Firsts

I have had a theme stuck in my head for the last few days. It's now been more than 18 months since I left for Korea, and I have been thinking about all the things I have experienced, most for the first time, since I left Canada in 2007. Some of them are awesome, and some of them decidedly less so. I have compiled a list of the ones that have popped into my head. Regardless of their awesomeness factor, I am grateful for all of them, good and bad, as they have all taught me something, about the world, about other people, and about myself.

In no particular order:

1. Gotten a passport
2. Received my first working visa
3. Taken my first trans-pacific flight
4. Moved to Korea
5. Crossed 13 hours worth of time zones
6. Completely changed my internal clock
7. Gone through teacher training boot camp
8. Gone through ESL boot camp for over a year!
9. Experienced a norae baeng.
10. Discovered how delicious 4 a.m. kimbap can be
11. Learned how to order food and say a few other useful phrases in Korean
12. Ridden a bullet train
13. Made new friends from Canada, America, Korea, Japan, Bulgaria, Belarus, Australia, New Zealand, England, and Scotland
14. Taken Tae Kwon Do lessons
15. Sprained my ankle taking Tae Kwon Do lessons
16. Traveled to Jeju, twice
17. Visited a sexual theme park
18. Climbed the highest mountain in Korea (on said busted ankle)
19. Gone parasailing
20. Visited Japan and decided I would like to try living here
21. Visited the 2nd largest aquarium in the world
22. Seen manatees
23. Gotten lost
24. Eaten “live” octopus, and silk worm pupae
25. Learned to hula hoop
26. Learned to read hangul, hiragana and katakana
27. Learned to be by myself, a LOT
28. Fallen in love
29. Fallen out of love
30. Fallen out of the sky (well, jumped off a mountain really)
31. Had my heart broken
32. Fixed it up again to discover it came back stronger than before
33. Gone paragliding
34. Hit a fence
35. Dislocated my foot
36. Ridden in an ambulance
37. Had surgery in a foreign hospital
38. Gotten a cast
39. Learned to use crutches
40. Realized what it’s really like to miss your family and friends, and how good it is to see them again
41. Been to Iceland (for a few hours, anyways)
42. Gone to a “café” in Amsterdam
43. Stood under the Eiffel Tower
44. Taken a boat ride on the Seine
45. Gone to the Louvre (sadly, closed that day)
46. Taken a train through the Chunnel
47. Discovered that soju is a toxic substance that will melt off taste buds and give you the worst hangover imaginable
48. Found out how much it sucks to not have health insurance, if only for a couple of weeks
49. Moved to Japan
50. Moved away from the person I love
51. Seen just about every old and/or reconstructed structure in Kyoto
52. Seen cherry blossom trees for the first time
53. Partied all night in Tokyo
54. Watched the sun rise over Ginza
55. Seen a Maiko (Geisha in training)
56. Studied Japanese
57. Been to a sumo tournament
58. Worn a kimono
59. “Slept” on a bus
60. Experienced an (several) earthquake(s)

Here's hoping the next 18 months give me lots more learning experiences to be grateful for (though more awesomeness, and less not-so-awesome would definitely be the preferable option) ;)