What if?

So, there are basically four-ish weeks left before our swift departure. As these weeks draw quickly to a close, I have begun to think. A lot. About everything and anything past, present, and especially future. While I have the next year planned out, everything beyond that is a mystery. The one constant thought is "What if...". What if I get scared? Sad? Homesick? What if I love it? What if I hate it?

What if I regret it?

That has to be the scariest question that I have. I constantly remind myself to regret nothing, but to appreciate each experience. Bad or good, every experience in my life has made me who I am. I have to have this experience not just to prove to myself I can do it, but also because it is going to fill a huge void in my spirit. I have been incessantly restless for longer than I care to remember. So as soon as I begin to think "What if I just stayed here and settled down?" I have to remember that without this life experience, I'll never be able to settle. I will always be longing for that missing piece.

On a different note, all our paperwork is with the Korean Consulate in Seattle. This is truly the last step in what seemed to be a never ending flow of paperwork, emails, phone calls and costs that have added up. Once we recieve our visas, we will have a departure date. We had our vaccinations done today, and my arm is quite sore, as is my wallet...but it is totally worth it of course!


Currently listening to: Gravity, Alison Krauss and Union Station

Do you not IMPORT things here?

As I wind down my first experience as a manager with World Market, I have encountered many, many interesting situations. Some have been hilarious, some have been beyond awful, and all were a huge learning experience. There have been times that I wondered what human could possibly subject themselves to this job for a lifetime. However, the positive experiences have made all the disasters, failures, and confusion worth it.

People never fail to amaze me, even when I think I have heard everything, there is a new and more insane person who comes along. I have had people yell and swear in my face because we didn't have enough of the dining chairs they wanted. One lady had three carts of stuff and walked out on all of it because we had the wrong color of directors chairs in stock. Then there was the customer looking for some wacky German food and preceeded to say "Do you not import things here?". As if I personally send requests all over the world for this coveted merchandise.

There have been the nice people of course. These however seem to be far and few between. It is always difficult to remember a positive experience because it doesn't have the same effect on the brain as anger or stress. I am glad to have this experience on my resume, but I am glad to see it go. On to the next big learning experience!

Lattes, typing, and roadtrips.

I have reached a point in the process of getting to Korea where I am moderately terrified. There has been so much hustle and bustle to get to the end. In all the noise, I didn't spend much time thinking about what the end would auctually feel like. Giving my notice at work is going to feel so final. All this time anticipating the moment, and now, tomorrow, it is here. My four weeks notice. I have a feeling it is going to be fairly shocking and may not go over well. However, I'm going to mentally prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Corinne and I have spent the last two nights trying to finalize all our paperwork to send to Korea. We have been typing cover letters, letters of resignation, and of course a little Facebooking along the way. We will mail our packets out in the morning via FedEx express mail. Among our lattes and incessant chatter about which sentence sounds better, I think we have successfully completed every step in this process. Now we just have to wait. The Korean consulate will hopefully issue our visas quickly and not require too much else. However, we have been prepared for whatever they may want from us (like really lame interview videos!).

Leading up to all this work, we of course took a four day mini roadtrip vacation which went as follows:
Bozeman (amazing. loved it. for so many reasons.). Missoula (Hooters). Helena (state capitol). Beautiful backroad back to Bozeman (see below). Bozeman again (briefly for dinner with siblings). Back to Billings (mildly disappointing).

In doing a little discovering of our home state, Corinne and I both came up with many ideas for the future during our various long drives. These of course ranged from fantasy weddings in Big Sky to having large amounts of property in the middle of the prarie, as well as reflecting on past experiences that have made us who we are today.

Needless to say, while I may be moderately terrified, I believe in myself. I believe in who I have become and who I want to be. Dear South Korea, It's on.



Wheat Montana fields (somewhere between Helena and Three Forks).

Wide open spaces

I love my camera and I love Montana. Short post for now :)

Happenstance

Listening to an excessive amount of Rachel Yamagata has me thinking about happenstance and what it has done in my life. It is defined as follows-

Noun 1. Happenstance - an event that might have been arranged although it was really accidental.
-coincidence
-chance event, fortuity, accident, stroke - anything that happens suddenly or by chance without an apparent cause.

While my desire to see the world has always driven me to explore opportunities, I can hardly believe somedays how close I am to auctually doing it. It is easy to forget that in a few short weeks, I will be boarding a plane and not returning for a full year. I have always believed in accomplishing goals that I seriously set my mind on. While I have had many goals and ideas, few have flourished the way this Korea plan has. I feel the word "happenstance" fits my situation perfectly. Everything has fallen into place so perfectly, yet it has been completely random and a complete surprise most days.

My summer here has been an amazing blessing. While most days I'm stuck drudging through work, there are the few days I have had that make everything else worth it.

Currently listening to: Elephants...Teeth Sinking into Heart. Rachel Yamagata.

Kimchi in Montana

We went to a Korean restaurant in Bozeman and ordered an assortment of fabulous things. However, I didn't love the kimchi fried rice that Corinne ordered. That worried me! What if I hate kimchi?! I thought I liked it. So maybe I just didn't like that kimchi...Either way Bozeman has the best little Korean BBQ in Montana (I assume it is the only one). While we specifically went to Bozeman to eat at I-Ho's, the day turned into something way cooler and involved floating the river on what was a beautiful Montana summer day.

I-Ho's in Bozeman

12ish weeks

Time is flying and Corinne pointed out that we have "12ish weeks" left. Yikes!! I still feel like we have so much to do. While most of our paperwork stuff is done, we are still trying to finalize our E2 work visas. Now our focus has to shift to getting everything prepared. We have to gather all the things we are going to need and eliminate all the things we might want, but don't need. We can only check two bags and we can have a modest carry on. So preparing for a year with only two suit cases seems daunting, but I think it might be a great experience too. Simplify, simplify, simplify. That is a concept I have always wanted to live by, but it always slips away from me. I love having stuff, and usually lots of it.

So, in the time that I have left here this summer, I intend to spend as much time enjoying the Montana summers I have missed for so long. My amazing new camera will be my constant companion. Here are a few pictures of my sister I took last week. She is wearing Yellowbird shirts, my friends clothing line she will be selling on Etsy! It was a blast taking these photos for 5 hours in the heat, with horrible light, and constant attention from people passing by.