Missing Home

Is it possible to miss a place you haven’t left yet? From what I’m feeling lately, I think so. This is our first house as a married couple. This is where our cats have grown up. This is where we know our grocer and our favorite barista by name. This is just home now. I know the bus numbers. I have grown to love Wonju and how it is half city half countryside. I love that there are still undiscovered gems to be discovered down alleys and back roads here. I don’t feel I’ve exhausted the possibilities in my small city. I surely haven’t exhausted the mountain trails, either. 

I know that relocating to Seoul is the best thing to do for us. Kenny needs to be in the middle of things to find a job he loves and that he’s qualified for. We’re both tired of teaching and I know that this is a fresh start for us in so many ways. I am looking forward to it with that giddy excitement bubbling in my gut that I have before I ride a rollercoaster. I know that to enter a new place I have to leave the old one first. I guess that’s why change is full of beauty and sorrow at the same time.

I’m cherishing up all the moments I can here. We fly a week from today and when we return, our days in Wonju are numbered.

I’ve been thinking about the name of this blog, how it will no longer be quite accurate. But I’ve also been thinking that Wonju is the place I grew into my role as wife. It’s where I grew to understand what love looks like (I still claim it looks more like washing the dishes and cleaning the litter box than any grand gestures). It’s where I fell in love with so much of my life. So maybe, in some way, I’ll always be Wonju Wife. And in some way, Wonju will always be home. 

Hanji Weekend Recap

*Warning:This post is picture heavy. 

A few weekends ago, my dear friend Angie came down to Wonju to visit with us and to see the kitters. We worked together last year and you might also recognize her as the amazing woman who did my hair for the wedding! Anyway, we love us some Angie.

So, first we hit up a coffee shop and then we rode the bus up towards Chiaksan. We meant to have a look around the national park and to hike in for about an hour or so and then back out, but we didn't have time and the weather was kind of crap. So, we settled for a craft session at the Hanji Museum (it's really more like a store than a museum though). Hanji is Korean handmade paper and Wonju hosts the Hanji Festival, although there are other hanji spots around Korea. We purchased small DIY hanji kits and then proceeded to an upstairs room with big tables and a hanji expert.

 Clearly, we went straight to work. Well, Kenny did anyway.

Angie and Kenny finished well before I did. Mostly because every other step I would freak out because it wasn't perfect. And the hanji lady would come over and fix it for me. I liked painting the glue on the paper and then painting the paper onto the box with even more glue. We walked around downstairs in the "museum" part of the building while we waited for our hanji products to dry.

This is part of a series they have set up in the museum. It depicts the hanji-making process. Each step in the process is made of hanji. Pretty cool, huh? They had all sorts of furniture, dishes, art, and even a hanbok made entirely out of paper. I liked this little paper guy.

Angie's masterpiece.

Kenny did the big green thing with the bird. And when I saw his bird, I wanted one. So I begged the hanji expert lady for one. And what do you know, she went and found one for me! So I have a little blue bird box. I had a great weekend with Angie, and I'm pretty sure she had a great weekend with the kitters!

This one's for you, Ang!

Open House

Well, I'm officially a Wonju Wife! We are so pleased with our new apartment. We still have a few finishing touches to tend to, and after I took this video Kenny put up some cute shelves in the living room over the couch. Our home is coming together slowly, but it's simple and we love it! I wish I could invite you all over for some sweet tea!

Enjoy the tour!!

Short and Sweet and You Could Win!

I am moving today! Moving truck gets here at 1. We could not believe how much stuff we have. It has taken over my parents-in-law's living room completely. So many boxes! We were packing things up yesterday and pulling all my stuff from the attic downstairs and Kenny said, "I thought we were living a simple life." It was funny because we always talk about saving money and living simply and all that. But really we just spend money. Oh, I forgot to tell you that we did some Home Shopping! Like, we bought stuff off the TV. Yeah, I'll tell you about it next time. Now you have something to look forward to. If you can guess what we purchased (and if I already told you, your answer won't count) I'll send you a prize in the mail! If I have more than one winner, I'll let Kenny pull your names out of a hat or something completely objective like that. Let the guessing begin!

So, if you don't see anything posted for a few days, it's because I'm relocating my life and becoming a Wonju Wife!!

No More Procrastinating

So, I was going to wait until I could post properly, like when I'm all settled and have things to say. But then I realized if I did that, there would never be another post on my blog again! So here we are. First post from Korea again. It was so exciting coming back here for me and I didn't really expect it to feel so great. Walking through my old neighborhood and eating at old restaurants had the same vibe it does when I return to the States and go to my favorite places. Korea really has become another home for me, which is good since I'm kind of stuck here for a while!
We went to Wonju on Tuesday and stayed with one of Kenny's good friends, SuYoung. She just had a baby six months ago and he is the cutest thing, with the obligatory XL Korean head that is completely flat in the back. And he is happy! He never full out cried while we were there, only whined a bit during the night and never for more than a few seconds. The last time Kenny stayed with a baby was during his time in NY before we left. And that was NOT a happy baby. I was afraid he'd be against having kids FOREVER after that. But Dong Myung was a beautiful baby, smiling and laughing all the time and sweet even when he was tired. Not that I'm ready to have kids now, or even soon, but I'd like him to at least be open to the possibility. AND, I kept saying I wanted to name our baby Ready. Not in English, in Korean. In Korean is sounds like June Bee. And I love it. But I do concede it would be a bit ridiculous if our kid's name meant ready and she would probably get heck for it at school. But at Yonsei ELP (my new employer, WOOT) there is a student named JuBi. And it's perfect! It has all the sounds I love, and maybe sometimes I'll still call my kid JunBi just for the heck of it. So, baby fever flare up there for a minute.
Anyhow, Wonju. Yes. It's beautiful. It's in mountain country, so the husband is thrilled. My job is SO MUCH BETTER. It's a bonified English department they've got going on with every teacher having their own classroom. In the teacher's lounge, every teacher has their own desk and computer. It's extremely organized, perhaps a bit micromanaged, but hey. I'm appreciating the micromanagment after the zero management at Haba. It's definitely paperwork heavy, but that will keep me on task and focused. I really want to be a better teacher, and I think this job will help me become one. All my coworkers I've met so far have been so kind and generous.
Our apartment freaking rocks. The master bedroom is a little small for our queen sized bed, but we'll make it work. Having the second bedroom cum study is so exciting and fun for us. And I'll finally have a place to put all my books. We have a bathtub (have I mentioned how rare and awesome it is to have a bathtub?) and a nice size veranda that stretches the length of the apartment. The building is set back off the road and surrounded by forest, so the noise is negligent at this point. We're on the 7th floor, which is in the middle of the building and means cooler summers and warmer winters. No airconditioner, but fans were in the bedroom and living room and it was really comfortable. So we might end up buying one if sleep is impossible, but we'll try going without first.
The only negative I've found so far is that our apartment is a good half hour's taxi ride away. There are buses, which I assume will take a bit longer. I was looking forward to walking to work, but that looks like an impossibility at this point. Having my mornings free is working out well, since we're waking up at 6 am consistently now. Things seem pretty good, and there's a possibility that the school will hire Kenny as well! So, we're on the right track for having the same schedule anyway.
Well, new chapter of my life begins officially on Saturday- Moving Day! And I will be instated as The Wonju Wife! And settle into a routine and start writing here more regularly.
Dearest Readers, I think about you more than is appropriate and find myself talking about the Internet in Real Life, which is SO against the rules and makes Kenny say, "Is this a real friend we're talking about or some person you met online?" Ah, well. He can judge all he wants because he just doesn' t know how awesome you are!
Later lovies!