Forecast: Rain, Rain, and some more Rain

It is monsoon season in Seoul, which means 1 thing.  Rain...lots and lots and lots of rain.  For all of my life, my least favorite season has been winter.  I hate the cold and having to bundle up and unbundle every time you leave or enter a place and not being able to play outside for more than a few minutes and scraping ice off of your windshield.  I especially disliked winter in Korea with people using their umbrellas while it snowed and unplowed/unshoveled sidewalks and roads and a general lack of holiday cheer.  But I've decided that my new least favorite season is summer in Korea.  Because summer in Korea means monsoon season.  And monsoon season, as I stated previously, means rain and rain and rain.  Of the last 30 days, it has rained in Seoul 27 days.  Everyday when I have woken up to try to get a run in for the last month, it has been raining.  Most days when I go to lunch, it is raining.  And usually when I leave work at night and walk home, it is raining.  As I sit in my apartment typing this, it is raining.  And when it rains here, it isn't just a light drizzle or a short burst of rain and then clear skies.  It is torrential downpour for hours upon hours.  I'm not sure how the entire city hasn't flooded.  I feel like I live in a rain forest or that I should be boarding an ark full of animals soon.  I didn't have any idea that it could rain this much in one place.

Luckily, tonight at a staff dinner, my boss said monsoon season ends on Saturday.  And then there is a possibility that we might have a typhoon, which would mean rain for a bit longer.  But fingers crossed that the typhoon veers towards Japan and leaves Korea alone.  Because if so, my boss said that starting next Tuesday we will have some traditional Midwest summer weather...hot, sunny and humid.  I couldn't be more excited!

Here's to struggling through a couple more of these depressing, dark, gloomy, rainy days and getting to the sunshine on the other side.  I hope the weather back home is being more amicable than the weather here is.

Love you and miss you all!!!

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke

Another day in Seoul

I'm not sure what I feel today.  Another good friend/co-worker left last Thursday to return to the States, and I think I've been in some sort of funk since.  It is really hard to get used to the constant stream of people coming in and out of your life here.  Everyone here starts their teaching contract at a different time of the year, so it seems like people are almost constantly leaving and new people are arriving all the time.  It's a difficult transition from life back home where you may make some new friends and have a couple friends move away over the years, but for the most part, you are surrounded by your same network of people, the same friends and family.  Luckily, I've never had much trouble making new friends or getting to know people.  But continuously meeting new people and attempting to form some sort of lasting bond/friendship is utterly exhausting.  It feels like just as I start getting comfortable with a person and he/she with me, that person leaves the country.  And then we're back to square one getting to know another person.  And since I now find myself on the downward slope with less than half of my contract left, some days it almost feels pointless putting out all the effort for a friendship that would last at most only 5 and a half more months.  It's just weird. I can't even explain all the different emotions, except to say I'm not sure how I feel.  I do know that I'm fortunate to have one friend in my office who came only about 6 weeks before me and with whom I have become quite good friends.  I would probably lose it if he were leaving soon.

I miss you, all my friends and family back in the States.  I think about you daily and am quietly wishing for winter to return (even though I do so desperately hate the cold) so that I can come home and spend the winter holidays with you.  I hope you had a fabulous 4th of July and that your summer has been and will continue to be splendid.  Well, I have an apple pie in the oven that I believe needs to come out.

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke