They day I found wealth, love, and everything went right for the day

So I have been in Korea almost a month now, and it seems like time has blown by as I still feel like I just got of the plane last week.  Since I've been here I've fielded a lot of the same questions so I'll start by answering a few of them, then I'll tell you where my wealth is coming from. (and how you too may be able to find the same wealth).  My birthday was last week, and it was a pretty good birthday for being in a strange place with no "friends".  Several people asked "what did you do, where did you go for your birthday?", so I'll quickly fill you in. It was a Monday and pretty uneventful.  I was never much for celebrating in the states, so it was no letdown that it was just another Monday here. But for being in a new country, Korea was quite nice to me. 

When I got to work I had a present and an envelope on my desk.  Inside the bag was an adorable little plant that I named "Irene" after the co-worker that gave it to me.  In the envelope was a Starbucks gift card from my boss, and then my Korean co-teacher that sits next to me gave a little box of chocolates that were quite tasty.  I assumed that was the extent of my birthday acknowledgement until the lights in the teachers room went off and in came a cake with candles that made the room glow.  So I got cake and a song, and then my day of teaching started.  Most of my kids did not know it was my birthday, but magically they were all good for me.  I appreciated that.  When the day was over, I went home, had the slice of cake I bought from the bakery the day before with a glass of milk and chatted with my family before bed.  The following day my favorite student gave me a folded up piece of paper with a picture saying "happy burthday yesterday, I love you".  It was sweet and it was perfect, and I was reminded of why she was my favorite.  So that was my birthday for those who have asked and never got a response.

So as usual I have continued making mistake after mistake here in Korea, mostly surrounding the public transportation and just getting turned around.  Well that all changed this weekend.  If I can learn to be on time to the bus stop, I have mastered the bus system.  So now I am making other mistakes, but due to trial and error I'm rounding the learning curve pretty quickly.  I have also been getting asked about friends a lot.  We'll that's been a slow process.  It's hard to make friends when you

don't have friends.  So for the first few weeks I was feeling a little frustrated that I didn't have built in friends here.  But once again, it's coming around.  I've met a few really nice people here and they have been super helpful in showing me around, introducing me to more people, great food, and keeping me company on the weekends.  I've met people that aren't exactly "for me" and then I've met people who I really liked and would gladly hang out with anytime and get to know better.  So for those who have been asking what the friendship front looks like...rest assure that it's getting better every day. 

So today I decided to brave the bus system again and attempt a bus transfer as church is all the way across town.  We'll other than being late for my first bus, I got a little late but without issue.  Afterward I was chatting with a guy "Drew" I had met the previous week from Georgia about tablets and Kindles and books when up came an old Korean man.  He was super friendly and pretty fluent in English and struck up conversation. He apparently introduces himself as "the Man from Heaven" and is a little nutty but good hearted all the same.   During the conversation he proceeded to question the relationship between myself and Drew and we assured him we were just friends. After Drew left, he continued to talk to me about our relationship and that perhaps we were a match made in heaven.   I did not know it at the time, but apparently Koreans like to play matchmaker and think everyone should date and get together.  I thought it was unique to this guy, but apparently its a common thing among older Koreans (so I'm told).  He then asked where I was from.  When I told him Texas, his eyes lit up and he got very excited.  "You wealthy" he said.  He proceeded to tell me he wanted to go to Texas, and buy himself some land so he could dig up oil and bring it all back to Korea and be rich.  I'm not sure if he just used the motion of digging with a shovel for conversational purposes or if he really thinks its possible to dig 8 or 9ft and strike oil.  I agreed that there were people/companies in Texas making a lot of money off oil, most people don't have oil in Texas.  He asked if I had land, and I explained my family has a few acres in Texas but that they weren't on top of oil.  "Have they dug to see?" again making shovel motions. 

adorable cupcakes that are unrelated to my blog :)

So from that point forward everyone who walked was told that I was going to be wealthy and that they were going to be envious of my wealth.  No one understood what he was talking about but I got a kick out if it anyway.  (If I don't make friends, I'm going to tell myself  its because they are envious, because we all know I'm likeable :) Before leaving he again asked me if I would like him to play match maker in order to get my made from heaven relationship going.  I assured him that I would be okay and did not need him to play match maker, so he settled on waiting till it happened and then being able to say "what a good couple". Not sure if he is just the funny crazy old man or if he is the modern day Asian cupid sent to find me a husband.  Either way..I like him, he's funny.  I wish I knew him when I was in high school looking for that sort of dedication out of a friend wanting to hook me up and play matchmaker. 

The rest of the day went quite well.  I met a lot of really great girls at church, got to eat at my first traditional restaurant where I had to take off my shoes and sit on a pillow on the floor, and was taken to a great bakery. This one had some western style pastries and I got a chocolate chip scone that was better than most in the states (aside from Julie's famous homemade chocolate chip scones aka The scones that will land a girl a husband) and I was a happy camper.

As a side note, I have officially started washing clothes and hanging them to dry isn't quite as terrible as it sounds, however I have found that my drying rack quickly turns into a catch all for clothes.  So I we'll see if I can actually learn to hang them up.  Korea is getting better every day and I'm slowly but surely figuring out how to live successfully and happily in Korea.  And for my parents and those that have asked, I will try to soon post a video or some pictures of my school and how my schedules works at school.  It's pretty fantastic!