Lingo in Transit

Here we are again at the end of another year. My favourite time to reflect on the year that was, what happend and what changes can be made for the new year. I don’t think I’ve done a month by month recount before so I’m going to give it a go this year (inspired by Rebecca Goes Rendezvous). 2023 is somewhat of a special year for me. I spent much of the year abroad exploring and completely loving it. I didn’t know I could fit so much into a year looking back.

January
The start of the year was still winter in South Korea. There was a mega 4 day long weekend for the New Year that I had pencilled into my calendar months in advance and I went skiing and learnt to snowboard. I also remember my contact lenses sticking profusely to my eyeballs during this month due to the lack of moisture in the air. I ended the month going ice fishing at the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Fishing Festival.

February
I took some of my annual leave and went to Kyoto in Japan. It was my first time setting foot in Japan and I completely loved it. Shoulder seasons in South Korea also means hiking so I did the Inwangsan hike. During this month at work, we had a book club with the top level students and we read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I love this book and rereading it again was such a pleasure.

March
As the weather shifted out of winter and into autumn, I did another hike. This time it was Baegaksan. I met up with friends for a nice afternoon chatting in the sun and walk along the Han River (in the sun because it was freezing otherwise). I also spent a weekend in Daegu chasing after the cherry blossoms.

April
After chasing the cherry blossoms in the southern part of South Korea, the first weekend in April was spent in Seoul finding cherry blossoms. The season is very short so you have to be out to see them quickly before they disappear. On the same weekend, I went with a friend locally to see the cherry blossoms and tried intestines for the first time (they were delicious). One of my good friends that I had made in South Korea was leaving this month so I saw her for the last time- having lunch at a traditional market and then strolling around Seoul before finding a cafe. Saying goodbye is so hard!
I took more of my annual leave days and went to Gangneung for 2 days although the weather wasn’t ideal. I also did my hanbok day at the palace (finally!). I had a cousin and aunt visit Seoul for a holiday so I met them and spent a day with them.

May
May was my last month in South Korea. There was a public holiday long weekend so I decided to visit Busan for the last time. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t very good so I couldn’t do the hikes that I had wanted. Instead, I waited 2 hours in a queue to try a famous ramen restaurant and watched a 4D movie for the first time. I spent this month packing furiously, emptying my apartment and finalising life admin. I met one of my friends and we had a picnic along the Han River (another goodbye!). I took many trips to the post office to send boxes of my belongings home so that I could just travel with 1 suitcase for the next few months. I said goodbye to my apartment, the other teachers, my students and my school.

June
I spent another week in Seoul visiting all my favourite places for the last time, spending time outdoors and basically walking too much. I started on my 3-ish month travelling adventure with my first stop being Japan. Starting in Tokyo, Kyoto and then Osaka. I was walking for almost 10 hours a day and tried stick on leg patches for the first time. They didn’t work. After Japan, I went to Poland where I was finally able to rest at my friend’s place.

July
Rest is for the wicked when you are travelling. The month started with a Baltics trip (which I have yet to finish posting about). After a bit of a break back in Poland, I then visited Hungary for the first time which had been on my list for so long. Czech Republic and Austria were also on this visit (posts to come).

August
I came back to Poland and just stayed local, bike riding and cooking. My friend and I did local trips during the weekend. It was nice to relax after some months of quite busy travel itineraries. The summer weather was in full swing and it was always ice cream weather.

September
I did a last trip to Krakow before flying back to Australia. Some flight changes from the airline meant that I had to leave Europe a few days earlier than intended and led me to Singapore. After 3 days of travelling to get home, I finally landed back in Australia. It was a really weird feeling being back in a familiar place. I spent the first week disorientated, attended a large family gathering and then got sick. I started a casual teaching job.

October
After recovering from said sickness, it was time to get all my health checks done and unpack my boxes that had arrived from Korea in the meantime. I found this month the hardest in terms of adjusting to being back in an environment that had not changed despite so much changing and experiencing so much change. Not just that but my lifestyle was quite different to what it was (and how I liked it to be). Things that I would normally do were now not in such easy reach. I’m still actively working on it.

November
I felt that it was time to start applying for jobs so have been looking and applying. I started creating a new routine and committed to spending 1 day a week out exploring, going back to language learning and reading. I started meditation. I decluttered.

December
I finally felt more relaxed instead of feeling like that I had to be on the go and trying to quickly re-establish myself here. Summer has announced itself boldly. I went to a Ramses exhibition and have some social events lined up for the remainder of the month.

While writing this, I chuckled at how jam packed the first 3/4 of the year were compared to the last few months. Maybe I really do need this down time after all!