Semester # 4

So today was the first day of the second semester. Because Korea schools start each year on March 1^st, around September 1^st summer vacation ends and it’s back to the workbooks full swing. Fortunately I didn’t have any classes today because students were leveled into new English classes according to how they scored on their first semester final exams.

Semester 4 is of special importance to Matt and me because it marks the halfway point of our time in Korea. We have been in Korea for 18 months and have 18 months to go. The number 18 holds so much significance for us. We were engaged on January 18^th, we will be married next August 18^th, and now the real countdown has begun: 18 months to go.

Although it’s a time to celebrate, being halfway through our 3 year contracts is bittersweet. On one hand, I can’t believe we have been living in a foreign country for 18 months, sometimes it doesn’t seem possible. On the other hand, I cringe when I think about how long that time has been, and how I still have another half of it to go. Matt felt these same feelings while hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2009. I was with him when he stepped over the ½ marker on the 2100 mile trail that snakes from Georgia to Maine. I was jumping up and down, hugging and congratulating him for such an accomplishment. He wasn’t all that thrilled. For him, the previous half of his hike was amazing, but incredibly long and arduous. He had already seen so much in the 3 months he had been on the trail. He had already hiked through several states, and sighed when he realized how much further he really had to go.

So here I am, finding myself stuck in the future, stuck in wedding planning and daydreaming of when we get to go home. There. I said it. I want to go home. It’s not like I didn’t want to go home before, I always knew we would find ourselves back in Maine. But recently, in the past few months, our discussions have been less travel-the-world centered and more buy-a-house-raise-a-family centered. I don’t know if my internal, subconscious clock is ticking or what, but both of us are thrilled to go home and try our luck at settling down.

I know that this small bout of homesickness will pass, and that when fall is well under way here I will be excited to see what it has to offer. Last fall in Korea was my favorite season. The weather is just perfect; the leaves don’t change until November leaving us two glorious months of dry, sunny days. We explored a lot last year and plan on doing the same this year. My goal is to enjoy my time here while I am still here, while allowing myself at the same time to daydream about going home.

During our Malaysian vacation Matt and I talked a lot about what we want to do when we’re finished in Korea. Like I have mentioned before, we have plans to travel after our 3^rd year contract is up. Although we are still going to travel, our plans have changed a bit now. I will write in future posts about what that means for us.

Coming up: the start of our adventures into the realm of stationary. We plan on ordering the card stock and materials for our save the dates and invitations within the week, which is exciting and daunting!