At the beginning of this month I started teaching online conversational English on a site named Cambly. The nervousness you can obviously see on my introduction video. I wasn’t quite sure how difficult this was going to be. But sticking to my mantra of staying real and being me’, I didn’t really care if I was liked or not. I just put myself out there for students to consider using as their tutor.

I have been reading this quote every morning in the month of July. ” God spare me from the desire for love, approval or appreciation.” Love is what you are already. Love doesn’t seek anything, it is already complete. Not sure which book I copied this out of, but I stumbled across it in my journal and felt I needed to deeply consider this.

This tutoring job has turned out to be the most fun I have EVER had at work. I meet the most interesting people and have deep conversations with the screen as our barrier of trust. I wanted to blog about it because it has been a lifesaver to me financially and personally. I thoroughly enjoy getting up every day and meeting my students! (well except last weekend when Carla woke my ass up with a phone call only for me to discover I was 15 minutes late to a reservation) Imagine the beauty of just waking up, pulling your hair back, throwing on a decent top- no bra necessary, not brushing your teeth, and not needing to pull off you pj bottoms and working for a couple hours.

I have to tell you about some of my favorite students! Now grant it, I have heard about dick picks (although I have not yet had the pleasure) and I do get my fair share of Saudi children just playing around with the free trial at 3 am their time, but for the most part I have met the most interesting, intelligent, future bound internationals.

I have a couple from Taiwan, who speak to me for a half an hour every night. I never know if I am going to get the wife or the husband on the calls. I think it depends on which one of them is putting the kids to bed that night. I’ve talked to them about their hunt for a new home, their children’s sleeping habits, the difficulties of raising children while both parents are working full time and grandparents are not nearby. I love this couple. They both are so very thoughtful when they speak and we laugh a lot! They are both in IT and work for the same company. Many of the students who have spouses or boyfriends meet at work. Makes you wonder who’s a couple at your job eh? 555 (remember that means lol in thai)

Another student was an Indian 31 year old guy who has passed all of his aviation classes and is now being sponsored by Luftansa Airlines to get his flight time in Arizona. He wanted to make sure he was able to have a fluent conversation with a native speaking American. The excitement and nervousness of his next step in life was contagious. I of course told him about Sedona and how expensive flying time can be. He was excited to hear that she was already flying as he has not yet been up”. He was smart to get sponsored as a flying cadet with an airline. I put Sedona, Arizona on his bucket list to visit.

Likewise yesterday I met a 20 year old Brazilian student who is an only child and is taking a job at a ski resort in Seattle this winter. No, she has never skied before or seen snow! She learned all of her English by watching Netflix. It will be her first time away from home and she is wanting her independence. She did not understand the word customs’ and I worry that she has gotten most of her words and understanding of the USA from Gray’s Anatomy 🙂

My Turkish 31 year old bio chemist is by far the most entertaining. He cracks himself up when I attempt to correct his pronunciation of words. A lot of times I make him type the words so I know what the heck he is trying to say. We talk for an hour every night. His wife is due in October with their first child and he will be moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan to work in their labs early next year. He has been to the Cleveland Clinic and many conventions around the world where he is the presenter. We discussed the effects of estrogen and calcium in regards to menopause 🙂 He wanted to review an article on online dating. Then we also reviewed a historical article on the discovery of vitamins. Did you know vitamin D is not really a vitamin, its a hormone 🙂 Then he was worried that I may get bored. So he linked me to an article that I need to read to discuss tonight on textiles. He was so happy when he took a Canadian man out to lunch today and was able to use some of his new words he learned.

Can you see why I love this? I speak every other day with a PE teacher in Taiwan who just recently moved apartments and is working on her English skills to get into a University in the USA to obtain her PHD. We discussed how other’s expectations effect us and how we sometimes judge people on appearances. (she hates sloppy people)

My sweet Vietnamese student has studied in Russia and is now working in the IT department back home. She claims she has no friends and is overworked and cannot find time to have fun. I eventually got out of her that she has a boyfriend. For homework I asked her write about him using descriptive words to read back to me the next day. She said he was big and fat, along with many other kind adjectives that she glowed about when reading. ADORABLE. My time when speaking with her goes so quickly I hate it.

My Ukranian student said she looked at over 40 tutor videos before selecting me. I went back and looked at my video and I crack myself up. I’m such a goof. I think she picked me because she is also interested in design. She is sweet, kind and shy. (all of which I am not, so I have no trouble correcting her English) She argues with me sometimes on words and I question my vocabulary. I mean, we all know the Findlay school systems were not the greatest in that department. Feel like you may know that already from my repetitive simplistic writing in my posts.

Two of my new students I am looking forward to: One is from Korea and is a 35 year old doctor whose parents are failing and he has had to put aside his dreams and own desires to care for them. The second new student is writing a presentation on natural disaster warnings that go out to the public. She picked me because she said we are opposites and would not get bored learning from each other!

I have learned so much from the people I have talked to. So far I have met a total of 205 students. Can you imagine in one month talking casually to people from UAE, Saudia Arabia, Brazil, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Ukraine, Japan, India, Morocco (these boys are never serious) Jordon and Egypt. Is this not right up my happy alley? People from around the world and I get paid just to chat with them!!! I have an entire notebook filled with notes I take when in conversations with them. I’ve learned so much about the middle east and the power women are finally feeling there with new their ability to drive.

One young 12 year old girl from Saudia Arabia had 60 minutes on her time and I thought, Oh No, how am I going to keep her busy chatting for that long?! We had a blast! She tried to show me her new purse she purchased and when I told her the camera on her side was off, she was pissed. I told her it was okay, most Saudi women do not show themselves on video still and she immediately turned hers on! She showed me her nail polish collection and I taught her words like glitter and iridescent. She told me she wanted to cut her hair and dye it sky blue. I was cracking up wondering if her parents knew what a rebel they had on their hands. Most Saudi families have a minimum of 5 kids. I learned this quickly.

The difference between those large families vs the Chinese single child is eye opening. The single Chinese children are under such pressure to be the best and be the star! Their parents have worked them hard and expect nothing less than perfection. They are not rebellious and take life very seriously. I asked an 11 year old Chinese student of mine (who always wears black, so I taught him wild cat names and asked which one he was- he knew he was the panther) if he had all the money in the world and did not have to ever work, what would he do? He answered probably start up his own electronic company. I asked about travelling, seeing concerts, etc but this escaped him. His summers are spent continually learning online for self improvement. My challenge is always to get a smile out of him.

Possibly this is way too much writing about people you don’t know, and maybe don’t care about. But it is the most fascinating thing to me. I can’t stop talking about them and their stories. There should be books written about all the lives I have learned about and how just for 1/2 an hour I get the honor of speaking with them, being taught by them about their culture, and sometimes even get to see the joy and pain in their hearts.

Don’t worry, I plan to visit a beach this weekend and am hitting the spa (gift from Justin) Friday. But I wanted to share what this month has been like teaching. A true blessing with a hint of income.

I know it seems obvious maybe with my trek over to Thailand that I like newness, but sometimes trying new things/foods/products is very difficult for me. As many humans, I crave routine. Comfort in knowing what I’m going to get. I usually order the same beer and dish at restaurants and tend to frequent the same places for consistency. I don’t like being disappointed but also know that without trying new things you will never find anything better. And are we satisfied thinking our old ways are the best to keep? Complacent.

That being said, there are a few new recent things I have tried/discovered that I wanted to share. This is a very random post, probably boring to most. To be honest, since Korea, saying goodbye to Sedona and the death of my sweet Eli, I have found it difficult to get out. Sort of sank back into a funk where I sleep for 5 hours during the middle of the day. I am doing my best to be somewhat productive (I swept my area rug and put up a shelf in my bathroom :)—-baby steps) I am giving myself this weekend to be a slug, knowing Monday is around the corner.

This is a long blog post. So, fair warning, proceed with patience.

I hate admitting this, but I made the rookie mistake of showing up at the airport 12 hours late, thinking my flight left at 1 pm but it actually left at 1 am that day. I only realized this on the train ride to the airport at 7 am. (Sedona’s flight was at 10am so I was heading in with her) Not sure why it hit me then, when so many other warning signs were seen previously…..like the fact that I texted Mali that I would arrive at 9am, but not sure how I was flying backwards in time and arriving on the same day as leaving at 1 pm from South Korea.

Sedona changed my phone immediately to military time to help me get used to it and avoid making this same mistake in the future. I’m still challenged by it on my phone. After getting Sedona checked in and off through customs I headed over to the other terminal in attempts to straighten out my situation. I basically had to completely rebook my ticket/flight and the cheapest option was to do the exact same times as before, just one day later. The clerk that helped me said, “now don’t be late again” 🙂

Imagine, I am running on 5 hours of sleep and have 15 hours to kill. I could barely keep my eyes open, but didn’t want to waste even more money on an additional hotel room after spending hundreds on a new plane ticket. I read about pods at the airport, that they rent out by the hour to allow you a place to crash. I looked them up but they were fully booked. (Never thought about booking those in advance, but a great idea for me in the future with any extended layovers!)

I really didn’t want to go back into Seoul. It was an hour train ride and it was raining outside. I looked at nearby hotels and found one that rented a room to a female” for 34$ a night. I booked it immediately having no clue as to the exact location or how I was going to get there. (it was via booking.com so I trusted the place) I only had $2 equivalent in cash leftover. Wasn’t sure how much to pull out of an ATM if I needed more. My head was spinning. Check-in wasn’t until 4 pm. Surely they would let me come over early since it was 10 am and I’ve nowhere to go.

I got a coffee to help access the situation more intelligently. I emailed the “capsule room” and requested an early check in which was denied. But they did send over information on a free shuttle that would take me to the location needed, so after getting a bite to eat, I set out determined to make my way over and convince them to let me sleep.

There was no convincing them. They did offer to hold my luggage for me and the lady rambled something about a food court when I asked her where I could go for 4 hours. This place was not a legit hotel. There was no lobby area and the check in was in a closet off the elevators. I wasn’t too optimistic at this point, but it was only 34$ and a bed was a bed. I was going to need to crash at some point.

I took a deep breath and headed outside to wander about the area I was now in. I love how God works. I really have no way to explain why I walked the way I did, and how I got to where I ended up. Instinct. Intuition. Universal energy? All I can say is I let go’ of me trying to control anything. (the ignorant flight mishap, the inability to check in early, the prediction of the room” I had booked giving me negative thoughts) I was led to a building that had a nice grassy area out front. Since it was raining, I really needed to find a place indoors, so I decided to enter a building that I assumed was an industrial park of some sort. It ended up being an UNbelievable experience.

The building was called Paradise City. I learned later that it was only opened a year ago. It was pristine. Beautiful sculptures, wonderful seating areas, shopping, and an art museum. Could I have gotten any luckier? I have never heard of this place and it had no signage out front, but was literally the most beautiful spot I could’ve landed in. A true blessing to kill 4 hours.

The museum was showing a featured exhibit called Prism Fantasy. I asked how much to enter and they said I had to be either a hotel guest (really there was a hotel here???) or a member. I asked how to become a member and I just needed to agree to some email soliciting and sign. In I went to experience an extremely eye opening creative venue.

I thought discovering that museum was enough. Made my day. Felt worth the added stress and new plans. But then I saw a sign to outdoor gardens, so I followed that and saw even more of this creative place!

I took in all I could. It was a beautiful day. Considering the fact that I was stuck in a location that appeared to be completely industrial, to discover such a gem as Paradise City. I was fading fast. I wandered back to the reception and they let me check in 1/2 hour early. I was sharing my “apt” with another female, but we each had our own sleeping areas. I really only wanted a nap. I wasn’t even spending the night. Had to catch a shuttle back to the airport at about 10:30 pm.

For our last night in Seoul, Sedona wanted to show me where she and her friends hung out almost every night after classes. It was an area that reminded me of Times Square in many ways. Tons of people out and about, street performers, big screen tvs, bars, restaurants and night clubs. There was even a themed cafe called the sheep cafe that had sheep out front for you to pet.

I was on my own for a couple hours and enjoyed walking the streets in hunt of matching pajamas for my kiddos. It’s a big thing here, tailored printed pjs with matching headbands or eye masks. Many of them have Snoopy or Peanuts’ patterns on them, which was interesting to me for trend. but I wanted something more timeless. And let’s face it I LOVED dressing my girls when they were little and was reverting back to this same but different’ outfit thing!

The three of us took the metro back together around 11:30 pm. I noticed so many drunk men. Some sweating and barely able to stand up. I was impressed that when the trains arrived they became more alert and were able to get on. One guy was literally leaning up against the wall and I wasn’t sure if he could walk. I thought at any moment they would puke, but they never did. I told Irina I was disturbed a bit but the display of intoxication on a Tuesday night. She boldly told me that she didn’t think anything of it because there are a lot of drunks in Latvia. Sad really.

Even in the NY subways you don’t see this level of drunks. I can’t recall ever publicly seeing it in any other location so obviously. I wondered if its due to the local drinks like Sojo that just slams their systems. Sort of like vodka for the Russians.

Our last day in Seoul together, Sedona and I decided to check out the historic area called Bukchon Hanok Village. This village is a historic residential area which is preserved to show the 600 year old urban environment. It was originally the neighborhood for high ranking government officials and nobility. People still reside there and as you walk through their neighborhood there are signs up all around warning visitors to not raise their voices and to respect the area.

It was really cool to see many families and children dressed in the traditional Korean hanbok”. Some of the photos I appreciate most were capturing some of the tourists wearing these clothes in the background with the houses. It was quite embarrassing to Sedona that I was photographing strangers, but I figured if not this, surely she would find something else I was doing that would equally be an issue 🙂

When I booked my trip to Seoul I rushed to find an affordable hotel that had good reviews on booking.com. I love using booking.com for hotels because they are always 100% accurate in what their reviews read on every location. I have used it for every past business trip and personal trips if I’m not doing an Airbnb. They also give you a map view that you can scroll around and compare pricing to other places in that area. Being a visual person, that is super important. If booking.com reviews say a place is perfect but small…..you better believe it will be tiny.

The hotel I selected in the Isadong area said just that, but in addition was clean and in the perfect location. That it was! Close to the metro station, shopping, restaurants and night life. Walking distance also to the palace and old world villages. (will blog about later)

Sedona had a couple of friends from the University still in Seoul. Most travelling solo, shopping or site seeing, to get as much as they could from their experience before travelling home. Irina, who was from Latvia, told us she was headed to the Rainbow Bridge this evening. We decided to join her, having no clue what this was about. Nothing really showed up on our maps or made any sort of big deal about it.

We purposefully got there about 2 hours early to walk the area a bit and see what this river view had to offer. We exited the metro stop only to find ourselves in the midst of residential worlds and highways. We kept getting lost and retracing our steps, but still stayed optimistic. We saw a group that looked like tourists, so we followed them, hoping their directional sense was better than ours. We finally ended up at the bridge and walked across it. Took about 20 minutes to get from one side to the other.

I wanted to blog about Seoul, South Korea because I honestly would not have picked to travel there as a vacation destination. Lucky for me Sedona studied there for a month and I used the opportunity to discover this truly remarkable city! I assume many reading this blog may never get over to the Far East for vacation, being that it’s half way around the globe. My hope is that you are at least entertained, if not enlightened a bit about this culture while seeing the places I take in and blog about.

The world truly is a remarkable place. Seeing Seoul triggered a lot in my heart, about what brings me to life. Seeing beauty in new places is certainly something I need to continue to embrace.

Many people vacation in the same spot every year, feeling comfortable and peaceful. And I understand that. But I am wired differently and need to throw myself out there to see places I have never before. Not sure where that will take me next. Just something I am continuing to learn about myself and love sharing with you all along the way.

Walking aimlessly always has its advantages. Sedona, Zoe and I travel well this way. We always seem to discover the most amazing spots that we never planned and we may never have seen otherwise. This little contemporary art museum was just one of those spots Sedona and I came across in Insadong.

Some of the exhibits were grossly disturbing. There was a self portrait head sculpture encased in a refrigerated display case. When we read about it, it was made from the sculpture’s own blood. Many pints. There were also human figures that were laid out in sardine cans and candy that was made up of body parts. The very last room you went through was an animated movie showing a conveyor belt that literally chopped apart body parts. We did not stay long in those rooms.

I am immensely impressed with Seoul’s art eye. Throughout my visit here whether it was in the architecture or the blouse detailing, they seem to pay attention to all the details. Many of the retailers in The States need to take notice of their shops. Their innovative ways used to display and merchandise are high end and well thought out. Many of the stores felt like you were walking through a trend lab at a big show. I really enjoyed every detail of my stay here.

My long awaited trip to Seoul, South Korea is finally here! Seeing Sedona again was the best!!! She met me at the airport- LOVE IT- and directed our way using their metro system back to the hotel. Was so nice having her take the lead and me following. I now know what it’s like to go along with the ride and I never once worried where I was going. Its as if the city is hers. She is so confident moving about and understanding the culture here.

I have had very little down time. Yesterday was out from 10:30 am until past midnight. So lagging a bit on the blogs. There’s so much to say about Korea. So I decided to break my blog posts into sections instead of throwing it all at ya at once.

We didn’t really care what we did the first day together. Just wanting to catch up and walk around. As we did we realized we were very close to the famous Changdeokgung Palace. Sedona said if you rent traditional clothing and wear it when going into the palace you could get in for free. I wish we would’ve participated in that, but in all honestly the entry fee was only about 6$.

We are doing so much in the time we have together. The days seems like two in one. I can’t wait to catch you all up on this amazing city!

It has been nonstop pouring down rain here this week. Now I finally understand “low season” or “monsoon season”. I can’t wait to escape to South Korea to see my Sedona Kay! I was able to get out with Tia between storms to fetch some water and groceries, only to catch some showers on the way back. Luckily the torrential rains came as soon as I got up to my condo. Having only a scooter for transportation can be an issue.

Virlane and I were getting stir crazy with the weather, so we decided to meet up for lunch, shopping, and some tarot card reading. (she has a car- bonus!) I haven’t told you all, but when I was out at the Timber Hut with Virlane, she grabbed my hand and pushed an energy force through it that I never felt before. (Yes I was drunk- but seriously!) When I saw her again and asked her about it, she totally forgot doing that to me. She said it was called Quantum Touch and if I wanted, she would do a session with me. She studied at seminary school but also has a degree in science. She explained that this energy healing was a perfect interest of hers that blended her experiences.

We ended up back at my condo. Virlane had a new tarot card program, called Points of You, that she wanted to practice on me. It was scientifically developed by two people in Israel. She is now doing camps in China using this method of communication. And will be eventually selling them to schools and businesses to help with team work and consoling.

She asked me to draw out three cards, one from each huge deck. She said the cards were to be laid down in a certain order and I was to think about each one before I laid down the next to see how the story unfolded in my heart/soul. See my two below “draws”. You will see how flipping accurate they were!!!

Then she wanted me to lay down so she could do her energy healing on me. I wondered if I would feel the same “shock” like I did in the bar. This was totally different and very interesting to experience. She started with her hand on my ankle. I felt electric shocks like sharp pin points surging and moving throughout the area her hand made contact with. She told me the backside of her hand was flickering with heat, the feeling similar to what an electric candle looks like. She has done 150 hours of this touch, and never felt that before. She felt like my body was attempting to connect but fighting. My limbs also jerked uncontrollably. Like they do when you are falling asleep, but I wasn’t.

So she moved to my hand. She said that was better. I didn’t feel anything there. No heat or movements. When she was on my hand, she explained and said it was difficult to put into words but described it like “she saw little bubbles that were pouring out of me and moving around me but also around her. Like a river flow of something that was being released.

I know you may think I’ve officially gone off the deep end. But I loved it. It was fun. New for me. My friends here are of course very different than my friends back home and everyone brings a new perspective to my learning.

Meanwhile worked my butt off with my online teaching gig this week. That will be a whole post on its own one day!!! It is by far the most fun job I have ever had! The stories I could tell! The people I meet from all over the world. It’s a blast!