on good terms rather than get to the point where those things become intolerable and I can't stand it and feel desperate to leave but with no job to take us away. Right now I'm on good terms with Korea and Europe is knocking. So I guess its time to go.
Start planning your trip now. Visitors wanted!
