Coming back for another year!

After waiting in a kind of limbo for quite some time, today I finally got my contract for next year. I will be working at an elementary school here in Mungyeong, well actually I'll be working at three schools.  Two elementary schools and one middle school.

Finally!

This will be a huge change for obvious reasons, but I'm glad that I'll get to stay here in Jeomchon.  I had mixed feelings as I signed the millions of pages of my contract because it makes everything real.  I have a really short time left with my fantastic students at my current school. Some of my closest friends here in Korea will be leaving before I know it.  Not to mention, I'm going to be teaching elementary school and I have NO IDEA how to do that.  Next year is going to be very different in so many ways.

I know it definitely won't be the same, but I'm looking forward to the unexpected surprises that this will bring.  In a way, it will be nice to have a new job.  I'm looking forward to knowing how things work a little better this time around.  This time I know more about what Korea has to offer.  I know what I want to do, and I have one more year to do as much as I can.

Of course, as I signed my way into more wonderful opportunities, I was also signing myself into another year of homesickness, missing important events, and who knows what else.  I've been painfully aware of this fact every step of the way, and it's still not something I'm able to completely shrug off.

However, as I've always said, I'm going to know when it's time to leave Korea.  Just about every time I look at Facebook these days I'm seeing engagements, marriages, and babies.  There are so many people who question me about all of these things (especially in Korea) and my answer is always that I don't feel rushed.  It would be so easy to see the things other people are doing consequently freak out, compare myself, and make all of my life decisions with the goal of "keeping up."  But that's never been how I want to do things.

This year in Korea has been the most amazing experience of my life.  I'm not going to let it pass me by so easily.  I'm going to take my time to take advantage of the opportunities I have here in Asia.  A steady career, marriage, babies...these things will come when and if the time is right.

But for now, I'm in no rush to end this part of my life.  Why would I be?