Monday, March 1, 2010

I'm back in America....

I had a really good double cheeseburger in the Tokyo Narita airport McDonald's. Best McDonald's cheeseburger I ever had. It was really expensive. $9.41 USD for a double cheeseburger combo!! Wow. I would never pay that much in America!

I travelled for a full 24 hours!

I made it back to South Carolina...now I've got so many people to catch up with! Last night I saw my mom, dad, and sister. I also went by my former employer (Hertz at the airport) and saw a few people. They were all begging me to come back.haha.

I wanted to go to Jack in the Box for my first American meal. I like the sirloin cheeseburger, but they were out of it! I settled for something else. Tomorrow I'm going to Chili's with my mom and sister for my 2nd American meal.

@365 days and I'll be back!! My goal is to live frugally and save a generous amount of money for a down payment and buy a Hyundai Genesis Coupe when I get back to America. The starting price is $22,000. I'll probably buy a gently used one. The first model in the US is a 2010.



Isn't that beautiful?! And its made by a Korean car company. I wonder if they would give me a discount if I tell them I love South Korea. haha. fat chance.

I may stay 2 years next time. My mom won't like that idea. She thinks I'm an angel and still calls me her baby. But she's got to let me be an independant adult sometime. I'll be 29 this year.

What will I do until March 2011? I'm going to take some time to travel. My first trip is to NYC this week.

Where else will I go? I don't know. I'll probably stay on domestic trips this year. I'll try to cover more states in the USA. One of my goals is to visit every state in the USA. I won't be able to do in all in a year, but I'm going to at least visit a few states. Maybe I'll take a road trip. I got a GPS for Christmas!

I'll also need to find a part time or temporary job just to pay what little bills that I have. At this point I'm not worried about finding a career when I will have to quit in a year. I've already made up my mind. I am coming back.

I might also get certified in TESOL. I found a 150 hour course on the Internet that is affordable. I want to have the resources to see my students succeed.

I'm actually looking forward to the future. I think this spontaneous trip to South Korea ended up being a great experience. Maybe it was fate that I ended up there. I didn't research anything before I went to South Korea. I had never even left America. I took a huge risk and jumped in blindly. It was tough getting adjusted and I didn't start loving it until it was close to time to leave. As I look back I'm really glad that I had the opportunity.

Round 2: 365 days...this blog is going to be bigger and better...and I'm going to use my youtube channel next time! I have a youtube account but no video camera. I'm looking into buying a dslr that also has the video function. 2 in 1 is even better. I won't have to carry around a camera and a video camera.

Maybe I'll date (and marry) a Korean man, but he has to be able to speak some English.

3 comments:

Min said...

Finally, You went back to the USA. I hope that you made lots of good memories in Korea....

Valerie Knight said...

I did make a lot of memories in Korea! I'm coming back in 2011!

Is this Min Kyung who was a teacher at Myoung Sung?

Anonymous said...

As a Korean/American (Korean mother, American father) I wanted to read another blog about a regular American dealing with a jump to a foreign land. The real draw is my father is from South Carolina (from further in the hillbilly area) and I was born there because he was in Vietnam. I wasn't raised there - THANK GOD!!!

You started out as a typical American, ignorant brat but fortunately you did mature into a more cultured person. It would be awesome if young adults would live in a larger, bigger cultured city(ies) in America before they ventured to other countries. A few Americans that refuse to take in a new country's culture, learn, observe, make the best of the situation, well, a few rotten apples make the whole bunch bad.

Thankfully your story ended well and I hope you enjoyed your visit to a foreign country that has been around much longer than we have in America, and has been through so much more than you or anyone can even imagine. People here do not realize that we really don't have a long history or culture. What we see now has really been shaped in the last 50-100 years only. What I mean is, we are very different from the first 100 years of the colonization of the USA.

I hope you are able to visit more countries and cultures. We American's have a lot to learn and it can only make us better. And let your family know that food is dependent on the land around you. If you don't have much grazing land then your food source is going to be much different. And Korean food is some of the best food in the world!!!