"Not all who wander are lost." Tolkien

Last week was the first time since I left for Korea that I did not have a conversation with myself about extending my contract, this was largely in part because I had made the decision to stay.  I am not one to rush into a decision like this with any shred of ignorance, I had to try and absorb the scope of commitment that I was going to be signing on for.  One of the things that make living here in South Korea fun and exciting are the people I socialize with.  This is pretty broad actually, from the teacher and students I interact with everyday to the other English teachers from my town, and around the country.  Anyone in this situation needs to be okay with a certain amount of solitude, and while teaching EFL has me interacting with lots of people and students it is not exactly like chatting with old friends about my day.  One of my prime concerns with extending my contract was asking "how am I going to keep myself from turning into a hermit and talking to myself until August?".  I had been hanging out with a few people from emu on any given Friday or Saturday, this is all fine and dandy until you take into account that they will be leaving at the end of December.  So I thought to myself I ought to see who is sticking around for the year.  I went to Busan with Brandyn and Tony, they are in for 12 months, other people that are cool (12 month contract) include Ian, Josh and Dave.  Dave was quite peached to find out that I was sticking around, and I will make sure that by the time he goes back to see the Queen he accent is all but gone and he pronounces all the syllables in British towns and cities.
Perhaps an even larger issue I had to sort out was the one involving me graduating college and needing to figure things out.  I don't know exactly what the job employment situation is back home but word from a few (very) close and respected people in my life are that things in the mitten are glum,  I believe the words used were "shit" and "a pit of despair".  If I were to have come back at the end of January, I would have went to work subbing, and generally grinding things out until summer.  In addition to this and being old, I would have to scrap for health insurance and all that costs too much money in the United States.  While I am a healthy individual, my health coverage here in Korea is reimbursed 90% of what I pay, and treatment is pretty cheap to begin with anyways, so why stop a good thing?  I think my mom is worried about several thousand things to do with my life but one of them probably has to do with me not getting a start on looking for/ getting hired/ moving my stuff out of the house/ being less than 6000 miles away.  Rest assured I am aware of this, sorry for the gigantic mess I left around the house and in my room, that will be dealt with in due time.  For now, I have an opportunity to teach and experience the world at a time in my life when I have finished round #1 of college and have only begun to trek out into the unknown.  This is okay because I don't plan on kicking the bucket any time soon.  Living like this would be hard to come back to when I encumber myself with things like car payments, rent, morgage, and anything "adult-like"...It makes me shudder just to think of it.  I know my outtake on life is a little bit eccentric compared to others but I have surrounded myself with friends that understand this or at least accept that I see things this way.
One of my friends back in michigan, Emily, was nervous to see me go to Korea.  Not because I didn't know the language, or culture, or being a billion miles away.  She thought that even though I said I was only going away for 6 months I would fall in love with everything or nothing in particular and extend my stay.  Clever girl.
Staying until August allows me some flexibility in my travels, I am looking to spend new years someplace warm and tropical (Thailand?).  Jeju Island in the spring, Japan before I come back, and who knows where else.  I aim to have a few more stamps in my passport before I have my next Oberon!
It feels weird to have the future as an open book.  Never before has my life direction been this open, there has always been something on the horizon (school mostly) that I could have my sights set on.  I have read about adventures of travels through Tolkien & Adams, now I can live them.

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” Einstein.

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky"

My travels take me to exotic places, rich with culture and adventure, there is never something that replaces "home".  While my apartment is not my home in Michigan, it is becoming a place that I am becoming more "at" home.  After teaching I make a point of going to the roof of my building with a cup of tea and catch the sun setting over the mountains, it is a nice moment of reflection.
I have never had a frosty relationship with any of the teachers at the school, though I felt that I didn't have a thriving one.  One of the reasons for this is the language barrier...  The teachers have all had english education at some point in their own education though many don't use it enough to be able to converse (a lot like the spanish I took in high school), and are too shy/don't want to use poor english in front of students to speak with me.  I have been trying to use a few Korean phrases with some of the staff (sometimes successful, and other times not) and have even had a brief conversation with my principal on the walk back from the cafeteria (he has, near as make no difference, zero english).  It is good motivation to improve my Korean, and certainly isn't doing any harm in developing my staff relationships at school.  It is something that will only improve with time and perseverance.  
Teaching the kids is a wild ride.  Some days I feel like I have pulled everything out of my bag of tricks, other days I can have the most effortless class where everything fell perfectly into place.  Then there are some days when my students throw a left hook out of nowhere.  A situation like this presented itself last Tuesday...
My 2nd grade class is, using my kindest words, energetic.  Other words I might use to describe them would be, bananas, crazy, run amok, bane of my existence for 40 minutes two days a week.  I was guiding the craziness through the lesson when Hellia busts into my classroom with a shopping bag, and goes "Teacher!  Look!".  Naturally I am curious, so I peek into the bag...A chick, a baby chicken.  I think, "What is this doing in my classroom?".  This was a moment to just roll with the punches, but when they are come fast and furious one can only "roll" so much.  This is one of the many things they do not cover in university teaching method courses.
I've been writing this post for a while now and I apologize for any lack of continuity.  It will without a doubt be edited after I post it.  In return I give you a candid picture of a 2nd grader throttling a baby chicken.  Cute.

As I have mentioned before, there has been a constant internal dialogue dealing with my length of stay in Korea.  I am at a point in my existence where I have nearly full reign of the direction of my life.  While most of the EMU crew have 5 month contracts I signed for 6 months because I did not need to make it back in time for the winter semester (one of the perks of graduating).  This 6 month contract would end in January and have me subbing until June and looking for a full time teaching gig over the summer.  From a conservative point of view this would be a pretty logical choice.  On the other hand, I quite like teaching here.  I am learning massive amounts about myself, classroom actions, the importance of communication with students (and how much I took it for granted in the US), and many more I didn't name, and are unaware of myself.
Extending my contract would mean leaving my Family (that includes friends as well), and all that I have grown to know and interact with on a social level for a while longer.  While I could easily look externally for an answer to my questions I know the answer is not to be found anywhere but inside myself.  I'll not make a formal announcement with any great fanfare and such, but don't be surprised of either possible outcome...
On the light side of this subject, Dr. Koh (my professor from EMU) came and visited my school to talk with my administration and supervising teachers to be sure that everything was going smoothly.  Soon after the initial greeting of "good to see you" & "how have you been?" this is the conversation we had (quoted to the best of my knowledge)...
Dr. Koh:  "Your school likes you, Michael"
Me: "I like them too"
Koh: "They want you to extend, I want you to extend"
Me: "I think about that everyday, I might very well extend"
Koh: "Do you have a Girlfriend back home?"
Me: "No..."
Koh: "Good, you can get one here"
Me: "Well, you know I wouldn't be opposed to something like that..."
Koh: "Oh!  Do you like Korean women?"
Me: "They aren't ugly."
Koh: "Do you know Chelsea's Co-Teacher? she is very pretty"
Me: "Yup" (poker face)
Koh: "Michael, listen.  Michigan is shit right now.  Nobody has jobs, even professors are worried.  Extend your contract, I will come back in April and visit.  If it is still shitty at the end of another 6 months you can apply for EPIK, I will make sure you get a good placement...I don't want to see you back in Michigan, you don't have a girlfriend to come back to, your parents can wait.  Julie thought about extending but she didn't and she still doesn't have a job."

Leave it to a 5 foot nothing Korean lady to lay it out straight poop for you.  The Koh-ster does not beat around the bush.

This is shaping up to be one of my more lengthy updates as I have not had one in a few weeks.  If you need to, use the bathroom or grab a beer because it is time for some adventure stories.

My friend, Brandyn who is an EPIC scholar lives in the middle of nowhere so I don't see him all that much.  He had planned a trip to Busan for the International fireworks festival they were having down there the weekend before Halloween.  I was game for that, plus it gave me the chance to meet some new people (I love having adventures with my emu crew, but logically, if 90% of them are ditching me in December I need to branch out to people who are going to be around longer).  We booked a Hostel, I've never stayed at a Hostel before so I did not know what to anticipate, but since the last time I stayed in Busan it was at a seedy Motel with a mosquito problem...I was cool with anything else.
For 20$ a night, not a bad view (insert moderate sarcasm here).

The weather wasn't perfect, but it didn't stop us from having a good time.  After taking a 40 minute KTX train ride from Dong Daegu we were in Busan, and we met up with two of Brandyn's Friends from the EPIC program, both from Ireland.  A taxi ride from the station to our Apt. where the Hostel was at and we were ready to start the weekend.  The guy who runs the Hostel is called "Tiger" he left us a note with instructions for where to put our things and whatnot, he said in the note to call him when we got in s he could meet us near the university and he would take us out.  Before I knew it, I was mingling with travelers from England, Japan, Ireland, South Africa, and Iceland (a few Koreans in there as well).  It was good fun and Tiger was a blast, he trades stocks and acts as a middle man in the import/export business, I gathered he runs the hostel for fun.  Good times were had by all, and the next day we ventured out to Haeundae Beach.  Fortunately it turned out to be a nice October day.

We met a group of Hagwan teachers on the beach wearing costumes, drinking Makoli and eating pumpkin pie.  They offered us some and we broke bread with them for a while.  After that we went to the aquarium...

After dinner we had to make our way back to the Hostel to go to the hill nearby and watch the fireworks.  After some transportation debacle we made it there just in time for the weather to become absolutely foul.  The rain lashed, the wind howled, the temperature dropped.  It would all be worth it when the show started...  And then it started.  It was now that the group realized that there was a gigantic mountain between us and where the fireworks were being shot.  Words were said and the fact that we were all soaking wet only added to the comedy.  At least they sounded cool.
Before I left the next day I made a trip to the world famous fish market that is in Busan.  The view on what fish are normal to eat in the US is pretty narrow; Cod, Salmon, Shrimp, Tuna, the normal stuff.  In Korea, anything is game and all of it is at the market, in tanks still alive, ready to eat.  They have restaurants where you can take whatever you just bought and they will cook it for you.  And if you thought that was fresh, they have an entire floor of sashimi booths.  Point to the fish you want and 30 seconds later is is on a plate in front of you complemented my some garlic bean paste and Soju.  Not for people who are not fond of seafood, I loved it.  Brandyn, Tony and I all agreed to make a point of eating down here when we had more time (I have my eye on some gigantic snow crab).

So beside the fact that I missed the event that we initially came down to Busan for, it was still a weekend of adventure and excitement.  I was exhausted until wednesday when I had to start planning things for the next weekend in Seoul, for a friends birthday.  Even though that has already happened it will have to wait for another post,  Mama Mia!

Here is to keeping the book of life wide open, and finding my own path through it.  A quote from Twain (a traveler as well), "Ideally a book would have no order to it, and the reader would have to discover his own."