Life Changes

UPDATE: MAY 2nd 2013--
I have only been lurking in the shadows cause we are leaving in less then a month for Korea!
Totally excited!
Just thought I would just check in for a second!
Have a lovely painting season!





I am not going to have another baby!
BUT
we offically decided tonight to take our family and move to Korea for a year to teach English! We hope to have everything in place by April....Which if you read the Disney Thread, I have to postpone The Disney Trip.

I am freaking out a little--I have NEVER been out of the USA and Korea seems...well kind of scary with North Korea right there--

Anyway--I will teach English Monday thru Friday from 1 PM till 9 PM. They have crazy school hours over there. On weekends we will travel the country and see the sights!
My hubby will home school the girls and be Mr. Mom.
He lived in Korea for a couple years while on a Mission so it doesn't seem as scary for him--he still has his worries, but he at least has been there and can speak the language!

I haven't told ANYONE (family or close friends), so I love having a SAFE place to tell people stuff without it spreading around like wildfire.

Anyone left there country for a year to live somewhere else?

I know that people do it every day, but this is a big step for me!

Goodness! That's a HUGE step!
What brought this on, if I might ask?
It just sounds sudden. Not that I know much about anything, lol!
It could be super exciting!

Wow that is a huge step!!! I wouldn't do it so easily!

I like to hear all about it, a lot of things must be taken care of I suppose before you can go. What will you do with your house for instance?

WOW, AmyLady
I know how that feels. We move a lot! i am Italian and lived 15 years in England, another 12 in USA and moved houses during this 12 years 4 times from east cost to west cost. My mother in Law lives in Sri-lanka and all the rest of my husband family in India.
Is going to be a great experience for all of you and definitely a great exposure for your kids. The country must be beautiful....!! Let me know where will u be i can check if anybody i know is from there.
Is this what you said you wanted to discuss?
Congratulation!!

Hey that does not mean you will not post faces in the forum right? my gosh so many kids there to paint!!! ohhh so green of envy!!!

Life is - should be - an adventure. It's only a year, which is a long time and a short time in the scheme of things (life is also full of contradictions!).

I think you'll have adjustments to make and also so so much fun. I lived in Switzerland for 2 months when I was a teenager and it was life-changing. It's incredible to experience new cultures and also to shake up stagnant routines and DO something. I don't even know you, but I'd like to tell you I am proud of you for going for it!

Have fun!

Life is - should be - an adventure. It's only a year, which is a long time and a short time in the scheme of things (life is also full of contradictions!).

I think you'll have adjustments to make and also so so much fun. I lived in Switzerland for 2 months when I was a teenager and it was life-changing. It's incredible to experience new cultures and also to shake up stagnant routines and DO something. I don't even know you, but I'd like to tell you I am proud of you for going for it!

Have fun!

You're young and life should be exciting. Go for the experience while you can!!! Don't be nervous about it! Remember, it's always your choice to come back if need be, you're not stuck there. Enjoy!

Amylady!!!!!! I hope you will still stay on the forum!!!!

Amy!!! What an incredible adventure awaits you!!! and it will be so great for your children to experience another culture!

But you better look in on us in the forum!!!!

I will stay on the forum--Korea has better internet then we do! Plus we are going to buy a laptop over there cause it is cheaper for better stuff too! I am not sure how much I will be able to paint--I am taking my paints--

I haven't been vocal about it since there is still a lot of things to work through, but we are trying to get things together by the end of March!
We have talked about doing this since we got married since my husband lived there, but until now it just hasn't seemed possible. He was offered jobs left and right while living there, but didn't take any of them (he was on a mission)---now the law is to teach English you have to have a college degree--I have one, he doesn't. I would have to be the one to go and work over there, which is fine with us--as long as one of us is a stay at home parent we don't care which one.


The house--ah the house---we are going to pack up as much stuff and put it in one room upstairs that is not used.

We have possibly 2 options right now--

Rent it to my father in law and his wife and kids (step mom and her 2 teenage kids)
OR
Rent it to my Brother in law who as of 3 days ago has his water pipes freeze and Burst and ruin part of his upstairs and most of the downstairs.

We COULD finacially make it without having someone stay in the house, but it would help out my husbands family I think if they stayed there a year--Plus it is nice to have a house not stay empty for so long, where we live you run the risk of mice overrunning the place, or in the winter, pipes freezing.


Long story short--my OTHER bro in law bought the family house from my father in law with my father in law thinking he would live there with my brother in law forever, but my father in law got married and now they don't get along iwth the step mom in law enough to live with her--so they (father in law and new family) are looking for a house to buy, but can't sell her house, so they can't afford a house, so maybe staying at our place and paying the house payment for the year can really help out both of us!--Still a long story!

I think I just needed to put it out there AND know that others have done traveling and that it is OK!

From experience, I don't suggest leaving a house empty for very long. There are always issues. Even giving someone a sweet deal (who you trust very well) and letting them live there for next to nothing, will ensure you have your home looked after. But if someone you trust can make the payment for you while you are gone, even better!
Wishing you all the luck in the world!

That is so great AmyLady! It sounds like everything is falling into the right place!
So great that you take your paint. Please don't give up.
We still have our friend living in our old house in London. It will work out all fine.
Gosh what happens if you fall in love with the place there? One year is what we were planning to stay over here or maybe two. We r still here.
Well i guess that is something you will find out in the future. Don't worry too much and enjoy your experience fully! OMG how many have this opportunity?
Just remember everything happens for a reason. That reason believe it or not is to make us even happier. Though we will have to go through stuff before getting in there.

Wow what an adventure!
I'm not a globetrotter, but enjoy hearing and reading the stories of those who are!
So please keep us updated!

I am a Military wife and have lived in Europe in 2 different times I was in Korea 10 years ago for 2 weeks it was hard no be able to read anything, I was scared to travel by train cause you couldn't understand the names of the stops, now my husband said is different and they use more English, my daughter is 9 and she suffered the last 2 years we spent in Germany, she didn't have friends and even when she did an effort to learn German she was discriminated against being American, on the other hand we loved traveling around Europe.

Arty--I am worried about those things too.

We have wondered how it will effect the kids since they won't have anyone buy each other to talk to for a year, BUT we are going to do it--

Our religion is pretty world wide and we know that some military and independant workers might have children.
Plus since it is only a year and they will be home schooled I think it will be a good learning experience for them---

We will have skype and we are going to try to connect to their school (do like a pen pal thing from Korea-but maybe with skype?) and we have already planned to have a special night through skype with grandparents at least once a month, they have 3 sets of grandparents--Plus we skype with my family already on adn off--so hopefully they won't be super lonely--my one daugther is super friendly and loves friends, but my other two are still young enough to be happy witht just our little home life! .

Plus iwth my husband knowing the language that helps us out a lot-the whole family will walk me to school until I get confortable doing in myself--

These are great things to bring up so I can think about them and talk them over with my husband!! Thank you!

Where in Korea will you be living? My brother was stationed in Seoul (my other brother was born there; long story) and he and his family enjoyed it. You can get pretty much anything over there. It is, apparently, a bit of a culture shock, but they ultimately made some Korean friends and were sorry to leave.

I am not sure where I will be living yet--My husband lived all over the sourthern part of Korea!

I am expecting culture shock---I had it moving from the city to the country, so I am SURE I will have it moving to another country!

We are going to be getting any and every book available at our libraries (and since our library's here suck--I am hoping to find 5 total!)--and we are going to get our girls as prepared as possible!

I have a couple friends over there right now so I hope to meet up with them at some point in time!

Getting our Passports tomorrow and the last bit of info on my end to offically start the process!!

Wondering if there's a date set yet? It's such a huge adventure!

I'm SO excited for you! I have friends who've taught in Korea and absolutely loved the experience. They said the people are friendly, the food is great (I sometimes cook Korean food for dinner here, as it happens!) and the whole thing just opened up their eyes in a lovely way.

I know we've talked about travel before, but I really do think it opens people's hearts and minds. It's so easy to stay in our own country, in our comfort zone. It takes great strength to step out of that and immerse yourself in another culture, but I just KNOW you will make the best of it and have a wonderful time.

I'm really excited for you! Subscribe to "Eat Your Kimchi" on YouTube and browse the videos there. Simon and Martina went over there to teach and they made lots of videos about it. They're awesome!

BIG hugs, lots of love and the very best wishes for your plans,

Kammy xxx

Oh, and can I use you as my cosmetics supplier? I LOVE BRTC's BB cream, and it's so expensive to get shipped to the UK. Korean cosmetics and skincare are fabulous.

I have friends that did this for a few years till their 1st child was born & then moved back to the US. They even had their daughter in a Korean hospital (how different:-)...They had so many great stories about Korea.

Kammy--I just bought some american BB cream--LOVE IT! seriously amazing stuff! I would be happy to send you some stuff, just let me know and I will see what I can do!
I LOVE Eat your kimchee---I am not so much into Kpop or Kdrama, but I have watched every episode about living in Korea!! so fun--I may or may not have dreamed about hanging out with them when we move there (but I know it is just a dream)


Psalmbook---thanks for the comment---I am not sure I want to have a baby over there--but just because of the paper work and such, not because of the medical or anything.


We are still moving forward! My background check came back so we had to mail that to Washington DC to get it stamped---next we are waiting for my diploma to be mailed to me---never got the 1st one for some reason--and then I have to send that to Denver to get that stamped (the stamps make it official in the eyes of any government)

Today I am dying my hair blond---in order to look more "american" and then I will post my resume on a big Korean teaching online board--they want a head photo and body photo---so I am one step closer.

Hoping for April -- May at the latest!

YEAH!

Wow, this is going to be such a great adventure for you and your family.
I will be looking forward to hearing all about those adventures here on the forum

I had posted my resume here, but deleted it cause it was long and no longer needed---thanks for the comments on it.

Wow, good for you guys, just jumping in with both feet. Best of luck to you and your family and look forward to hearing stories from Korea.