It's the small stuff that counts

As my first year is Seouth Korea comes closer and closer to being done, I have been realising just how much I have done and changed and experienced. It is a good if not slightly bewildering feeling. When you are constantly aware of your every day struggles, it can be difficult to see your overall acheivements in a given situation. But I think that this next month should be a celebration of the cultural, professional and personal acheivements that I have made this past year. A renewed sense of interest and adventure is what I hope to bring into my second year here.

After so many months of struggling through culture shock and health problems, things seem to be leveling out here more or less. I find less things shocking and upsetting on a daily basis or rather they seem to bother me less and less. A profound sense of acceptance towards my situation here has let me turn my opinion and view of life in Korea from negative to positive. Sharing my experiences with another person has given validity to my life here and also something to look forward to. a reason to stay, to try, to be a better self and person. It's kind of easy to get lost here, all alone, so far removed from yourself and your home. But it is a great feeling to slowly come back into yourself and your passions and realise that place is only an illusion, and as long as you can ground YOURSELF in that place, anything is possible.

So the little things (all those things that you let slide while you floated through your life in aforeign land) seem to come back into sharper focus and mater more and more. It's the little things that make up an interesting, fulfilling and balanced life. Knowing were and how to buy the food that you've been missing, subconsciously performing the small cultural gestures which separate you from the tourists and grant you the respect of the natives... these are the small things that lead to feeling more settled and balanced in your life ;whether you aknowledge them or not. For the person who does pay atention to them, their lack can feel awful, but their return feels even better.

And so, I look forward into a second year here, not with anxiety, bordom or trepidation, but with a sense of excitement that i get to give it another go. This time I get to start with a much better understanding of EVERYTHING around me, including all of the little things. A new apartment, new boyfriend, new co-teacher, new outlook and understanding of the culture, all of the above will grant me the ability to start this new school year fresh but with a confidence and sense of understanding that was profoundly lacking at this same time last year. And so we celebrate the small victories which accumulated equal a life that is successfully lived.