A love letter

Dearest Korea,

We're finishing up this crazy adventure in just a few short months, and I don't want to wait until I'm boarding that plane home to realize all the great things about my life with you. I want to take a minute while there's still time to make more memories to let you know that I appreciate everything you've done for me. Thanks for the hilarious moments and the sad ones; thanks for the incomprehensible joy and the occasional confusion. Thanks for always being right outside my window, comforting me with smog and the smell of rotting garbage as I struggle to fall asleep with people shouting angry words I don't understand in the street below. Thank you for the million ways you make me smile each and every day, like...

... when I see flip flops with Obama's head on them...

... when I pretend to be Oz while I'm "teaching"...

... when signs are inappropriate in the most hilarious ways...

... when ketchup comes in a smiley face...

... when I get to make Harry Potter at a cafe...

... when people exercise in the weirdest places...

... when you offer me really sound advice...

... when my kids show up to school looking awfully dorky...

... when the view is just too pretty...

... when Journey becomes our mantra...

... when there are too many friends to fit in one picture...

... and when dancing at lunch is the best thing to do...

... thank you. Thank you for these moments and these friends, and for the countless other reasons why two and a half more months just isn't long enough to take in all this joy.

Thank you, Korea, for being you, and for teaching me to be me. Here's to eleven more weeks of us.