For all of those who don’t know, I came back to Korea for my third year but I’m no longer in Seoul. This year, I forced myself decided to live in a different city. Now, I live in a city called Songdo which is in Incheon which is nothing like Seoul. It’s like moving from Los Angeles to Riverside. Yeah, it pretty much pales in comparison but, I’m strangely comfortable here so far. Am I, dare I say, growing up??
I’ve always loved cities and what goes on in them. The constant noise, traffic and endless choices of things to do appeals to my nature. I’ve always said I would never move to the surburbs because I hate cookie-cutter anything. However, trying out a suburb in a different country doesn’t seem as horrid as doing it back home. At least here, there is still some adventure with daily activities being that I still don’t speak Korean(smh).
Self-evolving is a trip. Five years ago, I never would have been able to live in a suburb. Depression would have set in fast and I would have been running back to the city with only the clothes on my back if necessary. But now, it’s quite calming to be away from it all. I’m about an hour away from “it all” so it’s close enough to still go and fill up on “city life” when needed. I do get bored every now and then because I don’t have any friends in my new town but it’s not too bad.
Growing up is not the only reason for moving to the sticks changing my environment. The other reason was pure and simple economics. I spend too much damn money in the city! I hardly ever turn down an invitation to do anything so being in Seoul was detrimental to my financial health. Most people that come to teach over here are hypnotized by the “You can save half your paycheck” line spilling out of recruiter’s mouths. While this is true to some extent, it is very hard to do. If you are not frugal back home, then 9 times out of 10, you will not be frugal in a new country. Especially with all the instant friends you will accumulate and cool places to travel that will just burn a hole in your bank account.
Everyone knows that Mark Twain quote about not regretting things that you did and I don’t but sometimes, I look at my bank account and go, “Why lord Why??” I have done a lot of cool things in the past 2 years that prolly would have taken me a long time to do if I was just working back home but now I’m on a mission. A “saving” mission that is. I’m not doing any big traveling this year and I’m cutting back on partying, lattes and restaurants. It’s gonna be tough but I’m excited to see my bank balance go up and not down. And at the end, I intend on rewarding myself with something extremely cool that I’m not going to announce now. Me and K are doing something big in 2012 and before ya’ll say what about your bank balance going down again. I reply, “This is a saving mission, not a keeping mission”….
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