Nomad.

You can take the Nomad away from traveling, but you can't ever take the travel bug out of the nomad.

I decided today that I miss my old life. While I do not miss Korea, teaching, or being far away from familiar things, I miss trips, culture, traveling, airplanes, photos, etc.

My friend Ivania teaches in Turkey and is currently traveling in Egypt. My friend Laura teaches in Germany and is spending Christmas in Egypt. My friend Jennifer lives in American Samoa and is probably off to New Zealand. Other friends are living in China, Japan, Costa Rica, Austria, and Vietnam. I just have this itch to live abroad again, travel again, be free... again.

Decompress.

In order to simplify my life, there are many steps I need to take.

Step 1: Cut up my credit cards

I will start there.

October.awesome.ness.

October has been a great month full of good food, concerts, volunteering, film festivals, trips, boyfriend, and more.

We go to San Fran next Saturday.

I.can't.freaking.wait.

le sigh:

I've recently self diagnosed myself with insomnia. I want sleep. hmm.

Yesteryear:

We all find time during the course of the day to actually breathe, relax, forget about work, and do something to treat ourselves. Typically, I reach my "peaceful" moment right before bed. There is nothing better to me then bringing a book or some magazines to bed with me along with some tea. I turn on a dim light, I fluff the pillows, and I read and sip my tea. Lately I've been reading National Geographic Traveler, because quite frankly, I am desperately yearning for a trip. I miss the days of packing my back pack for Thailand, climbing temples in Cambodia, and frolicking in the streets of Paris. Now, my life is comprised of bills, work, and stress. The thought of an exiting getaway is less than realistic at the present time. What happened to that simple life that I use to love so much? Unfortunately, every night before I go to bed, this is the time that I dream a little too big.

I've been thinking a lot lately about who I am, where I came from, and how much I've changed over the past few years. I've always been an advocate that "change" is good and sometimes even necessary. Although I'm constantly working toward reaching my happy place, I still don't think I'm actually there. Living abroad for three years definitely helped me make progress, but I want more. I need more time out of my comfort zone.

I continuously think about what I want long term: a house, a companion, a dog, a family. It's during my peaceful moment before bed that I wish I had someone to look over at, to kiss good night, and to wake up next to. As cliche as it all sounds, maybe my peaceful place is just a reminder of where I am right now in my life.

However, I also continuously think about where I want to be right now: in a hammock on the beach in Fiji, on a safari in Africa, hiking in South America. I think about quitting my job, maxing out my credit cards, and just traveling for a year or more. I know that I lived abroad for 3 years, and I was able to travel extensively, but I feel like I only saw a fraction of what is out there. Once you start traveling it is so hard to stop. Once you discover that there is so much more out there then the town you grew up in, it's difficult to not want to see those places. I have never been a small town boy, and I always knew that I wouldn't stay where I grew up. Even though I've had the chance to see places that most people only read about, I still have a list a mile along of places I want to go.. things I want to see..

Maybe I need to embrace change even more. Take advantage of my new surroundings and live here in Seattle. In the meantime, I'm still yearning for so much.

Not so long ago...

It is crazy to think how fast the last five months have just flown by. It wasn't even that long ago that I was packing up, saying goodbyes, and making to-do lists in my final days of being a resident of Seoul, South Korea. I have lived in Seattle now for 5 months, and each day I learn something new either about my job or about life in Washington.

It is also equally crazy that my three years in Seoul still seem like a long lost memory. They went by so fast (at times) and now when I think about Korea, it always seems so long ago. It is exciting though, that as part of my job, I train new teachers who are on their way to Korea- so I always get to share my memories and thoughts with them.

I've stopped telling stories about my time there, my travels throughout Asia, and my daily life routine while working there because my friends and family are just not interested. For a long time I thought that living abroad and traveling the world was something that most people would be interested to talk about, but it seems when it comes up, that most people just don't want to hear it.

I guess what I chalk the experience up as is something that everyone has to experience for themselves. I guess if you've lived in the same house your whole life and never left the state you were born, then you probably wouldn't understand my perspective on the world anyways.

All I know is that the old blog posts, pictures, and stories need to be updated with new stories and pictures. I yearn for travel, simplicity, and culture. Now my biggest job is to figure out how to make these thoughts happen. I did it once, I can do it again, right?

On Being an Adult...

I really never realized how much I took growing up under my parents roof for granted until it was time to put a roof over my own head. College, while it may give us the knowledge to succeed in a career, definitely did not prepare me for all the bills that come after college. Heck, why did life have to get so hard?

When you're a student, you're most likely living in the residence halls, eating cafeteria meals, and working part time to pay for outings to the mall or for beer for a Friday night party. You didn't have to worry about student loans, insurance, or a mortgage. When it came time for Spring Break, you booked your tickets to Florida and Mexico using your credit card or left over loan money and you thought "have fun now and pay later." Well, let me tell you, it's no fun to pay later. When you decide to "pay later" then that trip to Mexico your senior year of college is probably the last trip you'll see for a long time. Five years later, you're still probably paying it off :)

Because of the recent recession coupled with the fact that almost all markets suck right now, interest rates are higher than ever, APR's on credit cards are at a freeze, etc. It's becoming even more difficult to pay back the loans and debt that you created while having "fun" in college. And do not forget that the job market, while improving, probably has not provided that full time job making six figures a year. Even though you may have paid 40,000 dollar a year for your private education, you definitely didn't get the big shot job that you thought you would. Instead, you're working hard to pay the bills month to month and you're lucky to budget enough to order take out once a week.

I wish I could go back to the days where I had it good. I didn't have to pay an electric bill, cable and Internet were free, and the fridge and pantry were always stuffed with delicious food. I never had to write a monthly check for rent or a mortgage, and my dad would throw me a $20 every now and again for a movie or dinner with friends.

Even though I've been on my own since 2002, and I never ask my parents for money, sometimes I do wish that I could just move back "home" and reap the benefits of the "good life." ha!