Perspective Series-Back to the Beginning

This week I’m happy to introduce Caitlin from My Korean Adoptee Story for the next installment of the Perspective series. This is a series about expats sharing their experience of living abroad and how it inevitably changed their perspectives on life. I was adopted from Korea as an infant by a wonderful family and grew up in Wisconsin. Like many other Korean adoptees are choosing to do, I came to Korea in June of 2011, fresh out of college and ready to explore the country, culture and search for birth family. Every part of Korean life and job has its ups and downs, but I can say I’ve truly been blessed with an amazing experience. I have a great job with very kind and helpful students. I’ve seen so much of the country and gained more knowledge about the culture and people than I ever thought I could.  And even beyond my biggest dreams, I had the honor of hugging my birthmother and thanking her for giving me this beautiful life to live. I think a lot of expats can agree - life in Korea is pretty good. I originally planned to stay for a year, then six more months and even thought about staying in Korea long term. 
I took a two week trip back home with my boyfriend in May to be in my friend’s wedding. I hadn’t gotten too homesick during my time in Korea. First and foremost, it was great to see family and friends but I had forgotten how awesome all of the little things were. I could speak English and no one would yell at me all like “YOU LOOK KOREAN WHY AREN’T YOU SPEAKING KOREAN? YOU’RE AN ADOPTED KOREAN, OK YOU UNDERSTAND ME THEN!!” I could drive myself to places. Clothing stores had clothes with different sizes and I could try on anything. And like every expat returning home does, I ate myself into a food coma that lasted all the way back to Korea. Being home was wonderful but I knew my life in Korea was good too. I didn’t expect anything to change, even with the small reminders about life at home. My family and friends would still be there when I got home and I could deal with small inconveniences.
My mom actually came back with me to Korea so it was me, her and my boyfriend on a bus from the Incheon Airport to Gumi. We stopped at a rest area and I just remember walking into the restaurant area and having the overwhelming stench of kimchi welcoming me back to Korea and making me want to gag. This wasn’t normal. I like Korean food. I like kimchi. Why was it having this effect? After catching my breath and hoping I’d readjust to the kimchi smell, I decided to get ice cream at Lotteria. Their version of McFlurry is called a Tornado. But of course, it says 토네이도 (Konglish version of tornado) and after having the luxury of speaking English freely for two weeks, I could not, for the life of me, pronounce ‘tornado’ the Korean way.  But after a few tries, it seemed like the Lotteria worker finally understand me and took my cash. I wait for a few minutes and my number is called. I am handed a coke. I had no idea how tornado and cola could get mixed up, but it did. At this point, I was almost in tears. I just wanted to be back in my clean smelling home town where I could properly order ice cream.
While that’s a funny story to tell, there was definitely a big question that caused my shift in perspective about life in Korea. While my mom was in Korea, she also laid out the question to my boyfriend, Joonwoo - “Are you going to move to America if you and Caitlin get married?” This kind of question was pretty early for our relationship but even then, I knew it was something I had to think about because I was completely in love. If I wanted to stay with Joonwoo, living in Korea long term was my fate.  
When I had to think about Korea in a different perspective - from life as a single girl in her 20’s just saving up money to a potential wife and mother - things changed. I loved Korea for traveling, learning, and just enjoying life. But when I thought about Korea as a family life, it terrified me. I teach adults who work in Samsung and if I’ve learned anything from them - it’s two things. Korean husbands work 12+ hours a day, six days a week and never get enough family time and Korean students are slaves to studying. I grew up in America with parents who were there for me at my sports events, dance recitals, and took us on vacation. I was able to pursue a lot of different interests as a student that shaped me into the person I am today.  Time for your family and yourself is what my students always say they miss and I knew I could never give that up living in Korea. I want my future family to spend time together and I want my kids to have time to play and have a hobby or two. For me, a place can never be home without family and doing the things that you love.
Again, Korea is an amazing country to live in. I’m so happy I’ve had a chance to experience the culture, visit the many beautiful places, and I even picked up a bit of the language. Most of all - I truly believe Korea can help you see just what you love (and maybe don’t love) about the place you call home.



Caitlin's blog first caught my eye shortly after moving overseas. I shot her a message because she had just announced that she would also be moving to South Korea and since then, we have maintained an online friendship. I have loved being able to follow along on her journey to find her birth family and most recently getting engaged! Congrats!  Both her blog and life story are amazing and inspiring reads. Check her out at My Korean Adoptee Story

If you have lived abroad and would like to be featured, shoot me an email at lostintravelsblog{at}gmail{dot}com. I would love to hear from you!

Check out the other girls from the series

Shireen from Eat, Play, Love that Top

Michaela from Michaela Rae

Scored a couple of wins today

For the first time since I’ve been at Okefenokee, I awoke to rain this morning.  It was a rather wet and soaking time for Emma’s first outs.  I am having to set my alarm for work days here to ensure I have enough time to take care of Emma, eat breakfast, get a refuge vehicle, and be where I’m supposed to be on time.  My morning assignment was to ‘Roam’ before spending the afternoon working the VC.  I wasn’t too optimistic about the roaming in the rain, but as it turned out, the showers quit by the time I hit the roads.

I decided to walk the Upland Discovery Trail since it is short (.2 miles).  I was pretty confident that I wouldn’t encounter any visitors this early, but I felt it was a distance I could handle with my present walking issues.  It turned out to be one of those occasions when low expectations for ‘discovery’ were way off base.

The trail makes its way along a loop through an upland long-leafed pine stand with an understory of palmettos.  As it turned out, I observed four different species of woodpeckers on this short walk.

First up, I observed several yellow-bellied sapsuckers pecking away on the pines.  Every time I see one of these sapsuckers I’m reminded of that old 50’s TV program where a rather nerdy ‘Pamela Livingston’ was depicted as a weirdo bird watcher in khaki shorts and shirt with big binoculars hanging around her neck.  Can’t remember the name of that show.  Anybody know what I’m talking about?  I think in the series she worked for a photographer.

Then I came upon another pair of pileated woodpeckers.  I swear, I’ve never been at a place where it is so easy to see these crow sized woodpeckers almost every day.  I believe this species was the inspiration for Woody Woodpecker.

A little further along the trail, I came upon my first photographic Coue of the day.  It was a red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW).  The red-cockaded woodpecker is an endangered species with a very interesting lifestyle that I’ll talk about in a post of its own some time.  Okefenokee is famous for having a viable population of these birds, and I was happy to get some photos.  If you enlarge each of these photos, you’ll be able to notice the color bands on the the left hand shot, and the silver USFWS band on the right shot.  They are endangered because of the loss of the live long-leafed pine habitat in the south.  I also saw several red-bellied woodpeckers, but couldn’t get a decent shot of them.

I also fleetingly saw several of these wrens moving around through the palmettos, but never could get them to sit still long enough for a positive ID.  For such a short trail, it held many wonders for me, and will be a definite consideration to include in my bird tour proposal.

I can’t hardly not include a picture of an alligator in any drive I make around the refuge.  It kind of surprised me to find one out and about so early in the day after the rain and cooler temperatures. 

Just before having lunch and heading for my afternoon in the VC, I drove to headquarters hoping to touch base with Gracie Gooch, the volunteer coordinator, to see if a decision had been made about me setting up my Hard Rock Bird Café.  Some refuges allow volunteers to put up bird feeders, and others do not.  I was awaiting a decision.  One of the hazards of doing so is having to deal with squirrels, and at Okefenokee they have the ‘mother’ of all squirrels.  It’s the fox squirrel, and is about three times the size of the normal grey squirrel. 

I had been hoping to get some pics of these monster rodents, and today it happened (win #2).  I don’t know if they’d bother my feeders, but seeing the live oak acorn in this guy’s mouth makes me guess I’ll have my challenges if I’m allowed to open the cafe.    (The music from “Rocky” is beginning to play in my head.)

I’m off to the Mayo Clinic tomorrow.  I’ve been trying to keep my mind occupied not thinking about it. 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

I took a day of rest today

I remembered to set all of my clocks back last night, but it seems to have resulted in a night of fitful sleep for me.  I think maybe I’m starting to get the pre-doctor-visit jitters.  I hate going to the doctor, and I’m rather dreading the outcome of this visit.  I know something has to be done, but I’m still not looking forward to it.

With my weak wifi signal and variable air card signal here, I saved some of my photos from yesterday for tonight’s post.  I can’t pack a post too full of photos or it would never make it to blogland.

It will be a butterfly night this time.  The Gulf Fritillaries are very abundant along the back roads of the refuge.  They are fluttering about all over, and especially like these purple flowers.  I think maybe someone told me the flowers were deer tongues or something like that, but I’m not sure.  In the middle pic of the collage you might also notice a black and white bee honing in.  I sure wish I knew the name of every plant and insect I see, but my brain just can’t seem to hold all that information.

                                                   Each bloom seemed to attract multiple insects.

Using my National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies, I was able to identify this  beauty as a Buckeye.  It was resting on a pine needle on the sandy ground.  I have been quite surprised to find the soil here very sandy.  Apparently this area was a seabed in ancient times.  Edythe, one of the local volunteers, told me that when they drilled the well for their house sand dollars were dug up over 100’ below the surface of their yard.  Amazing!

I guess this is my favorite ‘capture’ of the day as it shows three butterflies and a couple of bees all coming to the blooms for some nectar.  I think the little butterflies in this photo and the one below are skippers, but I’m not exactly sure about that.

                                       This little guy had just taken off from this flowering plant. 

Anyway, about all I did today was my laundry for the week.  Other than that, I just rested up for going back to work for the next two days before my trek to the Mayo Clinic.  I did put the shock collar on Emma so she could burn off some energy as I slowly hobbled my way down one of the back roads.  I perhaps walked a half mile, but I’m thinking Emma put in several exuberant miles rushing from interesting scent to interesting scent. 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

I just don’t get it

I had today off, but decided to take the electric cart to check out the programs that were being presented for a group of home schooled students on the refuge today.  I’ll probably be helping out with some education programs in the future here, so I wanted to see what types of programs are offered.  Tonight, I started out writing a post about home schooling, and my experiences with those students, but had second thoughts about jumping into that bear pit, and erased it.

As I made my way down to the Chesser Homestead, the area was engulfed in heavy fog.  That’s the first fog I’ve seen here.

I figured the fog might make the group’s arrival a little late, and I was right.  Lots of turkeys were out and about in the subdued light.

When the sun finally started burning off the fog, it revealed the fine work of an artistic spider.  I followed the group around through a number of their scheduled programs, and felt comfortable that I could handle running any of the educational stations.

This evening I decided to grill up several chicken/apple/gouda sausages so I’d have tonight’s dinner as well as a few more easy fix meals.  That’s when I once again began to tear out my hair.  In my six years on the road, I’ve had a number of little gas grills.  They seem to work just great for a very short time.  Then after several uses, the heat seems to ebb and my hottest temperature seems to be 250*.  I just don’t get it.  People use those portable grills for years, but it seems I always have problems with maintaining proper cooking temperatures.  While I was in Mississippi I replaced the hose extension so I could use a larger propane tank.  That worked for a month.  When I tried to fire it up this evening, it blasted to high, and then immediately dropped down to almost no heat.  Again, I just don’t get it.  What is up with me and gas grills?

I had to bring everything inside and finish it on the stove.  I’m thinking I’m just going to give up trying to have an outside gas grill.

                                                                                THE END!!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Let’s take a drive

Hop on in the electric cart and come join me this evening on a drive down the Swamp Island Wildlife Drive.  It seems to me that no matter what time you take this drive, you’re going to see something interesting.

First up, a six point buck dashes across the road into the pines and palmettos.  It’s kind of like ‘Where’s Waldo’ with these pics.  Can you find him?

Passing the watery ditch on the left where the mama alligator lives, I find her out sunbathing in her usual spot.  But a little further down the ditch, almost hidden on the far side is one of her offspring from this spring.  This little one is only about a foot or so long and is easily missed.

As we continue down the eight mile loop, the evening sun lights up the tall grass plumes.  In the background you can see some of the charred ruins left by the terrible fires of 2011.  Grasses and palmettos are some of the first plant life to return after a fire.

A much larger alligator takes in the late afternoon sun along the ditch on the left.  Yesterday he (?) was out in the road, and two visitors on bicycles weren’t sure about riding past him.  They were happy to see Gracie and me approach in a vehicle.  They rode alongside the vehicle in order to get past him.  Good idea.  Better safe than sorry.

Along this same ditch is the area where all of the pitcher plant photos from my last post were taken.  The setting sun gave them a little different look this evening.

Just before arriving at the Chesser Homestead, I stopped to admire this Eastern phoebe that was hawking insects from one of the burnt out pines.

As I sat on the side of the road, I witnessed literally hundreds of American robins arriving for the evening in the swamp.  This is where many of the robins from up north spend the winter, and was the first large flock I’ve noticed this fall.  Undoubtedly the recent strong northerly winds after hurricane Sandy prompted their arrival.  It was quite an experience to watch them all streaming in.

Before I took this drive this evening, two major items on my list of things to do got taken care of.  I, and several others, have been trying to figure out a way to get my rig attached to the propane gas outlet that is provided at each RV site here.  It has been a frustrating week trying to accomplish this until this afternoon.  Suddenly both Bruce and Barry, fellow volunteers, had the same light bulb go off in their heads, and within minutes I was finally hooked up.  With colder temps coming, that was certainly a relief.

Secondly, after a good deal of time on the phone at the VC (my cell doesn’t get reliable service here) I now have an appointment next Wednesday with a Mayo Clinic orthopedic doctor in Jacksonville, FL.  I don’t know what will result from that appointment, but anything has got to be an improvement.  I’m tired of the pain and hobbling around.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Letters/28

Dear Halloween, you rock. Not just because of the excusable sugar overdose but also because my boss still thinks I'm a great teacher for playing Halloween movies in class. Hocus Pocus was a hit, Ghost Busters...not so much. Dear Zeke, you're cute but can you practice your attack skills on something else other than my head?  Oh and thanks for acting like a dog and playing fetch, it's pretty awesome. Dear hubs, thanks for being a planning rockstar this week. I think you've found the coolest guesthouses in Thailand. And as of yesterday, we have two out of four of our places booked for our vacation! I love that you play into my 'ultra-planning' ways and book places months before we go. Dear Dentist, I now remember why I haven't gone to you in the almost two years that I've lived in Korea. I always hated going to see you in the states but over here it's magnified when I can't speak the language and they put a creepy blanket over my face with only a hole for my mouth. No thank you. Dear hubs, you came home from work without the 80's cop stache. I felt like it was Christmas until I realized that it's now November and you're starting everything over for 'no shave November'.

A way to get even more stares in Korea

Halloween isn't widely celebrated in Korea. Well, my kids say that they celebrate but when I ask them if they dress up or go trick or treating, they say 'no'. So I'm not sure what exactly they do. All I know is that them not celebrating wasn't going to stop us from celebrating. And since Koreans don't really dress up on this special occasion, we got more than the usual amount of stares and pointing while we were out. The worker of a convenience store we were outside of even stood at the door and stared us down until we left. We started out at a place that sells great mix drinks in...pouches. Don't ask me why, I don't quite understand. But they're the cheapest place to go for drinks and they're good so I don't question it. Oh and the two backward looking F's on the package is the Korean way for a laughing sounds. Instead of 'haha' they say a 'kk' sound.Getting into character...I loved our costumes by the way. One of the easiest and most comfortable costumes I've worn in a long time. Unless you count the numerous years I went as a doctor because my parents could get me scrubs from work...com.for.ta.ble. We ended the night by bowling until closing time. We're wild party animals I tell ya.The girls rocked it that night...we didn't win but I'd have to say we looked to best while bowling.Later that night we went from burglars to cat burglars *cheesy Halloween jokes*Oh and I did what every good teacher does on Halloween. Copy an art project from a friend and have the kids make spiders. I don't think they understood the correlation between Halloween and paper spiders but they had fun nonetheless. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!