Beginning of the End

It has been almost a month; may the light fellowship gods have mercy on my blog-writing soul. No pictures forever. I will put some up some too, in mass, of course. Apologies to those requiring such, it has just been out-of-handedly hectic, especially after Thailand; talk about a change of pace.

Thailand was glorious as always. Three weeks of pure goodness. Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chantaburi, caves, rock climbing, Koh Chang, Ban Boong, and so much in between. It was mostly just great to see my brother, and hang out with some exchange students. Some of my favorite people in the whole wide world. I won't go into depth about Thailand, because I could rave for pages. All in all it was great. It is probably the most inspirational place I have ever visited and will certainly continue to be in my heart and travels for as long as I can walk. You guys get the idea.

Back to Korea;

By the grace of God and the universe, I was placed into the next consecutively corresponding level of Korean, level 5!! Not much to say about it really. The pace is still equally and painfully slow as it was before, which, as I have mentioned before, is only something I half-heartedly complaining about. It permits me to focus on so many other things as well. So, school is good. Sogang continues to draw very interesting characters that I am quite happy to learn Korean with, particularly, in my current class alone, a Muslim girl from Indonesia, a nun from Vietnam, and a Mormon from Utah. It gives last term's combination of Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, and Italy a run for its money. If there is anything that I am truly grateful for about Sogang is the vast range of people from different faiths and lands that I have had the pleasure to meet in a very conducive environment to tackle all the big questions, and in Korean, of course, for the most part.

School now has a video class; it is a welcome addition. Midterms are in a couple of weeks or so, and, as always, I shall be prepared.

On to other things:

I was originally planning to have a somewhat subdued and relaxed last couple of months here in Korea, but out of nowhere, I got super busy. Although grateful, I am slightly overwhelmed. However, I will pull through. No worries. The largest addition, lately, perhaps, is my participation in the production of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Theatre is something that a mere year ago I was cursing, but I began to miss it, so here I am. I have also become a lot more involved with the church I have been attending throughout the year. Great place, great people, if I may say so myself. This is also something surprising to me, and maybe even those who know me well. A mere year ago I was also cursing organized religion, yet here I am. Go figure. My latest contribution was playing the voice of Jesus for the Easter play, in Aramaic of course, something that really tickled my polyglot fancy.

Also, a couple of weeks back I was contacted by a record label interested in my music and myself as an artist. So I have also been stressing about my music, getting into the studio and recording professional demos to send in to their executive board. I really have no idea, how this might work out, but it adds another beautiful layer of uncertainty to my life which is always bittersweet.

That's the status in a nutshell. There is of course, always more, in the nooks and crannies of life, but this is a good update. Keeping busy, and fighting off the flu, and trying to salvage my voice at least until I am finished recording.

Lastly, I just really want to thank the Light Fellowship and all of those involved in getting me here. Not only has my Korean gotten to a level unattainable at home in the States, not to mention an in-depth and up-close understanding of the culture, but it has also given me the chance to explore so many of my interests to a substantial and tangible degree. I often sit in awe and wonder thinking of all the wonderful things that have come from this year, and I just know that they would not have been possible without the Light Fellowship. And, if any Yalie is reading this and thinking about a Light Fellowship, an academic year, at least (because you can do the summer along with it too) is really the way to go. I can see myself coming back to Korea, and having it be a type of launching pad to Asia, and just to my future in general.

To close, I will try to be a little more on track with weekly blogs, and picture should soon follow. Thank you for reading. Shalom.